Chapter 98: Ashbourne Restricted Library [1]

Aura bristled on top of his head.

Her claws sank in – four small points of pressure through his hair – and Ronan felt her weight shift as Vulcan’s mana pressed down on the room.

She was affected. Not crushed like he would have been, but affected. The fact that she was enduring it when it was targeted at her as well was impressive.

Keep it up, Ronan thought, more to himself than to her. It’s important you remain unaffected.

He ignored the claws and held Vulcan’s gaze.

The pressure lifted.

Behind him, Lucia exhaled in a long, shaking breath, and Irene made a sound like someone surfacing from cold water. Even Victoria looked relieved, though she hid it better than the others.

Vulcan leaned back in his chair and studied him.

His gaze didn’t hold anger. It didn’t hold the immediate dismissal it showed throughout all their previous conversations.

Something more careful settled behind his gaze, and for the first time since Ronan had transmigrated into this body, Vulcan Ashbourne looked at the failure of the Ashbourne family with some semblance of respect.

Then his expression hardened.

"You do not have a choice in this matter," Vulcan repeated in a stern voice.

The head-of-family voice.

Not a Father.

But the actual authority that had risen to the top and maintained one of the four great noble houses. "Sign the contract, or I will remove your name from the Ashbourne family register. Today."

Ronan set his teacup down.

"Then do it."

Vulcan’s eyes narrowed by a fraction. His gaze moved across Ronan’s face, looking for any signs he was bluffing.

He found nothing.

Because there was simply nothing to find.

Ronan had no attachment to the Ashbourne name beyond what it provided him. The family resources, the estate access, the social positioning – useful, certainly, but not irreplaceable. Being disowned would cost him Lucia’s protection in the household and complicate certain noble-circle interactions, but it would also cut him free from Vulcan’s reach entirely. No more summons. No more contracts slid across polished tables. No more engagement negotiations.

And most of all, no more having to worry about Luca trying to "free" Iris from his grasp.

In a number of ways, it solved more problems than it created.

But that wasn’t all.

He knew Vulcan couldn’t do it.

After the information he got from Lucia, he was sure of that.

Irene stepped forward.

"Father–"

"Irene." Vulcan did not raise his voice. He did not look at her.

The single word carried the same meaning of someone telling a child that the adults were speaking, and Irene’s mouth closed.

She looked at Ronan instead, and her expression was harder to read than Vulcan’s. Frustration, confusion, anger... something else? He couldn’t tell in the singular second he looked at her.

His gaze turned back to Vulcan.

Vulcan held his gaze for another long moment.

Then, without warning, he shifted the topic.

"Where did you get the cat?"

Ronan blinked once, caught off guard by the question slightly, but then he calmed down, realizing where Vulcan was going with this.

Aura’s claws twitched.

"Adopted her," Ronan said. His voice carried the same even tone it had through the entire meeting. The transition between topics was natural to him. "Found her on the street near the lower merchant district. Her family decided she was more trouble than she was worth and left her behind."

Aura went perfectly still.

Vulcan’s expression did not change, but his eyes moved to the small black cat perched on Ronan’s head.

Victoria, at the far end of the table, had not moved from her perfect posture, but she looked more interested now.

Ronan reached up and lifted Aura from his head, settling her onto the table in front of him with both hands. She sat with her tail curled over her paws and stared at Vulcan with the flat, unimpressed attention of a cat that had decided it did not fear anything in the room.

"She has very good eyesight," Ronan said. "And she is very attentive."

The words were completely ordinary, but Vulcan’s eyes narrowed.

"I see. Do you plan to unlock its mana pathways?"

"They are already unlocked. Would you like to see?"

Aura froze in his lap.

"No, that is quite all right," Vulcan said. "I see you have been quite busy since we last met. I would tell you I’m pleasantly surprised if you weren’t causing so much trouble for me."

"For that, I apologize."

"But this matter is too important. Everything has a price. Name yours, and I will offer it under the Ashbourne name."

Ronan smiled.

Now that was something he could get behind.

"I would like access to the lowest restricted floor of the Ashbourne family library," Ronan said. "And I’d like to claim three skills from it."

Irene’s head snapped toward him.

"Three skills?" Her voice cracked the air between them. "That’s absolutely outrageous. No one below rank 3 is even allowed to step foot in the family Library, let alone–"

Vulcan raised his hand.

Irene’s mouth closed, but she did not look happy, glaring at Ronan pointedly.

Vulcan studied Ronan with careful attention.

Then he smiled for the first time since Ronan had seen him.

"Two skills," Vulcan said. "Three would be irresponsible for someone at rank 1. The skills must also be rank 2 or below. Those are the terms."

Ronan shrugged.

"Fine."

He’d expected some resistance.

The fact that Vulcan accepted so quickly meant the engagement restoration mattered more than he’d thought, which gave him room to push further.

"One more thing."

Vulcan’s tone cooled immediately.

"Don’t push your luck."

"It’s not much," Ronan said. He kept his voice light, showing he was unbothered by the threat. "I just need a pint of mana-embedded ink as well, but tomorrow if possible."

The cold edge in Vulcan’s expression loosened.

Mana-embedded ink was difficult to produce. The process required precision, skill, and materials most runesmiths couldn’t afford or didn’t know how to stabilize. Those who could make it rarely sold it to just anyone, which made it valuable without being priceless.

It wasn’t particularly expensive, it was simply not sold to just anyone.

Vulcan’s gaze shifted slightly, recalculating.

Then he nodded.

"Very well." Vulcan folded his hands on the table. "You will be allowed to choose two skills of rank 2 or below from the Ashbourne hidden library, and you will be given a pint of mana-embedded ink. Is that all?"

Ronan nodded.

"If Iris Lockhart tells me directly that this is what she wants, I will sign the contract renewing our engagement."

He stuck his hand out across the table.

Vulcan stared at it for a long moment, then clasped it firmly.

—

Ronan never thought he’d see an elevator in a medieval world.

The glass shaft stood polished and quiet at the library’s edge, framed by carved stone and mana-conducting runes, an odd marriage of the ancient and the practical. Through runes, a lot of the technology he’d known could be replicated here. Heating, cooling, lighting, transit – all achieved through different means, but reaching similar ends.

Still, an elevator felt strange.

Vulcan gave him a small nod before the doors slid shut.

The elevator moved down slowly, descending past floor after floor, the glass walls revealing shelf after shelf of books, scrolls, weapons, artifacts. Each floor was larger than the last, and the library looked like it contained more knowledge than one person could consume in several lifetimes. And that was no exaggeration. It was far bigger than library he’d seen in his past life, even through online pictures.

After 5 floors the elevator suddenly paused.

Then, as if the elevator itself had received permission, it continued down one more.

When the doors opened, Ronan stepped into a room that rather small. Not small conceptually, but in comparison to the massive library that was right above it. By any other standard, it was still very large – around four times the size of the apartment he’d shared with his roommate in his previous life.

He glanced back. Aura was still perched on his head in cat form.

"You can transform now."

She didn’t move.

Ronan turned his head, and Aura immediately leapt off, circling behind him.

He turned again, confused, and she hissed, glaring through those sharp purple eyes.

She circled behind him again, and he turned.

She looked furious in her cat form.

Then he understood, a lightbulb going off in his head.

Ronan turned his back and stared at the opposite wall.

Behind him, he heard the faint snap of mana igniting. Then he heard the sound of soft fabric materializing, and finally Aura’s voice.

"You can turn around."

He did.

She stood fully clothed, arms crossed, glaring at him with irritation.

"You’re lucky I figured out what you meant," Ronan said. "Or you’d still be stuck as a cat because you were too embarrassed to let me see you naked."

Aura’s glare sharpened, but she didn’t address his point.

"Are you sure this is okay?" she asked instead.

"It’s fine." Ronan gestured toward the rows of shelves. "It is not possible to use mana down here. Unless you are rank 5 or above, the mana suppression runes here are powerful enough to stop any usage of active mana, which includes any items that can record what’s going on in here."

Aura seemed satisfied with that.

"How fast can you switch back if someone comes?" Ronan asked.

"Instantly. I transform using demonic energy, not mana, so it won’t be a problem."

"Good," Ronan said. "This doesn’t have to be said, but don’t try anything funny."

Aura huffed as if he said something stupid.

Ronan turned toward the shelves and began walking.