Chapter 175: A Little Guidance

Chapter 175: Chapter 175: A Little Guidance

Chapter 175: A Little Guidance

The Full Moon Lounge had already shed every trace of Halloween.

The pumpkins, fake cobwebs, colored lights, and costume decorations were gone, leaving the familiar warm interior behind. Soft music drifted through the room, and the entire place looked as though the unusually lively Saturday had never happened.

Cyrus Calder arrived noticeably later than usual.

The moment he stepped inside, Helena Baird looked over from the bar. Her brows drew together.

"You’re late today. Did something happen?"

Cyrus had expected the question.

Since starting work at The Full Moon Lounge, he had never shown up late without warning. Today was the first time.

"Yes, something came up."

He answered calmly, though the afternoon had been far more troublesome than he wanted to explain in detail.

He had gone from Grayhaven General to several pharmacies and clinics, only to receive the same answer everywhere. His Frostborn suppressants were unavailable, and the online order he eventually found would still take two days to arrive.

That left him with almost no medication.

If the remaining pills could not keep his body stable until the delivery arrived, staying home for the next two days was probably the safest option. Cyrus had no interest in suddenly reverting to his younger form somewhere public.

He looked at Helena.

"Helena, can I ask you something?"

Her expression was still faintly displeased by his late arrival, but her eyes remained fixed on him.

"What do you need?"

"Could I take tomorrow and the day after off?"

Helena’s brows tightened slightly.

"Why do you need two days?"

Cyrus let out a quiet breath.

"The dean of students found out I’ve been working outside school. He told me I should think carefully about whether I want to keep violating school rules."

Helena answered almost immediately.

"You don’t need to worry about money."

Cyrus looked at her.

Helena continued in the same calm tone.

"Even if you stop coming to work, I can keep paying you. You would only need to come by and let me look at you every day."

The request sounded perfectly reasonable to Helena.

She repeated it once in her mind and then realized that, from a human perspective, it probably was not reasonable at all.

If she did not have to follow the rules of human society, she might have invited Cyrus to her home long ago and kept him somewhere comfortable where she could see him whenever she wanted.

There would be good food, enough space, anything he needed, and no reason for him to leave unless he wanted to.

Unfortunately, humans tended to become suspicious when someone described that arrangement too directly.

Helena also knew Cyrus well enough to predict his answer.

He shook his head.

"You’ve already helped me more than enough."

There was no hesitation in his voice.

Helena was not surprised.

If obvious generosity worked on Cyrus, he would have started asking her for things months ago.

He never did.

Even when he accepted something, he usually found a way to treat it like work, compensation, or a debt he intended to remember.

If he disliked direct favors, Helena only needed to approach the problem differently.

Cyrus turned toward the changing room.

Helena followed him inside.

Once the door closed behind them, the lounge music became much quieter.

Cyrus opened his locker and began changing into his work clothes.

Helena leaned against the wall nearby and watched him without trying to hide it.

Her attention did not leave him once.

It almost felt as though she were making up for the time he had been late.

Cyrus had already grown used to that kind of attention from her.

As he fastened his shirt, Helena asked, "What is the dean’s name?"

Cyrus glanced over.

"I think his last name is Lee."

He sounded slightly uncertain.

There was only one dean of students who had been giving him trouble, so Helena did not need anything more specific.

Helena gave a small nod.

Then, without asking another question, she turned and left the changing room.

Cyrus watched the door close.

A subtle smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

The problem with the dean probably would not be much of a problem after all.

Cyrus had not come to Grayhaven with any real understanding of how human society worked.

When Malcolm first told him that someone his age should be in school, Cyrus had still been practically penniless, unfamiliar with the city, and uncertain about almost everything around him.

Helena had somehow taken that situation and gotten him into St. Alder Academy, a private school with a strong reputation, without making the process look difficult.

At the time, Cyrus had been too overwhelmed to think much about what that implied.

Now he understood more.

Helena, or perhaps the Baird family as a whole, had far more influence than he originally realized.

That was why Cyrus had never treated the dean’s warning as an impossible problem.

He only needed to mention it naturally.

Helena’s unusually high favor toward him would handle the rest.

The approach was a little calculated.

Cyrus knew that.

He also knew asking Helena directly to solve the problem would have felt much worse.

At least this way, she could decide for herself whether she wanted to interfere.

Cyrus finished changing and returned to work.

The rest of the shift passed normally.

He mixed drinks, cleaned glasses, handled orders, and listened to the lounge settle into its usual rhythm.

By the time his shift ended, the trouble at school already felt less urgent.

On the walk home, Cyrus ate his usual meat bun while thinking through the situation.

As far as the dean was concerned, things should be fine.

Cyrus was no longer the same person who had arrived in Grayhaven without understanding how much influence money, institutions, connections, and social position could carry.

If Helena could place him in St. Alder when he had nothing, dealing with one administrator probably would not be difficult for her.

He took another bite of the bun.

His phone chimed inside his pocket.

Cyrus pulled it out and checked the notification.

It was nothing that needed his attention.

He locked the screen again but kept staring at the dark display for another moment.

A trace of resignation entered his eyes.

If Vera had not decided to interfere, he would never have needed to guide Helena toward helping him in the first place.

That part bothered him.

A favor was still a favor, even if Helena offered it willingly.

And the number of things he owed her kept growing.

There was the phone, the job, the help with school, the meals, the clothes, and now whatever she might do about the dean.

Cyrus did not know how he was supposed to repay all of that someday.

The strangest part was that Helena did not seem to want the kinds of things other women wanted from him.

When she looked at him, the attention was intense but strangely clean.

If Cyrus someday offered physical intimacy as repayment, Helena might genuinely refuse and ask him to stand somewhere with better lighting instead.

That somehow made the debt harder to calculate.

Cyrus let out a quiet sigh.

Maybe a solution would appear when he needed one.

For now, worrying about a future debt he could not yet repay accomplished nothing.

Cyrus reached his apartment building.

Under the dim hallway light, Daphne Whitlock was standing near his door with a food container in her hands.

Before she noticed him, she seemed lost in thought.

When Cyrus approached, something complicated passed through her eyes.

To him, it looked suspiciously like regret.

That reaction suited her.

Someone with Daphne’s particular interests should probably spend more time regretting the things she had done.

Cyrus suppressed the urge to smile.

Daphne held out the container.

"I heard the dean spoke to you today."

Cyrus accepted it.

"Yes, he did."

Daphne lowered her eyes.

Her voice became more restrained.

"If you really can’t keep working, I can still help you finish school."

Cyrus looked at her.

"I can cover what you need until you graduate."

For a moment, the hallway light and thin moonlight from the nearby window made Cyrus’s already pale appearance seem even more fragile.

Daphne’s concern became more obvious.

Cyrus, meanwhile, felt reassured.

Whatever else could be said about her, Daphne’s willingness to support him no longer seemed fake.

The consequences of her earlier actions had pushed her into exactly the dependable position Cyrus wanted.

"Thank you, Ms. Whitlock."

He did not ask for anything more.

He took the food and returned to his apartment.

After closing the door, Cyrus checked his diary first.

His memories still matched the newest entries.

Nothing had disappeared today.

Only after confirming that did he sit down and eat.

When he finished, he opened the cabinet and took out the last blister pack of suppressants.

Two pills remained.

Cyrus stared at them.

Even if he took both, the effect would not last long enough to cover the entire gap before the online order arrived.

His mind returned to the afternoon.

Grayhaven General was out.

The pharmacies were out.

The clinics he called were out.

Every single place had given him nearly the same restocking window.

That could not be a coincidence.

Cyrus’s expression cooled.

Maybe he had underestimated the resources behind Vera’s family too.

She had mentioned before that her bloodline had worked around medicine for a long time.

If that network was strong enough to affect supply across the city, then Vera was far more troublesome than he had assumed.

"Those rare-bloods really are a pain."

Cyrus muttered the thought under his breath.

He made another decision immediately.

He would keep his distance from Vera from now on.

She was too unstable.

Too willing to change the rules whenever something stopped amusing her.

Whatever entertainment she thought she was getting from him, Cyrus no longer wanted to participate.

The next morning, he woke early.

Rather than going to school, Cyrus deliberately roughened his voice before calling his homeroom teacher.

"I’m not feeling well today. I think I need to stay home for a couple of days."

His voice sounded convincingly hoarse.

The teacher did not question him much.

He was simply told to rest, recover, and catch up on anything he missed.

After the call ended, Cyrus checked his messages.

One from Daphne was already waiting.

I brought your lunch to school with me. If you need it, come find me.

Cyrus read the message and left it unanswered.

Then he looked down at himself.

He had suddenly gained two full days with nowhere he needed to be.

There was no school to attend.

There was no lounge shift to cover.

There was no reason to risk going outside while his suppressants were running out.

Cyrus sighed and set his phone aside.

If he was going to be stuck at home, he might as well make good use of it.

For once, resting properly sounded like the best plan he had.