As I walked toward the exit, my mind went back to my mother's words in the vision.
'The end belongs to the boy who remembers what it means to be void.'
In a family of dragons and a world of monsters, what does being a 'void' mean? For her to bet her entire life—her very existence—on it. Was I meant to be a hole in this world's logic? A silence so loud it breaks their music?
"You took your time," a sharp voice said from the shadows near the entrance.
I froze. Elena hadn't left. She was leaning against the wall, her crimson eyes fixed on the hand I was hiding behind my back.
"Did you find your 'light reading,' Rio? Or did the Librarian decide you were too boring to eat and kicked you out?" With that, she stepped into the sliver of sunlight.
"I... I found a few things," I managed to rasp, putting on my best "pathetic and exhausted" face. It wasn't hard; I felt like I was about to keel over anyway. "Mostly just dusty records. History is a lot more boring than I expected."
Elena didn't move. She just stared at me, her eyes tracking the bead of sweat rolling down my temple.
"You're lying," she said simply. "Your scent has changed. You smell like old parchment and... something else. Something rotten."
She took a step closer, her hand reaching out.
"Show me what you're hiding, Rio. Or do I have to take it from your cold, stick-thin hands?"
"It's just a book, Elena," I whispered, the weight of the library and the vision finally crashing down on me. I let my knees buckle slightly, leaning against the massive silverwood door for support. "A book about mother. Is that a crime now? To want to know the woman who died so I could be the family's favorite punching bag?"
Elena's hand paused in mid-air. The murderous pressure didn't vanish, but it flickered. Her eyes dropped to my shaking hands, then back to my face.
For a second, the predatory Dragon was gone, replaced by something unreadable—something that looked almost like a memory of her own.
"You're a fool, Rio," she hissed, though she pulled her hand back. "Knowledge in this house isn't a gift. It's a death sentence. If any of our mothers sees that, they won't just ask questions. They will peel the truth out of you."
She turned away abruptly, "Hide it. And don't tell anyone about it."
As she walked away, I let out a long breath, my lungs finally expanding without that suffocating draconic pressure. I waited until her footsteps faded completely before I dared to move.
Clutching the book against my chest beneath my oversized shirt, I began the long, treacherous walk back toward my room.
I turned the corner at end and there I saw him.
Aries.
He was leaning against a marble bust, his breathing slightly uneven. My eyes immediately went to his face. The bruise I'd left on his jaw was still there, a dark, mottled purple against his pale skin.
'He hasn't healed it yet?'
With the resources of the Aragon family, he could have had a high-tier healer erase that mark in seconds. I guess his ego is just too big for things like that; he probably wants to keep it as a reminder of the "humiliation" he needs to repay.
Our eyes met. For a second, the hallway felt ten degrees colder. Aries didn't lunge, and he didn't shout. He just looked at me with a pure, concentrated hatred that felt really sharp.
"Tch!"
He didn't even waste a word on me. He pushed off the wall and walked past me, his shoulder intentionally clipping mine with enough force to make me stumble.
He is really angry. If he was shouting, I'd be less worried, but that silent fury? That's the kind that ends with an "accidental" fall from a balcony.
But as I watched his retreating back, a strange sensation washed over me.
'Why is it that I am feeling a lot better than before?'
I was shaking just a moment ago, my knees were like jelly, and my mind was a fractured mess of silver and gold memories. But now, the air feels... lighter.
I looked down at my hands. They were steady.
[NOTICE: RESONANCE STABILIZING]
[STABILITY: 3.0% -> 3.4%]
[SOURCE: EMOTIONAL FEEDBACK (HATRED)]
Wait… since when does hatred make me feel better?