Shattered Innocence: Transmigrated Into a Novel as an Extra

Chapter 1109: Becoming Rude

Why did the world possess rules that nobody had thought to write down?

Elara had wondered about that occasionally when she was younger, usually after some tutor informed her that a perfectly ordinary action had somehow become improper because it had been performed beneath the wrong roof, before the wrong person, or with a degree of familiarity that noble society had decided required several months of acquaintance first. Those rules rarely appeared in etiquette manuals. They were absorbed instead through glances, pauses, whispered corrections from mothers, and the uncomfortable silence that followed whenever someone crossed a boundary everyone else had apparently agreed existed.

The answer was simple enough.

Some things did not require a written rule because everyone was expected to understand them.

Entering another person’s chamber without permission was rude.

Reading private correspondence was rude.

Reaching into another cultivator’s mana pathways because she wanted to determine whether something was wrong with his hand—

Elara’s thoughts stalled.

’...Ah.’

Lucavion remained directly in front of her.

His hand still enclosed hers.

The cold of his skin had already spread across her fingers, yet that sensation occupied considerably less of her attention than the pair of pitch-black eyes fixed upon her face. From this distance, the warm lamps did little to soften them. His irises disappeared almost completely into the darkness of his pupils, leaving only a faint reflection along their surface whenever he shifted his head.

They were narrowed.

Waiting.

Elara swallowed.

To be frank, she had possessed no malicious intention whatsoever.

His hand had trembled. His breathing had changed. He had recoiled from a simple touch with enough force to disturb the chair beneath him. Any reasonable person witnessing those symptoms would have wondered whether his meridians had suffered damage during the Mana Control Trial, whether some hidden injury had resurfaced, or whether the strange circulation beneath his skin had begun producing consequences neither of them understood.

She had merely wanted to check.

That remained true.

It also changed absolutely nothing.

’It could be considered rude.’

Elara’s lips pressed together.

No.

She corrected herself before the excuse finished settling.

’It would be considered rude.’

Another heartbeat passed.

’It is rude.’

The acceptance arrived with considerably less dignity than she would have preferred.

Lucavion watched every small change travel across her expression.

Elara became acutely aware of the wall behind her.

Not because he had trapped her there. He had left more than enough room for her to step sideways if she wished, and his hold around her hand was firm without becoming restrictive.

The problem was distance.

Lucavion stood close enough that she could see the faint shadow beneath his eyes, the individual strands of black hair that had fallen slightly out of place near his forehead, and the subtle rise of his chest each time he breathed. His earlier instability seemed to have withdrawn somewhere beneath that familiar composure, replaced by the sharper attention he usually carried when a conversation finally interested him.

Except conversations generally occurred from farther away.

”Elowyn.”

His voice reached her quietly.

Elara lifted her eyes.

”I am waiting for an answer, you know.”

The warmth gathering beneath her collar climbed another degree.

She knew.

That was precisely the problem.

Lucavion’s gaze flickered over her face. A small glint entered those dark eyes, and Elara recognized the change before his mouth began to curve.

”If you won’t give me one,” he continued, ”I may become audacious.”

Her thoughts recovered immediately.

’Absolutely not.’

That much she understood.

He wanted her embarrassed enough to retreat. Or perhaps he simply wanted to see whether she would. With Lucavion, either motive could easily exist beside three others and still leave room for amusement.

Elara steadied herself.

She had spent five years beneath Eveline Draycott.

Before that, she had been raised inside one of Loria’s great ducal houses, where noble boys occasionally mistook a dance invitation for proof of irresistible charm and visiting heirs practiced smiles before mirrors because someone had convinced them confidence could replace personality.

She could manage Lucavion standing too close.

Probably.

Her chin lifted by a fraction.

”You already are.”

His brows rose.

”Audacious?”

”Frequently.”

”Yet you continue spending time with me.”

”I have several regrettable habits.”

Lucavion laughed softly.

The sound carried strangely at this distance, low enough that she felt part of it before the privacy seal allowed the room to swallow the rest.

Elara held his gaze.

And, for several breaths, it worked.

Then Lucavion leaned closer.

Only slightly.

The movement measured perhaps half the distance between one thought and the next, yet Elara felt every fraction of it because the air between them had already become too small.

Her composure slipped.

Not dramatically.

Her shoulders stiffened. Her fingers tightened once inside his hand, and her next breath arrived shallower than she intended.

Lucavion’s eyes brightened.

”Hmm.”

Elara’s stare sharpened. ”What?”

”Nothing.”

”That expression is rarely attached to nothing.”

”I was appreciating something.”

Her brows drew together.

”What?”

His gaze lingered on her for another moment.

Then he smiled.

”You are much easier to fluster when you can’t walk away.”

Elara’s cheeks warmed.

”I can walk away.”

”Yes.”

”You moved me here.”

”Yes.”

”You are also still holding my hand.”

Lucavion looked down between them as though the fact had escaped his attention.

”Interesting.”

”Lucavion.”

”I thought you were examining me.”

”I was.”

”Then perhaps this is part of the examination.”

”It is not.”

”Shame.”

Elara exhaled slowly through her nose.

She could feel his amusement building again, and with it came another problem she had failed to anticipate.

His scent.

She had been close to Lucavion before. Combat had a habit of destroying whatever polite distances civilization preferred, and Stormhaven had contained several moments where blood, rain, smoke, and exhaustion left little room for caring whose shoulder brushed whose.

This was different.

Private Room Four smelled of parchment, warmed crystal, ink, old wood, and the faint residue of mana from their failed spell. Lucavion’s presence cut through those familiar scents lightly enough that she had missed it until now.

A restrained cologne.

Something dry at first, almost woody, followed by a cleaner note she could not immediately place.

It carried very little weight.

That surprised her.

Lucavion’s personality suggested something more intrusive should have accompanied him, some scent determined to occupy a room long after he had gone merely because everyone else might prefer otherwise.

Instead, this would disappear quickly.

Perhaps within minutes of him leaving.

Elara’s thoughts paused on that realization for longer than necessary.

’Why am I thinking about this?’

She shifted her attention upward again.

Lucavion was watching her.

Too attentively.

His mouth curved.

”Did you just smell me?”

Elara’s entire body went still.

”I did no such thing.”

”You did.”

”I breathed.”

”Near me.”

”That is generally where air is located.”

Lucavion’s smile widened.

Elara resisted the sudden urge to step on his foot.

”You’re blushing.”

”I am becoming irritated.”

”Those seem remarkably similar from here.”

”Then increase the distance and improve your perspective.”

His eyes narrowed with amusement.

”But I like the perspective.”

The words arrived casually.

Their effect did not.

Elara felt something small turn beneath her ribs.

For an instant, she had no answer.

That irritated her more than the sentence itself.

Cedric had spent most of his life beside her. They had trained together, travelled together, slept beneath the same ruined roofs during exile, shared campfires and meals and enough near-death experiences that ordinary physical proximity had long since stopped carrying much meaning between them.

Yet familiarity with Cedric had grown out of childhood.

It possessed no edge.

No uncertainty.

No awareness like this.

Elara had never needed to wonder what Cedric meant when he stepped closer.

Lucavion seemed capable of making the space between two people into a question simply by standing inside it.

She disliked that ability.

She disliked even more that she had yet to decide whether she disliked the feeling it produced.

Lucavion shifted his thumb lightly against her hand.

Elara’s attention snapped downward.

He released her.

The sudden absence of cold left her fingers strangely warm.

”There,” he said.

Elara looked up.

”Since you have apparently finished examining your student.”

His tone had regained most of its usual ease.

He stepped away from her, granting the room several much-needed feet of air, then turned halfway toward the table.

”I suppose that concludes our private lecture.”

Elara stared at his back.

The phrase settled.

Then irritation followed.

”Who said that?”

Lucavion paused.

He glanced over his shoulder.

”That concludes it?”

”Yes.”

”I did.”

Elara folded her arms.

”And since when does the student decide when the lecture ends?”

His eyebrows rose again.

She walked past him toward the table, grateful for the movement because it gave her hands something to do besides remember how cold his had been. The formation plate remained covered in broken silver traces, while the introductory text waited beside several diagrams that had survived the evening’s derailment.

Lucavion followed at a slower pace.

”How does a private lecture end, then?”

Elara gathered the loose sheets into a cleaner stack.

”It ends when I, the lecturer, decide that we have done enough.”

”Oh?”

”Yes.”

She placed the first notebook over the diagrams and turned toward him.

”After which I tell you what you need to review, give you instructions for our next session, and assign work.”

Lucavion’s expression changed.

Only slightly.

Elara enjoyed the change immediately.

”Work?”

”Homework.”

He looked toward the books.

Then back at her.

”Oh, really?”

”Yes. Really.”

His eyes narrowed.

”And what if I say I will not do any homework?”

Elara had expected that question from the moment the word left her mouth.

Her answer came easily.

”Then I will make you do it in front of me.”

Lucavion blinked.

The silence that followed lasted exactly long enough for Elara to realize how the sentence might sound.

His smile appeared.

Slowly.

”Is that really the case?”

Elara refused to surrender the ground this time.

”It is.”

”You seem very confident.”

”I have already watched you spend half a bell drawing one circle.”

”A successful circle.”

”It failed.”

”The circle survived.”

”The spell did not.”

”A matter of perspective.”

”A matter of illumination.”

Lucavion placed one hand against the back of the chair he had abandoned earlier, amusement settling comfortably across his face again.

”Hmm. Let us hear your homework for me, then.”

Elara turned toward the notebook before his phrasing could create another problem.

She had considered several possible assignments earlier that afternoon, though most had assumed the lesson would proceed according to plan.

Very little tonight had cooperated with that assumption.

She opened to a fresh page.

”First, you will memorize the terms we covered tonight.”

Lucavion groaned.

”Properly.”

”Cruel.”

”Ley Conduction Principle. Structural pressure. Structural strain. Supporting vectors. Stabilization lattices. Invocation cores. Primary channels. Supporting channels. Anchors.”

”You were waiting to say all of those again.”

”I was waiting for you to remember them.”

”That seems less satisfying.”

Elara ignored him and continued writing.

”Second, you will reproduce the [Mana Light] circle on paper.”

”How many times?”

She considered.

”Ten.”

Lucavion’s face fell.

Elara changed her mind.

”Fifteen.”

”That was vindictive.”

”That was adjustment based upon student attitude.”

”I preferred you when you were secretly investigating me.”

Her quill paused.

Lucavion smiled.

Elara continued writing.

”Fifteen complete copies. Label every component. If the proportions become careless by the final five, you repeat those five.”

”You intend to inspect them?”

”Obviously.”

”That means I cannot simply draw fifteen circles.”

”You may attempt whatever foolish shortcut you wish. I will know.”

”How?”

”I am better at this than you.”

Lucavion considered the answer, then nodded.

”Fair.”

Elara glanced toward the introductory text still open beside her notebook.

”You will also need a copy of this.”

Lucavion followed her gaze.

”The entire thing?”

”The introductory sections.”

”That answer was suspiciously careful.”

”Because if I tell you the entire book, you may decide death is preferable.”

”Finally, some compassion.”

”You can borrow a copy downstairs before you leave. Start with the circulation and basic spell-structure Chapters. I expect you to know the terminology before Monday.”

Lucavion looked toward the thickness of the book again.

”Your expectations of me are becoming unreasonable.”

”They began very low. You will survive.”

”Cruel woman.”

”And finally...”

Elara’s quill slowed.

Her gaze shifted toward the broken formation plate.

The strange movement of his wrist returned to her thoughts.

She could have assigned another practical exercise.

That would be useful.

It would also introduce too many variables before she understood what had happened tonight.

”Do nothing magical alone.”

Lucavion’s expression changed.

The humor thinned.

Elara kept her tone even.

”Until our next session, you may review diagrams, terminology, and theory. You may trace circles with ordinary ink. You will not channel mana through any formation unless an instructor is present.”

He studied her face.

”Because of the failed spell?”

”Because your response afterward remains unexplained.”

Lucavion’s gaze lowered briefly toward his hand.

The movement was enough.

Elara continued before he could dismiss it.

”I mean it.”

His thumb brushed against the side of his index finger.

Then his hand relaxed.

”Alright.”

The answer surprised her.

She hid that reaction by closing the notebook.

”Good.”

Lucavion reached for his coat cuff and adjusted it, though nothing about the fabric required correction.

”When is the next lesson?”

”Monday evening.”

”Same room?”

”If it is available.”

”And if it isn’t?”

”I will reserve another.”

His eyes lifted toward her.

”Somewhere equally secret?”

Elara gave him a long look.

”Somewhere with a larger table.”

”Ah.”

”And chairs placed farther apart.”

Lucavion laughed.

Elara hated that her ears warmed again.

He moved toward the door, slower this time than when he had attempted to leave earlier. At the privacy seal, he presented his student card, and the silver lines running through the frame loosened with a quiet pulse.

Before opening it, he glanced back.

”Fifteen?”

”Fifteen.”

”You will regret giving me that much opportunity to practice.”

”I suspect I will regret teaching you magic at all.”

”That sounds almost encouraging.”

”It was not intended to be.”

Lucavion smiled.

The door opened.

Sound from the Western Library returned in a soft wash: distant footsteps, turning pages, the muted movement of catalogue spirits somewhere beyond the gallery.

Then he stepped through.

”Good night, Teacher.”

The door closed before Elara could answer.

The privacy seal settled again.

Silence reclaimed the room.

Elara remained beside the table for several breaths, staring at the place where Lucavion had disappeared.

Then she looked down at her hand.

Her fingers still remembered the cold.