Completely ignoring everyone else in the room, his eyes were wide open, staring fixedly at Aria’s motionless body as he stumbled forward with uneven steps and practically collapsed beside Aria’s bed.

"A-Aria... no..."

For a moment, he just stared at her face with his sunken, bloodshot eyes, looking exactly as if he took all the blame for this—like this was entirely his fault.

"This... haah... what happened... w-why... why didn’t you listen to me? You shouldn’t have been with this bastard... What do I do now... without you...?"

His breathing became wildly erratic. Gripping the edge of the bed tightly, he kept muttering incoherently to himself.

Then, needing an outlet for his breakdown, he suddenly whipped his head toward Lucian. His eyes were filled with an unhinged, desperate rage.

"You cheap bastard!" he lunged forward, grabbing Lucian’s collar in a dead-tight grip.

"If you couldn’t save Aria, you should have at least pushed her away, you piece of shit!"

"Speak! Say something!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, shaking Lucian’s uniform.

"Tell me, you bastard! If you couldn’t save her, why didn’t you just keep her away?!"

Standing nearby, Elira and Sera instantly tensed up, ready to step in and push Cassian away. But without even looking at them, Lucian just raised a single finger, silently gesturing for them to stand down.

Pity. Looking at Cassian’s utterly broken face, all Lucian could see was pathetic pity.

He realized right then that Cassian could probably never wish any actual harm upon Aria. Yet he still needed to confirm things. He had to know why this completely reversed-image character was behaving like this.

System. Scan him.

[ Target: Cassian Brightmore ]

[ System Error: Cannot read target data. ]

[ Requirement: Upgrade the skill ’Villain’s Gaze’ to access further details. ]

He frowned. An error?

After a few seconds of dead silence, Lucian let out a heavy sigh. He raised his hand and effortlessly pried Cassian’s fingers off his collar.

He then turned his head to look at Kaelen with a faint, sleazy smile creeping onto his face.

"Say... if you don’t mind, can we drag this weeping soul along with us too?"

Seeing that calculating sleazy smile on Lucian’s face, Kaelen flinched.

"W-Why would I mind?" he stammered, avoiding eye contact. "She’s your friend, after all... you’re the one who gets to make the decisions."

"E-Either way, the underground greenhouse is massive. You can bring whoever you want... I really don’t have a problem with it."

Beside kaelen, Lyria lightly tapped his shoulder with her folded fan with a proud smile.

Ding!

[ Special Mission Triggered: The Withering Tether ]

[ Objective: Cure Aria within the 7-day countdown. ]

[ Failure Penalty: The target will die from complete dehydration, and the difficulty of the next ’Fate Correction’ event will be severely escalated. ]

[ Rewards: ’Fate Correction’ paused for 1 month, New Attribute will Unlocked [Luck], Fate Resistance +10%. ]

Just like that, the hardest mission he had ever received was dumped squarely on his chest.

Looking at the absurd stakes floating in the blue text, Lucian couldn’t hold back his expression as he glared at the screen with a look so terrifying and murderous that the veins in his bloodshot eyes looked like they were about to pop.

Seeing his sudden dark face, everyone else in the room awkwardly tensed up, not daring to make a sound.

Then, without a single shred of hesitation, Lucian stepped forward and savagely grabbed Cassian by the collar.

"M-Motherfucker, let go! What the hell are you doing?!" the hero thrashed wildly. "I said let me go, you bitch! You rat-shit-faced—!"

Hearing such rotten, gutter-like words spewing out of a noble with such a pretty face, Sera grimaced in pure disgust.

"What a disgusting guy..." she muttered as her nose wrinkled.

Lucian didn’t even flinch at the insults. He just pulled Cassian closer, his silver eyes completely dead.

"Shut your mouth and make yourself useful, We are moving Aria to a secure location to stop her withering. If you genuinely care about her, then grab her other side and help me carry her. If not, get out of my way before I throw you out the window."

Hearing those cold words, Cassian froze. His unhinged rage cracked.

"Where..."

"What..."

Where are you planning to take her?

"Just shut your mouth and walk."

"Tch..."

Despite the absolute hatred he felt toward Lucian — loathing the guy so much that he couldn’t stand being within ten feet of him — Yet, looking down at Aria’s lifeless, withering face... he forcefully swallowed his hatred and got along with it.

Without another word, Cassian moved to the other side of the bed.

"Wait," Elira signaled toward the healer who was standing on the side and had heard everything.

"I-I won’t tell anyone, I swear... you can completely trust me..."

Everyone in the room just stared deadpan at that healer.

Sera placed her hand on the hilt of her sword. "I’ll handle it..."

Before she could step forward, a blue glint flashed in Cassian’s eyes as he used his hypnosis. In the very next second, the healer walked over to a nearby table and started writing something, acting exactly like a puppet.

Everyone looked at Cassian’s ugly, scrunched face as he spat out.

"This is only for Aria. You academy rotten scoundrels just eat for free. I will heal my Aria myself."

This fucker. How audacious of this bastard.

Lucian’s expression didn’t change, though a sharp twitch pulled at his jaw as He pinched the bridge of his nose, swallowing the retort burning in his throat, and let out a rough sigh.

"Very well then everyone. Let’s go."

At his signal, Kaelen gripped his staff and muttered a quick incantation, tearing open a shimmering, mana-dense portal right in the middle of the hallway. After letting Elira, Sera, and the rest of the Silvercrest trio step through first, Lucian and Cassian hoisted Aria’s stretcher between them and walked into the swirling rift.

The moment their boots hit the ground on the other side, everyone froze in their tracks, utterly stunned.

What they saw was not simply a greenhouse...