"Demonization?"

Cass asked the question calmly as she listened to Ilya explain what had happened during the evening. Her red dress shifted slightly as she leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands, fingers interlaced like a bridge on the table.

"Yes. He claims the Saint is probably involved... no, he was certain the Saint is involved in it," Ilya clarified, adjusting her glasses with one hand.

Cass looked thoughtful, her ember eyes distant as she analyzed the newly acquired information alongside what she already knew and the ominous feeling she’d been having about SBV’s recent pattern of actions.

"Demonization?" Kael repeated, frowning as she tried to make sense of the word’s literal meaning.

"Yeah, that’s what he said... and I didn’t inquire further," Ilya admitted, her lips pressing together slightly. She had the same doubts as Kael about the term Rune had used.

"Why not?" Kael asked, clearly not impressed with Ilya’s judgment of not acquiring more information. Her arms crossed over her chest, and her military uniform shifted with the movement.

Ilya frowned. "Sometimes not inquiring about things is a good strategy, especially from someone we don’t trust yet. Uncertain bits of information can be deceiving to an otherwise calm judgment."

She tried not to sound too philosophical, keeping her tone professional.

Kael, being the last in place in terms of cleverness in the room, simply shrugged at what seemed more like philosophy than strategic holdback.

"She’s right," Cass supported Ilya’s claim, calmly shifting her weight in her chair. Her long red dress pooled around her feet as she repositioned herself.

Cass and Kael had spent their entire day in the great hall, addressing proceedings in the morning and then entertaining nobles at the party that succeeded the proceedings.

Kael had stood beside Cass the entire time, following proper decorum without complaint. They’d only gotten time to breathe now, late at night, after the nobles had either left the estate or been accommodated in the duchy’s guest palace.

"Sometimes we cannot differentiate a lie well-hidden behind sentences of truth," Cass continued, her voice measured. "And us believing that single lie might be all our enemies need. It’s best not to touch that kind of information until we’re ready."

Feeling triumphant, Ilya lightly smirked at Kael, continuing their perpetual show of dominance that bore no real fruit.

Kael scowled, her jaw tightening.

"So, are there any changes, or do we proceed with the same plan?" Ilya asked, adjusting her glasses once more. The lenses caught the light from the ceiling artifacts.

"We go with the same one," Cass said decisively. "It doesn’t matter if what Rune said is truth or a lie if the task itself is collecting evidence for it."

She leaned back in her chair and opened her eyes fully, meeting Ilya’s gaze.

She caught Ilya’s stunned expression immediately.

"What?" Cass asked, her eyebrows raising slightly.

"...It’s nothing. It’s just that Rune read you correctly."

Cass stayed silent for a second, her lips parting slightly before she spoke again.

"We planned to dump the task on him at the last second, keeping him under the impression his job was just to report something suspicious," she said slowly. "Did he figure out I was planning to ask him for evidence?"

She hoped the answer would be no.

"Yes," Ilya answered simply. "He said he knows you well enough to figure out that would be your intention."

Ilya looked at Cass, trying to gauge how she felt about that revelation. But Cass’s face remained expressionless, though Ilya could tell the Duchess was carefully considering her options.

"You don’t believe he’s really from the future, do you?" Kael asked, shrugging as she leaned back in her seat. She felt like all this was just overthinking a blatant lie.

Ilya didn’t answer immediately. She couldn’t. She was still thinking it through herself.

"Come on... don’t tell me you’re considering it," Kael said, a bit surprised that they were actually entertaining what could obviously be nonsense.

Ilya looked at Cass. So did Kael.

"There is a chance."

The Duchess announced it simply, sighing through her nose. Her red dress shifted as she straightened slightly in her seat.

"Wha..." Kael was stunned. For her, even that chance didn’t exist.

Ilya simply nodded. It coincided with her own opinion.

"On what basis?!" Kael demanded, leaning forward. "There’s not a single thing we asked or he told that makes sense to assume he’s from the future!"

But even as she said it, a question formed within her own mind.

She’d witnessed herself cut in half by Rune’s Aura Slash during Voidmirror. It was impossible to execute that technique with only an intermediate-level understanding of aura. Rune’s aura output was clearly not more than intermediate... in fact, Ilya had a lot higher output despite being the same tier.

That had to do with the amount of time they’d spent at intermediate level. Kael was sure Rune had only recently broken through from novice, and his output, though technically intermediate, wasn’t nearly as strong as Ilya’s.

But the difference in output amounts was negligible within the same tier or with the same breakthrough level. Yet Rune had performed a master-level technique.

"Aura Slash..." Kael mumbled the words outward, almost to herself.

Cass then spoke. "It’s not his feats that made me consider the possibility that he’s from the future."

She gave a short pause, her lips pressing together thoughtfully.

Then she added, "It’s his way of behaving."

Ilya nodded in understanding. She added her own observation to Cass’s claim.

"It was easy to tell if he was lying. His features are expressive," Ilya said, pushing her glasses up slightly. "But when he said he regressed, it was as if he simply decided to state a fact with complete disregard for how absurd it sounded or the consequences of that absurdity."

Kael nodded slowly to that. Then she added her own observation, though her tone carried clear irritation.

"He doesn’t fear us at all... to be frank..." Kael hesitated, her jaw clenching. "He acts as if he’s talking to kids."

The two other women in the room could tell Kael couldn’t stand his guts.

Ilya scoffed deliberately, letting Kael know she was trying to hold back laughter. Her lips curled slightly at the corners.

"You...!" Kael started, but stopped herself, feeling their petty quarrels would be inappropriate before Cass.

Cass’s face formed a slight smile, rare and fleeting.

"That, and..." She paused, her ember eyes glistening in the light from the artifacts on the ceiling as she looked down at the table. Her fingers traced the edge absently.

Kael and Ilya were both stunned as they saw Cass’s expression. They’d never seen her look like this.

"It’s just a gut feeling that we’ve met before," Cass finally said, understanding that her words might not make sense, they didn’t even make sense to herself.

But Ilya nodded slowly, remembering the time she’d felt the same when they’d ridden through the forest together.

"Whatever..." Kael muttered, trying to dismiss it.

But even she couldn’t shake off the feeling this conversation had just created, a lingering doubt, a window of possibility that seemed foolish to refuse.