He had heard the rumors long before coming to the academy, whispers carried by merchants and soldiers alike—but standing here now, Count Roverick realized none of them even came close.
The presence radiating from this young man far exceeded every exaggeration he had dismissed.
"Since we're going to have quite a fruitful conversation," Snow said calmly, "why don't we move somewhere more private?"
Her words snapped Roverick out of his spiraling thoughts—both curiosity and a faint, instinctive fear directed toward Riley.
"Y-Yes, of course…" he replied without hesitation.
A short while later, the group found themselves on the second-floor balcony overlooking the grand hall below.
Despite being outside the mansion's main interior, the air here felt sealed off from the rest of the world.
This was a gathering of elites from both commerce and nobility, and the security reflected that.
