A short while later, Lucian, Sera, Elira, Zeri, Lyria, and Kaelen were all gathered inside the infirmary.

Daylight seeped in through the window — glistening as it fell upon the scattered golden hair of Aria, who was lying completely motionless on the bed.

Her always charming, bright eyes were shut low, and her skin had turned an ashen white. Her usually baby-pink lips were cracked and dried out, with peeling flakes giving her an uncomfortably ugly, realistic look.

It looked exactly like her body was completely withering away from the inside...

Seeing Aria in this state, no one could even find the words to say. A heavy, suffocating silence hung over them, as if death itself was hovering right next to her. Even Lucian was standing there dead quiet.

Standing in the back, the infirmary healer noticed the dead silence, stepped a bit closer, and murmured in a low voice.

"I... I already informed Miss Aria’s family two days ago, however, for now—"

From the shadows of his bangs, Lucian shot him a single side-glare.

"Yeep—" The healer gulped.

"I-I mean, this is just a curse! She will recover soon... in a few days, probably..."

Hearing that, Lucian’s aura instantly burst out in a sharp flash. This time, not only the healer, but even Kaelen, who was standing next to Lyria, flinched hard.

"Eekk... Oh Mommy..."

In a low, dangerously quiet voice, Lucian spoke only once.

"What do you mean, ’probably’...? Hey. Whatever you have to say, say it clearly..."

Before the healer could squeak out another word, Sera clenched her fists tightly and looked narrowly at Lucian.

"This is all my fault... I should have told you earlier..." Her eyes turned glassy, completely fixed on Aria.

"And?"

She couldn’t say anything else... even when he pushed.

Seeing this, Elira uncharacteristically stepped in, speaking sympathetically on her behalf. "A week ago, right around the Arcane exams, Aria’s health started deteriorating... Aria made Sera promise not to tell you. She thought she could heal it herself..."

Then Sera finally choked out the rest.

"But it didn’t get better. And because of it, Aria couldn’t write a single thing in the exam... she just kept blaming herself this entire week..."

Lucian shot a cold glare at Sera... then closed his eyes and let out a heavy exhale. Finally, he quietly mumbled. "I didn’t see Aria’s name anywhere on the board..."

Sera’s eyes went wide, the tears welling up again.

"This is all my fault. If I had just told you, Lucian... maybe we wouldn’t have to see Aria like this..."

Lucian pinched the bridge of his nose... and immediately snapped right back into his usual problem-solving mode.

"What’s done is done..."

He stepped forward, crouching down beside the bed. Bringing his hand close to Aria’s pale cheek, he did something... looking at him, it was crystal clear he was already somewhat aware a situation like this might happen... and he was fully prepared to handle it.

Alright, let’s see how to recover Aria...

System, what curse is this? Any solution... How do I heal her?

[ Nah, no healing is going to help here... ]

What do you mean no is going to work?

Right at that exact moment, Kaelen, who had been holding himself back this entire time — tightened his grip on his staff... and yelled out loud.

"I-I MIGHT... NO, I AM CONFIRMED ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO HER! THIS ISN’T SOME CURSE OR POISON!"

Everyone in the room instantly turned to look at Kaelen.

Realizing he had just yelled out loud and drawn everyone’s attention — especially Lucian’s gaze — Kaelen’s face instantly went pale. He immediately shrank back, hiding halfway behind Lyria, gripping his staff like a lifeline.

"H-Hieee..." first he let out a pathetic, high-pitched squeak, then he completely avoided Lucian’s eyes for a whole minute. So much for being Silvercrest’s Rank 1 prodigy; right now, he just looked like a cornered rabbit

Rising slowly from the bed, Lucian let his gaze settle. His eyes—like chips of freezing silver — locked onto the trembling boy, daring him to run.

"Explain."

Lucian felt no anger, his tone entirely even. Kaelen, however, took one look at that unblinking expression and braced himself, terrified he was facing a man about to snap.

He flinched, instinctively taking another step back.

"I-I just... I don’t do well with strangers looking at me like that... P-please don’t glare..."

"Kaelen, take a breath," Lyria intervened gently, tapping her fan against her hand. "Just give him the results of the mana reading. That’s all he’s asking for."

Swallowing hard, Kaelen peeked out from behind Lyria. Despite his cowardly posture, his eyes shifted to Aria, and a flash of undeniable expertise flickered in them. He might be a complete coward, though the staggering depth of his magical knowledge was monstrous.

"I-It’s an active tether," Kaelen stuttered, pointing a shaking finger at Aria’s chest. "Curses leave a passive mark and Poisons leave a chemical residue. But her mana veins... they are constantly vibrating. Someone... someone is actively doing this to her right now."

Sera approached, frowning. "Actively? What does that mean?"

"I-It means she is being controlled from the inside! Look at her skin! Think of it like... l-like sand magic! Imagine if a mage planted a seed of sand magic inside your stomach. They could just remotely activate it to absorb all the moisture from your organs, completely drying you out from the inside!"

Elira’s eyes narrowed. "If it’s an active spell, why is it taking so long? A lethal spell like that should have killed her in minutes."

"T-That’s the sick part! Whoever is doing this... they aren’t trying to kill her quickly. They are pulling the moisture out drop by drop. Deliberately. T-They are taking their time, purposely stretching out her suffering..."

The infirmary went dead silent again.

Lyria closed her fan with a sharp clack. Her usual elegant smile was gone, replaced by a grim expression.

"Kaelen’s mana sensitivity is unmatched across all the academies," Lyria stated plainly, looking at Lucian. "If he says someone is pulling the strings from a distance to dry her out, then it is a fact that The caster is out there, right now, slowly torturing her to death."

Hearing this, Sera grimaced and gritted her teeth, while Elira went perfectly still, the only shift in her expression being a tight vein in her jaw.

And Lucian?, he didn’t say a single word. He just stood there, looking down at Aria’s cracked, bleeding lips.

Breaking the heavy silence, a wet slurp echoed in the room.

Zeri, still lazily licking her bright blue ice candy, blinked her half-lidded eyes.

"So, we just have to quickly catch this sand user and shove their sand down their throat. Nothing else."

Lyria covered her mouth with her fan, a genuinely impressed smile forming on her lips. "My, my. Straight to the point as always, Zeri. As expected of my friend."

Elira maintained her usual flat expression.

"Before we go hunting anyone down, we need to shift Aria to a place where her body won’t continue to dry out. We have no idea how much time it will take to find the culprit."

"She’s right, we have to move her!" Sera agreed anxiously. "But... we can’t just take a critically ill student out of the infirmary without the Student Council’s permission!"

Lucian scoffed with a dismissive look flashing in his silver eyes.

"I don’t give a damn about the Student Council.

Hearing that, Zeri pulled the candy from her mouth and gave a lazy nod.

"Then let’s go and find a place where we can put Aria so she won’t dry to death."

Lick... lick...

Lyria clasped her hands together, letting out a soft sigh of adoration.

"Aww... look at you taking the initiative to help someone. You’re just too precious, Zeri."

"I-If we just need a place with high moisture..." Kaelen stammered, raising his trembling hand. "I... actually know a restricted underground aquatic greenhouse. The humidity there will forcibly stop the withering process."

Lyria smiled brightly, patting his shoulder. "Oh, Kaelen. So reliable. Honestly, I couldn’t be prouder of my team."

Despite the convenient help, Not a hint of relief showed on Lucian’s face. He wasn’t about to blindly trust a group of top-ranked rivals who just happened to show up with all the perfect answers.

System, Scan them. Any hidden motives? Or they involved in this?

[ Oh, please. If I had a stat point for every time you got paranoid, you’d be a god by now. No, they are perfectly clean. Just a bunch of overly competitive try-hards. You’re welcome. ]

Lucian let out a long sigh, rubbing the back of his neck.

Certainly. Please lead the way, I guess and... thank you for the assist, Lyria."

Lyria gracefully waved her fan in front of her face, letting out an elegant chuckle.

"Please, don’t misunderstand this as charity, Lucian, We simply despise weak competition. It would be dreadfully boring to crush our rivals on the next expedition when they are already half-dead."

Hearing that, Sera’s eyebrow twitched multiple times with a visible vein popped on her forehead as she pointed at kaelen,

"Hah?! Who are you calling half-dead, you fancy peacock?! Just wait until Aria wakes up! I’ll shove that stupid fan down your throat, and then I’ll shave that shorty’s bald!"

EEeekkk....

Sera’s meathead threat broke the tension in the room as Kaelen let out a panicked squeak, while Elira lowered her head to hide an uncharacteristic low chuckle.

However, that brief moment of levity was totally shattered by something — or rather, by someone.

Standing at the infirmary doors, panting heavily, was Cassian. He had dark, sunken bags under his eyes, looking as though he hadn’t slept in days. Completely ignoring everyone else in the room, his eyes were wide open, staring fixedly at Aria’s motionless body.