Chapter 154
With a calm stride that radiated authority, she greeted the man—who turned out to be named Theo Vkytor.
The revelation of his hiding place shocked Theo beyond belief.
His trained body reacted instinctively.
He immediately jumped back several steps, keeping his distance, while his right hand reflexively gripped the hilt of his sword without drawing it.
His wary eyes watched the young girl approaching him with deep suspicion.
"What are you trying to do?" he asked in a low, tense voice, full of vigilance.
Such was their first meeting, narrated as though it were a clash between two forces measuring each other's strength.
Aldraya then asked why he had been tailing Ilux every day.
However, Theo remained tightly guarded.
He refused to answer, his face furrowing into a hardened expression that would not compromise.
His silent rejection only strengthened Aldraya's suspicion.
Since Theo refused to speak, Aldraya decided to repay him in kind.
If Theo watched Ilux, then Aldraya would watch Theo.
Thus began a game of espionage, in which the former angel now focused her attention on the mysterious, debauched samurai, observing his every movement like an eagle watching its prey from the sky.
'So Theo Vkytor has a connection with Erietta Bathee.
A disastrous combination.'
From within the shadows, Aldraya's sharp eyes did more than follow Theo's every move—they began mapping out his network of interactions.
And what she found surprised her.
Theo, the debauched samurai who seemed loyal only to money, apparently had an unusual connection with Erietta Bathee.
Erietta was a woman whose name had long been a source of irritation to Aldraya's ears, known as "the insane bastard."
To Aldraya, the girl's attitude was stubborn, shameless, and her life was nothing but lavish indulgence befitting a pampered prima donna.
All the luxury she flaunted came from her family's immense wealth—a legacy she used to satisfy her every desire without caring about anyone's opinion.
The intersection of rough-edged Theo and glamorous Erietta was like oil and water.
Aldraya observed how they met in hidden places, their conversations brief and intense—marked by the serious expression on Theo's normally indifferent face, and the emotionless smile on Erietta's lips.
The dynamic between them did not resemble that of protector and protected, nor that of lovers.
There was something else—something dark and transactional—that made Aldraya's instincts hum with warning.
The connection between the samurai tailing her student and this troublesome woman added a new layer to the mystery she was investigating, strengthening her belief that something far greater was at play.
'The agreement to not speak to one another.'
Aldraya gently withdrew herself from the deep abyss of memory, like a rescuer emerging from the ocean of time.
Her eyes, holding thousands of years of history, blinked twice slowly, brushing away the bitter memories still clinging to the retina of her soul.
Her steps continued through the quiet place, while her mind drifted back to more recent recollections—memories centered within the walls of this educational institution.
In her reverie, the stone walls seemed to transform into a canvas where shadows of the past were painted vividly.
Her inner struggle was cut short by a scene she had grown familiar with.
Behind the curtain of old oak leaves, Theo's steadfast silhouette reappeared, like a statue guarding something unseen.
But this time, something unexpected happened.
Instead of vanishing as he usually did, the disheveled samurai approached her with calm steps.
An unspoken invitation emanated from his posture, asking Aldraya to walk beside him—if only for a while.
Theo stated simply that, for the moment, their objectives aligned.
Aldraya, with all the trained vigilance of her angelic nature, considered the situation.
There was a sense—a whisper of instinct—telling her that rejecting this offer might close the door to the answers she sought.
Thus formed a peculiar scene in the academy garden bathed in the early hues of dusk.
Two contrasting figures walked side by side.
A young girl with an aura of ancient wisdom, and a somber samurai with a sheathed sword faithfully resting at his side.
Their steps were in harmony, leaving quiet traces across the gravel path.
Aldraya's sharp eyes occasionally observed Theo's every movement—every tension in his shoulders, every fleeting glance he cast her way.
Behind her silence, questions spiraled in her mind.
What exactly was this man's motive?
What was his connection to Ilux?
And why had he chosen to stop hiding now?
'Now everything feels like an uneven canvas.'
With slow, synchronized steps, they followed the path shaded by the canopy of trees.
Aldraya was completely immersed in her own silence—a passivity that felt strangely soothing.
In that stillness, there was no pressure to react, no need to analyze—only an empty space granting her a momentary reprieve from her duties as an observer.
Theo, walking beside her, did not utter a single word, respecting—or perhaps avoiding—the invisible boundary that emanated from the young girl.
Their silent agreement settled perfectly beneath the dim sky.
But the tranquility suddenly shattered by the arrival of someone utterly unexpected.
Erietta Bathee appeared like a storm disrupting the calm, her confident steps and unreadable smile cutting through the silence.
Her glamorous aura contrasted sharply with the simplicity of the garden and the seriousness of the situation.
What shocked Aldraya was not Erietta's presence—it was Theo's explosive reaction.
The samurai who was usually cold and composed suddenly displayed unmistakable panic.
His breath stuttered, his shoulders tensed, and his hand reflexively hovered near his sword.
This drastic change stirred bewilderment in Aldraya.
What could shake a man accustomed to danger so deeply—simply because of a woman's arrival?
Aldraya watched the silent drama between them with increasingly sharp—yet still expressionless—eyes.
Erietta approached casually, as if this encounter were a pleasant coincidence.
But Aldraya caught the sly glint behind her faint smile, while Theo stood rigid like a statue battered by strong winds—his entire body radiating signals of danger only a perceptive soul like Aldraya could detect.
Silently, Aldraya recorded every detail—every muscle twitch, every charged exchange of glances.
Theo's mystery grew deeper, and now Erietta had become an inseparable part of this intricate puzzle.
'Pierce and respond—why must I do that?'
Within her frozen silence, Aldraya first assumed this was merely a trivial misunderstanding not worth arguing over.
She tried to maintain her lofty composure, letting Erietta's words pass her like wind leaving no trace.
Her expression remained flat, untouched by the provocations the woman hurled at her.
To her, such petty verbal squabbles were beneath her dignity—trivial matters unworthy of an entity who had experienced thousands of cycles of reincarnation.
However, something in Erietta's final remark cut too deeply.
Not about doctrine, not about faith or betrayal—but something more personal, unexpected.
Those words were like a poison-laced blade slipping through a small crack in the fortress she had always kept impenetrable.
Aldraya felt a stirring she never expected to feel again—a primal emotion that should have long been buried under layers of time.
To be continued…