"See you next time."
Khalif said farewell in front of the central library and moved away. Instead of nodding, Elena led a tired body to the fourth floor recording room.
"…"
Normally, she would move around the library without slowing down the tension, but Elena was so tired of the discussion that she could not do what she had to do. Not knowing that today someone's gaze is on her back.
Elena opened the door to the recording room and went inside. And at the corner of the stairway at the end of the hall, a man was watching with his face hidden.
"Who the hell is she?"
The man was Ren.
***
Ren did not feel awkward after the three-way meeting. This was because there was still something suspicious about Emilio's relationship with Lucia and the upper echelon of the Castol Chamber of Commerce.
Ren, who liked Lucia's behavior with his own unique persistence, happened to find Lucia coming into the library after leaving Khalif and quietly followed her. That's how he ended up seeing Lucia enter the records room.
"What are you doing over there?"
Ren crossed his arms and pondered. He was far from learned, but he had been born with a good head on his shoulders. His persistent torment and suspicion of others was all due to such perceptiveness. However, this was the only time that even his self-proclaimed keen mind could not guess.
The Friedrich Family Archives. A place to store old things that are nothing special and meaningless. It was a record room, so it was neglected so that no one of the current students could find it. He couldn't understand why she went to such a place.
Kkiiiik.
It was not long before the door to the archives opened. Ren quickly turned the corner and hid himself on the stairs to the fifth floor.
Tak tak tak.
The heels of the shoes grew louder, and soon the owner of the sound turned around the corner of the stairs.
"…!"
Ren's eyes were wide open, as most things did not surprise him. He could not help but doubt it even when he saw it with his own eyes.
'Veronica?'
Surprisingly, Veronica was the girl who turned around the corner and went down the stairs. Ren appeared on the landing, making an appearance only after Veronica disappeared down the stairs.
"What's this link without context?"
Ren's interest in Lucia was nothing more than pure interest. Sian intervened in the middle and offended his sarcasm, but it wasn't so much of an annoyance. In fact, the more he dug into Lucia, the more my interest was further deepened by the questions that came up like a mystery. What he saw today, however, gave him a huge shock of a level that surpassed all his previous interests.
"Do you have anything to do with Veronica?"
Ren's face, which was muttering as if he was asking questions, looked more excited than ever. It was Veronica, of all people. From this moment on, when it was proven that she was related to Veronica, Lucia was no longer just a problem. She was a prey that must be delved into and clarified until the end.
"When will she come out."
Ren waited for Lucia to come out of the recording room. For quite a long time until the early evening was over, and it was late at night. Although it was late, Lucia did not come out.
"What is this cheap feeling?"
Ren felt something strange that he couldn't pick up and went down the stairs to the recording room. He was not polite enough to knock, so he grabbed the door handle and opened it.
"Is anybody there?"
The recording room was empty. Far from anyone in there, he could feel the warmth that meant it was vacated for a lot of time. Ren scattered his head roughly.
"What, when did she get out of here? I would have known if she came out."
The only way downstairs from the four-story hallway where the archives are located was the stairs where Ren was located.
"Did I miss you?"
In other words, Ren missed her, but that didn't make sense. Ren was a monster who hadn't missed the top of the Swordsmanship faculty since he entered. As a freshman, he was so overwhelmingly strong that he was also one of the best knights in the family gate. If it weren't for such superior talent and genius, he wouldn't have been honored as the best prosecutor along with Hurelbard.
"A real ghost?"
Lucia disappeared as if evaporating from such a Ren. Without any trace of being there.
"Or stronger than me?"
Ren laughed as if he was in vain while developing his thoughts.
"Well, there's one more reason for me to be excited."
Although he had missed Lucia, Ren was not in a hurry, he even whistled with room to spare. It was just a matter of finding the tail, but the moment he picked it up, finding the body was a matter of seconds. After finishing his business, Ren was about to leave the record room when he noticed the portraits of the successive lords of the Friedrich family hanging on one wall.
"That's an ugly face. Hey, because of you… Do you know how shit my life is?"
The emotions that Ren had been so insidiously overwhelmed with were murder and hatred. He had been forced to make unilateral sacrifices for the Grand Duchy ever since he gained independence from them. They had made the sacrifice mandatory by signing a hundred-year treaty on the condition of independence.
"I'm not obligated to honor the treaty you signed with my grandfather. One hundred years? Tell the dogs to do it."
Ren's face staring at the portrait became more brutal.
"I'm going to destroy everything my way."
***
Final exams were over. Although there may be some differences between departments, the semester is running towards its end as the grades have been released. Students who finished their classes early have gone home for the summer. This is because they are given more than a month off, which gives them enough time to go and visit their provincial territories.
However, this did not mean that all the current students left the academy. A significant number of commoner students remained in the dormitory. There was no time to relax, as their performance in the academy would determine their life after graduation.
Elena also remained in the dormitory. It was very surprising, considering that the current students from the aristocracy had gone home. Elena's decision to stay at the academy was not her own. It was thoroughly Leabrick's will.
Veronica was forced to take two years off for health reasons. She unintentionally delayed graduation. Leabrick hoped that Elena would accumulate grades that she had never had before through the seasonal semester. This is because it was possible to graduate early if she filled her allocated credits regardless of her school period or if her grades were good grades.
Elena took the seasonal semester when she was left at the academy. Not only major but also liberal arts were included, which made it feel tighter than this semester. But Elena didn't care. She still had a lot of work to do at the academy. This was more free of charge than entering the Grand Duchy and being watched by Leabrick.
"I don't really have anything to do with that."
Elena's plan worked better than she had planned. In L's name, she arranged for Khalif to meet the great masters of the era.
Khalif, who communicated with Randol and became aware of the role and importance of art brokers, helped future masters focus on their work and maximize their artistry. The masters, who thought they had already been indebted to L, were fascinated by the role of the lyricist of such art, and they held Khalif's hand without hesitation.
It was more than Elena expected. As the first and best art broker, he studied all the disciplines that the masters had failed to use, such as foundations, architecture, and literature. Working so hard that he didn't even have time to sleep, Khalif strove to understand the various disciplines.
"Efforts and enthusiasm are important, but Emilio played a big role in Khalif's growth."
Emilio, the head of the Castol Corporation, concentrated on his ascent, shuttling back and forth between the capital and the Triple Alliance. At the same time, whenever he had the chance, he met with the young Khalif and generously passed on the career and experience he had developed. Khalif's growth had a positive influence on the works of the masters.
The great literary artist Vargas' work
That's not all. Selling books through the Castol Chamber of Commerce's business area and distribution network generated an unexpectedly large amount of income. In addition, rumors quickly spread through the translation work that they would start selling their books to foreign countries like the Kingdom of Royer and the Union of the Three Kingdoms, and many famous literary figures and great writers came to visit them themselves. This was due to the greed of wanting to sell their works to other countries as well, rather than stopping at just the Empire.
"The salon is being built smoothly."
Emilio managed to purchase a plot of land on the main street that crosses the capital from the main gate of the Imperial Palace. It must not have been easy to purchase, as there were so few properties and the section was not traded, but he showed his ability to accomplish it without difficulty. On the land, the architect Randol was laying the groundwork for a salon that might become his first work.
Randol was going to achieve a domed roof utilizing a construction method that had never been seen anywhere before. He was striving to build a more elegant building, utilizing a balanced architectural beauty that was harmonious, yet differentiated from the current Gothic style, which is dominated by neat, tall spires. When Elena saw the design drawings that Khalif had already brought, she couldn't help but marvel at the prestigious taste and dignified grandeur of the building.
"The capital's center will be busy."
Elena, confident of success, embarked on a more aggressive investment. She asked Emilio to purchase additional salon premises. She also asked him to buy the surrounding buildings at a higher price than their market value. She decided that she needed that much land to transform the entire city around the salon.
Randol revised the design drawings to be appropriate for the site, which was more than twice as large as the initial one. The blueprints for the finished salon were not a cathedral, but they were in the form of a comparably large building.
The salon's interior facilities will also have structures that have never been seen before. In addition to the reception room where the discussion room could be held, a venue for the master's exhibition of works, opera theaters, and small ballrooms were planned to be separated. It would have all the elements Elena wanted for a center of salon culture.
Once the expansion was finalized, the construction period was extended. Khalif said that even if they were to start construction now, it would be a major project that would take at least two years. Two years was a lot longer than Elena had expected. But that didn't stop them from rushing. She knew that the construction would be completed much sooner than expected.
"The reason why Randol was revered as a real genius was because of the phenomenal speed of construction."
Elena did not know much about how it could be done. However, Randol was able to use an efficient construction method that could cut the average completion time of current buildings by almost half.