Chapter 346: I was beginning to worry you would never connect it even when I made it so obvious!

"You finally came."

Lucian heard a voice.

A very familiar voice.

It was the same one he heard in his dream, that same, weak, low voice that talked to him and started all of this in the first place.

The only difference was that this time, the voice was not weak.

It was much clearer, calm and... amused.

Lucian looked around, the voice came from everywhere, so there was no exact place he could point at.

"So it was you, Neroth."

He spoke, making the connection.

"Took you far longer than I thought it would."

Neroth chuckled.

Lucian remained silent.

"Why are you silent?"

Neroth questioned curiously.

"You had so many questions in our previous conversations, why the sudden silence?"

And since he wanted Lucian to say something, he did.

"Why can’t I hear her?"

He asked a question.

"Leave her, will you?"

Neroth laughed out loud.

"I am here now, talk to me."

"Why can’t I hear her?"

Lucian repeated his question.

"I cut your connection with the outside world, no communication devices would work."

Neroth answered.

"Now can we talk?"

"What do you want to talk about?"

Lucian questioned in a flat tone and that was slowly taking away Neroth’s interest.

"I thought you’d be more chatty now that we are meeting in reality."

"If I knew the voice was you, I wouldn’t have talked in the dreams either."

"Why do you think I didn’t tell you?"

Lucian could practically hear him chuckle.

"You people are so predictable."

The voice spoke lazily.

Lucian didn’t say anything. He just stood calmly, as for the source of his calm...

"Also, if you think she is coming, don’t bother."

Suddenly, Neroth spoke up.

"What do you mean?"

That was the first time Lucian’s face changed since the conversation started and Neroth enjoyed every second of it.

"The chamber is sealed again. If she wishes to come in, she needs to do what you did."

"Stand in the centre for thirty minutes."

"There is no other way."

The Archdemon cackled.

"Using force won’t do anything either, other than destroying the very foundation of the chamber, of course."

Lucian’s frown deepened.

Neroth laughed.

"So worry not, we have thirty minutes all to ourselves."

Lucian didn’t show any change on his face, Neroth, however, didn’t fail to notice his uneven breathing.

"Trying to appear calm, huh.

Your teacher taught you well."

Lucian didn’t say anything, he did not wish to give him the satisfaction.

Neroth didn’t care, Lucian’s face alone was a form of satisfaction, not to mention... he had so many things to talk about, lack of his reaction was the last thing the Archdemon was worried about.

"There is one thing I have been wondering about."

He began.

Again, Lucian didn’t answer, so Neroth continued on his own,

"Tell me, Lucian...

Did Varek never bother you?"

"Varek bothers me in general."

Lucian answered as casually as he could.

"Not his fan."

"Hahaha!"

That made Neroth laugh.

"Even more reason to doubt him, don’t you think?"

Lucian frowned.

Then, Neroth asked another question.

"Do you know why, in the last nine hundred years, no one managed to find my Heart?"

Lucian narrowed his eyes at the question.

"Many tried, I assure you. Your friend wasn’t the first."

Lucian kept silent.

Neroth chuckled again.

"Because not a single soul knew where it was."

Lucian stood still, not showing any reaction. The Archdemon continued, enjoying everything despite the lack of reaction.

"The Vampire responsible for safeguarding my Heart created this structure, he created a system that made extraction possible remotely.

So whenever the Arcelis needed my blood, they could get it without having to come here. This is also the reason why there was no mention of the Heart in the reports you found.

There was no Heart.

No one had access to it.

Even the Vampire who created this system put himself in Coffin Sleep, making sure no one would ever know.

And no one knew, not even the Arcelis Patriarch."

Again, Lucian remained silent but Neroth could notice even the slightest bit of his reactions. And Lucian was reacting, the fact that not even the Arcelis Patriarch, the one who got the Heart in the first place, knew where the Heart was showed just how deeply they had thought this through.

No wonder no one was ever able to find anything.

Even when there were spies all over this place, the spies were trying to find information that didn’t exist.

It was... an impossible task.

But...

While all of that may be true...

It did raise one question.

A question Neroth was getting at.

"Did you never think about it?

If not even the Arcelis Patriarch knew, how could... Varek know? How could he know the exact place you were supposed to stand and the exact amount of time?"

Neroth asked a question and Lucian’s face changed.

He did wonder how Varek, who wasn’t even in the Arcelis House, knew something even Aurelia’s spy network couldn’t find but...

There were so many things on his mind at that moment, the Crimson Crucible, Varek’s situation, Arcelis’s plans and more than three thousand humans they were trying to sacrifice that...

Lucian’s mind skipped this detail.

He...

He made a mistake.

"There it is."

Neroth let out a soft laugh.

"You’re finally thinking about it."

"..."

Lucian clenched his fists in frustration.

Neroth cackled.

"Would you like to guess the answer?

How did Varek know?"

"...you told him."

And Neroth laughed loudly.

"There you are!

I was beginning to worry you would never connect it even when I made it so obvious! Good work!"

Neroth was very happy.

Lucian’s face hardened.

"So you’ve talked to Varek as well."

He spoke in a heavy tone.

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"Do you truly need to ask?"

Neroth answered playfully and Lucian understood.

"You could talk to him from the beginning."

"It became even easier when they put my blood inside him."

"I thought they were using processed blood."

Lucian frowned and Neroth—

He laughed.

"Things are rarely as they seem."