Eleanor practically fled from that café.
Helos’s final cold gaze and her words, “I still need to go back to the workshop to continue my research,” pierced Eleanor’s heart like an ice shard.
She stood on the academy’s tree-lined path. The sunlight was still bright, but her heart was frozen solid.
No. She had to know what exactly had happened to Helos.
The sister who, though lazy, used to rely on her in words, who would tug at her sleeve and act spoiled after making a mistake—that sister was absolutely not the same person as the Helos just now, who was as cold as a stranger.
Eleanor even had an intuition that Helos’s change had ten to one odds of being related to that Professor Graham who was conducting research with her sister.
She had to find the only “person” who might know the truth and who would wholeheartedly protect Helos. Gavi. Eleanor hesitated no longer.
Taking advantage of the time when Helos headed to the Alchemy Center Workshop, she hurriedly crossed the courtyard of the Comprehensive Research Academy and quietly arrived at the door of her sister’s dormitory.
She stood in front of that tightly closed door, hesitating. Should she just barge in like this? This was, after all, Helos’s private space.
If Helos found out, given her current ice-cold demeanor, their relationship would probably hit rock bottom again.
Eleanor took a deep breath. But when she thought of those pale purple eyes that held no warmth, all hesitation was replaced by worry.
Just as she raised her hand, her knuckles about to touch the wooden door, intending to knock politely first, an utterly unfamiliar voice suddenly came from behind her.
“Miss Eleanor?”
Eleanor’s hand froze in midair. Her heart instantly leaped into her throat.
This was Helos’s dormitory; she knew Agatha’s loud voice, and this was definitely not Agatha. Who was it? Hearing this completely unfamiliar voice, Eleanor slowly—almost stiffly—turned her head to look behind her.
A somewhat familiar-looking blonde girl stood behind her. The girl was petite, slightly taller than Helos. She had deep golden hair as smooth as a waterfall, fair skin, and delicate features.
Her eyes, gray as if empty, were quietly tilted as she looked at Eleanor. Eleanor was sure she had never seen her before. She didn’t recall such a strikingly beautiful noble lady in the Comprehensive Research Academy.
“You—” Just as Eleanor was about to ask how the girl knew her, her voice suddenly caught in her throat. She froze. Eleanor’s gaze went past the girl’s face and locked onto her neck.
Because she saw something extremely familiar—a simple silver chain strung with a perfectly cut ruby. Under the dim light of the corridor, the gem still emitted a faint, unsettling glow.
Eleanor’s breath stopped. That was… that ruby necklace! She could never be mistaken; it was the ruby necklace that had originally hung around Gavi’s neck!
Eleanor’s gaze snapped up, re-examining the girl before her. She finally overlapped that delicate face with a certain incomplete impression in her memory. The outline of that face.
That straight nose bridge. That was clearly a “complete version” of Gavi’s half-painted doll face. Eleanor’s mind went blank.
She even forgot to look at the dark dress the girl was wearing—the one she had personally chosen and that should have been on the golem.
Her lips trembled slightly, and involuntarily, in a tone she herself could hardly believe, she whispered:
“…Gavi?”
The blonde girl—Gavi—when she heard Eleanor’s address, a hint of barely concealed surprise flickered in her gray eyes.
She seemed surprised that Eleanor could recognize her so quickly. Gavi nodded. This simple action hit Eleanor like a thunderbolt.
Gavi paid no heed to Eleanor’s shock. Instead, she calmly stepped forward, took out Helos’s dormitory key from her pocket, and opened the door.
“Please come in, Miss Eleanor.”
She stepped aside, making an inviting gesture. Eleanor walked into Helos’s room mechanically, almost stiff-legged. The room was still the same as before, piled with all kinds of books, tools, and draft papers scribbled with strange runes.
The only difference was that the golem guard, which used to stand quietly in a corner like a metal statue, was gone. In its place was a living, golden-haired girl who could even breathe.
Eleanor sat on Helos’s somewhat messy bed, her gaze never leaving Gavi for a moment. She watched as Gavi used her fair, slender hands to skillfully pour a glass of water and hand it to her.
“…Your body…” Eleanor’s voice was hoarse.
“This is Master’s latest research result,” Gavi replied calmly, as if she had long prepared this explanation.
“Research… result?” Eleanor couldn’t imagine what kind of “research” could turn a golem into a “human.”
“As for the rest…” Gavi shook her head. A flash of struggle passed through her gray eyes, but it was quickly replaced by absolute calm. “I cannot, and I cannot say.”
Eleanor sensed a constraint from her tone. She knew that pressing further would be useless. Eleanor’s heart sank.
She found that not only had she not unraveled Helos’s mystery, but she had also stumbled upon this even more terrifying secret about Gavi.
She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the fear and curiosity about Gavi’s physical transformation, and did not pry further. Instead, she asked the main purpose of her visit.
“Gavi.” Eleanor’s tone became extremely serious. “You’ve been by Sisi’s side all along. Tell me honestly, has something happened to her recently? I finally managed to see her again today.”
She paused, her voice trembling slightly, pain showing in her eyes. “She… she seems so different. She was so cold to me, like… like she was looking at a stranger.”
Faced with Eleanor’s question, Gavi’s delicate face showed, for the first time, a heavy sadness befitting a human. She sighed.
“You feel it too, Miss Eleanor.” Gavi walked to the window, her back to Eleanor, her voice low: “Yes, Master… has changed. Ever since she woke up from that coma, she’s been very strange.”
“Coma?” Eleanor stood up abruptly. “Sisi was in a coma?! When?! Was she injured?!”
Gavi shook her head, her body trembling slightly. “I don’t know…” She wanted so badly to tell Eleanor. She wanted to tell her everything that had happened that night. The mysterious old man in the blue cloak who suddenly appeared. The strange chains that instantly bound her.
And the master who fell to the ground with a pain-twisted expression. She wanted to tell her what that old man had done to her and her master. Gavi spun around abruptly, grabbed Eleanor’s arm, and urgently began: “That day… there was—”
An icy, chain-like command instantly gripped her throat and sealed her thoughts. Her voice stopped abruptly.
“You cannot, in any way, reveal anything about us to anyone.” That hoarse voice seemed to echo again deep in her core.
“I… I…” Gavi’s face flushed red. She struggled desperately to say that word, but her vocal cords seemed frozen, unable to produce the syllable no matter what.
“Gavi? Gavi, what’s wrong?” Eleanor was startled by her pained appearance.
“I-I can’t say…” Gavi released her grip in frustration, despair filling her eyes. She couldn’t say anything at all. That old man had placed an unbreakable restraint on her. It prevented her from identifying the enemy.
Eleanor watched her pained expression of wanting to speak but being unable to, and the ominous premonition in her heart peaked.
Helos’s coma, her drastic personality change, plus Gavi’s eerie “evolution,” and now her “gagged” state—all of this pointed to a terrible truth.
“Gavi.” Eleanor forced herself to calm down. She grabbed Gavi’s shoulders and asked word by word, “I can’t directly ask Sisi, and you can’t tell me. What should I do then?”
Gavi looked into Eleanor’s anxious blue eyes. She couldn’t say that “person,” nor could she betray Helos, nor resist Helos’s commands.
But she could perhaps guide Miss Eleanor to see for herself. She couldn’t let her master continue immersed in that dangerous research alone. Gavi took a deep breath.
“Miss Eleanor.” Her voice returned to calm, but her gray eyes held unprecedented solemnity. “If you truly care about Master… then why not secretly go to the Alchemy Center Workshop and see her current research for yourself.”