For a brief mont, Axel stared at her in silence, disappointnt flickering through his expression.
Lana noticed imdiately. Her heart skipped uneasily.
"Did... did I do sothing wrong?" she asked with an awkward smile.
Axel took a deep breath. "Sit down."
Seeing the seriousness in his expression, Lana obeyed without argunt and took a seat.
Once she settled, Axel leaned forward slightly. "Tell , what do you know about talismans?"
"They’re very precious," Lana replied honestly. "Every single one is hard to find."
Axel nodded, then pointed at one of the basic talismans. "And this?"
Lana paused, thinking carefully before answering. "It can be sold for money."
For a mont, Axel almost laughed.
Instead, he stood up, walked over, and flicked her forehead.
"Ow!" Lana rubbed the spot instantly, staring up at him with a confused frown. Fury simred beneath her calm exterior. ’How dare he...?’
Axel spoke calmly, as if he hadn’t just committed a cri. "That’s because you’re far too unguarded."
He looked at her steadily. "Do you realize how close you are to serious trouble?"
Hearing the gravity in his voice, Lana fell silent and thought carefully before responding.
"These talismans were made by my friend. I’m not the one in danger."
Axel sighed and returned to his chair. "It doesn’t matter whether they belong to your friend or to you."
Lana’s heart trembled.
For a fleeting second, she felt as though Axel knew exactly who had made those talismans.
"What you don’t understand," Axel continued, his tone grave, "is that people who target talismans don’t care about logic. They only need a link. Once they have soone connected to a talisman practitioner, they’ll exploit that person endlessly."
His gaze sharpened. "At that point, you wouldn’t be able to resist. You’d be captured and forced to hand over talismans again and again."
Lana fell completely silent.
"Have you ever wondered," Axel went on, "why talismans can only be obtained through special connections?"
She shook her head slowly.
Axel’s voice lowered. "Those connections aren’t privileges. They’re walls. Walls built to protect talisman practitioners."
The words settled heavily in the air, leaving Lana staring ahead, her thoughts churning for the first ti that day.
"These connections," Axel continued, his voice steady yet heavy with aning, "are the people talisman practitioners truly trust."
The air in the office felt tighter, as though the walls themselves were leaning in to listen.
"They’re not random contacts," he went on.
"They’re chosen because they’re powerful, often more powerful than the talisman practitioner. That way, neither the practitioner nor the connection can be easily hard by people with malicious intentions."
Lana nodded slowly, the weight of his words settling into her chest.
Axel didn’t stop there.
"You might feel that you’re safe," he said, his gaze fixed on Lana, "but the mont you hand out talismans without a middleman, you put yourself in far greater danger."
Lana nodded earnestly, her fingers curling slightly against her palm. She understood his concern now... truly understood it.
Axel tapped the talismans laid out on the desk. "These are basic-level talismans. To you, they might not seem like much."
He paused, letting the silence stretch. "But have you ever thought about how many ordinary people at higher ranks are desperately in need of these?"
Lana’s breath caught.
When she followed that line of thought, she realized she had indeed overlooked sothing critical.
Axel’s tone grew colder. "There are independent police stations now, units that operate on their own authority. Any one of them would kill to get their hands on these talismans."
Her heart thumped harder.
"They could accuse you of false charges," Axel continued calmly, "use the excuse to detain you, then force you, or your ’friend’, to produce talismans for them."
A chill crept up Lana’s spine.
The more she listened, the colder her blood beca. Even with her natural wariness, she had missed too many angles. There were dangers she had never once considered.
Axel noticed the color draining from her face and softened slightly. "It’s alright. For now, you’re still safe."
Then his eyes sharpened. "But I need you to answer honestly."
The hum of the air conditioner suddenly sounded unbearably loud.
"Did you make these talismans yourself?"
His gaze held hers unwaveringly. "If you lie to now, I won’t be able to protect you in the future."
Lana’s heart pounded. ’Should I lie... or tell the truth?’
Her thoughts tangled, torn between fear and instinct. But then she rembered everything Axel had done for her, the protection, the warnings, the unspoken efforts behind the scenes.
She took a deep breath. "I made them."
The mont the words left her lips, Axel’s pupils constricted.
Shock flashed across his face.
Even though he had suspected it, hearing it confird struck him far harder than expected.
In that instant, he felt as though he had obtained sothing far more precious than the entire mystic and spiritual departnts combined.
A prodigy. No... more than that.
A genius in mystic cultivation who could also craft talismans.
Her talent was terrifying. Without hesitation, Axel pulled out his phone.
As the initial shock faded, dread crept in.
He dialed a number imdiately.
Lana watched silently, her fingers curling into her palm. She didn’t interrupt. By now, she understood... Axel would never harm her.
When the call connected, Axel spoke calmly, though urgency flickered beneath his composed exterior.
"I want all information related to soone nad Lana wiped clean. Every trace. All data, all news."
There was a pause.
The office was so quiet that the reply from the other end echoed faintly.
"Is this the sa Lana you asked us to protect before?"
Axel stiffened. He turned his face away instinctively, ears burning.
Lana froze. Her mouth fell open slightly before she snapped it shut again, her mind going completely blank.
’...He is protecting silence too?’
A faint curve appeared at the corner of her lips before she even realized it.
Axel stood up abruptly and walked out of the office, lowering his voice sharply. "Was there any need to say that so loudly?"
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