Chapter 27 - 26: Seeds of Corruption
At the Vance residence, Victor sat smoothly in the main hall, quietly sipping his tea. Seated across from him were Elena and Kael, while Lyra stood near the corner of the room with her arms crossed. Her spine was posture-perfect, radiating the icy, distant grace expected of her bloodline.
Victor set his cup down and tapped a long, gloved finger against a worn parchment spread flat across the table, pointing to a dense, mountainous region situated far beyond the capital’s eastern borders.
"This is our destination," Victor said, his voice smooth and measured. "We depart at dawn on Sunday. The journey will take us past the outer provinces and into the jagged ridges of the Grey Mountains."
Elena leaned forward slightly, her bloodshot eyes scanning the intricate topographical lines. "The Grey Mountains? Victor... what exactly are we going to do there? Is there a specific outpost or sanctuary we are heading toward?"
"A sanctuary?" Victor chuckled lightly, tilting his head with a playful, enigmatic smile. "Let’s just call it an outdoor field trip, Elena. The air in the capital has grown rather stale, wouldn’t you agree?"
Kael frowned deeply, his hands clenching into fists atop his thighs. His ribs still throbbed from Victor’s devastating strike on the rooftop, yet his fiery stubbornness remained intact. "Don’t play games with us, Vance. You forced us to take leave from the Academy and dragged us into this. At least tell us if we’re going to be fighting monsters or digging through ancient ruins."
"You want to be a knight, right, Kael? Shouldn’t you always be prepared for whatever is to come?" Victor replied smoothly, his dark eyes sparkling with cold amusement. "Asking too many questions before the journey even begins only wastes energy. Pack heavy, bring your weapons, bring your medicine, and leave the rest of the thinking to me."
While he maintained a lighthearted, deflective posture with the siblings, Victor’s mind was calculating rapidly as he stared down at the unmarked valley mapped out on the parchment.
According to the original novel line, this is the region where Lucas stumbles upon a hidden dungeon built into the mountains during his rogue mercenary days, Victor thought quietly. The so-called Tears of Ancient Dragons and the Ancient Dragon Slayer’s Battle Axe are hidden within its deepest vault. If my memory of the original timeline holds true, those treasures should still be resting completely untouched. If the information deviates... I will adjust the plans accordingly.
Standing in the corner, Lyra watched the interaction with a suffocating weight building in her chest. Her icy blue eyes were fixed strictly on Victor. Every smile he threw toward Elena, every playful retort he offered Kael, felt like a slow, deliberate twist of a blade inside her heart.
Why is he being so soft with them? Lyra thought, her breathing shallow as raw jealousy surged through her veins. He commanded me to hide our relationship... to act like a stranger in front of this useless commoner girl. After everything he did to me... after bending my mind and my pride to his absolute will, he treats her with gentle playfulness?
The violent spike of emotion triggered something deep within her mana circuit. A subtle, wispy haze of dark, tainted mana rippled outward from her body, lowering the room’s temperature by several degrees. The dark mana Victor possessed had settled deep within her, causing her soul to react violently to her possessive jealousy and twisting her pristine frost mana into a suffocating, dark fog.
Victor felt the sudden chill and glanced toward Lyra, his brow narrowing imperceptibly. He noticed the faint dark aura swirling around her ankles, but before he could check on her condition, the heavy atmosphere in the hall shifted.
Aria stepped inside like a ghost, her soft leather boots making no sound against the carpet. She offered a brief, respectful nod to Victor, her crimson eyes flickering toward the Vesper siblings with complete indifference before offering a slight, polite greeting to Lyra.
Victor immediately straightened up, rolling the map back into a tight cylinder. He turned his cold gaze back to Elena and Kael.
"That will be all for today," Victor commanded, his playful tone vanishing instantly, replaced by absolute authority. "Go back to your residence, finalize your preparations, and be at the eastern gate on Sunday at dawn. Do not be late."
Elena hesitated, biting her lip in quiet anxiety. "But... will going there really fix Kael?"
Victor’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "One more question, and I will forward that boutique receipt straight to the city council for immediate debt collection."
Elena gulped, sensing the sudden shift in atmosphere. She quickly grabbed Kael’s sleeve, pulling her reluctant, glaring brother out of his chair. Understanding the weight of Victor’s threat, the Vesper siblings quickly turned and hurried out of the residence.
Once the heavy doors slammed shut behind them, leaving only Victor, Aria, and the silent Lyra in the room, Victor gestured toward Lyra. He pulled her onto his lap, resting a hand against her waist and pressing a soft, lingering kiss to her lips, instantly lifting her foul mood.
Holding Lyra close, Victor turned his attention to his loyal assassin. "Speak, Aria."
"Master," Aria reported smoothly, her voice laced with quiet pride as she stepped closer to the table. "I have returned from the High Cathedral. I infiltrated their inner sanctum through the forgotten conduits."
"The Church has fully committed to Second Prince Valen Novus for the succession war," Aria detailed, her crimson eyes gleaming with sharp intelligence. "The Emperor is backing Crown Prince Reginald to check the Cathedral’s power. Furthermore, Bishop Varos has commanded Lucas to target First Princess Evelyn he intends for Lucas to seduce and claim her to consolidate total control over the royal line."
Victor’s lips curled into a cold, dark smirk. "Lucas attempting to tame Evelyn? Already?"
"There is more," Aria continued. "Lucas brought up your recent interactions with Elena Vesper. Bishop Varos ordered a full investigation into Elena and her family to figure out why you are interested in a commoner. They view you as a minor nuisance, Master... and they plan to quietly eliminate you during the upcoming term examinations in the unmonitored zones."
"Eliminate me during the term exam?" Victor let out a quiet, dark laugh that vibrated through the room. "They truly believe they are operating in the shadows."
Aria leaned in slightly, a subtle, playful glint entering her eyes. She tilted her head, her pale cheeks flushing with faint expectation. "I brought you their entire blueprint, Master. I believe this intelligence warrants a proper reward..."
Victor looked at his assassin, a faint, indulgent smile appearing on his face. He reached out, his long fingers running gently through her soft silver hair, stroking her head with quiet affection while letting his dark mana subtly soothe her spirit. Aria let out a soft, contented sigh, leaning into his palm like a tamed, pampered shadow.
Victor then pulled her slightly closer, tilting her face up to press a firm, lingering kiss onto her lips.
As he kissed her, the dark, corrupted mana lingering around Victor’s core leaked out, intertwining naturally with Aria’s aura. The energy felt wildly intoxicating to her a sweet, overwhelming surge that sent a shiver of pure bliss straight down her spine, making her knees weak as she clung to his coat.
Sitting on Victor’s lap, Lyra went completely rigid as she witnessed the interaction from inches away.
She watched every second of the display. She saw Victor gently stroke the assassin’s hair, saw him kiss her with effortless intimacy, and felt the dark, seductive mana radiating between them.
He tells me to hide our connection from that commoner girl... yet he touches this assassin right in front of me?
Something deep inside Lyra snapped.
The suffocating jealousy in her chest mutated into a thick, pitch-black obsession. The pristine pride of the Frostguard lineage shattered completely, swallowed by the dark, sinister mana flaring violently beneath her skin. Her eyes, once a clear sapphire blue, flickered with a dangerous, unstable darkness.
A corrupted instinct had fully awakened within Lyra one that no longer cared about nobility or propriety, but only about possessing Victor Vance entirely, no matter how deep into the abyss she had to fall.
If Victor knew the tragedy that awaited them on this journey, he would never have taken Lyra for granted.