Chapter 86 : Chapter 86
Chapter 86. Very Cool, Isn’t It?
Logaris stopped moving.
He turned back around.
The study was quiet, with only the crackling sound of burning firewood coming from the fireplace.
Sylvia stood there as moonlight passed through the tall window and fell upon her silver hair, flowing across it like a layer of gentle radiance.
Her silver-gray eyes did not look anywhere else. She stared at Logaris without blinking.
“I saw it earlier in the Raging Valley.”
Logaris’s body stiffened for a moment, but his expression did not change at all.
“Saw what? The aftereffects of casting a high-tier spell. Mana backlash is perfectly normal.”
Logaris tried to explain the matter in the calmest tone possible.
Sylvia did not refute him, nor did she press further.
She walked toward Logaris step by step. The sound of her high heels tapping against the wooden floor echoed clearly in the silent study, one step at a time.
“Logaris, how many years have we known each other?”
Sylvia’s voice was soft, as though she did not wish to disturb the atmosphere of the moment.
“Since the time at Saint Arcadia Academy, when we were still students and people called us the ‘Twin Stars.’”
“Later I returned to the royal capital, you stayed at the academy to teach, and now you came with me to the Northern Territory.”
She paused for a moment.
She walked up to Logaris and stopped in front of him.
The distance between them was very close, so close that Logaris could clearly see his own reflection in those silver-gray pupils.
“If you have any difficulties or worries, you can say them.”
Sylvia looked straight into Logaris’s eyes. There was a sincerity in her voice that was impossible to refuse.
“I think I should be able to help you solve them. Even if I cannot solve them, at least I can know what you are carrying on your shoulders, and what exactly you are worried about.”
“We are... friends, aren’t we?”
Facing Sylvia’s direct approach, Logaris fell into a long silence.
Friends…
When that word came from her mouth, it seemed to carry a completely different weight.
If there truly was one person in this world whom Logaris trusted the most, that person would probably be Sylvia standing before him.
Logaris thought so.
The flickering light from the fireplace illuminated his face, a face that always carried calmness and rationality, revealing no visible emotion.
He remained silent for a long time, so long that another spark burst from the firewood in the fireplace.
Finally, as if he had given up holding onto something, his tense shoulders relaxed.
Logaris was tired.
Pretending with illusions and disguising his heart with words for so many years had truly exhausted him.
Especially in front of her, maintaining that disguise required even more effort.
Logaris finally made up his mind.
He let out a long breath, as if trying to expel the frustrations that had accumulated in his chest for many years.
Logaris raised his hand and removed the rimless glasses that had hung before his eyes for many years, casually placing them on the nearby mahogany desk.
Under Sylvia’s focused gaze, Logaris slowly closed his eyes.
One second.
Two seconds.
When he opened them again, those eyes were completely different.
In his left eye, a strange crimson color appeared once more, like a sea of blood frozen in place. It was eerie and profound, as if it contained a power that did not belong to this world.
In his right eye remained the familiar pale blue, clear and calm, like the frozen surface of a lake in the Northern Territory.
One red.
One blue.
Two completely opposite colors appeared on the same face, forming a striking and shocking visual contrast.
This appearance was no different from the heretics described in the tomes of the Holy Church, nor was it unlike the demons in the stories of wandering bards who seduced the hearts of men.
Logaris had voluntarily removed the magical disguise he had maintained for nearly ten years.
He had revealed his deepest secret to Sylvia without reservation.
After doing all this, Logaris instead felt a sense of relief, as if he had finally set down an invisible burden that had followed him for more than a decade.
He did not look at Sylvia’s reaction, perhaps because he did not want to, or perhaps because he did not care.
Logaris simply began to speak on his own. His voice was low, as if he were telling a distant story that had nothing to do with himself.
“My mother said that this red eye, and my completely black hair, were both inherited from my father.”
“A man I have never met.”
Sylvia listened quietly. She did not interrupt and did not make a sound.
She knew that all she needed to do now was listen.
Logaris turned his head slightly, letting his gaze fall upon the dark night outside the window, avoiding Sylvia’s eyes.
“I have never even seen a single portrait of him. I only learned from my mother that he was an extremely ‘bastard’ and irresponsible man.”
“She said she hated seeing this eye.”
“Because it constantly reminded her of that man, and of that unpleasant past.”
“When I was a child in the city of Falnos, the other children in the nearby streets also mocked and excluded me because of this eye.”
Logaris’s tone was very calm, without the slightest fluctuation of emotion.
“They called me a ‘monster.’”
“The ‘son of a demon.’”
“So ever since I can remember, my mother required me to wear an eyepatch. Later, when I encountered magic at the academy, the very first thing I learned was illusion magic.”
“From that day on, I have used illusions to disguise it. Until today, just as always.”
The study fell into extreme silence.
Even the flames in the fireplace seemed to stop flickering.
Sylvia sank into thought.
This was the first time she had heard about this part of Logaris’s past.
The Logaris she remembered had only occasionally complained about his mother’s outrageously controlling nature and about those meaningless etiquette lessons forced upon him.
Yet he had never mentioned these deeper details.
In the long silence, Sylvia suddenly stepped forward, standing even closer to Logaris.
She raised her head and looked directly into his heterochromatic eyes.
She spoke word by word, each syllable clear and firm.
“Logaris.”
“But this is the Northern Territory. This is Winter City.”
Her voice was not loud, but it carried a strength capable of soothing the heart, dispersing the heaviness that filled the study.
“Here, in my territory.”
“No one would dare mock you. No one will reject you. No one has the right to criticize your origin.”
“So you do not need to hide yourself anymore.”
Sylvia’s tone carried an unquestionable seriousness.
Just as the atmosphere had become extremely heavy, almost to the point where Logaris’s long-sealed heart was about to break open—
Sylvia’s lips suddenly curved upward slightly.
The stern expression belonging to a governor vanished instantly from her face, replaced by a trace of slyness that even Logaris rarely saw.
She tilted her head slightly, like a child discovering a fascinating new toy, carefully examining Logaris’s contrasting eyes with the gaze of someone admiring a work of art.
Then she spoke with a hint of teasing in her voice.
“Besides, don’t you think so?”
In Sylvia’s silver-gray eyes shimmered a mixture of sincerity and playful mischief.
She leaned closer, her warm breath brushing gently across Logaris’s cheek.
She lowered her voice, speaking softly as though sharing a secret.
“Heterochromia is very cool, isn’t it?”
“….”
Logaris froze completely.
For the first time, the same emotion appeared in both of his eyes, one red and one blue.
A pure sense of bewilderment.
He opened his mouth, but not a single word came out. The part of his brain responsible for language seemed to have crashed due to this completely unexpected input.
Logaris stared blankly at his silver-haired closest friend before him as the moonlight streamed through the window and fell upon Sylvia’s smooth silver hair.
Those silver-gray eyes that were usually cold and sharp were now filled, under the glow of moonlight and fireplace flames, with a gentleness warm enough to melt a thousand years of ice and snow in the Northern Territory.
Logaris gazed at her for a long time, as if he wanted to engrave this moment into his soul forever.