"This is way too tight." Cyan muttered, slowly moving his body.

"It gets looser the deeper you go. Just keep pushing."

Vivy replied, squeezing through the narrow passage ahead of him.

Cyan glanced briefly at her two horns poking out from either side of her head, said nothing about it, and carefully placed his foot on the wet ground below, avoiding the drain water pooling along the edges.

The path was so narrow that both of them had to walk sideways. And even then their shoulders brushed the wet walls with every step.

Thirty minutes ago, Irene had laid out her plan. She had called it her masterplan, for some reason.

According to her, this case had a direct connection to the Akashic Record building. And to move forward she needed to get inside its control room.

She had not told any of them what exactly that connection was. Or what she expected to find once they were in.

Drip.

"Eeek...!"

Cyan flinched, shivering as something cold dripped from above and slipped down inside his shirt.

"Quiet down." Vivy turned her head back to scold him. "We are 250 feet underground but we can still get caught."

"Ouch—!"

Her horn caught him across the cheek as she turned. Not the sharp tip, but enough to leave a light bruise.

Vivy looked at him.

"Oh. Sorry about this." Vivy parted her lips, "though this never happened before."

She was close to his height. Maybe just two or three inches shorter.

It was the first time Cyan had ever seen a demon this close. Growing up in a village, he had heard countless stories about how ruthless they were. But seeing one in person, and a Primordial rank at that. She felt nothing like the stories.

Though she had mentioned being half dragon, which probably explained her unusual nature.

"What are you staring at my horns for?" Vivy asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Oh, no, it is nothing. It is just my first time seeing horns up close."

"What? You have never seen horns before?"

"No no, I mean demon horns. They just look... I do not know, different on a human body. How do you even sleep with two horns on your head?"

"What?"

She narrowed her eyes further and stared at him.

Cyan realized immediately that it had come out wrong. He scrambled to fix it.

"No, Miss Vivy, you are misunderstanding. I did not mean it in a weird way. They look cool. Genuinely. And honestly they suit you really well, if I have to say so. You look beautiful in those."

He nodded three times with the expression of someone who considered themselves highly qualified to make that assessment.

Vivy turned her head away. "We are wasting time. Let’s just keep moving."

"Right." Cyan followed.

Then stopped.

Vivy had stopped just ahead of him.

"...?"

She glanced back slightly without fully turning around.

"No one has said that to me before." she said. "So. Thanks."

Then she picked up her pace.

Cyan stood there for a few seconds. The passage was too dark to catch her expression. He cleared his throat, straightened up, and followed.

...

"What do you think the real reason is?" Lillian asked.

"For what?" Ethan asked, glancing at her as he walked beside the elven girl.

He knew exactly what she was referring to. He just wanted to hear it from her.

"The thing Detective Irene told us today. What do you think her real objective was?"

"Hm?" Ethan put on a mildly surprised expression. "Real objective? Why would you think that?"

"Oh please." Lillian did not even look at him. "We just met. But I could tell from your face back in that room that you were doubting her the entire time."

She was not wrong.

The way Irene had been acting from the beginning was something Ethan could not look away from. It was strange in too many ways to ignore. And especially the way she acted around Leon. Like they were old friends who had not seen each other in a while.

Ethan sighed quietly.

The two of them were moving slowly through the first floor of the Akashic Record building, blending in with the other visitors and families browsing the portraits along the wall. They were standing close, both their hands loosely intertwined. To anyone passing by like an ordinary couple out for a late night date.

Even at this hour, the city is lively, both here and outside the building.

Lillian had tucked her hair and ears under a white woollen cap so the guards would not recognise her.

"If I am being honest," Ethan said, keeping his voice low as they moved to the next portrait. "If your city is strange, then Irene is ten times stranger."

"So you do not trust her."

"I do not trust people who keep me in the dark about the work they are putting me through."

"Hm. Fair enough." Lillian nodded slowly. "I was the same way at first."

She glanced at the portrait beside them before continuing.

"But over time, watching how she works, seeing how far ahead she thinks about everything..." She shook her head slightly. "It is honestly a little frightening how she does that."

They moved to the next painting without rushing.

"But she is a good person." Lillian said it clearly and without hesitation. "Have some faith in her."

It came out genuinely from her. Ethan looked at her for a moment, then said.

"But you were the one who just asked me what her real goal was. Which means you doubt her too."

Lillian flinched slightly. She coughed once.

"Cough.. I am different. As a princess and her closest friend, I am allowed to doubt her."

"Say what now?"

"Anyway." Lillian changed the subject smoothly. "What I think is that she wants something from your friend with the golden eyes."

"From Leon?"

She nodded.

"You saw it too, right? The way she kept glancing at him throughout everything. And now the two of them are alone together."

Ethan did not need to think about it. He had seen it firsthand.

And from what he could tell, Leon did not seem to mind her at all.

Though to be honest, Ethan had never been able to read Leon properly to begin with. He just knew that whatever was going on in that head, the plans were already made.

As they were walking by, the device on both their wrists, which Xuo had given them buzzed with a light vibration.

"..."

They both understood what it meant.

Vivy and Cyan must have already reached their destination. Irene had assigned each group a separate role aiming to achieve a single aim.

They felt the vibration, and glanced at each other for a second.

It was time for them to move as well.

Lilian and Ethan looked around them. There were families, guards on the floor, and also surveillance drones above.

They couldn’t show any strange behavior to them. Their role was to get to the power room on the second floor just above them.

And there was only one way to get there, and that was directly through the main door.

Lillian, still gripping onto Ethan’s hand. He glanced down and understood immediately. They had already gone over what to do next. He just had to go with it.

He cleared his throat loud enough for the visitors standing beside them to hear.

"Give me a moment. I need to use the bathroom."

Lillian looked up at him with an expression that was far too calm for what she was about to say.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

A beat of silence stretched around the young couple.

The family standing next to them went very still. They clearly heard what the girls just said.

"I have been holding something back all evening." She tilted her head toward the bathroom door. "And I think now is a good time, will you let me?"

Ethan gulped. He still couldn’t believe it, an elf of her status could say such things so casually.

The mother beside them grabbed her child by the shoulder and turned them firmly in the opposite direction.

Ethan felt his face go completely hot.

"G-God, that was—"

"What?" Lillian said innocently.

She gripped his hand and pulled him sideways toward the corridor. Every single person in the immediate vicinity made a collective decision to look elsewhere.

A couple nearby suddenly found the portrait on the far wall extremely interesting. A man shuffled his family two full steps to the left.

From somewhere behind them an older visitor clicked their tongue.

"Youngsters these days, they don’t have shame. Tch."

Ethan caught the eye of a female guard stationed near the corridor entrance. She looked at him, then at Lillian, then immediately fixed her gaze on the middle distance. Ethan and Lillian saw her ears were red.

Lillian dragged him around the corner and into the side corridor leading toward the bathroom.

They found the place empty. They walked into one of the open rooms, and as Ethan stepped inside he heard Lillian locking the door behind them.

He turned to her.

"Was that really necessary."

"It worked, did it not." Lillian said simply. "They all heard us. And no amount of training prepares a guard for checking on a couple having their private moment. If anything they will go out of their way to avoid this corridor entirely."

Ethan crossed his arms. "And what if one actually does come?"

Lillian giggled.

"Then I will just moan."

"What—"

"Hahaha..." She laughed. "The more embarrassing the performance, the more people look away. Basic psychology."

"..."

Lillian undid her shoes and pulled a pen sized device from the sole. She looked up at the ceiling.

"Lift me up."

Ethan did as she said. Once she was at shoulder height, Lillian tapped the device once. A clean beam of light shot out and began cutting through the ceiling in a slow steady line without making a sound.

According to Lillian, directly above them was a bathroom with the same layout as this one. They just needed to get to the floor above while avoiding the drones and guards. And apparently this was the best and safest route available.

"Done."

The thick panel came away cleanly. Ethan had a hard time believing how smooth the cut was. He could see the metal beams running through the removed section.

He raised Lillian up so she could climb through. The first thing she did was check the room above.

Just as she had guessed, it was empty at this hour.

"Alright. Come up." she said.