Calyra, as far as Ruvian knew, was not one to circle a subject. She was the sort who spoke with intention and expected the same candor in return.

When she asked a question, she preferred it answered plainly.

Ruvian composed himself and took his seat.

"You said you wished to ask me something."

"What is it?"

"First, I owe you an apology for summoning you back under the authority of my rank," Calyra replied. Her face remained perfectly neutral. "I arranged this because I required a private conversation with you."

Ruvian cast a slight glance toward Silvena.

She answered with a small lift of both shoulders, an easy, unbothered shrug that seemed to say, ’Eh, pay me no mind, you guys should continue.’

Seeing her mischievous smile, Ruvian felt the faint urge to frown, but this time he let it pass.

Taking the cue, Ruvian dismissed the distraction and turned his attention once more to the porcelain-doll-like woman before him.

Calyra paused only briefly before continuing, while pointing her finger towards the book on the table.

"What I wish to know is just this: how did you come into possession of this book... and what, precisely, do you know about it?"

In the novel, it was the very same question Calyra had once posed to the protagonist.

Her eyes were steady, her face composed to its usual, almost austere stillness... yet her voice betrayed her.

Under her calm voice, there was a sense of urgency. It was like she was trying to reach an answer she had been searching for years.

And Ruvian, perceptive enough to notice such fractures, understood exactly why.

He knew what the book meant to her.

It would be explained only much later that the volume was personal to her.

It bore a connection to her master who had vanished from her life when she was thirteen years old... a disappearance without farewell, and without a single trace left behind.

For Calyra, who had shared with her teacher a bond deeper than apprenticeship, the silence had never dulled with time.

If anything, the absence had only sharpened into a question that refused to fade.

So she searched.

With nothing but fragments of memory and the sparse knowledge her master had once allowed her to glimpse, she began tracing what faint trails she could.

Her master had always been elusive, a figure wrapped in discretion, one who spoke little of herself and less of her past.

Yet there was one detail Calyra remembered with perfect clarity:

Her master had once been a scholar of Velthia Academy.

That single fact was the reason Calyra had chosen to enroll here—to walk the same halls, study the same archives, and uncover anything that might still carry her master’s shadow.

And now, before her, lay the first tangible clue she had found in years:

A book marked with the crest of nine spiraling lines.

After weighing every plausible answer and every consequence each might invite, Ruvian finally chose.

"I don’t really know."

"You don’t... know?"

For the briefest instant, Calyra seemed to recede from the moment.

Words hovered at the edge of her lips, yet discipline prevailed; whatever she had nearly allowed to surface was pressed back beneath that immaculate composure.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"Just as I said," Ruvian replied evenly. "I don’t know much about the book’s contents. I barely had time to examine it before I was required to return it to the library."

It was, strictly speaking, a lie.

He understood far more about the book’s significance than he admitted, but this was neither the place nor the hour to reveal it yet to her.

"And besides," he continued, "the reason I picked it up in the first place was the crest on its cover."

Suddenly, her attention sharpened.

"What... do you know about the crest?"

Ruvian held her gaze for a moment, studying the crystalline blue of her eyes, then gave a faint shake of his head.

"Eh... Nothing. I don’t know its meaning. I mean to say that the crest looks interesting."

That, at least, had some truth.

He knew neither the history of the symbol nor the identity of the one who had inscribed it. Only that the book itself had been written, unmistakably, for a particular scholar the author held in quiet regard.

"But, I can share something else, though it is unrelated to what you want to know."

Ruvian added, lifting a finger.

"In exchange, however, I’d like you to answer one question." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Calyra turned her head slightly toward Silvena. Silvena met the glance, then merely raised both shoulders in a light, unbothered shrug.

"Very well," Calyra said. "What do you wish to know?"

Ruvian regarded her intently for a moment.

Then he asked, "How many siblings do you have?"

"What—?!" Silvena choked, the sound escaping before she could stop it.

The question was so wildly unexpected that it bordered on absurd!

Of all the things he could have demanded in exchange, that was what he chose?

Even Silvena, who prided herself on composure, found herself coughing lightly in disbelief, her surprise too sharp to conceal.

’Why is he asking her that sort of question?’ Silvena thought.

Yet unlike Silvena’s bewilderment, Calyra answered without hesitation.

"I am the eldest daughter of House Arcanis. I have another younger sister. It’s just the two of us."

It was at that moment that Ruvian’s expression changed. A faint expectancy settled across his features.

He slowly closed his eyes.

"I see."

Calyra watched him steadily. "Now then. What will you tell me?"

Ruvian activated [Character Sheet] on Calyra.

===============

{}---『RUNEHEART』---{}

◇ Name: Calyra Arcanis

◇ Age: 18

◇ Spellcore: Tier 4

◇ Rank: First-Class Magus

◇ Magic Affinity: [Ice], [Water], [Spartial]

[Mana Resonance: (127/10,000)]

==[General Attributes]==

Strength: D+

Agility: D+

Endurance: C-

Vitality: D+

Perception: C+

==[Mage Attributes]==

Mana Control: B+

Casting Speed: B+

Magic Power: B+

Mental Strength: B+

Mana Sensitivity: A+

Mana Essence: [5,000/20,000]

==[Innate Blessings]==

- [Blessing of Naiara’s Reserve]

- [Cursed: Chalice of the Labyrinth]

==[Affinity Mastery]==

- [Ice, Pure Mana (Advanced)]

- [Water, Spatial (Intermediate)]

- [Fire, Earth, Wind, Light, Lightning, Sound (Basic)]

===============

Ruvian swallowed.

’....No matter how many times I’ve read it, her stats were absurd.’

He closed the tab and continued.

"Lady Calyra..."

"There is no need for you to search for your master. You don’t need to trouble yourself over that for now."

In that fractional second, Calyra finally showed a faint trace of emotion on her face.

’How does he know that?’ she thought as her heart beat rapidly.

Had she ever spoken to him about her master?

The questions gathered swiftly in her mind, one after another, until she found she now had far more she wished to ask of him than before.

But Ruvian wasn’t done yet.

He added. "However, what you should be looking for instead is someone else. You made a promise to look after him, after all."

"And if you fail to keep that promise, you’ll forever regret your life and never feel..."

──────── ✦ ────────

[Chapter 56: Happiness Ever Again]