After having to sit through a long lecture from her mother, Evangeline felt as though all her energy had been sucked out of her.

She was still sitting limply on her chair, trying to recover. But for some reason, she felt as though she was forgetting something...

’Oh, right!’

Adrian had told her about the method of becoming stronger—spell creation. She was supposed to start learning it as soon as she got home. But she wasn’t able to since her mother dragged her inside and lectured her.

Suddenly feeling energised, she stood up and headed out of the room. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

’I remember there being a library in this new mansion.’

Her own mansion didn’t actually have one, and the books were all kept in her father’s office. But this one actually did have a library, and it was managed by a librarian, too. Of course, her family hadn’t actually hired them. In fact, her family didn’t hire any of the servants working in this mansion.

They were all arranged by House Ravenshade.

Navigating her way through the still unfamiliar hallways, Evangeline found the library door soon after. As she opened the door and entered, she had to briefly squint her eyes because of how bright the interior was.

Bright sunlight streamed through the multiple arched windows on the walls, illuminating the wooden shelves filled with books. The library didn’t feel small, but didn’t seem too big either. Right next to the gate, a young woman wearing glasses sat behind a small table, seemingly immersed in the book in her hands.

Evangeline lightly called out.

"Um, hello?"

But the woman reacted more dramatically than she had expected, instantly closing the book and swiftly hiding it under her skirt in one clean motion. Then she looked around until her eyes settled on Evangeline.

"Oh, Young Lady, forgive me for not noticing you when you entered. I was busy with my book—ahem, ahem, I mean work. So, how may I help you?"

Evangeline narrowed her eyes, staring at the woman’s skirt where the woman had hidden the book. The woman shifted awkwardly and began covering her skirt with her hands, which was an action that looked strange to her for some reason.

Suddenly, her eyes went wide with realisation, and she hurriedly turned her gaze away. She smacked her forehead.

’What the hell am I even doing? I was staring at her skirt like a pervert. Good thing I’m a girl or I might’ve gotten an imprint of her palm on my cheek for that.’

She turned back to the librarian and smiled, which may have looked awkward.

"I was hoping to find books on Spell Creation. It would be good if it’s beginner stuff."

The librarian looked at her strangely.

"Young lady, I don’t think you are old enough to read those kinds of books—No wait, that came out wrong. I mean, you are not yet smart—No, I wasn’t trying to call you stupid. Ugh, I should just stop. Wait here, and I’ll bring you the relevant book."

Saying that, the woman walked away toward the shelves. Evangeline could only stare at her back in confusion.

’What a strange woman, I wonder if she is always like this, or if she ate something bad today.’

The librarian returned not long after, carrying a book in her hand. She handed it to her. Evangeline looked at the book’s title.

{The Introduction to Spell Creation: For Dummies Edition}

She frowned.

’The last part is kind of strange.’

Well, at least she had gotten what she came looking for. She waved at the librarian and left the library while clutching the book tightly.

She reached her room and lay down comfortably on the bed as she opened the book.

’I’m going to finish it today. It should be easy since it’s only the introduction.’

But that turned out to be the worst judgment of her life because after three hours, she closed the book with an expression that looked even more exhausted than the one she had after sitting through her mother’s lecture.

She began pulling her hair.

’Doesn’t make sense, doesn’t make sense, what the hell even is this bullshit?’

Even after reading it for three whole hours, she hadn’t been able to go past even the first Chapter. She could read it, but couldn’t understand a word. It was as if she were reading something written in a foreign language while using the characters of her mother tongue.

What rule correlation? What synergy?

’Ah, I understand now...’

She finally understood why he had told her about this method.

’That child was trying to make a fool of me! And I fell for it...’

She was going to get back at him for this during their next meeting, no matter what.

***

Adrian stood on the rooftop of the mansion, quietly looking down at the scenery below as the blowing wind made his hair flutter.

"Alisardarc."

At his call, mana began gathering in the air, which then condensed into a black bird. The bird flew over and landed on his shoulder.

[Feeble one, it had been so long that I assumed you were never going to call me. So? How come you suddenly remembered me?]

He turned to his shoulder where the bird sat.

"I am curious about the strange event that took place while I was out in the city. Do you have any idea what it was or what had caused it?"

The bird tilted its head.

[Why are you assuming I saw whatever you are referring to? I wasn’t even summoned there, so how could I have witnessed it?]

"Because you don’t need to be summoned to see things, you most likely have a way around it. Otherwise, how else would you have known that I had returned from the jaws of death?"

The bird paused.

[So you noticed, huh? Well, it isn’t too complicated.]

It pointed at Adrian’s arm, where there was a dark mark resembling a feather. It was a mark he had gotten after making the contract with Alisardarc.

[The two of us are connected more closely than you can imagine. It is to the point that we would technically identify as a single entity instead of two separate beings. So it is not strange for me to be able to perceive the world through your senses.]

Adrian nodded at that explanation. Well, it felt somewhat strange that another being had access to his senses, but it wasn’t something that threatened him, so it was fine. It had other implications as well, but he didn’t want to jump to conclusions based only on suspicion, so he chose to push it to a corner of his mind for now.

"Then you must have witnessed that strange phenomenon. Everyone froze mid-motion as though time itself had stopped, even though it only lasted for a moment or two. But for some reason, I, as well as that girl Evangeline, were unaffected. What are your thoughts?"

The bird remained silent for a while, as if taking time to think.

[I am not sure, I have no idea about the cause. Though it was certainly not the effect of a spell, that much I can say for sure.]

Adrian tilted his head.

"How can you be so sure? Isn’t there a time element? Can’t someone with an affinity for the time element cause that phenomenon by stopping time for a few moments?"

[You seem to have the wrong impression of the time element. Much like how the space element doesn’t simply allow you to fold space, someone possessing the affinity to the time element can’t stop time itself. Honestly, the time element would be even more useless than your space element if not for a single redeeming quality that it has.]

’I’m not sure how to take that.’

He had thought that someone possessing an affinity for the time element would be capable of things like regression and time travel, but if Alisardarc was comparing it to his useless space element, then it had to be equally useless.

The bird then added in its deep, abyssal voice.

[ And besides, it wasn’t that time had stopped back then; it was only the people. Since it lasted for only a moment or two, it must’ve given you the illusion of time itself having been stopped.]

The gears of Adrian’s mind began turning.

’It wasn’t a spell, it only affected the people and didn’t affect the two of us...’

He had also found it strange how everyone seemed confused after the phenomenon ended. After all, how would they even perceive that time had stopped? He had perceived it since he could still move and was unaffected.

But now it made sense.

Someone capable of something like that must be quite powerful. There was no way he and that girl would’ve remained unaffected if that individual didn’t wish for it. So all signs were pointing to only one individual.

’It was done by the knight who was protecting us while hiding.’

That was the best available explanation. There were other possibilities as well, but this seemed the most plausible one. Nevertheless, it was a conclusion he had reached by inference rather than from clues, so he couldn’t be too certain.

It seemed that his decision to return to the mansion had been the correct one. If the knight had acted, then some sort of threat must have been around.

Just then, he heard footsteps coming from behind, and he turned around to look.

"Young Master Adrian, there you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you."

It was his personal maid, Rue. She seemed somewhat out of breath.

"What is it?"

She replied after catching her breath.

"The Duchess has asked for your presence in her chamber, as soon as possible."