~
"Eh~"
The silence in the spacious room was broken by a sigh.
"Vesemir, A... Ailin hasn't been bewitched by the Evil God, has he?"
The Sorceress stood before the windowsill without turning around.
"I don't understand."
Her cool voice came from the balcony.
The witcher froze for a moment and asked, "What don't you understand?"
Vesemir turned around, her delicate brows slightly furrowed as she looked at the Chief of the School of the Wolf.
"Soyer, do you really care about Ailin?"
"Even a stranger is worried about Ailin's safety. Why are you so stubbornly determined to send him into that meaningless trial?"
Hearing the Sorceress's accusation, the Chief of the School of the Wolf immediately raised his voice.
"Ailin is my child. Of course I care about him."
"But since he has become a witcher, he must act like one..."
"...receive training, face tests, pass trials, travel the world and hunt monsters..."
There was not the slightest ripple of emotion in the Sorceress's eyes as she coldly watched the witcher.
Soyer gradually slowed down, his voice growing quieter until it faded away entirely.
After a moment of silence, he sighed.
"Vesemir, we both know this is the only path he can take. Otherwise, you would have taken him away from me long ago..."
"No, you did secretly take Ailin away once. But wasn't the result obvious?"
"The Child of Miracle cannot escape the cycle of fate..."
"Letting him finish the path a witcher apprentice is supposed to walk is the safest option."
Vesemir's body trembled almost imperceptibly, and she changed the subject.
"Ailin has not been bewitched by the Evil God."
Soyer's keen Witcher Senses caught that slight tremor.
He sighed inwardly once more, gathered his emotions, and said, "Didn't you ask where this knowledge came from?"
The