Chapter 337: How the hell did you get your hands on something like that?

"How did you know?"

"It is really for him?"

Lucian seemed surprised as well. Elena nodded and—

"Perfect."

"Perfect?"

"I was about to visit him."

"You were?"

"Mhm, don’t worry. I’ll take it to him."

"I... can’t let you do that."

She shook her head.

"You are a guest, I can’t have a guest deliver food."

And the instant she said those words, Lucian paused.

"Wow, way to make all the connection we had disappear."

He spoke with a pout.

"If you weren’t interested, you could have said so, you know. You didn’t have to reduce me to a mere guest like this."

"That isn’t the case. I simply cannot let a guest— It’s against the rules."

"There’s a specific rule that guests can’t deliver?"

"N-No, not a specific rule but still..."

"You just reduced me to a guest."

"That’s not..."

"Then let me do it."

Lucian spoke with an earnest look on his face.

Elena thought about it for a moment, Lucian leaned closer and—

"I insist."

And Elena...

"...alright."

In the end, she agreed. ℴ

"Good."

Lucian’s smile widened.

"I promise I won’t disappoint you. I’ll deliver this exceptionally well."

"You will?"

"Didn’t I say? I am very good at it."

He spoke as he pushed the cart forward and backward.

Elena laughed.

"Then I will leave it to you."

With those words, she turned around and started walking away, then after a few steps, she stopped and turned around.

"Also..."

Lucian looked at her with a knowing smile, as if he was already waiting for something.

"If you get tired of doing deliveries, the kitchen staff usually finish late."

Elena spoke with a meaningful look in her eyes.

Lucian smiled at that, understanding what it meant. The two nodded at each other, Elena chuckled and then walked away.

[Look at you, you really pulled it off.]

"Security here is really lax, you know?"

Lucian commented.

"Can just anyone take someone’s food cart and do the delivery instead? What if I poison the food?"

[You will deliver him food you poisoned on your own?]

Aurelia asked and Lucian’s face changed.

"Right..."

[She gave the cart to you because you said you knew him. Lord Marius’s people won’t even let you in, let alone have him consume the food you bring.]

"Still, it does feel like something someone could take advantage of."

[Lucian, we are breaking into a secret underground prison that is being prepared for a Crimson Ascension and holds a successful subject of a secret experiment an Ancient House has been conducting for centuries.

Anything could be taken advantage of.]

That made Lucian pause.

He thought about it for a moment, then he shrugged.

That made perfect sense.

[Not to mention your face is well known, if something does happen in the future, she can say it was you who came to her. She might face repercussions, but from her perspective, they were worth the risk.]

"I am quite the charmer, aren’t I?"

Lucian smiled.

Aurelia didn’t say anything, though Lucian could feel her rolling her eyes at him.

[Now keep moving.]

Aurelia instructed, telling him where to go. Lucian did what he was told, then eventually, he walked into a particular service elevator.

The elevator looked completely ordinary, it was large, large enough for several carts to enter at once, but other than that, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

[Place the token beneath the cart.]

Aurelia instructed. Lucian nodded and took out the token from his pocket and stuck it beneath the cart.

The token seeped into the cart, disappearing from his hand. That made Lucian raise an eyebrow, however, before he could think of what had just happened or comment about it—

He felt a wave of energy.

He looked at the elevator’s control panel, his eyes moving over the buttons for each floor. Then, he noticed something change.

Thirteen new buttons appeared beneath the basement floor one after another.

B1

B2

B3

All the way to—

B13

"...what?"

Lucian blinked at that.

[Go to B6.]

Aurelia instructed.

"What was that token?"

Lucian asked with an amazed look on his face.

[An Inner Transit Seal.]

Aurelia answered.

[Normally, the lower containment levels are hidden from ordinary access entirely, but once you attach a seal to an object, the Crimson Hearth temporarily registers that particular object as authorized sensitive cargo.

This particular Seal authorises the object to go directly to B6 Floor, Chamber Seven.]

"And that’s where Varek is?"

Lucian asked curiously and Aurelia nodded.

[Yes.]

"How the hell did you get your hands on something like that?"

[Transit Seals like that are issued internally for sensitive deliveries. Blood samples, Ascension materials, restricted medicine, things that cannot be inspected or delayed at every checkpoint.]

"So you stole it."

[I borrowed it.]

"And how did you ’borrow’ it?"

Honestly, Lucian already knew the answer.

Aurelia had spies in Arcelis territory, spies who had infiltrated far deeper than Lucian initially thought.

[That’s a secret.]

Aurelia chuckled.

Lucian had already expected that answer.

Only this time—

He had another question.

"If you have people working this deep inside their network, how come you still haven’t found any concrete proof that Neroth’s Heart exists?"

At that question, Aurelia went silent for a moment.

Normally, she might have avoided answering, but considering where Lucian was right now and what he was about to do—

This wasn’t exactly the right time to withhold information.

[Both Neroth’s Heart and Project Crimson Crucible are buried extremely deep.]

She started explaining.

[From everything I have gathered so far, I can confidently say that only the highest-ranking members of House Arcelis know the complete details.

They do use servants and lower-ranking personnel. Supplies like blood, medicine, artifacts, materials, and equipment are constantly transported to the researchers, but almost everything is sealed before those people ever touch it.]

"So even the servants don’t actually know what they’re delivering."

Lucian muttered and Aurelia nodded.

[Precisely.

They receive a sealed container, take it from one place to another and never learn what was inside.

The same applies to most guards, attendants and logistical staff involved in the project. They know their own task, nothing more.]

"So even if you have spies everywhere..."

[They won’t know the details.]

Aurelia nodded.