While Alaric and the others were busy running away from Rhydan and his companions, Lucian and his group were calmly walking through the maze as if nothing had happened.
"Should you... really have done that?"
Suddenly, Naomi asked a question with a frown on her face.
"Done what?"
Lucian tilted his head with a curious look on his face.
"Wasn’t he your superior? Should you have talked to him that way?"
Naomi was worried.
Lucian called him ’Commander’, that clearly meant something.
Should he really have talked to him in that tone? What if he took revenge in the future?
"It doesn’t matter."
Lucian shrugged in a carefree manner.
"Are you sure?"
Isolde asked him as well.
"The Ashcrofts are known for their arrogance and your words humiliated two Ashcrofts today."
She spoke and one knew she was serious because she was no longer talking dramatically like she normally did.
"It wouldn’t be surprising if the Ashcrofts started targeting you."
"They won’t dare."
Lucian only laughed at those words.
"...that’s quite arrogant."
Sabine muttered.
She didn’t know whether to be impressed or facepalm at Lucian’s stance.
Lucian stared at the three women, at their reactions, and he just shrugged.
"Don’t worry, my teacher will handle the Ashcrofts."
And he wasn’t lying.
Lucian had seen how Alaric reacted to Vivienne. He had practically seen the man’s cold eyes flicker with fear when he handed his phone to her that day.
Clearly, they wouldn’t come after him, at least not while Vivienne stood with him.
"Your teacher...?"
Sabine was now curious.
Teacher...?
As in... a single person...?
To confidently say a single person would be able to take care of THE Ashcrofts, just... who could that person be?
Isolde and Naomi were curious as well. They all stared at Lucian, waiting for a name.
Lucian smiled.
"Vivienne Everhart."
He introduced her.
Naomi and Sabine did not react. Clearly, this was the first time they had heard the name.
But Isolde?
She was different.
"...Lady Vivienne?"
She blinked.
"You know her?"
Lucian asked with a curious grin on his face.
"Are you talking about THE Lady Vivienne of the Enclave? You are HER student?"
"You seem to know her quite well."
Lucian chuckled. Only those who knew his dear teacher would react like this.
"I did hear she had taken in a student again. It’s you?"
"The one and only."
Lucian moved his hands to the side, as if presenting himself.
Isolde blinked at that. For a moment, she couldn’t believe it, but then...
"...that makes sense."
Strangely, when she put it together, it all made sense.
Who else would be able to challenge Rhydan Greyfang to such an extent?
Actually, with Vivienne’s name attached to his own, it all started making more and more sense. Just her name alone answered more than a few questions she had in her mind, so Isolde continued nodding to herself.
"...so, who’s this Vivienne Everhart?"
Sabine turned towards Isolde, wanting answers. Naomi was even more curious. This was about her Lucian, of course she was curious.
"Well, honestly, not a lot is known about her."
Isolde actually shrugged.
"The Enclave is very particular about information regarding all its members, especially the higher-ups, but her case is even stranger.
With our power, we can pry into the information of almost any Enclave member, even the Directorates are no exception, but..."
"Not my teacher?"
Lucian guessed and Isolde nodded.
"That’s correct."
"And trust me, we have tried.
My grandmother still mentions that day."
"That day?"
Sabine frowned.
Isolde turned to her and nodded.
"We were trying to pry into Lady Vivienne, to know more about her, to understand her likes and dislikes, to try and find a way to converse with her on equal footing and that day...
She visited."
"She visited the Blackthorn Circle?"
Sabine blinked in disbelief.
You didn’t ’visit’ the Blackthorn Circle, you were ’summoned’ or ’invited’ there.
Isolde nodded again.
"My grandmother wasn’t the Matriarch back then, it was my great-grandmother, and Lady Vivienne made it very, very clear that she did not like being pried into."
"Then what?"
"What? We accepted."
"That’s it...?"
Lucian frowned.
This did not seem like a story worth telling your descendants.
And as if Isolde knew what he was thinking, she let out a weak smile.
"A fourth of the Blackthorn Circle mansion was destroyed that day. About a hundred well-prepared Witches died."
Naomi and Sabine widened their eyes in disbelief.
"She defeated Witches inside their home...?"
"Yes."
Isolde nodded.
Honestly, even now, it all felt like a fairy tale to her. Never in her life could she believe someone would visit their home, destroy a fourth of their property, and kill so many Witches.
How was it even possible?
The entire world, even the Enclave itself, relied on Witches to reinforce their buildings and keep them safe. The Blackthorn Mansion was no different. It was protected by hundreds of wards.
But...
She still pushed through them nonetheless.
"What about her? What happened to her?"
Sabine questioned, wanting to know more.
"She was mostly uninjured."
Isolde answered with a grave look on her face.
"The fight only stopped because the previous Matriarch agreed not to pry into Lady Vivienne’s secrets.
That was also the Matriarch’s last battle before she gave her position to my grandmother, the current Matriarch."
Sabine couldn’t believe it.
This time, even Lucian seemed surprised.
Being strong was one thing but... barging into a Witch Coven...?
That too, one of the strongest Witch Covens in the world...?
Just... how strong was that woman...?
And all that just so they would stop looking into her...?
’Why is she so adamant about hiding her identity...?’
Lucian frowned as he tried to think about it.
He remembered how quickly she changed the topic when he asked about her, then outright glared at him when he insisted.
There was something Vivienne did not want others to know. As for what it was...
While Lucian did know the names of a few people who would know the answer to that question, he couldn’t actually reach most of them and even if he did, there was no way they were going to tell him anything.
To him, his dear teacher was a mystery he could not solve and he...
He hated that.
Just then—
"Isolde Verraine."
He heard a voice.
He looked around and saw a man standing in front of him with a charming smile.
The man then looked at him and his smile became gentler.
"Then you must be... Lucian."
He spoke and Lucian—
He was more worried about how he couldn’t sense his presence at all.
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