The afternoon lectures finally dragged to a close.

As the bell chimed, I let Kyle ramble on about the unfairness of our new homework while we walked back to the first-year dormitories, giving him a half-hearted nod before slipping into my own room.

I shut the heavy wooden door of my room behind me, instantly twisting the brass lock until it clicked.

And let out a long, heavy exhale, the suffocating academic mask finally dropping from my face. I tossed my uniform jacket onto the back of the chair and sat down on the edge of my bed.

My mind was still racing, meticulously cataloging the pages of merchant guild charters and tax loopholes I had memorized in the civil archives.

I had the blueprint to dismantle Marcus's family, but executing it from inside the strict confines of the Academy was going to be an absolute nightmare. I needed an outside operative.

Raising my left hand, lightly swiping the silver band of my spatial ring.

A smooth, hexagonal communication crystal dropped neatly into my palm. I closed my fingers around it and pushed a tiny, concentrated sliver of my mana into the stone.

The crystal hummed softly, vibrating against my skin before flaring to life with a warm, pulsing amber glow.

A few seconds of static crackled through the quiet room, followed by the familiar, bright sound of a girl's voice.

"So, you finally decided to call, huh?" Tessa answered, her tone dripping with playful smugness.

The tension in my shoulders eased, just a fraction.

"It hasn't even been a week, Tessa."

She giggled, a bright, melodic sound that crackled faintly through the magical frequency.

"Still a long time, Jin! I was starting to think some fancy capital noble girl had already swept you off your feet. Did you make it back safely? No assassins waiting in your dorm room?"

"No assassins," I chuckled, leaning back against the wooden headboard. "Just a lot of loud students and boring lectures. Everything is fine on my end."

We fell into an easy, comfortable rhythm, chatting for a few minutes about the journey and the mundane chaos of the Academy.

"So," I finally asked, shifting the topic. "How is the production growing?"

"It's amazing!" Tessa's voice instantly spiked with uncontained enthusiasm. "Grandpa got the warehouse fully insulated yesterday. We have three complete workstations up and running, and I already managed to teach Agnes and two of the elders. If we keep up this pace, we'll have shipment ready in less than a week!"

"That's perfect," I nodded, thoroughly impressed by how quickly she had taken absolute command of the operation.

"Just make sure you don't burn yourself out. Pace the work."

"I know, I know," she hummed happily.

I took a slow breath, my gaze shifting to the dark, polished stone of my dorm room floor.

The warmth of the conversation was nice, but the clock on Emma's safety was ticking.

"Is Mira nearby?" I asked.

The crystal went quiet for a second. The enthusiastic chatter instantly halted.

"She is," Tessa replied, her voice tinged with sudden curiosity. "Why?"

"I need to talk to her."

There was another beat of silence. Then, a highly exaggerated, dramatic sigh crackled through the speaker.

"Talk, huh?" Her voice taking on a scandalized, mocking lilt.

"You've barely been gone for three days, and you're already asking for another woman over the crystal?"

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, letting out a long-suffering groan.

"Tessa."

She burst into a fit of giggles.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Hang on a second, she's out in the courtyard making Rowan do sprints until he throws up."

I heard the muffled sound of a door opening through the crystal, followed by Tessa loudly shouting across the village square. A minute of faint rustling and footsteps followed before the frequency shifted.

"Well, well," Mira's voice came through the crystal. She sounded slightly breathless, but her tone carried that signature, arrogant confidence.

"Didn't think you'd need to call for backup so soon, kid?

My eyes hardened.

"I've got some work for you, Mira."

******

The next few days blurred into a simple routine.

During the daylight hours, I played my part perfectly.

Attended the theory lectures, participated in practicals.

And in the free time, sparred with Kyle in the combat areas, sat with Sira and Tobias in the loud, bustling dining hall.

To anyone watching, I was just Jin Raith, an average, unremarkable first-year student trying to survive the term.

Completely normal guy.

But the moment the sun set, the mask shifts. I spend my evenings completely isolated, away from any preying eye.

I buried myself in the grand library's deepest archives, reading, researching, or locked myself in my dorm room, discussing with Mira over the communication crystal.

And most importantly through it all, I completely, deliberately ignored Emma.

Whenever our paths crossed in the corridors, I looked right through her. Whenever Kyle tried to bring her up, I smoothly changed the subject.

I had caught the looks she shot me from the front row of Professor Vance's class, but I didn't let a single ounce of empathy bleed through my facade. I had to be cold. If Marcus's lackeys were watching, they needed to see that the ties were unequivocally severed.

And as the time passed...

It was late Thursday night, well past the official curfew, when I finally packed up my encoded notes and left the library.

It sure took a lot of time today.

As I gone out, I saw the Academy corridors were entirely deserted, illuminated only by the faint, buzzing glow of the ambient mana lamps. I was walking back toward the first-year dormitories, holding the active communication crystal up near my collar as I spoke in a hushed, rapid whisper.

"I'm telling you, Mira, their southern trade route is completely over-leveraged," I said, my boots making zero sound against the stone floor thanks to a localized acoustic edit.

"If you intercept the Blackwood shipment before it crosses the provincial border, their guild won't have the liquid capital to pay the royal protection tax by the end of the month."

"You're asking me to hit a heavily guarded merchant caravan, kid," Mira's voice crackled through the crystal, though I could clearly hear the dangerous, thrilled smirk in her tone.

"That's a lot of heat."

"I'm not asking you to hit it," I corrected, my mind perfectly visualizing the geographical map I had memorized.

"I'm asking you to delay it. Take out the old stone bridge at the crossing. Force them to take the long route through the canyon. By the time the caravan arrives at the capital, the deadline will have passed, and the Syndicate will default on their primary charter. The royal auditors will freeze their assets overnight. Can your team handle the demolition?"

Mira let out a low, impressed whistle. "You're a vicious little bastard when you want to be, aren't you? Yeah. We can drop a bridge. Give me three days to acquire the high-yield charges and move the squad into position."

"Perfect. I'll send you the exact coordinates tomorrow. Stay sharp, Mira."

"Always. Catch you later, Jin."

The amber glow of the crystal faded, and the connection cleanly severed. I slipped the smooth stone back into my spatial ring, letting out a long, heavy exhale as I rubbed the exhaustion from my eyes.

The plan was officially in motion. Marcus's family was about to lose the very financial leverage they were using to hold Emma hostage.

I turned the final corner into my dormitory wing, my mind already running through the variables for tomorrow.

And then stopped dead in my tracks as I saw...

Standing directly in front of my room, completely bathed in the dim, blue light of the corridor lamps, was Tobias.

The tall, bespectacled mage was leaning against the stone wall, his dark uniform immaculate even at this hour. His arms were tightly crossed over his chest, and his expression was one of profound, aristocratic impatience.

He looked like he had been waiting there for a long time.

As I stopped, Tobias slowly turned his head. His sharp eyes locked onto mine, catching the faint glint of the mana lamps in his wire-rimmed glasses.

The dry, scholarly humor he usually wore was entirely gone.

"Late night studying, Jin?" Tobias asked, his voice smooth, quiet, and dangerously perceptive.

"Or are we going to drop the charade and actually discuss what is going on with you and Emma?"

His presence sent a sharp jolt through my already strained nerves, a reminder that even the most carefully constructed masks could crack under the wrong kind of pressure.

I just studied him in silence, weighing possibilities, calculating how much he might know, seen, heard or simply inferred.

He raised a brow, "Well, Jin?"

Why is here now? Does he know about what I am doing? And if, then how?

I was sure I didn't do anything out of my character, and more importantly.

Why the hell am I making him seem suspicious of me right now.