The Basement's Whispering Shadows

“Huff… haah, chuuup.”

Her fangs dug deep into my neck, then pulled free with a wet snap. The Ivory Tower Master detached herself from my body, lingering for a moment with a possessive touch that sent a shiver down my spine. She wiped the blood from her lips with the back of her hand and spoke in a low, satisfied voice.

“Not bad. And I’ll ask you again next time.”

“I’m afraid my schedule won’t allow it, Professor.”

“Come on, Imma. What’s on your mind?”

She knew every word I said. What was there to hide?

I let the laugh I couldn’t suppress curve my lips while I straightened the collar of my loose shirt. The next person I had to meet was Rina, so I needed to look presentable. She was far too sharp to miss any detail like this.

As if she had read my thoughts, the Ivory Tower Master spoke again.

“Off to meet another woman? I’m a woman too, you know.”

“…No other women when I’m feeding.”

“Just adjust your routine like a normal person. There are suddenly so many women around. Sigh.”

Whack!

She punched me lightly on the head, her lips pursed in mock annoyance. Her mood was clearly a little off.

“Get results as fast as you can. You’ll know what I mean when the time comes, right?”

“Again?”

The words slipped out before I could stop them. The Ivory Tower Master was already drinking her fill, yet she still wanted more.

I gave her a bewildered look. She raised an eyebrow in protest.

“You promised me you’d finish before the exhibition. Even incomplete, combining ash powder with my abilities is no easy task. If anyone can pull it off, it’s me. Don’t underestimate a blood-addicted patron.”

Her private technique, charging extra fees? I reluctantly acknowledged it and checked my left shoulder. It would be torn to shreds soon enough.

“If you just make sure to time it right, I’ll sacrifice my own body. Please.”

“…Hah, you’re finally acting a little obedient.”

She smiled with satisfaction and turned to leave. Just as she passed through the reception room, she gave me one last sweeping glance and offered a piece of advice.

“And be careful about those bite marks on your shoulder. If someone mistakes them for lipstick prints, it’ll be a problem.”

“Oh.”

I quickly pulled out a hand mirror and checked my neck. A faint set of teeth marks from the Ivory Tower Master still lingered on my right shoulder.

Seen from just this angle, it was the perfect sign to arouse suspicion. I wrinkled my brow and asked her directly.

“Did you… leave them on purpose?”

“What? Of course not. I was careful. You didn’t feel any pain while I fed, right?”

She gave me a seductive smile that made my heart skip. A sigh escaped her lips. She had only drunk from me once, yet she sounded like she had been drained dry.

Should I ask Georgis about eating garlic?

If I was going to avoid a woman’s scent, a strong garlic aroma might be the next best thing. With that ridiculous thought in mind, I headed toward the office where Rina was waiting.

“My one and only brother, Kassel.”

“…Right now I’m not Kassel, I’m Eugene.”

“So you’ve decided to fake date the vice president?”

“That’s how it turned out.”

I needed to explain myself to Rina.

Great, the lipstick marks were going to blow my cover too.

I could only hope she wouldn’t notice.

Faking a relationship couldn’t be hidden. After all, the point was to make it look like a real relationship in public. So my conversation with Rina was inevitable.

“You’re faking a relationship because you want to break your engagement? With some flower-brained noble lady in mind?”

“Go try that line on the student council president. See what she says.”

“Oh, right. The president’s love life is tied to her very life.”

Some people played at romance for personal gain. Others were forced to succeed at love or die trying. Rina didn’t understand that dark truth behind the romance-fantasy world.

“From what I’ve seen, it’s not just a fake relationship. There’s a real purpose. Flower-brained noble ladies like her have reasons.”

Being a woman myself, I could tell when someone was hiding something. Rina kept her expression serious as she watched me with sharp eyes.

Could she already guess Beatrice’s true feelings? I asked carefully, curiosity bubbling up.

“What’s the real purpose?”

“The desire to have a proper relationship. At her age, that’s the kind of thought a flower-brained noble lady would have.”

“Why do you keep stressing that she’s flower-brained?”

“The real reason for breaking the engagement is boredom from a bland romance. You can’t keep dragging out a loveless engagement. You’re bound to resent marriage eventually. That’s how it is.”

“…”

It was a claim I didn’t want to admit was true, but Rina’s logic was sound. There was no reason to doubt her in the romance-fantasy world.

Considering Beatrice’s fiery personality, she had enough reason to feel that way. I had no room to argue.

It seemed women could sense these things better than men. I could only click my tongue in agreement.

“So we’re set on a date during the exhibition. A four-day event… does that sound like the right timing?”

“Of course. It’s the perfect moment to strike.”

The academy’s unwritten rule.

Hidden labs full of secret research and mad scientists. And when the big festival or exam rolled around, a betrayal was always waiting to be exploited. The professors always got wiped out. The attackers usually came prepared with cheat skills.

To prepare, I had been planning several things. Beatrice’s date with Yuri had already caused some confusion, but Rina was the perfect person to handle the fallout.

“I wanted to ask if you could take care of something on your end. Is that possible, Rina?”

“My current position is supervisory assistant. If you want me to do it, I will. However…”

Rina stretched out her words and gave a light laugh, pointing out my request.

“That’s not like you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to ask for help. It doesn’t make sense.”

“…Does it seem that way?”

“Yeah, it does. A lot.”

She rested her chin on her clasped hands and continued.

“You’re basically certain there’s an attack on the academy. Even if you do everything possible to prepare, why would you take on unnecessary variables? There’s no reason to do it now.”

My actions did seem strange. Her logic was impeccable. There was no reason I should accept Beatrice’s fake-relationship request in the first place.

Well, Yuri was easy to understand. If it was guilt and I was taking care of her, I had no choice.

But Beatrice? Why her?

“Beatrice isn’t someone tied to her life like Michelle, right? Why go through the trouble of timing this? She’s the daughter of one of the Four Great Ducal Houses.”

Was she simply helping someone based on background?

Absolutely not. I had accepted the request because I wanted to use Beatrice as a test case to check something specific.

Palace intrigues could not be escaped in a romance-fantasy world. To guard the heroine who had stepped into high society and to trigger a new awakening, the right person was needed.

Beatrice was the perfect candidate to turn into a villain within my control. I had sealed our relationship with a fake engagement and kept her under my thumb.

The status window already showed that I had chosen an arbitrary person to label as a villain instead of simply revealing the already-planned target.

It was a clear threat that I was seizing control of the world through her. A silent pressure to follow my orders.

So this was the path I had planned for Beatrice—the villain route.

If I deliberately turned one flower-brained noble into a villain, I could observe how the status window would respond.

“You have no reason to do that. So you’re aiming for something inside yourself, right?”

Rina couldn’t possibly know every detail of my plan. She was only guessing from my actions. We knew each other far too well.

“Eugene, do you know when a person is most foolish?”

She might be trying to offer the advice I had never received before.

“It’s right in front of you—the answer is right there—but you keep looking for it inside yourself. Isn’t that funny? You’re imagining relationships all by yourself. The person isn’t inside you; they’re right in front of you.”

There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but I didn’t. The way she phrased it felt like a deliberate evasion. I forced the words out through a throat that felt locked.

“Are you upset that I keep hiding my true feelings from you?”

“I wonder? Then you should keep checking with me through them.”

As I said earlier.

There was no correct answer in human relationships. The answer regarding me didn’t come from me—it came from the other person. Rina took my wrist and brought it to her lips.

“So I won’t control you. That’s inefficient. It’s painful and troublesome. Instead…”

Finally, a soft ngh.

She bit lightly into my wrist, leaving her own mark.

“I’ll leave plenty of my traces on you. Is this enough? I’m your noona, Kassel.”

Playful and seductive. That was Rina.

That’s why I said Michelle was cute.

With such a strong attacker roaming the field, how could a second-string attacker even pierce through?

I lowered my head to her in submission and stood up.

“I’ll go take care of some things. See you later.”

“Yeah, go get ready to get scolded by the Empress.”

Ah, right. The Empress.

I suddenly froze. Rina burst into laughter.

“You didn’t think our Empress would just sit there quietly, did you?”

She had already touched the engagement of one of the Four Great Ducal Houses.

I didn’t need to imagine what would happen next. I smiled awkwardly.

Well, I’ll make plenty more mistakes in the future anyway.

One more question wouldn’t show any trace, would it? A self-rationalization born of a good heart.

Leaving the office, I headed for the underground waterway beneath the academy—a perfect hiding spot for a secret lab.

Meanwhile, at the same time.

Research lab of the Magic Department. Laura stood silently in front of a glowing crystal on the table, examining it closely. The academy’s advanced security system had been triggered. The meaning was simple.

An intruder has entered?

The location was the underground waterway that connected the academy and its surrounding commercial districts. Following the winding tunnels would lead to hidden laboratories. Even the Magic Department only knew this fact thanks to Laura and a handful of others.

In normal times, I would have easily handled it. But today had been special.

Why me, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of all days… ugh.

Kentri, the professor who was supposed to take today’s watch, had accidentally opened a hole and left the security system bypassed. So here I was, stuck on duty. It was infuriating.

If only I hadn’t known about the secret lab, I could have shrugged it off. But now I couldn’t pretend ignorance. I frowned and began gathering my equipment.

Incantation on the security crystal. I needed to find out who had slipped into the waterway.

Ah… it’s…

Laura stared at the image on the crystal and froze.

Even through the thick hood pulled low over his face, the clothing and the badge on his chest were unmistakable.

The person who had made the academy buzz for the past few days. She recognized him instantly.

“Eugene…?”

My rival. The man who had haunted my every step. The lieutenant of the Anti-Spy Division.

“Ha… this is crazy.”

In her eyes, he was someone who could never be ignored. She had been tracking him for so long that it was an established fact.

“Why does everyone suddenly keep targeting me?”

Her actions had been predestined.

Rina’s warning echoed in my mind as I walked deeper into the labyrinthine tunnels, the faint glow of security crystals lining the walls. The air grew colder, thicker with the scent of old stone and forgotten experiments. I adjusted the hood a little higher and kept moving, my steps light despite the weight of the secret I carried.

But the deeper I went, the more the walls seemed to whisper. Whispers that weren’t quite words—half-formed thoughts from experiments long abandoned. My fingers twitched at my sides, already reaching for the power that waited just beneath the surface. The kind of power that had once made even the Ivory Tower Master pause.

Far ahead, the hidden laboratory door waited, cracked open just enough to let a sliver of unnatural light spill out. Inside, something stirred. Something that smelled of ash and blood and the faint metallic tang of forgotten spells. I paused for a moment, listening. The whispers grew louder, almost pleading.

Then the door swung wider on its own, as if welcoming an old friend. And in the center of the room, bathed in the sickly green glow of unstable magic circles, stood a figure I knew all too well.

Kentri. The alchemy professor. His eyes were wide, hollow, and fixed on a bubbling cauldron that hummed with forbidden energy. Beside him, half-hidden in the shadows, was a small, sickly girl who couldn’t have been more than ten years old—his daughter, I remembered from the rumors I had never fully believed.

“Professor…?” I stepped forward, voice steady despite the storm in my chest. “What are you doing here?”

Kentri didn’t turn at first. His hands shook as he stirred the mixture. When he finally faced me, the despair in his eyes was so deep it felt like staring into a bottomless pit.

“You… you came. I didn’t think anyone would. The academy’s watching me too closely. And that girl—” he gestured weakly toward his daughter “—she’s getting worse every day. The doctors gave up. But this… this might work.”

He indicated the cauldron. The ash powder inside glowed faintly, reacting to the mana he poured into it. I recognized the pattern instantly. Resurrection. Not simple revival—true resurrection. The kind that violated the natural order of life and death.

My stomach twisted. I had seen what ash powder could do. It had been the catalyst behind countless tragedies, from the defier’s schemes to the dark cults I had once exposed. But here, in the hands of a grieving father, it was different. It was desperation wearing the mask of science.

“You’re trying to bring her back,” I said quietly. Not a question. A statement. “Your wife. And… your daughter.”

Kentri’s shoulders slumped. He nodded once, slowly, as if the weight of admitting it out loud might break him.

“She’s all I have left. After my wife… the illness took her too. The doctors said the magic was too unstable. But with the ash, maybe—just maybe—I can do it.”

His voice cracked on the last word. I glanced at the girl, still sleeping on a cot nearby, her small chest rising and falling in the shallow rhythm of someone fighting for every breath. She looked so fragile. Like a doll someone had forgotten to put away properly.

I had faced death many times. I had caused it, too. But this—this was different. This was a man trying to cheat the universe itself because love had failed him. The kind of desperation that could unravel ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entire worlds if left unchecked.

“You know what happens when you play with the ash,” I warned, keeping my tone gentle but firm. “It changes people. It changes things. And it doesn’t always come back the way you want.”

Kentri laughed bitterly, a sound like glass shattering. “You think I don’t know that? I’ve read every forbidden text in the archives. I’ve tried everything. But nothing worked. Until now.”

He reached out, fingers trembling as he touched the edge of the cauldron. The glowing powder swirled faster, as if responding to his pain.

“The girl… she’s been like this for months. Waking up screaming at night. Calling for her mother. I can’t watch her fade away while I do nothing. If this works, I can finally—”

He stopped. His eyes met mine, and in them I saw the same ruthlessness I carried inside myself. The man who would burn the world down to save the one thing he loved.

I understood him better than he knew. Because I had once stood where he stood now—looking at a loved one dying, and choosing darkness over light.

“Finish it,” I said at last. “But be careful. The academy has eyes everywhere. And I…” I hesitated. “I can’t let you make this mistake alone. Not if you’re going to use that kind of power.”

Kentri stared at me for a long moment. Then, slowly, he nodded again. A fragile agreement. The kind two broken men make when they recognize a mirror in each other’s eyes.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “For coming here. For… seeing me as I am.”

I turned to leave before the tears I refused to shed could form. As I reached the door, the laboratory lights flickered. The ash powder in the cauldron flared brighter for a split second, as if satisfied with the deal it had just made.

Outside, the underground waterway stretched on into darkness. I could hear the distant drip of water and the faint hum of magic wards. My thoughts turned back to the basement waiting for me above—Ruina, Eugene, the hidden truths of the Valhar family.

But for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the first time in a long time, I wasn’t walking toward my own shadows.

I was walking toward someone else’s. And for once, I wasn’t sure which path I was saving more—mine, or theirs.