Hearing those words, Lana’s eyes widened slightly.
She stared at Lucian as if she were seeing him for the first ti, her breath hitching for just a second.
Even Mr. Crow glanced at her in confusion when he noticed her reaction. However, only Lana knew why her heart had skipped a beat.
’That’s... a code.’
In her previous life, ice cream had always been their unspoken signal... sothing light, sothing safe, used only when Lucian wanted to comfort her without prying.
The Lucian from her past life had done the sa. ’So what does this an?’ she wondered. ’Is he reborn too... or did he regain his mories?’
Her fingers trembled slightly against the sheets as she looked at him. "Why did you ask that?" she asked quietly.
Lucian’s smile didn’t change.
"I just thought you might feel better after eating ice cream," he replied calmly. "Your report ntioned that you love it."
Hearing that, Lana relaxed a little. The tension in her shoulders eased, and she t his gaze with a composed expression.
"I am in the mood for ice cream," she said softly.
Lucian didn’t push the conversation any further. Instead, he stood up and nodded.
"If you want to be alone," he said, "I’ll give you so space."
With that, he turned and walked toward the door.
Lana watched his retreating back until the door closed behind him. The room fell quiet again.
She clenched the bedsheets tightly and turned toward Mr. Crow.
"Is there a possibility that Lucian himself is related to the GA group?" she asked, her voice low.
Mr. Crow narrowed his eyes before shaking his head.
"You’re thinking too much," he replied firmly. "Lucian isn’t a GA mber at all. On the contrary, he’s a very safe kind of person. Can’t you see that with your own third eye?"
Lana clenched her fists.
"I don’t know," she admitted. "I don’t know whether I should trust my instincts... or what I see."
With that, she fell silent.
Mr. Crow let out a slow breath.
"You shouldn’t worry so much," he said gently. "If you truly want the truth, then instead of guessing, you should confront the person directly."
Lana didn’t respond.
...................
anwhile, Lucian exited Lana’s room and calmly returned to his own.
If Lana had been there, she would have noticed sothing odd.
His manner of walking had changed.
He no longer looked like the gentle Lucian from monts ago.
Instead, he resembled the Lucian of her past life... composed, controlled, and utterly confident, as if everything was already within his grasp.
Reaching his room, he closed the door and muttered softly,
"So... she’s either been reborn, or she’s regained her mories."
The silence swallowed his words.
A faint, smug smile appeared on his face.
"I really am smart," he murmured. "Bringing her back to my side earlier was the right choice."
He walked toward the wardrobe and opened it. Behind the neatly arranged clothes was a hidden chanism.
If Lana had seen it, she would have been stunned. The wardrobe concealed a secret room.
Lucian stepped inside and descended into the hidden space he had personally created.
Photos lined the walls, mories frozen in ti. He slowly looked around before smiling softly. "We’ve t again," he whispered.
At that mont, deep affection filled his eyes. Unlike Lana, who was drowning in doubt and fear, Lucian carried a completely different story... one he intended to reveal only when the ti was right. For now, his duty was clear.
’Protect her,’ he thought. ’Make sure she survives this life.’
He stopped before a photograph and gently caressed it, his touch careful, as if afraid it might shatter. Then his expression hardened.
His eyes narrowed coldly.
"The Almond family needs to be taught a lesson," he muttered. "And so do those GA bastards."
Hatred flickered unmistakably in his gaze.
......................
anwhile, after a full night’s rest, Lana finally felt better. She returned to her university life as usual.
Instead of going on missions, she completely imrsed herself in her studies.
She worked alongside her classmates, attended a birthday party quietly, and left early.
She knew she had fallen far behind, especially in mystical subjects, since she had been unconscious for nearly a month.
Now, she poured herself into catching up.
During the day, she studied relentlessly.
At night, she cultivated. In the early mornings, she practiced talismanic arts.
Her body took a toll under the strain, but she used her healing light to slowly stabilize herself, refusing to collapse.
After a month of dedication, she finally broke through to the seventh level of the Yellow Rank.
Her talismanic proficiency advanced from basic to interdiate.
New knowledge flooded her mind. She unlocked more talismans: luck, misfortune, truth, earth, fire, and water.
The more talismans she unlocked, the safer Lana began to feel.
She also started learning interdiate talismans.
They were incredibly difficult, requiring intense concentration and precision, but she endured.
Her efforts slowly bore fruit. Even though she could only successfully form one or two, it was a huge breakthrough for her.
Axel quietly observed Lana’s progress.
At first, he had been deeply worried about her.
But as ti passed, he realized sothing else.
Lana was the kind of student who rarely succumbed to problems... not because life was easy for her, but because she faced every challenge with relentless hard work, making even the biggest obstacles seem small.
As he looked at Lana, a quiet sadness crept into Axel’s chest.
The investigation results lay heavy in his mind, bitter and incomplete.
Even after exhausting every connection he had, the truth remained out of reach.
It felt as if soone far more powerful was deliberately shielding the information, using their own vast network to erase every trace.
’If not for that person,’ Axel thought grimly, ’I would have already reached the root of it all.’
What unsettled him the most was that he still didn’t know where Lana truly ca from.
The origin of her birth was a blank page, unnaturally clean.
Thinking about how much Lana trusted him made his chest tighten.
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