## CHAPTER 81: The Archive of the Forgotten
The heavy double doors clicked shut behind the group, carrying the distant sound of Casel's booming laughter and Zerav's sharp, competitive retorts down the corridor. As the footsteps faded away, a profound, dense silence reclaimed the crimson room.
Louisa glanced between Lyra, who remained completely unmoving on the velvet couch. A knowing, subtle smile touched Louisa's lips. She turned to the maid standing by the door.
"Lucy, let us head back to the kitchen to prepare dinner," Louisa said softly, her melodic voice keeping the atmosphere light. "I believe our guests will soon be quite famished."
"Right away, Lady Louisa," Lucy replied with a deep, seamless bow.
With a polite, respectful nod to Lyra, the two women stepped out through the secondary door connecting to the adjoining wing, closing it quietly behind them. Now, only Lyra and Lady Aurora remained, isolated in the vast, amber-lit space.
Lady Aurora lifted her cup, taking a slow, elegant sip of the tea. Her light blue pupils caught the afternoon light, reflecting an ancient, unbothered calm. She didn't look the least bit surprised that the class representative had chosen to stay behind.
"You have remarkable restraint for someone your age, Lyra," Aurora observed gently, setting her cup down with a soft, perfectly controlled click. "Your friends are eager to play, yet your mind seems to be focused else where."
Lyra leaned forward, her fingers interlacing over her knees as she dropped her polite diplomatic shield. "It's difficult to relax when the math doesn't add up, Lady Aurora. Your own posture, your speech, and the way you hold yourself—it doesn't belong to a commoner living in an isolated valley. You know seem to be quite vast in the affairs of nobility."
Lyra's eyes narrowed slightly, her sharp wit cutting through the room's lingering warmth. "Who were you? before isolating yourself."
Aurora let out a soft, genuine chuckle, her slender fingers returning to trace the edge of her porcelain cup. She seemed to thoroughly enjoy the intellectual pressure Lyra was applying.
"You are exactly as I imagined," Aurora said, her voice dripping with a smooth, nostalgic warmth. "Frostveil is a name born of necessity. A common name meant to shield me from the eyes of the central district. Aurora is, and always has been, my true given name. But before the world forgot, I was born into the lineage of House Glacia."
Lyra's brow furrowed slightly. "House Glacia..." She repeated the name under her breath, her mind racing through years of historical tutoring, ancestral trees, and political lineages. It rang a faint, distant bell, but couldn't immediately lock onto its origin.
Seeing the girl's internal struggle, Aurora offered a small, knowing smile. "Think back to the historical archives of the central district, Lyra. Think of the territories that existed before the kingdom redrew its borders. Think of the casualties of the Orion War."
The moment the words Orion War left Aurora's lips, something violently clicked in Lyra's mind. Her breath hitched, her eyes widening in profound shock as her posture locked tight against the velvet cushions.
"The Orion War..." Lyra whispered, her voice laced with sudden disbelief. "House Glacia was one of the legendary pillars of the old northern territories. They possessed an unmatched, absolute bloodline capability over sub-zero elements. But... that house was completely eradicated. The records state that every single member of the main lineage was wiped out in the final siege. The line was declared entirely fallen."
Aurora replies smoothly, her expression remaining entirely serene despite the heavy historical tragedy attached to her true name. "I am the last of my line."
Lyra swallowed hard, trying to process the fact that she was sitting across a member of what the achieves call the Fallen house. But before she could even formulate her next question, Aurora leaned back, her light blue eyes flashing with a sudden, brilliant intensity.
"But of course a lineage is just a title, Lyra. True power does not rely on a family name, the only reason I survived was because I was away on the front lines of the war," Aurora continued, her tone dropping into something far more profound. " Before I passed the mantle down to him to bear... I was the former Grandmaster of Endless Winter."
The revelation hit the room like a physical weight. Lyra felt a chill trace up her spine. Grandmaster. So she was the former holder of Caspian power.
Instead of the atmosphere growing tense or hostile, a strange, mutual respect settled between the two. Lyra found herself completely captivated by the discussion, and Aurora seemed to appreciate the young noble's ability to comprehend the weight of these secrets without panicking.
"If this household is a sanctuary for hidden legacies..." Lyra began, her analytical mind instantly expanding the scope of her theory. "Then Caspian isn't the only one. What about the others? Louisa... her displacement magic and her healing at the academy courtyard were far too advanced for a standard student. What exactly is she?"
Aurora smiled warmly, clearly pleased by Lyra's deduction. "Louisa is the Grandmaster of the Celestial Hearth"
"Celestial Hearth?" Lyra asked surprised,
"I've never heard of that before" She said.
" You may remember her as the Diamond bow Socerer, a very destructive power, however she is capable of healing touch, allowing her to heal wounds, broken bones and mend flesh in a matter of seconds and she's the most responsible one by far"
"And Zerav?" Lyra asked, remembering the fierce, untamed purple eyes of the beast-kin.
"Zerav carries the mantle of the Grandmaster of Dark Calamity" Aurora explained, her voice filled with maternal pride.
"Oh I read about that" Lyra said scrambling to bring out a book from her bag and Aurora watched with face full of awe before once again sipping on her tea.
Lyra opens a page and from a book and shows her,
"He must be the dark scythe Socerer, I'm right"Lyra said enthusiastic.
"No" Aurora shot her down,
"His the dark BLADE soccerer, each holder of the Grandmaster power uses and utilises the power much differently from his/her previous predecessors" She said.
" The Grandmaster before Zerav used a sword, but Zerav chose the part of the Scythe"
Lyra absorbed the information, her mind spinning with the sheer political and military implications of what she was hearing. A single household in the outer valley contained a literal council of hidden Grandmasters. If the capital ever found out about this, it would trigger a localized war.
"And Edna?" Lyra asked, shifting her gaze to the spot on the couch where the crimson-haired girl had been sleeping just moments ago. "She is... rowdy, loud, and acts remarkably like a child when she's asleep, yet her physical combat capabilities are completely savage."
"Edna is unique. Her childish demeanor is merely how she rests her mind, Lyra, but do not let it fool you. She's an absolute powerhouse of raw, uncontainable fire power. She holds the seat of the Grandmaster of the Heat."
Lyra sat back against the velvet sofa, letting out a long, slow breath. The sheer scale of what this family represented was staggering. Yet, looking at Aurora, who was calmly sipping her tea, Lyra realized that despite their world-shattering power, they truly just wanted to live a peaceful, quiet life. It was a beautiful, but very dangerous contradiction.
But as the pieces of the puzzle perfectly fell into place, Lyra realized there was still one name that had been intentionally omitted from every explanation.
Lyra looked Lady Aurora directly in the light blue eyes, her sharp wit locking onto the final mystery.
"If all of them are Grandmasters. Then...," She's paused. Lyra spoke, her voice dropping into a serious, intense whisper. "But Louisa evaded the question earlier, and you haven't mentioned him once. What about Silas? What exactly is he."