After putting her pajamas back on, Liya curled up on the bed and carefully wrapped herself tightly in the blanket.
One hand lightly covered her face, her whole head buried in the thick bedding, while a faint blush stained her cheeks.
On one side of the room was a huge glass window.
Thin curtains hung softly, subtly blocking the light from outside and giving the room a quiet, peaceful atmosphere.
Entering from the door, the first thing on the left side was a soft sofa.
Viktor sat on the sofa, lazily leaning against the backrest.
His black coat hung casually to the floor as his deep gaze rested on Liya, whose face was buried in the blanket.
Liya slowly raised her head. Through the gaps between her fingers, the shy redness on her face became even more obvious.
Viktor looked at her and was just about to say something when a calm voice interrupted him, "Don't speak yet."
Viktor decisively shut his mouth and quietly became a listener.
Liya still covered her face and remained silent.
Her dull gaze fell on a corner of the room, treating Viktor as if he did not exist.
She had a lot she wanted to say, yet could not say anything at all.
She closed her eyes, but her mind was completely blank and unable to focus.
'Right, think about it, how many assets does the Clavenna territory still have... No, impossible, completely impossible!' Her mind was a mess. She could not remember anything.
The scene of Viktor suddenly appearing behind her earlier was deeply branded into her memory.
No matter what she tried to think about, those broken fragments would always flash through her mind.
She thought about whether Viktor's appearance had been too much of a coincidence.
How did he just happen to appear while she was changing clothes?
The more Liya thought about it, the worse she felt.
And she remembered Viktor's explanation from the beginning, "So you're trying to tell me that a high-level mage capable of teleportation was actually swallowed by a treasure chest and just happened to appear while his younger sister was changing clothes, right?"
Viktor calmly nodded.
Liya took a deep breath and raised her head, blankly staring at the ceiling.
After noticing Viktor, the first thing she did was not scream or shout.
She had even been thinking for his sake.
If word got out that Viktor peeked at his younger sister changing clothes.
Then what kind of severe damage would it bring to Viktor and the entire Clavenna family's reputation?
Because of this, Liya smartly chose silence.
In the end, reason still defeated instinct.
But as she gradually calmed down, shame slowly rose in her heart.
She finally realized the fact that she had been completely seen naked.
And the person was her older brother.
Viktor Clavenna.
Her original rationality was gradually collapsing. At this moment.
Shame was slowly taking over her heart again.
The Clavenna family's upbringing was extremely strict, especially regarding education between men and women.
Since childhood, her father and the servants constantly reminded and taught her.
Maintain proper distance from the opposite sex, even close family members were no exception.
Even though young Liya always clung to Viktor while calling "Big brother, big brother," the family's educational principles had always stayed firmly in her mind.
Things like childhood stories where siblings bathed together or slept in the same bed were absolutely impossible.
Under the influence of long-term education, the idea that 'you can only completely open yourself to your future lover' had been drilled into Liya's mind since childhood.
Although she had never met anyone who made her heart move from childhood until now.
After all, with an overly outstanding older brother above her, people her age became even harder to notice.
But now, this belief of hers was beginning to collapse.
Like the foundation of a towering building being torn apart by an earthquake, countless broken stones and rubble crashed into the earth, kicking up dust that swept thousands of feet high.
After all, the thing had already happened. Liya originally never planned to marry anyone anyway, and now she truly could not get married anymore.
In every sense.
"Heh… haha."
Being completely seen by her older brother in such a dramatic way made Liya unable to accept it.
Especially since this was all caused by her own actions.
Thinking the treasure chest might be father's relic was why she had Haernason move it into her bedroom.
But who could have guessed a Viktor would jump out of the chest?
So that was what Cocotte meant by "there's a problem with the chest."
If she had known this would happen, she should have listened to Cocotte and left the chest in the living room.
Or if not, even throwing it outside the mansion would have worked.
Her emotions surged up all at once, rushing straight into Liya's head.
Her eyes were hollow and blank, while dry laughter continuously came from her throat, full of helplessness.
She lowered her head and looked at Viktor. Her dazed expression already looked like it was gradually breaking apart.
"So, why did you come out of that treasure chest?"
"That was something from father's tomb…"
Listening to Liya's question, Viktor raised his eyes and met Liya's somewhat frightening gaze.
He sighed, and his calm voice slowly sounded, "To confirm some things."
"And while I was at it, bring out something he hid in the tomb."
Liya froze on the bed. The gaze in her hollow eyes seemed to pass through Viktor and look somewhere very, very far away.
"Some… things?"
Viktor looked at the confused and stunned Liya and thought for a moment.
He originally wanted to make up some excuse to brush her off, but after thinking about it.
He still decided to tell the truth, "Someone told me the Clavenna family was a cursed family."
"So I had Haernason take me to that graveyard."
And the final result proved that what Mike Rimm said was indeed true.
Although he could not find Tisnato's corpse in the graveyard, hidden inside the tomb was a path leading to the gates of hell.
As well as that crimson armor.
The Hellfire General belonged to the same system as the Four Generals of the Stellar Empire.
But was also completely different.
If the Stellar Empire's generals were gods high above who actively brought down the stars to bless powerful generals.
Then the Hellfire General was a fallen person who gained power through baptism in the underworld.
And that Hellfire General was the ancestor of the Clavenna family.
Under hell's curse, the Clavenna bloodline could not produce mages.
Because the underworld had no mages.
Viktor, who had once speedrun through the underworld, understood these things extremely well.
He was only curious how the Mirror Demon knew about this matter.
And... if the former family head Tisnato had not died, then where had he gone now?
But these were only guesses pieced together from clues.
Viktor's words left Liya somewhat stunned. The emptiness in her eyes gradually turned into gloomy confusion.
But at the same time, she almost forgot the embarrassing matter of Viktor seeing her naked earlier.
"...Cursed? What do you mean?"
Viktor looked at Liya and calmly said, as if reminding her, "If you've read through the Clavenna family genealogy, you'll notice that none of the Clavenna ancestors were mages."
Hearing Viktor's words, Liya paused.
She really did have the Clavenna family genealogy in her possession.
But she had almost never looked through it carefully.
Although mages had only become popular in the past few hundred years.
The establishment of the Mage Council brought many mages hidden throughout the world into public view.
Allowing many people to learn about the profession of mage.
But indeed, it seemed that only Viktor's generation of the Clavenna family had produced a mage.
But what exactly did Viktor mean?
A flash of realization appeared in Liya's mind, as if she had thought of something.
But she could not confirm it, and she did not dare confirm it.
But immediately after, Viktor's words caused her to suddenly freeze.
"Because this is our family's curse."
Viktor slowly stood up and lowered his head to look at Liya, "The Clavenna bloodline is destined to never become mages."
These words left Liya frozen on the bed.
She blinked and stared blankly at Viktor.
Her already chaotic mind became even more chaotic.
However, before she could fully react, Viktor had already walked to the doorway.
He did not turn around. Only calm words sounded beside Liya's ears.
"Although you brought the chest in here, I was also at fault."
"After you calm down and think things through, we'll continue talking."
A pale current of wind lightly blew, pushing open the bedroom door.
At the same time, it lifted Viktor's black coat.
His footsteps were light and completely silent as he walked out.
That pale wind gradually disappeared, but the tail end of the breeze seemed to extend an invisible arm and gently pull the door shut as well.
Liya watched the door close again, looking somewhat at a loss.
Something was stuck in her throat, yet she could not speak.
Thump! Thump!
Liya slowly placed one hand over her chest and felt the repeated pounding.
Her heart was racing wildly, probably even faster than before.
Her mind had become even more chaotic, too chaotic to process any information.
'What did Viktor just say?'
'Developed pretty well?'
'No no, that's not right. Why did I think of that?'
Her body felt a little hot. She reached out and touched her cheeks.
Very hot, to the point she almost felt like she had a fever.
'This is bad!' her face was red beyond belief.
'So hot, and still heating up.'
'Is there a mirror? I need a mirror...'
Liya lowered her head, touching her burning forehead while widening her eyes.
Her moist eyes looked as if water could drip out of them.
She softly murmured, "The Clavenna bloodline can't become mages…"
"Can't become mages…"
"Then…"
Inside her chaotic mind that could no longer think about anything properly, only one thing remained especially clear.
"Viktor… is a mage."
She slowly raised her head again and looked toward the door Viktor had left through, pressing her lips together.
At some point, the window had been blown open by the wind.
A light breeze brushed past her ears, bringing slight coolness.
But the beating of her heart was louder than the soft whistling wind.
Liya breathed in the scorching air and let out the frustration in her heart.
Yet she could no longer hear the small traces of unrest within herself.