Chapter 66: Honeytrap
Maya marched through the frontier with her arms folded tightly across her chest, her heavy winter boots clacking against the stone walkway. "Let him enjoy staring at that shallow attention seeker. I don't care!" She kicked a loose pebble across the floor, watching it skitter into the shadows of a nearby pillar. "Not my problem. Absolutely none of my business."
At almost the exact same moment, Lyra was walking toward the barracks from the opposite direction, her posture completely rigid. "I swear, if Adrian happens to meet that walking honeytrap and falls for her ways, I will kill her myself."
The two turned the same narrow corner and nearly walked right into each other. Both stopped abruptly, their cloaks fluttering from the sudden halt. Maya and Lyra looked at each other and a brief, tense silence hung in the frosty air.
"You're angry," Lyra noted.
"So are you."
"I'm not angry."
"Neither am I."
They stared at each other for a long beat before Maya adjusted her features into something resembling neutrality, and Lyra did the same.
"What are you doing here?" Lyra asked, crossing her arms.
"I'm looking for Leon and the others."
"Weren't you with them?"
"I got lost."
"Why?"
Maya paused, looking away toward the outer walls. "Nothing."
Lyra nodded, her jaw tight. "Nothing."
They stood there for another second before Maya gestured toward the path leading to the administrative district. "Well Leon and Adrian are probably near the barracks so they would be that way. Completely opposite to where you were going. Wanna come along?"
"Yes."
"Okay."
They started walking together, keeping their pace steady against the steady hum of the outpost's defensive formations. For several seconds, neither said anything, leaving only the distant echo of shouting soldiers to fill the gap.
Then Lyra muttered, "A certain rat has come to my frontier."
Maya glanced at her. "A rat?"
"An extremely irritating one. She pisses me off."
"What did she do?"
"Nothing worth mentioning," Lyra grunted, her silver feathers bristling slightly beneath her cloak.
Maya's expression darkened, her own lingering frustration finding a common target. "Some girls just have no sense of shame. They like being on a pedestal. They love being admired, even when everything they do is artificial and fake."
Lyra slowly nodded, her eyes narrowing as they approached the central courtyard. "What a coincidence. Your description really fits the rat I have in mind."
Maya frowned, stopping in her tracks as a sudden realization hit her. "Wait," she looked at Lyra. "Is the person you're talking about blond with blue eyes?"
Lyra stopped as well. "Yes."
Maya's eyes widened. "Knee length hair?"
"Yes."
They looked at each other, the ambient noise of the courtyard fading into the background. "You know her?" Maya asked.
"Unfortunately."
"Who is she?"
Lyra let out a long, exhausted sigh. "My cousin."
Maya's mouth opened slightly, her composure completely slipping. "Your cousin?"
"Yes," Lyra resumed walking, her boots striking the shale with renewed agitation.
Maya hurried after her, her steps quickening to keep up. "Wait, does that mean you're a noble too?"
Lyra glanced sideways. "I don't like being treated differently. And you never asked about my surname."
Maya stared at her, completely caught off guard by the revelation. Lyra sighed, rubbing the back of her neck.
"I suppose it's time to reintroduce myself," she said, her posture straightening slightly. "I am Lyra SteelHeart."
Maya slowed down, her mind processing the weight of the name. "The SteelHeart family... that name sounds familiar. I think I heard it mentioned before?"
Lyra nodded. "The SteelHeart family has protected the borders for generations. We're the most prestigious family among the nobles, and our reputation is considered equal to that of the royal family." She looked forward, her gaze locking onto the center of the yard.
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Maya considered that for a moment. "And you never thought that was worth mentioning?"
Lyra raised an eyebrow. "What does my family's status have to do with anything? I am my own person. Only failures introduce their family as part of their identity. I have enough achievements of my own to prove my worth."
They continued toward the barracks, but the moment Lyra's eyes caught sight of the central courtyard, her expression immediately soured.
There she was. Sylvie stood in the middle of a small, doting crowd of young vanguard scouts. One was clumsily offering her a warmed drink, another was eagerly telling some long story that clearly wasn't very funny, and a third had strategically positioned himself nearby while pretending he had absolutely no interest in her presence. Sylvie simply smiled, occasionally brushing her long golden hair over her shoulder with a perfectly practiced motion.
Lyra stared, her fingers locking around the hilt of her sheathed blade. "Look at all those lovestruck fools with hearts in their eyes surrounding her."
Maya folded her arms, her gaze tracking the scene. "So that's her default?"
"Yes."
Maya clicked her tongue in annoyance. Lyra looked over at her, tilting her head. "Why are you annoyed?"
Maya immediately looked away, her face flushing slightly. "I'm not."
"Did Leon see her?"
Maya huffed, her posture turning rigid. "So what if he sees her? Why would I care? It's none of my business anyway," she folded her arms tighter against her chest. "I'm just his coworker."
Lyra raised an eyebrow, a small smirk breaking through her irritation. "So you're not bothered at all?"
"Of course not!" Maya's teeth clenched as she stared blankly at the stone floor. "He can keep staring at her until his eyelids fall off!"
Lyra nodded slowly. "Sure."
Then her gaze drifted toward the edge of the courtyard, where three familiar figures were approaching. Leon, Ethan, and Adrian were walking together, talking quietly while occasionally glancing toward the crowd surrounding Sylvie.
Lyra's eye twitched violently. "That bitch is still going at it!"
Maya looked over, her expression souring. "See? I told you."
Lyra started marching toward them, but before she could cross the yard, Sylvie caught sight of her through the crowd. Her entire expression brightened instantly, her blue eyes lighting up.
"Lulu!" her voice became sweet, rising into an almost impossibly cute register. "You're here! I missed you so much!"
Lyra stopped mid-step, her face going completely blank. Maya leaned closer to her shoulder, whispering quietly. "Why?"
Lyra whispered back through gritted teeth, her knuckles turning white. "I want to slap her so much. That's not even her voice. She's making it cuter on purpose."
Maya struggled to suppress a sudden laugh, the tension breaking. Lyra forced a tight, artificial smile onto her face, raising a hand to give a stiff wave.
"Sylvie. How are you?"
Sylvie smiled brightly, stepping away from her suitors. Lyra's eye twitched again as she gestured toward the administrative wing. "You shouldn't be here. Let's go talk in my office."
Sylvie happily followed her, waving a casual goodbye to the disappointed crowd. Maya watched them leave, then she glanced toward the edge of the yard where Leon was still standing with Ethan and Adrian. She let out a long, heavy sigh. "Men."
Across the courtyard, Adrian watched Sylvie disappear into the stone building. "The moment she opened her mouth, I got completely turned off."
Ethan looked at him, surprised. "Really?"
"Her tone and voice are so fake," Adrian's expression remained completely neutral, his voice level. "They're screaming 'pick me.'"
Leon nodded thoughtfully, evaluating the observation. "Meow meow meow, meeeooowww."
Ethan suddenly remembered their operational status, his playfulness fading slightly. "Oh, right," he looked at Leon. "What actually happened on your journey? How much of the Frost Expanse have you subjugated?"
Leon glanced toward the area where Lyra, Maya and Sylvie had disappeared, letting out a quiet sigh. "It was a huge disaster. Our objective was to find survivors and inquire about Earth's situation. During the journey, we had another goal added, the spirit wolf."
Leon said with a downcast look. "The blood essence of the spirit wolf could have raised us to Desolate Spirit Blood."
Ethan whistled at the metric payoff. "And?"
"We failed both goals," Leon paused, his amber eyes narrowing. "Additionally, we exposed ourselves to Lyra."
Adrian facepalmed. "That's certainly one way to describe it."
"Everything that could go wrong went wrong," Leon rubbed his face, his voice carrying the deep weight of continuous travel. "If only time could be refunded."
Ethan laughed quietly, trying to lighten the mood. "So you had fun."
"No," Leon looked completely serious. "Wrong conclusions based on incomplete information led us to making one terrible decision after another," his expression hardened. "I won't allow such a travesty to happen to me again."
He looked past the courtyard toward the old stone structure visible beyond the barracks. "I changed my mind about sleeping."
Ethan stared at him. "You just rode for more than a day."
"I'm going to the library."
Adrian looked at him, incredulous. "You were complaining about exhaustion thirty seconds ago."
"I still am," Leon started walking, his steps unhurried but deliberate. "That's why I'm going to sit down."
Ethan watched him leave the courtyard. "That's more like Leon. Sleep is overrated."
Leon's focus was already shifting toward his next goal. "You guys should keep up with them," he gestured toward the building where Lyra and Sylvie had gone. "I don't want to miss any funny jokes."
Ethan grinned, his easygoing nature returning. "Got it. See you later."
Leon walked away, leaving the noise of the barracks behind as he entered the outpost library. The facility was enormous, occupying two full floors of an old stone building, its interior stretching much farther than its simple exterior suggested. Tall wooden shelves filled the spacious halls, many reaching almost to the high ceiling, while narrow staircases connected the floors and long tables occupied the wide spaces between the aisles. Each aisle has a category marker.
History.
Geography.
Cultivation techniques.
The Five Arts.
The Night Guest.
Leon stopped. His exhaustion suddenly felt less important.
He looked farther down the aisles, his eyes tracking the category markers under the dim library lighting. There were even sections devoted to cooking, wine brewing, agriculture, architecture, trade, warfare, beast domestication, and countless other subjects. Anything that could possibly matter to a civilization seemed to have found a place somewhere within these old stone walls.
Leon smiled faintly, his fingers brushing against the dusty spines. "Now this is useful."
He walked directly toward the shelves marked World Structure. The recent journey through the Expanse had taught him a critical lesson: his biggest mistakes had come from hastily drawing conclusions while missing a lot of context. If he wanted to stop making decisions based on incomplete information, there was an obvious solution.
Acquire more information.
Leon pulled out the first heavy book from the shelf. A thick cloud of dust rose into the air, caught in the faint silver glow of the distant light. He coughed once, waving his hand to clear the air.
"Still worth it."
He carried the book toward one of the long wooden tables and pulled out a chair. "Been a long time since I had a lot of reading to do. Time to speedrun."