Aurelia muttered softly to herself, as if finally accepting something she had long refused to acknowledge.
"So that saying… was true after all."
She raised her hand and gently clenched her fist.
The block of ice that had been split in two on the floor shattered into particles of light and vanished without a trace.
Aurelia said nothing more.
She turned and walked out of the room, leaving behind a short command without looking back.
"Tomorrow evening… return here for the magic circle initiation ritual."
And with that, she was gone.
Ryn stood there in silence.
He still had no idea what the ritual was, or what would happen to him—
But he knew one thing for certain.
He had passed.
Ryn hurried back to Richard's house and told him everything in detail.
When Richard finished listening, he showed no surprise at all.
"Go take a bath and rest,"
he said calmly.
"You'll need to be ready for the ritual tomorrow."
Ryn nodded, accepted the instruction, and returned to his quarters.
After Ryn disappeared from sight, a small bird flew down and perched on Richard's shoulder.
"Chirp… chirp… chirp."
Three short cries.
Then its body dissolved into light and vanished.
Richard chuckled quietly.
"Heh… looks like you've grown curious about Ryn after all."
He stepped out of the house and headed toward Aurelia's mansion.
When he reached the front garden, Aurelia was already waiting for him.
Richard spoke in his usual teasing tone.
"Well, well, well.
Didn't you say you weren't interested?
Now you suddenly want to know more about my kid?"
Aurelia shot him an annoyed glance.
"I'm not interested in who that boy is,"
she said flatly, though her eyes were sharper than her words.
"And knowing he's your disciple only makes me want to know even less."
She paused briefly before continuing,
"But… there's something about him that bothers me."
Richard smiled faintly.
"And what could possibly make the great Sage Aurelia Thalosyne curious?"
Aurelia looked at him with visible irritation, then asked directly,
"That sword…
Did it really choose him?"
"It's true. He wields it as if it were an extension of his own body,"
Richard replied this time without a hint of playfulness.
"If it weren't, someone as physically fragile as him would've lost control of it from the very first swing."
Aurelia listened in silence, studying his tone—trying to determine whether he was jesting or speaking the truth.
And she knew.
This was the truth.
Aurelia exhaled softly.
"So… a sword with a will of its own has finally chosen its master."
She closed her eyes for a brief moment.
"It seems the same story is about to repeat itself once more."
Richard interrupted her at once.
"Not necessarily. Yes, that's how it was in the past—but that doesn't mean history has to repeat itself."
Aurelia fell silent.
Ryn's gaze from that morning surfaced in her mind—eyes that were neither defiant nor arrogant, neither boastful nor reckless.
They were steady.
Accepting.
As if he understood the weight of the world and chose to bear it anyway.
She closed her eyes again, then opened them and spoke flatly, irritation faintly lacing her voice.
"…Perhaps. It might not end the same way after all."
That answer made Richard pause—not because of the words, but because of the tone.
"Something's bothering you, isn't it?"
he asked directly.
Aurelia remained silent once more.
This time, longer.
Finally, she spoke, unwillingly.
"That boy…"
"…He reminds me of someone."
Richard raised an eyebrow, though he already knew the answer.
"Someone, you say?"
Aurelia shot him an annoyed glance.
"Don't play dumb when you already know."
She turned her head away, changing the subject abruptly, her voice hardening.
"But let me ask you this—
This is your problem, isn't it?
So why are you dragging me into it?"
Richard met her gaze without flinching.
"Because it doesn't concern only me anymore.
You're involved with that boy as well—directly."
Aurelia snapped her head back toward him, her brows knitting together.
"Involved?
Explain yourself. No riddles."
Richard answered in a grave tone.
"That boy comes from Veridian Veil."
Aurelia frowned deeply.
"And what does that have to do with me?"
Richard stepped closer and spoke with firm clarity.
"His name is
Ryn Ardent of the Verdian Vale."