WebNovels

Chapter 9 - The Weight of Secrets

The climb back up from the dungeon was heavy with silence. Their footsteps echoed against the damp stone stairs, but neither spoke. Lilith followed behind Asher, her body still trembling faintly from the crushing aura of the tenth-floor beast.

When the dungeon's entrance gate creaked open to the light of day, she squinted her eyes against the brightness. The warm air, filled with the chatter of students and the lazy calls of distant sparrows, felt almost unreal compared to the suffocating darkness they had just endured.

And yet, though the world around her was the same, she was not.

Her eyes flicked toward Asher. He walked as though nothing had happened, his hands tucked into his pockets, expression calm and unreadable. If not for the lingering tremor in her bones, she could almost believe she had imagined the entire thing.

"Asher," she began quietly, "about what we saw down there—"

"Forget it."

She blinked. "What?"

He didn't look at her. "Speak of it to no one. Not your friends. Not your instructors. No one."

Lilith frowned, her pride stung by his commanding tone. "And why should I listen to you? You don't get to order me around like some—"

His eyes turned to hers for the first time, and the faint glimmer of shadow danced in their depths. It wasn't a threat—it was a reminder. A reminder of what she had witnessed.

Her words got stuck in her throat.

He turned back to the path, his voice steady as he spoke. "Not everyone can handle the truth. Some truths are poison."

Lilith clenched her fists, frustration burning hot beneath her ribs. Still, she said nothing more. After all, there was nothing else to say.

*****

The Academy courtyard buzzed with activity. Students milled about, nobles gathered in polished groups, and the air smelled faintly of fresh bread wafting from the kitchens.

Asher and Lilith's arrival did not go unnoticed.

"Lilith Veyra?" A voice rang out from across the fountain. A group of noble girls, adorned in fine silks even on their rest day, looked up in surprise. Their eyes swept across her rumpled black coat which seemed to be covered in dirt, and the way she walked slightly behind Asher.

Gasps and whispers spread like wildfire.

"My, my… did Lady Veyra get herself into trouble?" one sneered, lips curling.

"Or perhaps she was… rescued," another added, her gaze flicking pointedly toward Asher.

Lilith's cheeks burned crimson, both from exhaustion and shame. Her pride screamed at her to snap back, to put them in their place. She opened her mouth to speak...

Asher simply turned his gaze to meet theirs. The moment his eyes met theirs, they switched from blue to purple.

"......" 

A wave of fear washed over the group. None of them dared to speak, like something sealed their mouths shut. The tension dragged on for a few seconds more...

"Let' go." Asher said softly, retracting his gaze. 'I was getting tired of looking at their ugly faces.'

The courtyard hushed. The nobles stiffened under his gaze, an unease creeping into their eyes. They didn't know why, but for a fleeting moment, it felt as though they were looking at something greater, like a powerful deity.

 

None of them dared reply.

Asher walked on, leaving silence in his wake. Lilith followed, her pride conflicted. She should have hated him for stepping in, for acting on her behalf. And yet… a part of her felt a strange relief.

Later that evening, back in her dormitory, Lilith sat at her desk, a quill trembling in her hand as she tried to steady her thoughts.

But no matter how she tried to distract herself, her mind kept replaying the same images: the moment Asher pushed his hair back, the cold smile that curved across his lips, the abyss swirling at his feet as if it obeyed only him. The way he had stood before that monster as though it were nothing more than an inconvenience.

Her pride burned. She was Lilith Veyra—a noble, heir to a legacy of power. And yet she had cowered while he had stood tall.

Her hand clenched into a fist, ink blotting the page.

"…Who are you really, Asher?" she whispered.

But the silence of her chamber offered no answer.

She grit her teeth as new found resolve formed within her chest.

"Fine. If he won't tell me… I'll find out myself. And when I do, I'll prove that I can stand beside him, not behind him!"

Far from the nobles' wing, in the quiet seclusion of his own quarters, Asher sat cross-legged on the floor. The golden token lay before him, pulsing faintly like a hidden heart. The only light came from a single candle on his desk, its flame swaying as though uneasy in his presence.

He exhaled slowly. Shadows stirred at his feet, curling upward like smoke seeking a vessel.

Then...... he heard her.

"You've revealed more of yourself than you should have today… my dear Asher."

The voice slipped into his mind like velvet, smooth and warm, yet threaded with danger. Feminine. Intimate. Every syllable was a caress, wrapping itself around his thoughts.

His eyes remained closed. "I didn't have a choice. The anomaly would have killed her. And it would have spread."

"Ah," the voice purred, "so gallant. Protecting the trembling little noble girl. I can feel her fear still clinging to you… and her awe. You like that, don't you? The way she looks at you now."

Asher's jaw tightened. "It wasn't about her. I couldn't care less what she thinks about me."

"No?" she whispered, amused. "You could have let her break. Watched her pride collapse, her heart crushed. But you didn't. You reached out… held her hand. Such a soft thing for someone who wears the abyss like a crown."

The shadows coiled tighter, brushing against his skin like phantom fingers. His pulse quickened despite himself.

"Enough," he muttered.

"Oh, Asher," she breathed, "....why resist me? You know I'm right. You carry me within you—my power, my essence, my hunger. Every time you call upon me, you let me in deeper. And it feels good, doesn't it? The way the shadows bend to your will, the way monsters fall at your presence. That surge… that thrill."

Her tone darkened, coaxing, getting more intimate.

"All you have to do is stop fighting me. Let go. Let me fill you, consume you. Together, there will be no creature, no noble, no king, no deity........ who can stand before you. You would be more than a vessel—you would be mine."

His eyes snapped open, and the candlelight flickered against the sharp glint in them. "I'll never be yours."

A soft laugh echoed, low and sultry.

"Oh, my Asher… you already are. You just haven't accepted it yet."

For a moment, the room seemed to close in, shadows pressing against his skin, warm and suffocating. He clenched his fists, forcing them back down. Slowly, the dark tendrils sank to the floor again, retreating into nothingness.

"…Maybe so," he whispered, voice steady despite the rapid beat of his heart. "But until the time comes, you'll move at my will. Not the other way around."

The entity chuckled softly, lingering like a kiss against his ear.

"We'll see, beloved. We'll see."

*****

Outside his quarters, the Academy grounds lay cloaked in the night. The wards that shimmered faintly over the grand towers flickered once, so subtly that no ordinary eye would notice.

But in the treelines beyond the walls, a lone figure stood cloaked in shadow, watching the dormitories with patient stillness.

Their lips curved faintly as though amused.

"So… the abyss has chosen its vessel after all."

And with that, they melted back into the darkness.

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