The Halted Gears
Exactly one month after Cayen left the capital.
In the student council room of the Imperial Academy, right in the heart of the city, Elena—the Empire’s Saintess and Vice President of the Academy—was scowling fiercely as she irritably rifled through a mountain of documents.
"…What on earth is going on here?"
A vein stood out on her delicate brow.
The mana stability of the Academy’s underground barrier had plummeted to dangerous levels. The campus black market and the movements of pagan spies, which had been flawlessly suppressed every single month, had plunged into complete chaos. The intelligence that had always arrived a step ahead was simply… gone, cut off without a single explanation.
She set the papers down with a sharp, irritated motion.
Beside her stood Cayen’s former fiancée, Lady Lise Airen, looking equally haggard as she bit her lip.
"We inquired at the Kiros Marquisate, but that trash’s whereabouts remain completely unknown. They say he vanished without a trace after being expelled from the family…"
"Hah."
Elena let out a cold sneer.
"So the coward ran and hid. A leopard never changes its spots—the moment the treason charges came to light, he scurried away like a rat."
Lise shook her head, her face twisted with open disgust.
"I can still see that shameless face of his, not offering a single word of excuse the day our engagement was broken. After receiving so much grace from both the family and the Academy, to dare touch dark magic… As expected, the vulgar blood of a bastard cannot be hidden."
Both women were utterly certain.
Cayen’s treason was an undeniable fact. His current disappearance was nothing more than a childish runaway act born of fear of punishment. They never doubted for a second that the man who had always crawled so pitifully for the family’s recognition would soon be unable to endure hunger and come slinking back to the capital.
That same afternoon, the Kiros Marquisate itself was gripped by a strange, oppressive calm before the storm.
"Where the hell are the ledgers and barrier management methods that bug Cayen used?!"
Gilbert, head of the marquisate and Cayen’s half-brother, roared as if he meant to tear the office apart.
He had succeeded in branding Cayen a traitor and expelling him completely from the family. The marquisate was now entirely his. Yet the triumph of victory had not lasted even half a month.
The countless contracts handled in the family’s shadows, the flow of secret funds, even the management of the magic beast defense lines along the territory borders—Gilbert realized far too late that every one of those complex, dangerous affairs had passed solely through Cayen’s mind and hands.
With Cayen gone, the marquisate’s intelligence network was paralyzed. The border barriers stood on the brink of collapse.
Yuria, the half-sister who had helped her brother’s schemes while calling Cayen a bug unfit for the family’s dignity, bit her finger anxiously.
"…Brother, you don’t think that older brother of ours really betrayed the family and hid the documents, do you?"
"Shut your mouth!"
Gilbert ground his teeth.
"How dare a bastard stage a protest against the family? How long does a creature like him think he can hold out?!"
"Whether it’s the Academy dormitory or some inn in the capital—search every last place he stayed. He must have hidden the family’s confidential documents or ledgers somewhere. Find them and force him to spit them out for the family if you have to!"
They were still completely mistaken.
They believed Cayen was deliberately slacking and playing hide-and-seek just to inflict damage on the family and on them.
Following those arrogant orders, knights of the marquisate and personnel from the Academy converged on the shabby inn room on the outskirts of the royal capital where Cayen had last stayed.
From the Saintess, to the Kiros Marquisate, even to the ducal house—every powerful figure had begun searching for Cayen.
Whatever their individual purposes had been, the gears that had turned all this time through Cayen’s silent efforts and sacrifices had finally begun to fall apart.