The next day, I was getting ready to visit Rosalind. Adela helped me with the final details of my attire, making sure I looked like a count's son worthy of visiting a minister.
"Master, try not to act too suspicious. Your stepsister has a terrifying instinct for lies," Adela warned as she adjusted my collar.
"I have no reason to lie. She knows nothing," I replied indifferently. "To Rosalind—and to the rest of the world—those deaths were an inexplicable phenomenon."
As Minister, Rosalind was likely dealing with the political chaos left behind by my intervention. No one could trace the use of laws at that level—they left no trace of mana, no wounds, no witnesses.
I walked toward her official office. When I entered, the atmosphere was tense; messengers were coming and going, and piles of reports on her desk seemed to multiply. Rosalind looked up from a parchment, dark circles under her eyes betraying sleepless nights.
"Cassian…" she sighed, rubbing her temples. "What a perfect time you chose to visit. I assume you've heard the rumors. The investigation department has gone mad—more than a thousand casualties in a single night, and not a single drop of blood spilled. It's as if the world swallowed those people whole."
I sat across from her with my usual laziness, keeping my expression completely blank.
"I've heard a little. Sounds like a headache, sister."
"It is. I'm about to lose my mind," she sighed heavily. "I hope I get a proper vacation after this."
Rose truly gave everything to her work. Her dedication was almost unhealthy.
"Come on, sister, join me for a drink and clear your head for a while," I suggested. "I'm sure you won't do it unless someone insists."
She adjusted her glasses. Her gray eyes stood out against her pink hair as she studied me carefully. For a moment, the silence in the office was absolute, broken only by the scratching of quills from the secretaries in the adjacent room.
"A drink? Cassian, I have a mountain of reports about inexplicable disappearances that make no logical sense," she reproached, though her posture relaxed slightly. "But I suppose you're right… if I stay here one more minute, I'll start seeing ghosts in the paperwork."
She stood up, stretching her slender frame. It was ironic—the person desperately searching for the one behind that "invisible incident" had just accepted an invitation to tea with the culprit.
We went to one of the cafés owned by Nexus. The culinary industry in this world wasn't very good, so if I wanted decent coffee—or anything remotely enjoyable—I had to create it myself.
"Cassian, how are things at the Academy? I hope no one's bullying you over your lack of talent. If they are, you know you can tell me—I'll have some guards arrest them immediately."
Her concern was always sincere. I smiled to reassure her and told her everything was going well.
Then we talked for a while about Margery and Bethany—especially the latter, who had stayed in the county after all and wouldn't be starting school until next year.
"By the way… I heard Father arranged an engagement for you," she said, frowning deeply. She clearly didn't like the idea at all.
"That's right. Still, I don't think it will go through. Neither of us feels anything for the other."
She nodded, though her expression didn't soften.
"Even so, the fact that he engaged you to a Windsteel… I'm definitely going to scold him when I see him."
I laughed at her irritation; only she dared speak about our father like that.
"Cassian… the emperor's birthday is coming soon."
Rose hesitated before continuing, idly playing with her cup.
"A banquet will be held in his honor. All the nobles will be invited, and representatives from allied kingdoms will attend as well. You may not know this, but your fiancée has caught the attention of a prince from the Lucratis Empire."
She paused, looking at me with a mix of pity and warning.
"He'll be attending the celebration, and from what I understand, the emperor seems to be on his side."
"Do you think the emperor might break the engagement and replace me with him?" I asked curiously.
"I don't know. I want to believe he won't do anything too scandalous, but be careful—it's likely you'll become a target that day," she warned, lowering her voice with a seriousness that left no room for jokes.
I nodded to reassure her, and we continued talking about trivial matters, though I could tell the prince of Lucratis wasn't the only thing on her mind. Rose toyed with her silver spoon before letting out a frustrated sigh.
"Sometimes I envy the one behind that 'invisible death,'" she suddenly said, staring into her coffee. "According to the reports, everyone who was erased was scum from the Lumen Cult. If I had someone like that on my team, my job would be much easier."
I almost choked on my tea when I heard that.
"Oh? Really?" I asked, composing myself and feigning complete disinterest. "I thought you hated people who take justice into their own hands."
"And I do," she admitted with a cynical shrug. "But I hate inefficiency much more."
I smiled inwardly. It was reassuring to know that while she was searching for the culprit, she didn't mind the result of my "cleanup." Rose rubbed her temples and looked at me with that mix of older sister and concerned minister.
"Cassian, I hate to sound like Margery and overwhelm you, but this year's placement exams give me a bad feeling. If I weren't buried in paperwork, I would have come to warn you much sooner."
"Didn't they just change the way they select group members?"
"It's the location that worries me," Rose admitted, lowering her voice. "For some time now, there have been reports of beasts corrupted by the Impure appearing in that area. But in the past few weeks… I don't know if it's because the Sect of the Damned is gaining power, or if the 'invisible death' incident somehow affected things, but their numbers are increasing rapidly. I don't think it's a place students below the sixth circle should be entering."
Her words made me think. Beasts in this world possess power cores ranging from level one to nine; however, when corrupted, a level-five beast can reach the power of a level six, making them especially dangerous. The forest where we would be training was filled with level-two and level-three creatures, though level fours and fives, even six were occasionally sighted. If something was forcing them to evolve…
For a moment, I wondered if my interference with the Laws of Fate had caused this. I was already aware of this type of mutation, but I had never bothered to investigate it. Perhaps this trip with the Academy would be useful after all.
"Cassian, stop daydreaming!" Rose scolded, snapping me out of my thoughts.
We left the café and wandered the streets for a while. Rose clung to my arm with an energy that contrasted with her earlier exhaustion, dragging me along to do everything she usually avoided when buried in work. For a few hours, she stopped being the Minister and became simply my older sister again—pulling me from shop to shop and complaining about current fashion while I carried her bags with my usual resignation.
"You need to come visit me more often, got it?" she declared, giving my arm a little tug.
Those words immediately made me think of a certain young lady from the auction house.
Miles away, in her office, Elizabeth suddenly sneezed. She rubbed her nose in confusion, wondering who might be talking about her at that exact moment.
"Mmm… I promise," I replied with a lazy smile, "but you should take more breaks too. I don't want the next time I see you to look like a ghost surrounded by paperwork."
Rose looked at me for a moment, her expression softening, and then gave me a warm hug before letting go.
"Sometimes I feel like you're the older one here, Cassian…" she murmured with a faint smile, before composing herself and returning to her professional posture.
When I returned to the Academy, as always, Adela was waiting for me.
"It seems you had quite a good time, Master," she remarked with a half-smile.
I looked at her, pleased.
"I did. It's always enjoyable spending time with Rose."
I took off my cloak and handed it to her, but my expression immediately turned serious.
"Adela, I trust you heard what I discussed with her at the café today."
"I thought you'd ask about that," she replied calmly as she folded the garment. "So I took the initiative—I've already sent people to investigate and prepare a report."