He stepped inside the guest room.
The president looked up at him from the sofa, adjusted his spectacles, and motioned toward the seat opposite. "Mr. Ibaan, please sit."
"Oh… yeah." Ibaan hurried to the sofa and sat down. The moment felt awkward, honestly. He didn't want to be here, and under the president's gaze he felt strangely pressured, though he didn't know why.
"On which branch are you?" Seraphus asked calmly.
'Huh?' Ibaan was confused. What kind of question was that? The president already knew he had ascended to the Apprentice Branch, so why ask?
But Ibaan understood—it was to act innocent, to pretend he wasn't looking deeper into who or what Ibaan was. And Ibaan had already expected this. After surpassing him in the trial, he knew the president's eyes would be on him.
"On the Apprentice Branch!"
"Oh! Congrats then, I expect no less from you. You managed to deal with the unknown being, but how?" Seraphus asked again.
'Huh?' Ibaan was again confused. How was he supposed to answer that question? And what kind of question was that? Of course he had already suffered—he had gone through hell without even confronting the being. "Oh, I have no idea," Ibaan said with a slight shrug.
Just then Selpe arrived with a long tray, a kettle filled with tea that would stay warm for almost twelve hours. There were three plates with omelettes and three small cups set in their porches.
She carefully placed everything on the table, opened the kettle's lid, and poured the tea into the cups. When she was done, she set the cups into the porches and pushed one cup and one plate toward the president, then took theirs for herself and Ibaan.
She then sat beside Ibaan.
Taking a sip of the tea, Seraphus said, "Miss Selpe, you already know about the Sanctified, right?"
Selpe nodded.
"So today is the day you have to set off for the City Above Heavens," the president continued.
But Selpe asked at once, without reacting to Seraphus' words, "Sir, can Ibaan live with me too?"
He stopped the cup halfway to his mouth and set it on the porch at the same moment. "I don't know. You have to ask His Majesty. But since you two are married because of the Clan culture, there might be a chance."
"Oh…" She drifted into her thoughts.
Soon, the president finished the last bite of his omelette and drank the tea in one gulp, placing the cup on the porch for the final time. "However, Mr. Ibaan can stay in the school hostels in the meantime."
But Ibaan instantly replied in a hurried tone, "No, I'm good. I'll live here till then."
Both Selpe and the president stared at him. "As you wish."
But Selpe gently asked, "But who will make you dinner and lunch?"
"I'll do that myself, no worries."
'Oh?'
Selpe knew that the original Ibaan didn't know how to cook, yet now she was a hundred percent sure that there's someone else in Ibaan's body. Still, she chose to overlook it.
With a sigh, Seraphus, the president, stood up. "So, Miss Selpe, we were asked to guide you to the Royal City at 7 AM. I guess we're already getting late. We should go…"
Selpe and Ibaan stood at the same time.
Just then, the black cat they had adopted walked in and leapt onto Selpe's shoulder, as if she too was ready for the City Above Heavens.
Watching the cat, the president asked, "You're taking the cat with you? There's no issue with it, of course."
Selpe nodded. "We recently adopted her."
"I see," the president said, and then walked ahead toward the exit of the guest room.
…
The president waited outside the door.
After reaching it, Selpe finally looked at Ibaan, stepped closer, and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead. "Goodbye till then," she said.
Ibaan waved. "Goodbye."
As soon as she left, he let out a breath of relief. It felt as if he had been trapped in a cage and was finally free. His excitement grew with every second as he thought about the stones.
He closed the door, locked it, and walked back to the guest room.
Sitting on the sofa, he summoned the two stone tablets into his hands.
One was large, its surface carved into two halves—one of light and one of shadow—holding ancient truths and forbidden power of the Dead Eye of the Fallen and His realm. It was called [The Tablet of the Eclipsed Heart], the one he had received from the first tower of the Dead Eye's realm. A strange thing had happened when he first touched it: he felt it glow in black and white, pulsing with his emotions like a living heart, stirring all the heavy feelings he had taken from the leader of Iron Knuckles.
When he was being devoured by Xorra's Inferna Noctis, Ibaan had forced him to look into the Evil Eye—its true gaze—and turned him into nothing but a puppet. That was why the Inferna Noctis had swallowed the whole mansion.
Even so, he still didn't get any information and memories of the Bain. It didn't make any sense.
What shocked him even more was that the leader of Iron Knuckles, Bain De Light, was from the Light Clan, and he had broken the curse just like him and Selpe. That was why Bain had smiled right after meeting the others.
It also made Ibaan realize he was close—very close—to discovering how to break the curse Light Clan, as well as unlocking the hidden knowledge of the Light Clan through the stone tablet [Tablet of the Silent Radiance] he had received. There had been two more tablets, but the black flames had given him no time. They were already devoured.
The [Tablet of Silent Radiance] was in his other hand—a thin stone slab that glowed softly like a quiet dawn, like something that had never seen sunlight yet carried its own light. Faint lines shifted beneath its surface, as if something moved inside. Its edges were sharp, untouched by age or dust.
He held it, and the pale glow pulsed once—different from the other tablet—as if it somehow knew he would hold it.
***
Meanwhile, Selpe was accompanied by the leader, and with his power, they were already standing inside the School of Thoughts and Perseverance.
She was standing in the special hall of the School of Thoughts and Perseverance.