Shattered Innocence: Transmigrated Into a Novel as an Extra

Chapter 1043: WHO IS YOUR WIFE! (2)

”W–WHO IS YOUR WIFE!”

The words cracked out of her before she could throttle them back. The aftermath hit her instantly. Her throat tightened, her pulse kicked upward, and any semblance of knightly composure evaporated into smoke.

Lucavion blinked once. Then his lips curved. Slowly. Dangerously.

”Oh?” he murmured. ”So you do object?”

Valeria felt her entire face ignite. ”T–that’s not— I wasn’t— You—!”

She could not form a sentence. Not a coherent one. Every time she tried, her voice tangled with mortification. She sounded nothing like the disciplined knight she had spent years shaping herself into and everything like someone cornered by her own flustered instincts.

Lucavion leaned back, one eyebrow arched with delighted cruelty. ”Valeria,” he said warmly, ”are you... jealous?”

”S–SHUT UP!”

Her voice cracked again. She slapped both hands onto the table just to steady herself. Her mind kept looping back to the same horrifying realization:

Elowyn is watching.

Elowyn, quiet and composed, was observing every second of this humiliation. When Valeria finally dared to look at her, the girl’s eyes were wide—surprised, yes, but not mocking. If anything, she looked startled in a way that made Valeria’s skin tighten further.

She whipped back toward Lucavion. ”Y-you—! Don’t say things like that! Especially not when someone else is—!”

”Oh, this is priceless,” Lucavion interrupted, and then—

He broke.

Not into a smirk.

Not into one of his low, knowing chuckles.

He laughed.

A full, unrestrained—almost youthful—burst of laughter that startled even himself.

Valeria’s fists clenched. Something between embarrassment and indignation shot up her spine, and she smacked his shoulder. Hard.

”Stop laughing!”

He only laughed harder. ”Ow— Valeria, hah— I’m— give me a—”

”No! Take it seriously!”

”I can’t,” he gasped, still half-laughing, half-defending himself as she swatted him again. ”You— you should see your face—”

”Lucavion!”

He tried to shield himself with his arm, but it did nothing. She hit him again—not hard enough to hurt, just enough to convey exactly how mortifying this was. Elowyn watched with a look that hovered between astonishment and polite concern, unsure whether to intervene or pretend she hadn’t seen anything.

Lucavion eventually managed to catch her wrist—not in a forceful way, but with a familiarity that startled her into stillness. His laughter softened into remnants of sound, light and unguarded.

It was different from any expression she’d seen on him before. There was no veil, no layered intention, no performance. Just something raw and childish flickering through.

The sight startled Valeria enough that her fist stopped mid-swing.

And for a heartbeat, she forgot to breathe.

’He... laughs like that?’

Not elegant.

Not composed.

Not dangerous.

Just... Lucavion, stripped of every habit and mask he usually carried.

Something warm and annoyingly pleasant fluttered in her chest. She crushed it immediately.

She pulled her wrist back and crossed her arms with a sharp huff.

”Humph.”

Lucavion still smiled—not mocking now, not teasing. A genuine smile lingered at the edges, softening the line of his jaw and the sharpness of his eyes.

Lucavion let the last remnants of laughter ease into silence, though the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth refused to die. He straightened, cleared his throat with a theatrical ahem, and attempted to look contrite.

It was a terrible attempt.

”...I’m sorry,” he said.

Valeria stared at him. The apology was so empty, so utterly lacking remorse, that she almost choked on air. Her eyes narrowed by instinct.

He wasn’t sorry.

Not even a little.

Lucavion’s smile betrayed him fully.

Before she could respond, he lifted his hands in a light, placating gesture. ”In my defense—how could you expect me to miss such an opportunity? Moments like that do not come often.”

Elowyn lowered her gaze to her soup to hide a small, startled laugh.

Valeria, meanwhile, could only stare at Lucavion with a blend of disbelief and growing exasperation. A long sigh escaped her as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

”This charlatan...” she muttered under her breath. ”You’re impossible.”

Lucavion leaned in with a conspiratorial grin. ”Impossible? Perhaps. But opportunistic? Absolutely.”

Valeria glared. ”And what exactly is ’opportunity’ supposed to mean in this context?”

He responded without shame. ”Watching you turn into a tomato and accuse me of infidelity in a public dining hall. That sort of entertainment is rare.”

”Lucavion,” she warned.

”Yes, yes,” he said breezily. ”I recognize my wrongdoing.”

He paused for half a second before adding: ”Or at least I recognize that you see it as wrongdoing.”

”...That’s not the same thing.”

”Minor detail.”

Valeria groaned softly. He enjoyed this too much. He always had.

Lucavion clasped his hands together, lowering his head in an exaggerated show of penance. ”Please forgive my insolence,” he said in a deep, falsely reverent tone. ”Oh mighty Knight of Olarion.”

”Stop mocking me.”

”To demonstrate the sincerity of my apology—”

He lifted his fork as though preparing to conduct a ritual.

”—here is my offering.”

Before Valeria could ask what he meant, he reached over, scooped a portion of his meal—a carefully cut slice of roasted meat with a hint of seasoning—and deposited it onto Valeria’s plate.

He did so with the solemnity of a priest delivering an offering to the gods.

Both girls stared at the gesture for a moment.

Elowyn blinked.

Valeria stared at her plate.

Lucavion looked entirely satisfied with himself.

”Are you serious?” Valeria asked.

”Utterly.”

He tapped his chest with a hand. ”A piece of my meal, offered freely. Does such devotion not speak for itself?”

Valeria’s mouth twitched.

It twitched again.

This man.

This absurd, impossible man.

”...You’re unbelievable.”

His smile brightened. ”I’ll take that as a yes.”

”It wasn’t a compliment.”

”Still sounded like one.”

She forced herself to look away before her expression betrayed anything else.

Lucavion reclined slightly, the easy satisfaction still lingering in his expression. When Valeria finally managed to look away from him and reclaim some semblance of composure, he tapped his fork against his plate with a light click.

”Well,” he said, tone shifting into something more composed, ”since you’ve entertained me so thoroughly and made my morning quite memorable, it seems only fair that I answer your request.”

Valeria stiffened, posture straightening. Elowyn glanced up as well, her eyes steady beneath her calm demeanor.

Lucavion gestured toward Elowyn with casual elegance. ”As for how I know our frost mage here—simple. We’re in the same dormitory block.”

Valeria blinked. ”...You were in the same dormitory block. That’s it?”

Lucavion spread his hands. ”That’s it.”

Valeria frowned. She leaned slightly forward, her expression shifting into the same restrained seriousness she used during interrogations on Vendor’s assignments.

”Lucavion,” she said, ”that answer doesn’t even make sense.”

He blinked with innocent surprise. ”Doesn’t it?”

”No.” She folded her arms. ”You expect me to believe that simply being in the same dormitory block somehow explains why you knew her abilities? Her combat style? How she performed today?”

Lucavion smiled, almost proud of her reasoning. ”You’re sharper than before.”

”That’s not a compliment,” she muttered.

”Still sounded like one.”

She exhaled, ignoring that. ”If your explanation is just ’we live in the same building,’ then it isn’t an explanation at all. You don’t know every student in your dormitory block. I certainly don’t.”

Lucavion tapped the table twice with his fingers, pretending to contemplate her words. ”Correct.”

”So?” Valeria pressed. ”Try again.”

Elowyn watched quietly, head slightly tilted, as if evaluating the exchange rather than participating. Lucavion noticed this too—his eyes flicked toward her before returning to Valeria with a faint grin.

”You are very determined today,” he said.

”Answer the question.”

”Demanding.”

”Lucavion.”

He lifted both hands as though surrendering. ”Fine, fine. I acknowledge your point. Merely being in the same dormitory block is... insufficient as a full explanation.”

Valeria nodded once, satisfied she had cornered him.

But then—

He smirked.

”Even so, it is how we first crossed paths.”

Valeria’s brows drew together. ”Meaning?”

Lucavion gestured loosely toward Elowyn. ”Meaning that the first time I saw her, she was giving me a look one usually reserves for criminals, assassins, or suspicious alleyway strangers.”

Elowyn set down her spoon with a quiet sigh. ”I have explained this twice now. You startled me.”

Lucavion leaned back, clearly entertained. ”You stared at me like you were mapping the weaknesses in my ribcage.”

”I was not.”