"Sit down, I will make some more coffee."

Irene said, gesturing to the chairs around her table.

Cyan stared at her.

"You are not surprised to see us?"

"Should I be?"

As she poured some coffee and served the three, Cyan kept her in check.

The last time he was with Vivy, dealing with the security drones in the Akashic Record Building, before he suddenly woke up back in time.

"Umm. This is good."

Ethan praised Irene, sipping the coffee she had made.

"Isn’t it? It is my hand blend. Lilly apparently loved it too."

Beside Ethan, Leon raised his own cup to his lips.

’Actually good.’

He could not believe how long it had been since he had tasted something this well made. Especially a cup of warm coffee.

Most of the shops in Liora made it either too bitter or too sweet.

Leon took another sip and let out a quiet exhale.

Beside him, Cyan was tapping his finger against the edge of his porcelain cup.

"Hey, are any of you not going to ask what is happening here?"

He turned his head to Irene.

"They are saying we are in a time loop. What do you have to say to this?"

Irene sipped her coffee.

"All true."

Cyan blinked.

"...And?"

"And what?"

"And then why did you not inform us earlier?"

Irene placed her cup down softly. Her golden eyes met Cyan’s directly.

"Because none of the people in Evana had any memories of the loop. And also, revealing it sooner would have caused bigger problems."

She tilted her head slightly towards Leon before adding.

"You would have started asking questions, and then the wrong people might have noticed it."

"...And who would this wrong person be?" Cyan grumbled.

Ethan placed his cup down too and asked.

"So only you had the memories. How did you get them? Are you some kind of exceptional—Actually, let us forget about that for now. Tell me what is actually happening in Evana?"

Irene turned to Leon, completely ignoring Ethan’s question.

"Do you think Lady Veronica has made it? Should we continue, or wait more?"

Hearing her name from Irene’s mouth inside the lost city of Evana had made both Ethan and Cyan silent.

"....What... do you mean, Lady Veronica...? How do you know her?"

Ethan asked, clearly stunned by the mention of the name.

Leon sipped a mouthful of coffee before placing the cup on the table.

He tapped his finger on the cup multiple times, thinking about what would be his next move.

"Leon? What is happening? Are you here because of your sister...? Does she have anything to do with it?"

Ethan would clearly reach this conclusion, because unlike Leon, he had not gotten his memories back.

He had died in the previous timeline by Dreamweaver’s hand.

Leon had been thinking if he should reveal everything to them here, but he had concluded that it might be the biggest blunder he would be making.

In the original game’s script, all of this was not supposed to happen. Ethan, alongside Cyan, had cleared the Evana Arc without making Dreamweaver descend.

It all happened because Leon was with them this time.

Now Leon could let it play according to the script, but that way he would not be getting what he wanted.

His true goal lay in something else here.

’Are you still dead set on your plans?’

Rumi read his mind.

To her question, Leon’s eyes twitched.

From the memories, both understood the true goal of Shin Kataino, and how Leon had one of his fragments which forced him to carry several feelings that Shin had for her.

’Claiming the Astral Spectrum is possible, and one of its keys lies in the rewards of the Evana Quest. I just do not want to miss this opportunity, that is all.’

’....But, are you still dead set on saving Lumina? Even though this is all due to Shin’s fragment—’

’I just want the Astral Spectrum.’

Claiming the Astral Spectrum would mean that none of the Five Calamities would have any influence on Leon ever again.

He would be the only ruler of an entire reality, and being a ruler such as that would bring him some unimaginable things.

With that, he replied to Ethan.

"Veronica has known about us from the beginning." Before either Cyan or Ethan could speak, Leon continued. "You told me, Ethan, did you not? That you wanted to know about Evana’s truth, which might be here. For that to work, you would need a solid backing."

Cyan’s mouth hung open.

Ethan gritted his teeth.

"Did you make this plan? Are you the one who told your sister about Evana?"

’Hoho... he’s angry.’

It was Leon’s first time seeing Ethan this furious.

"You do not know who you would be dealing with here." Leon looked dead in his eyes, but he kept his expression calm. "And besides, this plan of mine already had a sealed deal before we even entered Evana."

Cyan raised his hand, interrupting both. He clearly noticed things getting tense between them.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt, but can I know what you—Leon—mean by the Calamity Tower Heads deal? You are not saying that more than one Tower Head knew about this, do you?"

At his words, even Ethan’s mouth hung open.

"Is this true?"

Ethan clearly did not want anyone else to know about this, especially the Tower Heads. They would interrogate him, asking how he got his hands on the prism leading to Evana.

And he could not give reasonable answers to them even if he wanted to, because he had gotten it as a reward for clearing a quest.

And more importantly...

He did not want to lose the Evana Quest’s reward.

Leon picked up his cup again.

"We have the backings of three Calamity Heads. The Blood Tower, the Frost Tower, and especially the Moon Tower."

He noticed Ethan’s pupils widening as soon as he mentioned the Moon Tower.

Leon did not pause here. He continued to reveal his plan on what he did.

"My sister had warned me about this, but as we first stepped foot in Evana, Dreamweaver had already taken note of all of us. And even in this loop, he will keep watching us as we move in the city, especially towards anywhere near Queen Anise."

Leon would not reveal everything to them.

It was for their own benefit. The further they were away from the truth, the more chances they would have for survival.

"What mine—or more especially my sister and the other Tower Heads’ objective here is, to save Evana from Dreamweaver’s curse. It was an order directly given to them."

"Given by who...?" Cyan asked, gulping.

Leon looked at him, and casually said with a smile.

"The Calamities."

"...!!"

Leon would use their name to divert their deduction. And clearly it would genuinely work, because they would have no way of confirming it.

But...

Ethan had caught the most genuine thing between Leon’s lies.

"Are you kidding me? Alright then, tell me this, if the Calamities ordered this, why us? Can’t they just send their Tower Heads?"

Well, Leon already had the answer ready.

"The Time Device."

"What?"

"It’s what the prism in your hand is called. Its name is called Time Device, it was a handiwork of Silvermoon. And you can use it now, but don’t worry, Veronica would not interrogate you on how you got this."

Leon explained that only he can use this device and only people he chooses can enter alongside him.

"...and besides, it wouldn’t be good for any tower heads to step foot here, before the treaty between them and Evana got concluded."

Leon looked at Irene, "did I miss anything?"

She was casually sipping her coffee as Leon kept on manipulating them.

"None that I think of."

"Great, now then," he gestured to Cyan and Ethan, "if you have any concern you may talk to the Tower Heads."

"...."

"...."

As he said that, he allowed Ethan to think.

Because originally it was his Quest.

With Leon’s offer Ethan would easily clear the quest, which would have taken him thousands of iterations.