Aster lay on his back in the room prepared for him, staring at the ceiling. No matter how hard he tried, sleep refused to come.
The soft pillow and warm blanket should have been more than enough for anyone to fall asleep. But for Aster—who was used to sleeping on hard ground—this was a problem.
He tried lying in different positions. He even counted to a hundred.
Nothing worked.
'I didn't think trying to sleep could be this hard…'
He lifted his head and sat up on the bed.
Moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the room in pale silver. Aster took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
At that moment, he remembered dinner.
'Strange… Anna didn't come to dinner. Master left before finishing his meal. Something's going on.'
Before long, Aster got up, deciding to step outside for some fresh air. However, being in an unfamiliar house, he quickly lost his way.
He wandered through corridor after corridor until—
He noticed a thin line of light slicing through the darkness ahead.
It came from the gap of a door that hadn't been fully closed.
'Looks like someone's still awake,' he thought.
Curiosity got the better of him.
Aster quietly pushed the door open and stepped inside. The first thing that caught his attention was the long rows of shelves lining the walls—filled neatly with books.
There was barely enough space to move between the shelves, and only a small area in the center to sit and read.
'That's an insane number of books…'
As he walked further in, his gaze fell on a desk in the center of the room—and the lantern glowing atop it.
As if drawn by the light, he found himself moving toward it.
He sensed that someone was sitting there.
When he approached, he saw Anna—quietly reading a book.
***
Anna was so absorbed in her reading that she didn't notice anyone approaching.
Only when she sensed a silhouette in front of her did she finally look up.
Startled, she reflexively tried to stand and step back—but the chair's backrest blocked her movement.
She collided with the chair and bumped into the bookshelf behind her.
The shelf shook violently but managed to stay upright.
The books did not.
They began falling one after another.
Anna looked up and saw the books flying toward her. She squeezed her eyes shut and hugged the book she had been holding tightly to her chest.
Books hit the floor with loud thuds.
Yet—none of them struck her.
Feeling no pain, Anna slowly opened her eyes.
Standing right in front of her was a young boy with his eyes covered.
He swallowed once, then looked at her face up close. A faint redness appeared on both his cheeks.
He had saved her from the falling books—
And at the same time, he was the reason they fell in the first place.
As Aster looked at Anna, he could feel her breathing—fast and unsteady.
"Did any of them hit you?" he asked, lifting his head slightly.
"N-No… they didn't," Anna replied, her breath still uneven.
Aster stepped back in a hurry, frightened by the awkward situation.
'What did you do?! You scared her! You should've knocked first!'
This was the first time he'd ever been in such a situation. He barely talked to unfamiliar children—girls were completely out of the question. Usually, children ran away the moment they saw him.
Unable to look her in the face, he spoke awkwardly.
"I-I'm sorry! I d-didn't mean to…"
Even to himself, the apology sounded ridiculous. Who apologized like that—stuttering through every word?
Feeling his throat go dry from embarrassment, Aster took a step forward, intending to leave the room.
Then—
"Wait."
Anna's voice was quiet, but firmer than his.
"Your head… it's bleeding."
Though the room wasn't brightly lit, the red stain in his white hair was clearly visible.
Aster raised his hand to his head, feeling around until his fingers touched something wet.
Blood.
'Great… just what I needed. What do I do now?'
Anna reached into her pocket, pulled out a handkerchief, and held it out to him.
"You can use this. And… thank you."
Aster pressed the cloth against his head and turned toward her.
"Thank you."
Despite wanting to ask why she was still awake so late, he didn't feel close enough to her to ask such a thing.
So he forced an awkward laugh.
"Haha… well, good night."
He hurried out of the library.
***
At sunrise, Valorant woke his disciple and took him out for morning training.
But today, Aster was different.
His movements were sluggish. His running lacked speed.
The old man quickly found a solution.
Picking up his stick, he delivered several precise strikes. After that, his disciple was moving even better than usual.
"There. That should do," Valorant said, letting out a satisfied breath.
As Aster trained, Valorant observed from the side, correcting his mistakes and pointing out flaws.
Near the end of the training session, Valorant spoke.
"Aster, bring your sword."
That meant only one thing.
They were about to spar.
The two stood facing each other, swords drawn.
"Prepare yourself."
'Judging by his stance… he's waiting for me to attack. Then I'll start.'
Aster rushed forward, lifting his sword overhead and swinging downward.
The strike was solid—but nowhere near enough to force the old man to move seriously.
Valorant lightly shifted his blade to the side, deflecting the attack with ease. Aster nearly lost his balance but managed to steady himself in time.
That wasn't all.
He sensed the counterattack and blocked it just in time.
'That strike was heavy! If I hadn't been using Flame Mana, I would've missed it for sure.'
Aster's hands trembled as he barely held onto the sword.
Suddenly, Valorant kicked him squarely in the stomach.
The impact sent Aster flying back several steps. He collapsed onto the ground, coughing violently as he tried to force the air back into his lungs.
Seeing his disciple's condition, the old man said,
"That's enough for today. You can rest."
Aster lay there for a while before recovering enough to stand. He walked over to where his master sat nearby.
"Ugh…" he exhaled. "I thought I was going to die."
Despite the beating, he felt surprisingly good.
"When are we buying the sword?" he asked.
Valorant looked slightly surprised.
"I was just about to tell you—we're not going to buy one."
"Why not?"
"I spoke with Gustav last night. He asked us not to worry about the sword. He'll take care of it."
After that, silence settled between them.
Then Aster broke it.
"Master… I have a question."
Valorant raised an eyebrow.
"Is someone… trying to kill the duke?"