Kayne crumpled the piece of paper where he copied the "scribblings" and froze it with his ability until it crumbled from being so cold. He's annoyed that Ris doesn't want to cooperate on his investigation about the rune and won't read it despite him pleading so aggressively at him.
"I will never tell you how!," Ris said with finality in his tone that fumed his anger further.
Yet, after a while, he spoke again. "This... I forgot to tell you something before," Ris said that interrupted in his experiment.
"What?" he scowled at him.
"I found traces of something very familiar to both of us inside the room where the corpse is found. Dragon cores...and its energy is still stuck in the air. Compared to the amount you're consuming before, it's only a small amount but ground dragon cores are not common. That's also one of the reason why your uncle rushed back to his house because these particles are affecting him strongly as someone who is born in dragon family."
"Lucian?" Kayne asked as he search for something worthy of praise in his collections of magical devices, wishing that he'll somehow stumble into an unusual but useful device
Before he could find anything, the door opened and Nathaira came in.
"Hey!," he exclaimed. "You should knock first."
"I did. I knocked several times but you're not answering and..." Nathaira looked around the room. "You're talking to yourself aren't you?"
Kayne's face turned pale. Did she just hear it? He's sure that he's talking to Ris only through his head. Did he suddenly say all those things?
"I am not," he denied. "I'm just mumbling here about...."
"Fine. Fine. I got it. There's no need to be flustered over it. I just heard some strange noises and when I walked near your door, sentences became clearer."
Nathaira put down the warm honey and milk bottle on top of a table he saw inside that room. "Here, have some. I don't know if you're putting milk on it but I remember Sir Rigel said before that you love honey. If you want, I could also prepare some cookies for you and—"
"What?"
"Huh?" Nathaira seemed confused on Kayne's question since his mood turned into sullen again all of a sudden. Did she make a mistake, mentioning Sir Rigel's name?
"What else did my father tell you about me?"
So he's concerned about that.
Nathaira smiled. "A lot of things. He's always talking about you when he's meeting up with Sir Rayleigh. I don't know if he realized it himself but I think you really became a true son for him to care for."
"Hm." Kayne nodded on that.
"Are you glad?"
"Hm."
"Do you like cookies?"
"Hm."
"Am I your mother now?"
"Hm"
After a few seconds, Kayne realized his mistake. "No! Why would I?"
Nathaira laughed at his blunder. My, she did not laugh like that before. The pain of laughing settled on her belly to the point that she needed to hold it. "I know it. I know it. But looking at your startled face is a nice reward. Still, I would prefer it if it was Sir Rigel's face. "
"Are you seriously pairing yourself up with my father?" Kayne said with a disgusted face.
"Of course. Why not? I have known him since I enrolled here and at the moment I first laid eyes on that man that gracefully dances with his sword, sparring with all of his students at once, my heart started beating for him. That's why even if he's far away, my heart tells me that he's alive—"
"He's alive! There's no way he would die." Kayne butted on Nathaira's love monologue.
Aside from being skillful in sword, the professor is the same as him so he won't be killed that easily. All he needs to do is to finish this investigation and then search every corners of the world for his father.
"There's no way he would die."
"Ah...yes."
Things turned awkward for Nathaira. She still has a lot of things to say about Professor Rigel. On how his eyes glimmer under the moonlight and how he resembles the ivory sculptures she bought. But all of this should be kept for the meantime because she just saw Kayne's reaction to his name and to the word death. If she made a single misstep, who knows if she'll be able to see the sun tomorrow. Even though she tried to forget it, Kayne's clash with Headmaster Rayleigh still lingers on the back of her mind. It is a memory that is etched deeply in her unconscious mind. The air that seemed to leave her and the amount of pressure that she needed to endure that time is the worst she ever felt. On that same day, she did not slept well and suffered from nausea all night long.
"Ah, should I go outside now?," she asked while slowly backing away. Survive. Survive. She must endure Kayne's temper and survive.