The night had fully arrived, and the academy halls were quiet and dimly lit. Maruti walked through the hallway with her usual carefree steps, her hands in her pockets. But this time, her face wasn't completely relaxed. There was a bit of frustration and seriousness in her expression.
She had planned to challenge someone to a duel today, but thanks to Esdeath being so gloomy and unmotivated, she ended up wasting her time. In the end, she didn't duel a single person.
More than anything, Maruti didn't want to fight just anyone. She only wanted to battle strong people—like Kaelith, her sister Sasha, Esdeath, or Ethan.
She thought Esdeath would be the best option. And Esdeath had thought about it too. But later, she said no.
"If we fight now, you'll use all your trump cards just to win against me. And I'll be forced to do the same. If that happens, others might find out about our strength and weaknesses," Esdeath had said, and then rejected the duel.
So now, Maruti's next best choice was Kaelith.
At that moment, she was on her way to Kaelith's room to ask her for a duel tommorow.
"Now that I think about it," Maruti mumbled to herself, "Kaelith never came to lectures from that day. Does she even know about the new dueling rules the teacher told us?"
She laughed softly, then stopped in front of Kaelith's dorm room. She knocked three times, firmly.
No answer.
She waited for a moment, but the room stayed quiet.
"No response again?" she muttered. Her eyebrows twitched in annoyance.
Then, without thinking twice, she raised her leg and kicked the door open.
Bang!
The door flew open with a loud thud as Maruti walked in boldly.
"Stop being an shut-in, I wanna have a—" she said with a playful smirk but her sentence got cut mid when she looked around the room, her face slowly changed.
The room was dark, lit only by the soft glow of moonlight coming through the window. A strong smell of herbs and medicine filled the air. It was a strange scent, not something you'd expect from Kaelith's room.
"Huh? No one's here?" Maruti blinked and looked around carefully.
She sniffed the air. "This smell… medicine?... she thought.
She stood in place for a few more seconds, then gave a sigh and turned toward the door.
"So she really was sick!, I should take my leave then," she said, half-disappointed.
But what Maruti didn't know was that Kaelith was right above her.
Hidden in a small space inside the ceiling—just like the hidden spot she made in Maruti's own room—Kaelith crouched silently, her body still as a statue.
Her red eyes glowed faintly in the dark as she stared down at Maruti like a hunter watching its prey. Her mouth was slightly open, and a thin line of drool was slowly dripping down. She looked like a beast holding back its hunger.
But inside, Kaelith was struggling hard to control herself.
"Endure it… endure it… she's leaving… just a few more seconds…" Kaelith whispered in her mind, trying to stay calm.
Her nails dug into the wooden ceiling, her entire body tense.
Kailith could hear thoughts. That's why she always knew what Maruti was thinking—until now.
But at that moment, as Maruti walked toward the door, she let out a deep sigh and thought to herself:
"Damn... I kind of miss her."
She whispered those words softly, then closed the door behind her and walked away.
Inside the room, Kailith froze. Her eyes widened in shock.
"She... misses me?" she whispered.
Her heart started pounding like a loud drum.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Her breaths became short and quick. She clutched her chest as if trying to calm the storm inside.
But what Kailith didn't know... was the rest of Maruti's thought.
Outside the room, Maruti continued her silent thoughts:
"Damn, I kind of miss her. What about my duel tomorrow? What a waste!"
But Kailith, completely misunderstanding, couldn't hold herself back any longer.
She jumped down from ceiling landing gracefully on her bed and ran out of the room, her footsteps echoing in the hallway.
Just ahead, she saw Maruti walking slowly, her back turned. She was only a few steps away.
"Maruti!" Kailith called out.
Maruti stopped in her tracks.
"Huh? Kailith?" she turned around slowly, confused by the sudden voice.
But before she could even react, Kailith rushed up, grabbed her wrist, and pushed her back—hard—against the wall.
"W-wha—?!" Maruti gasped, completely shocked.
Her eyes were wide, and her body froze from surprise.
But this wasn't the Kailith everyone knew. She had changed her appearance using magic—transforming herself back into her old, simple form.
She had practiced her transformation many times over the past few days. Now it looked so perfect, even Maruti couldn't tell the difference.
"I need your help," Kailith said breathlessly, her face close to Maruti's. "Just cooperate with me for tonight... I swear, I'll give you anything you want!"
She leaned forward and licked Maruti's neck gently, her tongue trailing up her skin. Maruti shivered from the touch.
"Just say it already... You're making me do prostitute work again," Maruti said with a tired voice, not fighting back, just sighing in disappointment.
"I'll take that as a yes," Kailith smirked.
She didn't wait for permission. Her lips pressed against Maruti's in a deep, heated kiss. One of her hands slowly slid down and gently squeezed Maruti's soft chest.
The moment felt strangely peaceful. The silver moonlight above them glowed brightly, casting a soft light on both of their bodies. It was almost romantic—their shadows touching under the quiet sky.
But the calm didn't last.
A loud voice suddenly cut through the silence, full of power.
"KAILITH! What in the world are you doing?!"
The voice was high and soft, almost like a child's... but the tone held overwhelming authority.
Kailith froze.
Her heart dropped. Her eyes filled with fear.
That voice—she knew it too well.
She turned her head slowly.
And standing there, her face like a stone mask, was Lilith.
Her mother.
---------------
Meanwhile, in a small private room outside the academy, Esdeath was breathing hard. Sweat rolled down her face and arms, even though she was only sitting down. Her chest rose and fell quickly, and her body felt tired, like she had just run a marathon.
She wasn't in her usual academy clothes. Instead, she wore tight black leggings and a simple sports bra, just like someone going to the gym. Her skin glistened with sweat, and all her tattoos were clearly visible, from the fierce twin dragon across her back to the small heart below her belly.
But she wasn't working out.
What she was doing was even more exhausting than lifting weights or running.
She was refining an Essence Stone.
All around her were different materials, herbs, glowing crystals, and small bottles—resources she had collected and stored for a long time. Some had already gone bad, wasted from just sitting inside her storage-type essence stone too long. Still, she had more than enough left to practice.
So today, she had made up her mind to get better at refining.
In the air before her, a small vortex spun softly. It was made of blue water, twisting like a snake. This was the "Water Python Refinement Technique," a method known to be slow but steady. It needed a lot of patience, but the chances of success were better with time.
Esdeath sat cross legged in front of the spinning water, her eyes closed, her hands moving slowly and carefully. She focused all her mind and soul into this task, adding the ingredients one by one into the swirling water.
She wasn't trying to make a powerful divine stone. Just a simple rank C one. This was just training—to gain experience.
But even as she worked, her body was trembling a little. Her eyelids started twitching. Her focus slipped for just a moment.
The water python became unstable. Its movement broke apart like a balloon popping.
Suddenly—
Splash!
A wave of water burst out and soaked Esdeath from head to toe, drenching her clothes and hair in an instant.
"Ugh, damn it!" she shouted, falling backward onto the cold floor with a heavy sigh.
She lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, her wet hair sticking to her forehead. Her arms were spread out, and her breath was still heavy.
"That's the sixth failure today," she muttered, closing her eyes in frustration.
"I still have so much to learn…"
----------
In the head office of Imagica Books, a half-bald man with a big round belly was tied tightly to a wooden chair. Because of his heavy weight, the chair creaked under him and looked like it might break at any moment.
He was Morel Hall. Right now, he couldn't speak because a thick piece of cloth was stuffed in his mouth. His face was red, and his arms struggled against the ropes, but they were tied too tightly. Sweat dripped down the side of his forehead. This was his own office, but today, it had become a trap.
In front of him stood two strange men. One had messy hair with green and yellow streaks that made him look wild and dangerous. The other had neat blonde hair and sharp eyes like a hawk, standing quietly in the shadows.
They were Auren and Emilyn—two detectives. Their faces were covered with black masks so no one could recognize them. Emilyn, as always, kept his silence and stayed in the back. Auren, with a cocky smile, stepped forward and pulled the cloth out of Morel's mouth.
"Guh... cough cough... you bastards!" Morel yelled, gasping for air. His voice was rough. "Do you even know who I am? My best friend is a high officer in the marines! He's got strong ties with the police. If anything happens to me, you're both dead!"
Auren snorted and tapped Morel's forehead with two fingers. "Marine? This is land, you fool."
Emilyn finally spoke from the back, his voice calm and cold like ice. "We won't hurt you. Not unless you give us a reason. So, answer properly."
Morel looked at both of them, his eyes full of fear and confusion. He finally said, "What... what do you want to know?"
Auren leaned in closer, his eyes serious now. "The book... The Future I Saw. Where did you get it?"
The moment Morel heard the title, his whole body stiffened. His eyes widened in shock. "W-wait... that book... you two...?"
Before he could finish, Auren grinned. "So you remember? Too bad you didn't answer when we asked before. Now, we're doing things the hard way." He pulled out a small dagger from his belt and slowly wiped it with his cloth, as if polishing it.
"I'll talk! I'll talk!" Morel shouted quickly, sweat pouring down his neck.
"Good," Auren nodded.
Morel began to explain in a shaky voice. "It was a girl... a strange girl wearing a long robe. I couldn't see her face, but she was very tall. Taller than most girls I've seen. Even taller than me... and I'm not short."
"Did you get a look at her face? Was she old? Young?" Auren asked, his tone calm but firm.
Morel shook his head. "No. She kept her hood up the whole time. But... her voice. It was young, fresh... but also had power in it. Like someone who just became an adult, but already used to giving orders."
"Hmm..." Auren nodded. "Anything else? What about her accent?"
"Her accent was... strange," Morel said, thinking hard. "She didn't sound local at all. Her words were spoken right but pronounciation was wrong, too stiff... like she was trying hard to pronounce each word perfectly. Just like those folks from the Awakened Kingdom. I think she was from there."
Emilyn narrowed his eyes, but stayed silent. Auren's expression turned thoughtful.
"Anything else about her? When did this happen? Tell us how it all went down."
Morel nodded slowly, ready to tell the full story.
"Nothing much," Morel said, breathing hard. "Two weeks before that disastrous night, she climbed in through the window, tossed a small bag of gold coins on my desk like it was nothing, and told me about her book. She wanted it published right away."
He shifted in his chair. "At first, I thought she might be from revolutionary group trying to spread a book that would make the king look bad, so I planned to refuse. But then I saw it was just about seeing the future."
Morel gave a nervous chuckle. "I figured she was some rich, delusional kid who thought she was the main character of the world. I accepted, of course—easy money. But she warned me: no advertising, just print copies. She said copyright and all the profit would still be mine, She got nothing else to do with it."
He glanced back and forth between Auren and Emilyn, a shameless grin spreading on his red face. "Who could say no to that? I took the gold. Printing the book cost very little, and I kept the rest. Even though I'm not awakened, I could tell she was—just like you two."
Auren rubbed his chin, surprised at the amount of gold. "A bag of golden coins?. Maybe she's a spoiled noble girl… or the daughter of a rich merchant," he muttered.
He looked down at Morel again. "Did you change anything in the book or published it raw?"
Morel nodded eagerly. "Only small things. The wording was strange—still correct, but odd. I swapped words here and there so local readers would understand better."
Auren's eyes sharpened. "Where's the original?"
"In my desk drawer. The key's in my left pocket," Morel said quickly.
Auren reached carefully into Morel's pocket, pulled out the small key, and walked over to the heavy wooden desk. He unlocked the bottom drawer.
Inside lay a plain leather‑covered book, surrounded by pens, pencils, loose coins, and other odds and ends. Ignoring everything else, Auren lifted the book and began flipping through the pages.
The short text drew him in at once. Each page held clear, simple sentences about events that hadn't happened yet (Or that what it was supposed to be). After only a few pages, Auren's grin grew wide.
He closed the book and faced Emilyn. "I have a wild hypothesis. If I'm right, we know exactly who wrote this."
Emilyn raised an eyebrow. "Then tell me."
"First," Auren said, slipping the book under his arm, "we're going to the Holy Cathedral. We need a divination."