White clouds drifted past the window.
Inside the room, He Xi's voice remained unhurried.
Flora rested her cheek on one hand, her body languidly leaning against the table as she watched He Xi before her with a smiling gaze.
His words flowed smoothly, his reasons were well-founded.
At least, they sounded flawless.
Yet the hand lingering beside her delicate face—
Her slender index and middle fingers lightly tapped against her cheek, as though playing the rhythm of her heart.
That tiny movement revealed the faint ripples within the legendary mage's heart.
She had not used any spell to pry into his thoughts.
Perhaps it was intuition.
Or perhaps, somewhere in that account, a few too many "ands then" had slipped in without notice.
Finally, during a brief pause in He Xi's narration, her red lips parted. "Remember our agreement."
When He Xi looked at her with slight puzzlement, she added with a smile, "I haven't peeked into your thoughts, so you aren't allowed to lie to me either."
His train of thought interrupted by the sudden reminder, He Xi pressed his lips together.
Of course, he had not lied about what he had just recounted.
About why he wanted to learn how to make Skill Scrolls.
About how he had learned Salamachis's Real Name.
About what he had experienced during Descent into Malbolge.
And about the causes and consequences of his brief clash with that Cambion.
"I wasn't sure whether the two friends who were there with me and I could defeat that Cambion."
"But I sensed an aura on her that resembled Salamachis's."
"So I deliberately took the initiative to propose a contract, making her believe that I had already been charmed and craved the demonic power slumbering in my bloodline."
"At the very end, I used the excuse