Chapter 230: Surprise Gift to the Director

"Tomorrow...?"

Lucian’s voice echoed softly inside the Director’s office, carrying an unmistakable note of disappointment.

"Yes... Tomorrow." Cedric repeated.

"You cannot simply go inside a dungeon without a registration, but as I said... we’ll send a group of ours, so you can join them. It’ll be a nice learning experience for you."

Despite the clearly disappointed expression on the young man’s face, Cedric didn’t react.

He was a man... not a woman who would simply get swooned by his looks—women like Lily. So unlike certain people, he wasn’t going to bend the rules simply because of him.

Protocols came first... nothing else.

Lucian didn’t say anything else, and after letting out a faint sigh, he gave a slow, almost hesitant nod, not arguing any further.

The discussion seemed to have finally come to an end.

Lucian and Selene would receive their awakened IDs by tomorrow, which was actually far faster than the way ordinary awakened were treated.

Normally, it took some time since everyone was busy with their own work and the dungeon outbreaks, but Lucian, the troublesome VIP, seemed to have gained some recognition—though Lucian didn’t give a fuck about that.

"Leon will escort you back to your p—"

"Wait a moment."

Lucian suddenly interrupted him, making Cedric frown slightly.

Lucian’s expression changed slightly. Slowly, he tilted his head.

"I want to ask you... did you know her name was Seraphina?" he asked casually, pointing toward Selene sitting beside him.

Selene’s body immediately stilled.

Silence fell into the room.

’What are you doing...?’ Selene thought inwardly, feeling slightly confused and a little uneasy by his sudden words.

Then—

"What are you talking about?" Cedric asked, a genuinely confused expression appearing on his face.

"My bad, wrong question."

Lucian shook his head with a faint chuckle.

Instantly, his expression turned sharp.

The air around them seemed to grow heavier, and noticing the sudden change, both the Director and Leonardo’s frowns deepened.

But in the next moment...

Lucian raised his hand and slowly removed the sunglasses covering his eyes.

This time...

Instead of golden... they were red.

A glowing crimson red... shimmering faintly within his pupils, carrying a strange depth that seemed almost impossible to look away from.

And the moment they laid their eyes upon them...

Their bodies went still.

"You knew her actual name was Seraphina, right?"

Both Leonardo’s and Cedric’s eyes slowly lost their shine, briefly shifting to a similarly crimson colour before returning to normal.

Slowly... almost monotonically...

Both of their lips parted at the same time.

""Yes.""

Their words echoed through the room.

"Hmm..."

Lucian rubbed his chin slightly.

He had already expected something like this, since it wasn’t really strange for them to know when his mother herself had given them her name yesterday.

Of course they knew... and for some strange reason, they seemed to have been pretending otherwise.

But then...

Lucian’s gaze shifted.

Toward Selene, who seemed frozen, her masked face turned directly toward him.

Her body was completely still, similar to the two men inside the room.

Beneath her mask, her gaze was completely fixed on his crimson eyes, seemingly lost within them... or perhaps even charmed.

"..."

Lucian, seeing that, sighed softly.

Leaning closer, he flicked his finger against her forehead—or rather, the smooth surface of the mask covering it.

Flick.

"Snap out of it, Mom," Lucian muttered softly, and the Charm instantly took effect, bringing her out of her daze.

Selene’s gaze snapped back to clarity.

She blinked a couple of times, shifting her gaze toward the men who remained completely still.

’W-What...?’

For a moment, she seemed confused, disoriented.

"Anyways... forget her actual name. Her name is Selene Frost, nothing else... and remove any proof you have of her actual name."

Both men’s lifeless eyes glowed red once again, and they nodded at the same time.

Selene stared at them, then turned toward him.

"Charm...?"

Her surprised voice came from beside him, and Lucian simply hummed in agreement.

After clarifying a few more things with his Charm, making sure there would be no immediate problems regarding her identity—

Lucian snapped them out of the skill before putting his glasses on once again.

And then...

To Selene’s surprise, both Leonardo and Cedric behaved as if nothing was wrong, as if they hadn’t just been mentally controlled by her son.

"Leon will escort you back to your place, so... see you again, young lad... and Miss Selene."

Cedric said it without even bothering to call Lucian ’Sir’, since he wasn’t going to anyway... even if that brat turned out to be from an ancient family.

"You too, Old Man."

Lucian bid his goodbyes with a bright smile before standing up.

Leonardo stepped forward and escorted them outside before bringing both of them back to their hotel.

Selene entered Lucian’s room along with him, without even asking for permission, and he didn’t even try to stop her.

Finally... she removed her mask and hood, letting out a quiet sigh as she did so.

Her black hair fell behind her shoulders, with a few strands resting against her face.

She reached up and lightly brushed her hair back.

The faint, invisible veil in her presence caused by the mask shifted into normality, revealing her icy-cold eyes and pale, white face.

"You were thinking about using Charm on them to make them forget my name?"

Seraphina quietly asked Lucian, who set his glasses aside before removing his suit jacket and placing it aside.

"Yes, that is the easiest way."

Lucian leaned back slightly, sitting on his bed, his expression remaining calm as he looked at his confused mother.

"I could’ve asked the old man and told him to hide that without the Charm..."

He could have, since Lucian had gotten a general idea that the Director was somewhat trustworthy—though that was his own opinion, and he knew better than anyone how experienced people could fake their emotions and reactions, how they could utter lies with genuinely convincing smiles, as if they were the absolute truth.

And...

He didn’t want to take any chances with his mother, even if that meant using his skill on them.

"...I just didn’t want to take any risks without any proper assurance."

Seraphina slowly nodded, though she felt a bit embarrassed... since she herself had unknowingly been caught by his Charm.

She sighed inwardly, but after a few seconds, she finally spoke again.

"And about the Guild... which one are you—are we joining?"

She paused slightly before correcting herself.

He had been speaking about joining a Guild for quite some time, and by now, even she was curious about what he had decided.

Lucian looked at Seraphina for a few moments, considering whether he should tell her... but then—

[Affection: 80% (Hates secrets)]

Yeah...

Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to keep everything to himself.

So, without too much consideration, he decided to tell her, rather than lying or hiding things from his mother again.

Seraphina listened quietly.

Once he finished explaining... he called for Kanna, before handing her something and giving her a small task to do.

"Can you do that...?" Lucian asked, to which Kanna gave a quiet nod before her body dissolved into the shadows.

"Was that... necessary...?"

Seraphina asked from the side, her voice quieter than before, as her mind was currently focused on something else.

Lucian glanced at her, and he couldn’t help but feel slightly sad when he saw the solemn expression on her face, which she was trying to hide.

"Keeping a good image won’t hurt us...

Though I don’t know how Master will react after finding out what I’m doing with the weapons I sto—"

He coughed slightly before continuing.

"I mean... the weapons she gifted me."

Seraphina’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, to which Lucian simply turned his head away.

But then...

Noticing her fingers clenching onto her lap, he sighed before patting her head.

"Ugh... stop that. I’m your mother... not your daughter."

"...Heh."

Lucian simply chuckled, but instead of listening to her, he ruffled her hair, making quite a mess of it and causing Seraphina to narrow her eyes as she faintly glared at him.

***

After escorting the two awakened back to their hotel, Leonardo eventually returned to the Director’s office.

The moment he stepped inside—

"Did you send them off safely?" Cedric asked while working at the desk without looking up, with a few files stacked beside him, his attention focused on the paperwork.

"I did," Leonardo replied calmly.

Then...

Silence.

Leonardo remained standing there.

The Director continued working.

A few seconds passed—a couple of long seconds—before Cedric finally raised his head.

"What is it, Leon?" he asked, already understanding the multiple questions stacked inside his grandson’s head.

Leonardo didn’t speak immediately, thinking carefully about his words before finally asking the question that had been bothering him ever since they left.

"Why did you sign the Witch Contract with them?"

His voice came out low, laced with genuine confusion.

The fact that his grandfather—the Director of the Awakened Association—had signed a contract with two strangers.

And not just an ordinary agreement, but a Witch Contract—one made and connected to the world of magic.

It was a bit unsettling to him, especially considering that the other side was simply two people they didn’t even need to be overly wary of.

Yes, Selene was talented, judging from what they had witnessed inside the training hall.

Yes, that Lucian was a complete monster who seemed to know almost everything about them—and seemed to have a bit of an anger issue.

But yet...

Signing a Witch Contract seemed too extreme... at least in his opinion.

A faint smile appeared on the old man’s face before he shook his head.

"Leon, you don’t seem to understand the background that brat has... because you haven’t seen the woman behind him, and we don’t even know if that woman is the only one in her organisation who’s as strong as her."

Leonardo didn’t seem fully convinced, but he eventually nodded, trying to understand his grandfather’s opinion, since the old man was known to be good with his judgement.

There had to be a reason behind his decision, and perhaps it wasn’t that bad... hopefully.

But then—

Just as the two were continuing their conversation...

Thud!

A soft sound suddenly echoed through the room, and instantly, both men stopped.

Leonardo’s head snapped back, and both of their eyes widened...

As their eyes landed on a covered, wrapped object resting near the centre of the floor.

Beside it was a single white piece of paper.

For a second, neither of them spoke.

The atmosphere inside the office changed instantly.

"How long has it been there?" Cedric’s voice became heavier.

He turned toward Leonardo, whose body had already tensed.

"There wasn’t anything on the floor..."

Both of them looked at each other, a thought passing through their eyes as they slowly stood up before cautiously walking toward the... thing on the floor.

Leonardo, fully on guard, bent down before picking up the folded paper first... and the moment he examined it—

His eyes twitched.

"What is it...?" Cedric asked with a frown, and when he received no answer, he took the paper from his hand before reading it.

<Yo, Old man and Fire boy.>

His lips similarly twitched the moment he read the first line.

"That brat," he cursed under his breath, feeling another headache... and another wave of exhaustion just from looking at the single line on the paper.