Mirac stood still for a moment.

  Michelle’s words echoed in his mind, powerful and sudden, like thunder in a clear sky.

  His expression, already tense, shifted into a mix of disbelief and apprehension.

  “Someone is spying on you?” he repeated, trying to stay calm. “Are you sure? Did you see someone? Or is it just a feeling?”

  The questions tumbled from his lips, urgent, as his grew.

  Michelle crossed her arms, as if trying to shield herself from a cold that did, despite the hallway being warm and silent. Her dark eyes, usually so enigmatiow betrayed a deep ay.

  “I didn’t see anyone in particur,” she admitted, her voice trembling. “But it’s like… I stantly feel eyes on me! When I walk through the castle, when I’m in the garden… even in my room, while I sleep! It’s a persistent, uling feeling, like someone is watg me from the shadows! But every time I turn around… there's never anyone behind me!

  Mirac remained silent, trying to process the information.

  “How long have you felt this way?” he finally asked, hoping his tone sounded reassuring.

  “For a few weeks,” Michelle murmured, l her gaze again. “At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but now… now I’m pretty sure it’s not!”

  Mirac didn’t doubt his sister: she wasn’t the type to make up stories or be easily influenced by fear.

  “I really don’t know what to do!” Michelle excimed, her voice trembling slightly. “I don’t want to worry the others, but I ’t keep living like this!”

  Mirac stepped forward and pced a hand on his sister’s shoulder.

  “Don’t worry. You don’t have to face all this alone anymore. I’ll help you! After all, we are a family! And a family alrotects each other, no matter what or why! Right?”

  For Mirac—or rather, for Vector—That was what being a family truly meant!

  Laughter, affe, love…

  But above all, being there in times of need! Being ready to give everything, without hesitation, just to protee another!

  Hearing Mirac’s words, Michelle’s eyes, filled with ay just moments before, softened for an instant. Perhaps without even realizing it, a glimmer of relief crossed her face, apanied by a faint smile.

  “Well, yes. Actually, you're right. Thank you," Michelle replied, raising her gaze and appearing slightly calmer. “But… what exactly we do? Should we inform the royal guards? o speak to our father directly?”

  Mirac thought for a moment, staring at the floor as if the answer were hidden there.

  After a brief silence, he lifted his gaze and said:

  “her. For noon’t say anything to anyone.”

  “What?!” Michelle eechless, visibly surprised. “I don’t uand… why?!”

  Mirac crossed his arms, his expression serious yet calm.

  “Well, it’s very simple,” he replied. “If we alert the royal guards or our father without having at least a clue about who we’re dealing with, the iigation would start from nothing. And uhese ditions, it’s almost certain they wouldn’t find the culprit. The castle is full of residents, and trying to discover the ‘spy’ using traditional methods would be nearly impossible. Furthermore, if we make a move now, there’s a high ce that whoever is watg you will find out. They’d realize that you’ve noticed them and that we’re orail. At that point, they’d adopt a more cautious approach, making it even harder to uheir identity. Or worse, they might stop all activity until things have settled down, waiting for the right moment to resume without raising suspi.”

  Having said this, Miracluded firmly:

  “In short, involving the royal guards or our father right now would only be disadvantageous and terproductive.”

  Michelle stared at him, trying to follow his reasoning.

  “But then… what do you suggest we do?” she asked, her voice filled with both curiosity and .

  Mirac cleared his throat, as if buying time to gather his thoughts.

  “For now, nothing. Pretend you don’t know anything. Go on with your day as usual. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  Michelle looked at him in disbelief, uo hold back her rea.

  “W-What? What do you mean ‘nothing’? I don’t uand you at all. What exactly do you have in mind?”

  Mirac kept his gaze steady, trying to instill a sense of calm in her.

  “Unfortunately, I ’t tell you. But if we want to solve this, you’ll have to trust me. At least until I leave. If my p work, then of course, we’ll inform the guards. But for now, it’s crucial that this stays between us.”

  He couldn’t reveal it openly, but Mirasisted on keeping the matter secret precisely because it art of his pn…

  At her younger brother’s request, Michelle nodded slowly, though her expression remained uain.

  “I don’t know…” she murmured, visibly uneasy. “To be ho, your pn seems far too reckless! What if this person is like that assassin who infiltrated the castle? He used Artifacts, didn’t he? And what if this person has ooo? No, ag alone is far too risky!”

  Mirac met her gaze directly, his eyes filled with determination.

  “You’re afraid this person wants to take your life, aren’t you? Well, you be sure that’s not the case! With the new security system implemented after the Krk i, it’s practically impossible for an assassin to have infiltrated again like st time. So, it’s almost certain that whoever is spying on you now is just someo as an informant on behalf of someone else. Perhaps a secret anization… Besides, if they really did have an Artifact, it would mean they had infiltrated the castle before Krk’s arrival and before the new security system ut in pce. But if that were the case, why would they choose to aow, after more tha years? It wouldn’t make any se’s far more likely that they don’t possess any Artifact at all. In that case, the spy is hardly someoo be worried about.”

  Mirac’s expnation was so well-structed, based on such solid logical reasoning, that Michelle couldn’t find a single fw to tradict him.

  “So,” Miratinued, “there’s ohing I’m absolutely certain of: the person spying on you poses no threat to your life!”

  Michelle lowered her gaze, hesitant.

  “I know you’re scared, but you have to trust me!” Mirasisted. “It’s the only way we find out who’s behind all of this!”

  Michelle bit her lower lip, torween fear and trust.

  “Mirac… I don’t know what you’re pnning, but I absolutely don’t want you to put yourself in danger for me!”

  Mirac gave her a reassuring smile, as if trying to erase every doubt from her mind.

  “Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to me. But if you really want to help me, then you o keep this whole spy situatioween us. At least for now. Do you think you do that?”

  Michelle let out a deep sigh, allowing the sileo stretch for a few seds.

  Then, she lifted her gaze to meet Mirac’s. Her dark eyes were filled with uainty, but there was also a spark of trust she couldn’t pletely extinguish.

  “Alright,” she finally said in a soft voice. “I trust you. But promise me you won’t do anything reckless and that you’ll tell me everything wheime is right.”

  Miraodded solemnly, as if sealing a secret pact between them.

  “I promise! I won’t do anything reckless,” he said, pg a hand on his chest with a and measured gesture, typical of nobles as a sign of oath or devotion.

  She kept staring at him for a few more seds, trying to determine whether his words were truly sincere or just a way to reassure her.

  In the end, however, she decided not to insist.

  They knew each other well enough to uand that once Mirac made a decision, it was hardly possible to make him ge his mind.

  “Well then,” she finally said, with a note of resolve. “I should head bay room. I promised Camil and Veronica that we’d try on some dresses together, in preparation for your ceremony. I wouldn’t want them to be upset with me for being te.”

  A smile apanied her words, as if to ease her lingering ay.

  Then, Michelle turned and slowly walked away.

  A, as she made her way down the corridor, ohought tio haunt her.

  Whatever Mirac’s pn was, she knew something big was about to happen.

  And even though he had asked her to stay out of it, deep down, Michelle knew she wouldn’t be able to do so forever…

  ‘If you khe whole truth, you wouldn’t be so kind to me, little brother…’ she thought as she silently moved through the corridors, her smile fading away.

  * * *

  ‘Dammit! Someone is spying on my sister? But who could it be?’ Miradered as he entered his room and colpsed onto the bed. ‘Maybe the person who hired Krk to kill me? Or perhaps the one who gave me the sword to face him and save myself?!’

  He sat up from his lying position, crossing his legs on the bed, his mind in turmoil.

  ‘No. Actually, it might not be either of them,’ he thought, pressing his lips together. ‘It could be a third person who has truly infiltrated the castle as just a simple spy.’

  Mirac sighed deeply, the weight of his thoughts pressing on his shoulders.

  With all the chaos swirling in his head, he had lost the desire to eat the apple he had taken. So, he set it down on the nightstao the bed, leaving it there.

  ‘Wait a minute! Now that I think about it… I, too, eight years ago—after entering aing the royal library for the first time—had the feeling that someone was secretly watg me. A hidden presen the shadows, behi the end of the corridor… Could it be the same person who is spying on Michelle now? The one who deliberately dropped "my father's" book in front of me? The one who gave me the sword to face Krk?’

  Too many questions, too many theories crowding his mind, but no crete answers.

  However, Mirac felt he was getting closer and closer to the truth!

  If the spy was really the persohought it was, Mirac couldn’t let this opportunity slip away!

  It was time to find out, ond for all, who was behind all of this!

  ‘Finally, after all these years,’ he thought, with a mix of excitement aermination, ‘maybe I’ll be able to find out who it is!’

  With his heart pounding faster, Mirac decided he couldn’t wait any longer.

  He had to act immediately!

  But iy, he couldn’t do it alone.

  He needed help if he truly wao solve this matter…

  ‘I absolutely o talk to Carmen!’

  In fact, Mirac’s pn recisely this: to ask the red-haired servant for help!

  And it recisely for this reason that Mirac hadn’t been able to tell Michelle about his pn: after all, he certainly couldn’t reveal that Carmen was actually his “secret bodyguard,” and potentially a member of a secret anization…

  With his mind already focused on what he o do, Mirat downstairs, hoping to find Carmen around.

  But there seemed to be no trace of her in the castle.

  Determined, he searched high and low throughout the pace, but couldn’t find her anywhere.

  At that point, he decided to delegate the search. He approached a servant and asked her to look for Carmen in his pce, her to seo his room as soon as she found her.

  The servant nodded without asking questions and immediately left to carry out the task.

  In the meantime, Mirac returo his room.

  ‘Alright! Now, all that’s left is to wait,’ he thought, closing the door behind him.

  This time, however, Mirac didn’t colpse onto the bed like he had before.

  Instead, he headed for the desk, briefly surveying the chaos that reigned on the wooden surface.

  Scattered papers, open books, pens, and various objects were piled up in a mess that almost seemed like a metaphor for his thoughts.

  He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

  ‘Wow!’ he thought, almost ashamed of himself. ‘Well, until Carmen arrives, I might as well up this mess!’

  Without hesitation, Mirac rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

  He started by gathering the scattered papers, trying to separate the important ones from those he could finally throw into the trash. After discarding the useless ones, he grouped the rest into various colored folders, one for each subject or topic.

  , he tackled the books, colleg them one by one and stag them carefully. On one side, he left the ones he would probably need iure for his educational journey. Oher, he pced those he no longer needed and would return to the royal library ter.

  Finally, after putting the pencils and erasers bato their designated tainers, Mirac took a look at the drawers.

  They were all quite tidy, so there wasn’t much more to do.

  But when he opehe sed-to-st drawer, Mirac jumped slightly.

  “Oh! This is…” he murmured, with a mix of surprise and nostalgia.

  He gently pulled out the item that had caught him off guard: a notebook with a hard, yellow cover.

  He stared at it for a moment, as if reliving a distant memory.

  “This is my to-do list! Damn, I pletely fot about it!” he excimed, flipping through the beige pages.

  He scratched his temple, sighing.

  He was a bit disappointed with himself for havi his dreams sit there for so long.

  But when he realized that it didn’t make much seo dwell on it, he quickly recovered from his mencholy.

  “It doesn’t matter! Now that I’ll finally be able to travel, I’ll have the ce to aplish eay dreams, one by one!”

  After pg the yellow notebook ba the desk and finding fort in the realization that there was still time to fulfill his dreams, he opehe st drawer.

  There, another object immediately caught his attention.

  “Heh, there you are!” he said, pig up a thin book ed in a soft burgundy leather cover. The edges were decorated with golderic patterns, which sparkled in the room’s light.

  The cover read:

  “ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS: Disc Numbers”

  “Dave Arangot”

  As soon as he saw it, Mirac remembered finishing that book many years ago. Sihen, it had been fotten in the lowest drawer of the desk, buried uher books.

  And although it was about Math, Mirac had read it someleasurably,” but only because it was supposedly his father’s book from his previous life.

  “I think it’s time to return this as well…”

  Without wasting any more time, Mirac gathered all the books he o return, including the math book, and headed towards the royal library.

  ‘Wait a minute!’

  As he was leaving the room, a sudden thought crossed his mind:

  ‘Now that I think about it… why would someone want to spy on my sister?’