Inside a brightly lit room, a beautiful woman with a naturally curvy figure sat behind an obsidian table.
Her short white hair fluttered gently in the breeze coming through the open window but her violet eyes were fixed on the dark red book in front of her, the one with an ominous eye embedded at its center.
Strange runes shitted across its surface like living beings and worse… its cover looked disturbingly like it had been created from the flesh of something or someone.
Morvana bit her lips as a frown appeared on her face.
"What will happen once I open this book?"
Ever since she met that boy, Rael, last night… she hadn't been able to understand anything about this book anymore.
She had once believed this artifact was the key to her inevitable ascension.
Ever since she was a child, she dreamed of it but back then, she didn't know what it was.
She only understood it was a family heirloom passed down the Matriarchs of her family within the memory of the future she saw after her awakening trial.
She saw her sister holding this very same book within it.
That book was one of the main reasons Morvana had risen to become the matriarch of their family.
And now, the boy who shared the same fate as her… told her the world would end if she opened it.
She couldn't understand any of it.
"What did I even say to him before dying…?"
He had claimed she gave him some kind of warning.
But she wasn't the type to spill secrets to anyone, especially not while lying on her deathbed.
She was the kind of person who wouldn't care if the world burned, so long as she wasn't burning with it.
And she definitely didn't think she would do it for Arza.
Which left only one explanation…
She, the future Veluna, had wanted that boy, Rael, to survive.
"But why…?"
"Why would I want him to survive?"
She whispered the words under her breath.
She hadn't thought much about it at the time… but after turning it over in her mind all night, the weirdness finally settled in.
Did I actually care about that boy's survival?
The intrusive thought hit her out of nowhere.
She immediately shook her head.
"No… that can't be."
She had never cared about anyone but herself.
Not in this world.
Not in any future she had ever seen.
Let alone a man out of everything.
She found their kind repulsive, blinded by lust, drowning in useless compassion and constantly tripping over their own emotions.
And more importantly… she couldn't trust any man.
Especially with her flaw.
The flaw she prayed would never activate.
Unlike the common flaws seen among the resonators in the world, hers was tied to a very specific condition.
A one-time curse that would only awaken if that condition was met… and until then, she lived as though she had no flaw at all.
And to make sure that flaw never activated, she had vowed never to trust a man.
So why…
Why would I care about him?
Was it possible… that her flaw had activated somehow?
No.
No, that couldn't be.
For that to happen, she would have needed to—
She cut off the thought immediately.
Impossible.
It was simply impossible.
And none of it made sense.
And still, that made Rael all the more curious in her eyes.
Just then, she felt a faint tremor go through the air.
Another explosion?
Judging from the direction… It came from the dorm area.
Tsk. When would those brats finally grow up?
Explosions like that were practically routine in the academy, especially with students constantly pulling idiotic pranks on each other.
She ignored it and focused back on the book in her hand.
The Book of Primordial Kings.
But before she could think any further, she sensed a presence approaching… followed by a knock on her office door.
With a simple wave of her hand, the book in front of her dissolved instantly, its flesh-like cover merging into her skin until it looked like an eye-shaped tattoo on the back of her palm.
"Come in." she commanded.
A figure covered in dark, shadowy cloth from head to toe stepped inside. Except for a pair of cold and dark eyes… not a single trace of skin was visible.
Yet even with the layers of fabric wrapped tightly around her, the curves underneath still showed the body that could rival Morvana's own.
It was obvious the one who entered was a woman.
"What is it, Lia?" Morvana asked, seamlessly slipping into the gentle, nurturing persona she had created for the world to see.
"Something has happened to the boy, Mistress." Lia dropped to one knee without hesitation, her voice steady as she delivered the report. "Someone blew up his assigned dorm."
Of course it was about him, the specific boy she had ordered Lia to watch.
"Is he fine?" Morvana asked immediately.
It would be quite boring if he died so soon after all.
She thought as she looked at her subordinate for an answer.
Lia shook her head. "He is fine, Mistress except a few minor injuries."
"Hmm, I see." Morvana nodded, her expression calm but eyes sharpening. "Anything else to report?"
"I believe young master Varek had something to do with it," Lia continued. "I saw one of his subordinates throwing the explosives. And… there was something strange as well."
She hesitated.
"What was it?" Morvana's eyes sharpened as her curiosity spiked even more.
"Student Rael was… smiling," Lia said carefully. "He was talking to the other student as if nothing had happened. And then he asked his familiar, the bear, to escort the one responsible for the explosion away."
Lia paused before finishing,
"…and he didn't report him to the staff at all."
"Did you hear what they were talking about?" Morvana asked.
"No, Mistress," Lia replied. "I maintained the distance you ordered… so I couldn't hear their conversation."
Morvana nodded slowly. "Hmm. Very well. You may go back and continue maintaining your distance."
Lia nodded and turned back without hesitation before walking out.
As soon as the sound faded, Morvana's lips curled into a slow smile.
Lia nodded and left without a hint of hesitation, the door clicking shut behind her.
As soon as the sound faded, Morvana's lips curled into a slow smile.
You didn't hear anything, huh?
How laughable.
She couldn't help but scoff at the stupidity of her only human subordinate, the one who thought of herself being too smart.
Lia.
Or as the Human Supremacy cult preferred to call her, their leader—
The Serafim.