Chapter 4 : Chapter 4
Chapter 4.
At night, Sylvia pushed open the door of a villa within the royal capital.
The magitech lamps lit up automatically. The royal crest hanging on the wall glowed faintly in the firelight.
She removed the sword from her waist and placed it on the weapon rack beside the bed. Today’s meeting had been more exhausting than she had expected.
“Your Highness.”
Her personal maid Elena’s voice came from outside the door.
“What is it?” Sylvia removed her coat without even raising her head.
“Professor Logaris is waiting outside. He says it is urgent—”
“I will not see him.”
“But—”
“I said I will not see him.” Sylvia interrupted her as she began untying her complicated hairstyle. “I am too tired today. I have no interest in listening to his ridiculous theories.”
Elena hesitated before speaking again. “Your Highness, Professor Logaris has provided quite a lot of technology for your personal guard unit. Many of those weapons use unpublished technology. Perhaps you should—”
Sylvia turned her head and looked at her silently.
Those silver-gray eyes showed no emotion at all.
Elena immediately took the hint and withdrew from the room.
The door closed.
Sylvia let out a breath and walked toward the window. The night was deep, and the lights of Silverglow City flickered in the distance.
She rubbed her temples.
Those old men today had been more troublesome than the last. On the surface they claimed to fear war, but in truth they were only worried about their own interests.
As for Logaris—forget it. Thinking about it was exhausting.
Sylvia sighed and sat down on the bed.
She was tired.
She lay down and closed her eyes.
—
Some time later, Sylvia suddenly opened her eyes.
Someone was here.
She rolled off the bed and seized the sword beside it with her right hand. Without any hesitation, she thrust the blade behind her.
Clang—
The sword tip struck a metal gun barrel.
Sparks flashed in the darkness.
Sylvia narrowed her eyes and saw the face of the intruder.
“Logaris?!”
The black-haired young man stood beside her bed, holding a magitech gun. His pale blue eyes looked at her through his glasses.
“How did you get in?” Sylvia did not lower her sword. “There are so many magical wards outside—”
Logaris lowered the gun and replied in a matter-of-fact tone, “Did you forget? Most of the wards around this house were designed by me.”
Sylvia froze.
That was correct.
This villa was considered her private property, and most of the magical wards surrounding it had been designed by Logaris years ago at her request.
She remained silent for several seconds before speaking slowly.
“Logaris.”
“Yes?”
“You should consider yourself fortunate.” Sylvia’s voice was cold. “If anyone else dared to break into my bedchamber like this, he would already be a corpse.”
Logaris pushed up his glasses. His expression did not change.
“Saying that is pointless. You cannot defeat me anyway.”
“Ha!”
Sylvia actually laughed in anger.
“You speak as if you could completely defeat me. Do not forget that when we were at the academy, our record was ninety-nine to one hundred.” She tightened her grip on the sword. “Do you want to try again?”
“If you want to try, then try.” Logaris raised his left hand. The gauntlet set with three gemstones reflected a faint blue glow in the candlelight. “I still have one more victory than you.”
The two stared at each other. The air seemed to freeze.
Sylvia stood beside the bed, her silver-gray hair loose over her shoulders. She was still wearing a sleeping robe.
Moonlight shone on Logaris, and his pale blue eyes were clearly visible. Sylvia suddenly realized that this man seemed even more handsome than he had been during their academy days.
His black hair was slightly messy from the wind. His jawline was sharper than before. The black robe with golden edges he wore fit him perfectly.
Most importantly, he now carried a kind of mature, cool presence. He looked exactly like the protagonist from those popular adventure novels she used to read.
Sylvia’s heartbeat skipped.
Was he…
Trying to make a move on her?
Her thoughts drifted away. She had known Logaris for almost ten years.
Back at the academy, the two of them had been recognized as the “Twin Stars.” She excelled in direct sword combat, while he mastered all kinds of magic. They had partnered in many competitions and missions, earning great fame.
Although Logaris had always possessed an extremely vicious tongue, people used to joke that the two of them would eventually end up together.
However, Sylvia had never thought about such things at the time. She had been desperately trying to improve herself so she could escape the fate of becoming a political marriage tool.
Meanwhile, Logaris had been a pure scholar whose mind was filled entirely with magical theory and experimental data. Most of the time he behaved quite calmly, although every now and then he would cause some major incident that nearly gave the Holy Church a heart attack.
But now—
Sylvia looked into his eyes, and her heartbeat suddenly quickened again.
“Your Highness!”
Urgent footsteps sounded outside the door.
Elena’s voice rang out. “Are you alright? I just heard—”
Before she finished speaking, the door was pushed open.
Elena rushed in and then froze.
Under the candlelight, the princess stood beside the bed with her hair loose, wearing only a sleeping robe. Logaris stood in front of her, and the distance between them was unusually close.
There was none of the tension from their earlier confrontation left in the air.
The moonlight shone on both of them, making the scene look strangely beautiful.
Elena’s face instantly turned bright red.
“S-Sorry!”
She turned around and ran away, even forgetting to close the door.
Her frantic footsteps echoed through the corridor, growing more distant.
The bedchamber fell silent again.
Sylvia’s face slowly turned red.
“Get out.”
Her voice sounded calm, but Logaris clearly sensed the danger within it.
“Wait, I have not finished—”
“Out!”
Sylvia grabbed a pillow from the bed and hurled it at him.
Logaris caught the pillow and casually threw it back. At the same time, he pulled a small box from his coat and tossed it onto the bed.
“Well, never mind. Keep this. It might be useful later.”
After saying that, he turned around and jumped out of the window.
Sylvia rushed to the window, but she only saw his figure flash across the rooftops before disappearing into the night.
She gritted her teeth in anger.
That bastard. Did he think her home was his own? He came whenever he wanted and left whenever he pleased!
After taking several deep breaths, Sylvia finally calmed her racing thoughts. She walked back to the bed and picked up the box.
She opened it. Inside lay a brooch.
It had a silver-white base with a transparent blue crystal embedded in the center. The craftsmanship was extremely delicate.
Sylvia picked it up and switched on a magic desk lamp to examine it carefully.
Within the crystal, layers of nested magical circuits could faintly be seen. It was obviously Logaris' handiwork.
That man was actually quite meticulous when he made things like this.
She placed the brooch back into the box.
Elena poked her head in from outside the door and asked cautiously, “Your Highness…”
Sylvia suddenly changed her expression.
“Throw that thing away.”
“Huh?” Elena froze, hesitating as she looked at the delicate brooch. “Alright… alright.”
She took the box and turned to leave.
“Wait.”
“Your Highness?”
“Put it in the drawer.”
Elena looked even more confused. “But you just said—”
“Put it in the drawer.” Sylvia interrupted her and walked toward the bathroom. “And do not tell anyone about tonight.”
“Y-Yes!”
Elena nodded quickly and left with the box in her hands.
—
Outside the royal palace.
Logaris landed in a narrow alley and brushed the dust off his clothes.
He removed his glasses and rubbed his temples.
Originally, he had planned to tell her directly about the Book of Prophecy.
But the moment the words reached his lips, a powerful sense of danger had surged into his mind.
It was his intuition.
As a Fifth-Tier Archmage, his intuition had never been wrong. Many times during dangerous experiments in the past, that instinct had saved his life.
And just now, inside Sylvia’s bedchamber, that instinct had been screaming at him—
He must not say it.