Chapter 126
Erietta's energy diminished, yet did not vanish, standing as a reminder that vigilance is the final fortress for anyone who cannot understand the reason behind someone approaching without emotion or explanation.
Theo stood between those two extremes, maintaining a balance that was fragile yet essential.
After ensuring that Erietta would not take any unpredictable action, he shifted his attention back to Aldraya.
A small smile appeared on his face.
Not as mockery or challenge, but as a subtle signal that he accepted the question, understanding the depth of meaning concealed within it.
Those four seconds felt long, as though time stretched to create space for the answer slowly forming in his mind.
Theo's gaze did not falter, even though the energies of the two women beside him continued to circle in differing rhythms.
He absorbed Aldraya's question as if weighing the burden of concepts such as freedom, meaning, and realities that do not always follow the lines humans consider logical.
Once his awareness settled, Theo allowed his thoughts to flow.
He looked at Aldraya as though seeing the layers behind her expressionless gaze, pondering how the freedom given from the beginning did not always mean someone was truly free.
He imagined a slave entrusted with responsibility, a subordinate placed in a high position, yet still bound by invisible chains restraining their steps.
Freedom can become an illusion, even if granted from the start, for the reality surrounding a person may reshape that initial meaning into nothing more than a shadow.
And in that stillness, Theo understood that Aldraya's question was not merely about defining freedom, but about the imbalance between what should be possessed and what actually exists.
Meaning does not always arise from the beginning.
"What should I do now?
She… is moving toward us."
"Stay steady, and don't panic.
Leave all of this to me.
Focus only on your position and keep your Core Lu from overflowing without reason."
"But she's getting closer.
Should I strike first?"
"Calm down. Let me handle this.
You just keep yourself stable."
Aldraya remained silent for about twenty seconds, her stillness resembling a space detached from time.
No visible breath left her body, no small movements that usually indicate human presence.
She looked like a shadow locking itself between two worlds, observing Theo from behind a dense curtain of silence.
Meanwhile, Erietta—still in battle mode—could no longer hold back the confusion piling in her mind.
She asked a hurried, low-voiced question about what she should do as pressure from both sides grew heavier.
Theo responded without hesitation, guiding her to stay calm, maintain stability, and let him take care of everything.
His directions reignited her discipline, making Erietta take a deep breath while remaining in her protective stance behind her teacher.
When Theo finished speaking, the silence in the room changed in quality.
No longer a waiting stillness, but something that seemed to move beneath its surface.
From an absolute stillness that had seemed unbreakable, Aldraya finally moved.
Her movement was neither sudden nor harsh, but so smooth it nearly resembled an illusion flowing from one frame to the next.
Her left foot shifted first, stepping with perfect silence, followed by her right foot moving her forward with a slow yet steady rhythm.
As though she had been revived after being frozen for an unknown amount of time.
Each step Aldraya took closed the distance between herself and Theo, and the energy around her shifted like a current that had just found direction.
There was no clear threat, no anger, no pressure that usually emanates from someone with hostile intent.
Yet her presence carried an unfamiliar aura—difficult to map—like something not entirely bound to the physical world.
Theo followed each movement calmly, body and mind steady, even as Erietta behind him tensed once more, letting her instincts prepare for any deviation from control.
Aldraya kept approaching.
The distance between them shrank, making the world quieter, denser, closer to something still concealed.
"Hold your hand, Erietta!
Do not act recklessly!"
"But Master, she—!"
"Clear your mind. Neither you nor I will come to harm.
Trust me."
Thud!
Theo moved faster than any image Erietta could form.
The moment he sensed tension rising from her arm, he immediately held Erietta's left hand with near-reflexive precision.
Her grip on the sword tightened as Aldraya continued to approach, creating a tense rhythm revolving between three conflicting energies.
Theo felt the storm of battle instinct within Erietta—a surge born from the uncertainty of the situation—but he held it back with the calm that had guided her out of danger countless times before.
In the small pause that followed, Theo ensured Erietta understood one vital truth—a guarantee that no real threat was upon them.
The blend of Theo's words and stable control gradually lowered Erietta's anger, though her muscles remained taut like freshly drawn strings.
As the room softened from the sharp tension that nearly erupted, something unexpected happened.
Aldraya—who had approached with quiet, mysterious steps—suddenly stopped and lowered her body, sitting down in a gesture no one could have predicted.
She chose a spot previously unused by either of them, right at Theo's right side.
The action not only broke the tension but created a new ripple in the room's dynamics, as though Aldraya purposely filled the empty space that had served as a line of communication between teacher and student.
Erietta froze, unable to grasp the meaning of such an action, while Theo processed the change with the same calmness, trying to decipher the intent behind such a spontaneous contrast to Aldraya's prior silence.
The room felt reshaped.
Aldraya's placement at the right seat arranged the trio's composition into something that formed organically—yet carried hidden purpose.
Erietta remained standing with slightly labored breaths, alert but no longer overwhelmed by emotional pressure.
Theo stood between two different currents, realizing that Aldraya's seated position opened a new layer of an unspoken conversation, as though she had created a silent stage inviting something deeper than a mere question or answer.
Aldraya sat without expression.
"You came all the way here just to sit?"
"And the two of you—will you just keep standing like that?
I'm already sitting, yet you still plan to remain on your feet?"
A gentle mist hanging among the trees seemed to shift slightly as the silence broke under Theo's growing curiosity.
He looked at Aldraya sitting with an unreadable demeanor, as though her presence itself was the answer she had no intention of revealing yet.
Around them, the grass bent by their brief exchange left faint traces, while the air—which had once flowed calmly—became thicker, filled with unspoken questions lingering in the space between them.
To be continued…