I sat down in the leather chair beside Evelyn, my tattered crimson trench coat settling around my frame as my single jade-green eye locked onto White.
"Yes, White, This is Roxy. She completely abandoned her old alias and went back to using her real name. She's right here… your former vice-leader." Evelyn spoke up cheerfully, her commanding voice echoing lightly against the mahogany-paneled walls.
A quiet, profound wave of realization washed over me behind my serene expression. It turned out my baby sister had a far deeper connection to White than I had ever known. They had already met weeks ago at House 132, sharing tea and mourning a ghost while I was out bleeding in the borderlands.
Chief Roman Calico leaned forward, resting his heavy forearms on the pristine surface of his newly bought desk. A rare, genuinely satisfied expression crossed his hardened features.
"I am glad you have finally reunited with my daughter, Both of you, please, take a seat." Roman said, gesturing with a rough hand.
As Evelyn slid into the adjacent chair, I kept my gaze firmly fixed on White. My analytical mind, hyper-sharpened by years of appraisal work and high-stakes hunting, immediately began cataloging the subtle shifts in her appearance over the last two months.
Her silver bob-cut hair had grown noticeably longer, the strands framing her sharp face with a more refined, elegant weight. But beneath the polished silver spectacles and the immaculate monochrome white-and-black uniform of a Capital Knight, the biological reality of her heritage was impossible to hide. Now that I knew the truth, the facial structure, the precise alignment of her jaw, and the subtle contours of her expression carried a striking, undeniable resemblance to her biological father… the high-tier S-rank bounty, Laulif Flower, whom I had systematically hunted and claimed.
The absolute, crushing irony of the situation settled heavily into the room. White had spent her life running from the shadow of the Flower Manor, only to rise through the ranks, claim her place as a Capital Knight, and become the Executive Secretary managing the darkest classified rosters of the entire Bureau. She was sitting right beside her stepfather, Roman, completely unaware that the silent, one-armed demonic executor sitting across from her was the very person who had put her biological father in the ground.
I kept my lips pressed tightly together, my missing tongue keeping me perfectly silent as the Level 8 Mana Pool and Level 6 Magic Enhancement rings on my right hand hummed with a low, secret warmth. White was no longer just a fragile guild leader mourning a lost friend; she was the gatekeeper of the Bureau's executive files. Our paths hadn't just crossed… they had collided at the absolute peak of the capital's power structure.
Chief Roman Calico picked up a pristine leather-bound folder from his desk, his stern eyes shifting from the parchment directly to my hooded silhouette. The authority radiating from his posture was absolute, but there was an unmistakable undercurrent of profound professional respect in his tone.
"I received the official sector reports earlier this morning, Eirene, last night, you completely dismantled that illicit human trafficking ring operating out of the sewers in the Town of Balka alongside your partner, Mochi. I must admit, I am thoroughly impressed. With that operation concluded, you have now successfully taken out four separate S-rank bounties from the Registry of the Condemned. Your combat efficiency is unprecedented." Chief Roman stated, his voice booming slightly in the quiet executive office.
I sat perfectly still in the leather chair, my single jade-green eye fixed on the Chief. I didn't reach for my purse to write a response, nor did I let a single muscle twitch beneath my flame-resistant crimson trench coat. My Level 8 Mana Pool and Level 6 Magic Enhancement rings glinted in the dim room, a silent testament to the raw, visceral power required to tear those syndicates apart.
Before the Chief could turn the page of his ledger, White Flower stepped forward from his side. She adjusted her silver-framed spectacles, her gaze locking onto my face with a profound, unshakeable calm. The monochrome white-and-black uniform of her new office stood stark against the mahogany walls, but the look in her eyes was entirely personal.
"Thank you for killing my father, Eirene, Laulif Flower left our family behind ever since I was a mere baby. He was a spineless, deadbeat father who brought nothing but ruin to our name. You executing him wasn't a tragedy… it was a long-overdue act of justice." White said smoothly, her voice completely devoid of grief or hesitation. A cold, resolute clarity rang through her words.
A heavy, absolute silence settled over the grand office. Evelyn leaned back in her chair beside me, her bioluminescent blue-green hair tips pulsing with a soft, curious glow as she looked between us. The sheer, staggering irony of our tangled fates hung suspended in the air. White had just formally stepped into her role as the Executive Secretary of the Bureau, managing the highest-tier files in the capital, and her very first act was to validate the silent, tongue-less demonic phantom who had put her biological bloodline in the dirt.
Chief Roman slid the folder to the side, his expression hardening into a mask of grim, absolute gravity. He leaned forward over his new desk, locking his stern gaze directly onto my single jade-green eye.
"Well, the reason why I called you here and sent your sister to fetch you is because something unprecedented is unfolding across Andromeda, Us Luminous Knights are destined by divine mandate to protect these continents from demons, and to shield humanity from their evil kinds. And you, Eirene, are a Luminous Knight. You will use your extraordinary strength to protect our kingdom." Roman explained, his voice dropping into a low, resonant baritone.
As the Chief spoke, a completely different, silent subtext was playing out right beside me. Evelyn sat plastered in her own thoughts, her gaze boring into the side of my face. She wasn't listening to the military briefing at all; her mind was completely hyper-focused on the image of Na Tae-man and me sharing a milkshake back in the 7th District. Because of her volatile, half-slime biology, her bioluminescent blue-green hair tips began to pulse with a erratic, rhythmic glow… acting as a literal, organic lie detector. She was reading my tense posture and the lingering, burning flush on my cheeks, completely decoding the romantic truth of my date.
Chief Roman, oblivious to the silent sisterly interrogation happening in the chairs, pressed onward.
"A few weeks ago, our deep-range scouts spotted a fallen angel manifesting between the two borders of Andromeda, they are, without exception, the strongest, most catastrophic types of demons originating from the Triangulum continent. Our absolute, top-priority job is to hunt and kill it before it stabilizes. If we fail, we will face utter, unmitigated chaos across our entire continent." the Chief revealed, his eyes narrowing.
I sat perfectly rigid, my lips pressed tightly together over my missing tongue. Beneath my crimson trench coat, my analytical mind instantly shifted gears, calculating the lethal threat parameters of a Triangulum-class entity. White stood strictly beside the Chief, her fingers poised over her new secretary ledger, ready to log the deployment details of the most dangerous hunt the Capital Knights Bureau Association had ever authorized.