Chapter 188 : Chapter 188

Iruya’s mind began racing.

What would happen next?

This woman was a Royal Princess, the Empire’s Second Royal Princess. With a single word from her, the guards outside would rush in. They would tie Iruya up, lock her in a cage, transport her to the capital, to the imperial palace, to those human scholars.

An elf.

A living elf.

An elf of a kind that had not appeared in hundreds of years.

Iruya remembered a story she had heard as a child in the clan.

It was one of those stories the elders used to frighten children who wanted to run off on their own, a story about what had happened to the last batch of elves captured by humans a thousand years ago.

They had been locked in cages and transported from city to city as exhibits. Humans could pay a few copper coins for a ticket, then go inside and stare at that “legendary creature.” They would reach out to touch the pointed ears, tug at the silver-white hair, and point at that face while talking among themselves, as though they were looking at a monkey that could speak.

Then they would hand the elves over to the scholars.

Those white-robed men would use all sorts of tools to measure elven bodies, all sorts of potions to test elven blood, all sorts of magic to probe the limits of what elves could endure. They would cut the elves open to see how they were different from humans. They would grind their bones into powder to see whether some treasure could be refined from them. They would collect elven tears and claim they were miracle medicine that could cure any illness.

Human “research” into elves had not changed in a thousand years.

First they were displayed as monsters.

Then they were used up as materials.

Iruya’s fingers clenched the silk bedsheet beneath her so tightly that the soft cloth wrinkled into a bundle, her knuckles going pale.

She remembered what the elder had told her before she left.

“Iruya, you are our last hope.”

The old man had stood at the edge of the last remaining grove of their homeland, his withered hand resting on her shoulder. His eyes had already grown cloudy with age, but beneath that cloudiness, something in them had still shone brightly—hope, reluctance, and the resolve to send her out into an unknown world.

“You absolutely must not expose your identity.”

“You have to survive.”

“You must find those lost ruins. You must recover our former glory.”

“You must carry us back into this world.”

Iruya bit her lip.

She had only been here for a year.

She had only just begun to feel that she had found a path. Only just begun to feel that she could survive in this human society. Only just begun to think she might have a chance to approach those goals—

And all because of a white crystal.

That white crystal she had heard might be connected to the elves. That white crystal Ryan Velt had bought before she could get to it. She had only wanted to steal it back. She had only wanted to take one look. She had only wanted to confirm whether it truly had anything to do with the elves.

And what was the result?

She had not been able to defeat that student called Ryan.

All she could do was dodge in disgrace, flee in disgrace, and use Spatial Magic to escape in disgrace—a forbidden thing, the one magic she absolutely could not reveal before others.

Then she had fallen from the wall.

Then she had blacked out.

Then she had awakened here, with this woman having seen through everything.

Sometimes what destroyed you was not some grand scheme.

It was a white crystal.

A person you could not defeat.

A wall you failed to stand on.

Ryan Velt.

The name turned once in Iruya’s heart.

Suddenly, a flicker of hatred rose in her.

If not for him, she would not have been wounded. If not for him, she would not have had to flee. If not for him, she would not have fallen from the wall. If not for him—

The hatred had barely surfaced before she crushed it down herself.

No.

She could not blame him.

She was the one who had gone to steal something.

She was the one who had been too weak to win.

She was the one who had used Spatial Magic to flee.

She was the one who had slipped and fallen.

Blame someone else?

On what grounds?

Iruya lowered her eyes, her lashes casting a small shadow over her face.

Her mind was in turmoil. Hatred, regret, fear, despair—those thoughts twisted together into a single knot, tightening more and more until she could hardly breathe beneath it.

“All right, all right.”

That gentle voice interrupted her thoughts.

Iruya lifted her head.

Cecilia clapped her hands lightly.

The sound was soft, but in the still room, it was especially clear. The two maids by the door curtsied slightly, then withdrew. Their movements were light and swift, like two gray shadows vanishing through the doorway.

The door closed.

Now only the two of them remained in the room.

Cecilia lifted her black tea again and took another sip. Her movements were still elegant, still composed, as though she were simply entertaining a guest in her own home.

She set the cup down and looked at Iruya.

That warm light was still in those pale blue eyes.

“All right,” she said. “Now there are no outsiders here.”

She paused.

“I imagine you must be very worried about what will happen to you next.”

Iruya stared at her without speaking.

Cecilia smiled. The smile was gentle as a spring breeze.

“Do not worry. I have no intention of handing you over to anyone.”

Iruya’s pupils tightened slightly.

“I do not want to present you to the Empire. I do not want to lock you in a cage. I do not want to send you to those scholars,” Cecilia said lightly. “All of that would be dreadfully boring.”

She rose and walked to the window. The dark violet hem of her dress trailed behind her like flowing shadow.

Sunlight slipped through the gap in the curtains and fell across her, gilding her in a pale wash of gold. She stood there, looking out the window, as though watching something mildly interesting.

“I want to propose a partnership.”

Iruya stared at her back.

Fear was still there in those violet eyes, but now there was something else as well—wariness, scrutiny, and... hope.

“...What kind of partnership?” she asked, her voice rough.

Cecilia turned back.

With the sunlight at her back, her face was half in light and half in shadow. Those icy blue eyes shone from the darkness, warm and kind, like the eyes of someone regarding a child who had finally decided to listen.

“Let me tell you a secret.”

She walked back to the bed and took the same carved chair as before.

“The Empire has discovered a ruin,” she said. “Deep in the mountains to the southwest. Deep within a great forest. Preliminary judgment suggests it contains something left behind by the elves.”

Iruya’s breath stopped for a moment.

“The Empire has sent several teams in to investigate,” Cecilia continued. “Only one person returned alive. But he brought some things back with him—writing, stone tablets, and a few... rather interesting objects.”

She picked up a parchment scroll from the small table beside her.

Her movements were careful, as though she were lifting some fragile treasure. Sunlight filtered through the slit in the curtains and fell over the scroll, revealing its yellowed edges and mottled grain.

When she saw Iruya’s eyes fix on it, something stirring in them, Cecilia smiled, peeled away the transparent layer wrapped around it—that layer of high-tier preservation magic carved with runes—and held the parchment open by both ends.

The parchment gave a faint rustle, like someone who had slept for years finally turning over in bed.