Shattered Innocence: Transmigrated Into a Novel as an Extra

Chapter 953: Echoes Beneath the Wards

“I’m not wrong, though.”

“You never are, right?”

Lucavion didn’t answer. He just offered that same insufferable little grin—the one that always suggested he knew more than he was letting on. The one that made professors groan and upperclassmen debate whether they liked him or not.

Mireilla sighed, running a hand through her hair. “I’ll just take coffee. Go clean yourself. Or whatever it is you do.”

“Hm.” He gave a lazy two-fingered wave and turned toward the hall. “Don’t blow up the dining hall.”

“No promises,” she called after him.

He chuckled softly, letting the dormitory’s dull thrum absorb the fading tension in his chest. The banter helped. Just a little. A pause from everything that was not easy.

His door creaked open with a quiet push. It was dim inside—shutters half-drawn, only faint dawnlight spilling across the floor. He stepped in, toeing off his boots and dragging a hand through his hair.

And then he stopped.

On the couch, stretched across the cushions like it owned the entire room, was a sleek cat. Its tail flicked once, slow and deliberate, and its eyes slid lazily toward him.

“Oh,” Lucavion muttered, voice flat. “You’ve returned.”

Immediately—before the last syllable even had time to settle in the air—her voice echoed through his mind.

[I have.]

It wasn’t spoken aloud. It never was. The resonance was internal—threaded directly into his mana network like a second pulse, soft and familiar, even if the tone that carried it now was… weary.

Lucavion blinked once. “You sound tired.”

The cat—Vitaliara—stretched lazily on the couch, but didn’t bother replying out loud. She never did when she didn’t feel like wasting breath. Instead, her voice brushed his thoughts again, softer this time.

[I am.]

She yawned, long and feline, before curling her tail around herself.

Lucavion exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. “So? Any results?”

A long pause. Then, the answer slipped in, clipped and dry.

[No results at all.]

His brow twitched faintly. “You made all that noise yesterday. Told me not to bother you with trivial mortal tasks,”—he quoted with pointed sarcasm—”and you came back empty?”

[The energy was real.] Her tone turned faintly defensive. [Something stirred in the west sector of the wards. I followed it. It faded.]

“Faded.” He raised a brow, unamused. “Or you got distracted by a sunbeam?”

A flick of her tail was the only response for a moment.

[Mock all you want, but something was there.] Her voice was slower now. [It wasn’t natural. Not ambient mana, not bleed-off from the campus wards. It was older. And deep.]

Lucavion paused, this time with real attention. “…Older?”

[Not human. Not in structure. Like a heartbeat buried in stone.]

He frowned.

That didn’t sound like something she’d exaggerate.

And Vitaliara—when she did get serious—was rarely wrong.

“Then it’s still out there?”

[Likely.] A beat. [But not active. I pushed too close and it… recoiled.]

Lucavion stayed still for a moment, watching her tail curl in tighter around her paws. He’d seen her like this before—more spirit than beast, coiled into that cat form with eyes that always looked far older than the body they occupied.

She continued after a pause, her voice quieter now, almost musing.

[Aside from that… there was something else.]

Lucavion’s gaze sharpened. “Go on.”

[A vitality pond.]

His head tilted slightly. “You’re sure?”

[Yes.]

She sounded firm on that. Not guessing—confirming.

[A wellspring of dense vitality. Old. Strong. Not quite sentient… but close enough to resist contact.]

“You tried to approach?”

[Of course I did.] A flick of her tail. [But I couldn’t reach it. Something blocked me.]

Lucavion’s brow furrowed. “Wards?”

[No. Not the way a ward feels. This was… hazier. Like a mist over the senses. I couldn’t see through it. Couldn’t trace it back to a source. As if something—someone—was redirecting my pull.]

He fell silent at that, processing.

Vitaliara’s voice returned, tinged now with annoyance. [It shouldn’t be possible. Not when I’m actively looking.]

“Hmm… Kind of strange, isn’t it?”

There was a beat.

[Not just strange. Are you dumb.]

Lucavion laughed—genuine, low and warm.

“Knew I’d get you.”

[Insufferable as usual.]

“You know me.”

[Sigh…]

He sat down on the edge of the bed, running a towel across the back of his neck, eyes still on her sprawled form. Despite how tired she sounded, her fur looked pristine, her eyes alert. The exhaustion wasn’t physical—it was something else. Deeper.

“Makes two anomalies now,” he murmured. “Whatever you sensed west of the wards… and the pond.”

[They may be connected.]

“Or they may not,” he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “But either way—if it’s hiding from you, it’s strong. Intentional.”

[Which means it has a will. And wills can be broken.]

Lucavion chuckled again. “That’s the spirit.”

She didn’t respond. Just rested her head over one paw, eyes half-lidded once more.

But her tail didn’t stop moving. A slow curl. A flick. A sign that even while resting… she was still thinking.

Vitaliara’s tail stopped moving.

Then, slowly, she lifted her head from her paw, her golden eyes narrowing at him. For a moment, she didn’t blink—just stared, ears angling slightly back like a predator catching a scent on the wind.

Then she moved.

In one fluid motion, she hopped off the couch and landed on his bed, padded across the sheets, and sprang up onto his shoulder with practiced ease. Lucavion flinched only slightly—he was used to it—but still gave her a flat look.

“What?”

Sniff.

“…What are you doing?”

She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she pressed her nose briefly to the side of his neck, just beneath his ear, then drew back slightly.

[Who is it?]

Lucavion blinked. “Who is what?”

[The girl you’ve been with.]

He didn’t say anything. That was probably mistake number one.

[…Answer.]

He tilted his head ever so slightly, deflecting her next sniff. “Why should I?”

Vitaliara’s tail flicked with warning energy. [Don’t make me find her by myself.]

Lucavion sighed and leaned back, resting his arms on the mattress behind him. “You don’t recognize the smell?”

[Should I?]

He didn’t answer right away.

Vitaliara leaned in again, eyes sharp. She sniffed once more, then huffed.

[There’s a trace of something old under the frost. Familiar. But too faint.]

Lucavion leaned his head back, eyes drifting up toward the ceiling. “…Guess not.”

That made sense.

The concealment artifact Elara was using—now as Elowyn—wasn’t some beginner’s charm. It was the kind of artifact that masked not only appearance but even the unique soulprint left behind in a person’s mana trail. To most, she was just another frost-aligned first-year.

Even to Vitaliara.

And that confirmed something else.

Elara hadn’t taken half-measures. She wasn’t just hiding her name. She was hiding her existence.

Which meant he wasn’t going to be the one to break that veil. Not even to her.

He rolled his shoulder slightly, shifting the cat’s weight just enough.

“Her name is Elowyn.”

Vitaliara didn’t move. Didn’t speak immediately. But he felt the subtle rise of her suspicion like a pressure behind his ear.

[Elowyn, huh.]

“Mm.”

[You’re lying.]

Lucavion Writing said:

Lucavion’s grin didn’t falter, not even as Vitaliara’s presence grew heavier on his shoulder—her paws digging in slightly, tail curling against his back with quiet irritation.

“You know I don’t lie,” he said smoothly, reaching up to lazily scratch behind her ear.

There was a long pause.

[…But something’s not the full truth, is it?]

He chuckled under his breath. “Heh… You know me well indeed.”

[So, what is her real name?]

“That,” Lucavion replied, letting the words draw out with just enough smugness to be maddening, “is for you to find out.”

Her eyes narrowed again, and she adjusted her stance, now staring directly at the side of his face as if gauging how hard she’d have to claw to get the answer out.

[Why not answer it?]

He tilted his head slightly, lips quirking as he met her gaze. “Why not? That would take the fun out of you.”

Her silence was practically scathing.

“And,” he added, voice dropping just a touch lower, “I’m sure you won’t take too long to figure it out either.”