Neither of them spoke throughout the journey.
Bell walked ahead while Lilian followed closely behind with her head bowed, moving like a soulless shadow.
The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the academy's magnificent white gates in a warm layer of gold, making them look holy and solemn.
However, the moment Bell approached, this sacred place revealed its cold regulations.
“Halt!”
Two academy guards, clad in armor and wielding halberds, crossed their weapons to block Bell's path.
The gaze of one guard fell upon Lilian behind Bell, filled with scrutiny and suspicion.
“Who is... this person? Non-academy personnel are forbidden entry.”
Bell was just about to speak, intending to use his status as a member of the House of Lucas to pressure them.
Right then.
Hum.
A slight ripple in space emanated from beside Bell.
A man wearing the red mentor robes of the Ignis branch, with unruly short black hair, appeared before them without warning.
He looked young, perhaps twenty-five or twenty-six at most, but his deep eyes held a sense of weariness and sharpness that didn't match his age.
Leovite Victor.
Bell recognized him. During the opening ceremony, he had sat in the front row of the mentor seats, the only one who seemed disinterested and even somewhat impatient throughout the entire event.
He was also the only mentor in the entire academy who had never taught a class to Cecilia.
After Leovite appeared, he merely gave the two guards a casual glance. The guards immediately retracted their weapons and bowed respectfully.
Then, his gaze fell on Lilian.
“A Daywalker,” Leovite uttered those three words with no particular emotional fluctuation. “An interesting little thing.”
Bell's heart skipped a beat.
He saw through her. With just a single glance.
Leovite ignored Bell's shock. He reached out into the air, and a silver-glinting metal badge appeared in his hand.
He tossed the badge to Bell.
“Have that Daywalker wear this, and she can move freely within the academy.”
Bell instinctively caught the badge.
The badge was cold to the touch, etched with complex magic circles, and in the center was the character for “Vic” written in a sweeping, elegant hand.
“Thank you... I remember you're a teacher from the Ignis academy, right?”
“Care for a walk?”
Leovite didn't answer his question, instead offering an invitation.
It seemed... he had been watching Bell for a long time.
Bell gripped the badge in his hand and nodded.
The three of them walked along the campus streets at dusk, their shadows stretched long by the orange-red light.
“Hungry...”
Lilian rubbed her stomach and muttered in a small voice.
Leovite turned a deaf ear, keeping his hands in his robe pockets as he spoke to himself.
“Do you know what an innate ability is?”
Bell shook his head.
Leovite explained, “It refers to certain natural, special abilities that cannot be learned through study.”
He paused and pointed to his eyes.
“For example, my ‘Eye of Truth’ can see through the essence of certain energies.”
Bell's breathing hitched.
“I've seen the souls of your batch of freshmen,” Leovite's words were flat, but they stirred a massive wave in Bell's heart. “Your sister is very strange.”
“What I see is a mass of chaos. I can't see through her essence.”
Chaos!
He couldn't see through her!
This man! This man could see it!
A surge of wild joy and excitement made Bell's body tremble involuntarily.
This meant that this man wouldn't be deceived by Cecilia's angelic facade!
He would believe him!
He would believe him!
Bell forcibly suppressed the emotions churning inside him. He didn't directly state how dangerous Cecilia was.
He couldn't.
Because, to put it plainly, all of Cecilia's actions were only directed at him. She was just someone with severely distorted emotions, not some ambitious conspirator. To others, it simply looked like a display of “deep sibling affection.”
“Master, I'm hungry.”
Lilian pulled on Bell's sleeve again. She saw the students coming and going on the road, and those vibrant lives made her vampire instincts a bit difficult to restrain.
“Then what about my essence?” Bell ignored Lilian and continued to press Leovite.
“You?” Leovite tilted his head to look at him, evaluating, “A bit... a bit more mature than ordinary peers.”
That was all.
Bell fell silent.
A moment later, he looked up and, with a desperate determination, spoke those words.
“My sister is very dangerous.”
“Oh?” Leovite raised an eyebrow, finally appearing to have some interest.
Bell remained silent for even longer, organizing his words and weighing the risks.
Finally, in a tone that was almost a whisper, he uttered a crazy comparison.
“Perhaps, even more dangerous than the legendary Demon King.”
“Hahahahahaha!”
Leovite suddenly burst into loud laughter, doubling over and losing all sense of decorum.
That booming laughter drew the attention of all the students on the street. They cast curious glances, wondering why this genius mentor, known for being aloof and powerful, would lose his composure like this.
Bell's heart sank bit by bit along with the laughter.
As expected... it still wouldn't work?
Just as Bell was about to despair.
Leovite's laughter stopped abruptly.
He turned his head, those sharp eyes piercing straight into Bell's heart.
“So.”
“Why are you so hostile toward your own biological sister?”
Bell was choked by the question.
He didn't argue, but instead asked a question of his own.
“Can you believe me?”
“Try me,” Leovite answered concisely.
Bell fell silent again.
He didn't dare gamble. He couldn't afford to lose.
He had to grasp this lifeline firmly, but he couldn't rush it.
“Would it be convenient for you to come to the Terra academy to teach us?”
He changed the subject, making a seemingly unrelated request.
He couldn't fully trust Leovite yet, but he needed an opportunity—an opportunity for this man to witness the “monster” with his own eyes.
Before Leovite could answer.
A breeze picked up.
A familiar scent that made Bell's soul tremble wafted over.
Golden hair fluttered gently in the twilight breeze.
“Ah, Brother, so this is where you are.”
Bell's body instinctively shuddered violently.
Leovite's eyes narrowed slightly. He clearly captured this trace of genuine, soul-deep fear that could not be faked.
Bell slowly turned around, forcing a smile onto his face that looked worse than crying.
“Sis... Sister.”
Cecilia had already walked up to them. She first looked curiously at Lilian behind Bell, then turned to Leovite, elegantly lifting her skirt in a flawless aristocratic curtsy.
“Professor Leovite Victor, hello.”
Leovite smiled, waved at Cecilia, and then looked back at Bell.
“I'll consider it.”
After saying that, he turned around and leisurely walked away, hands still in his pockets.
Leovite's figure had just disappeared around the corner of the street.
The sweet smile on Cecilia's face vanished instantly without a trace.
She turned her head, her obsidian eyes churning with a killing intent so thick it was impossible to dissolve, staring fixedly at Lilian behind Bell.
“So, Brother.”
Her voice was bone-chillingly cold.
“Who is this stinking bitch? Why does she have your scent?”
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