As Hisnai shyly began unlocking the shackles, Luo Ye, who had been fixated on her face and unable to look away, suddenly felt something at his ankle… lighten?
Luo Ye smoothly flipped over to sit up and flexed his wrists and ankles. Although the magic suppression stone still restrained his mana, his physical movements were no longer restricted.
He stood up, his gaze briefly passing over Hisnai, who still dared not look him in the eye.
The silver-haired girl’s hair fell softly over her shoulders, which were slightly hunched, radiating an aura of panic and unease—nowhere near the dangerous image of her holding a whip with a smile playing on her lips earlier.
A wave of helplessness and exhaustion surged in Luo Ye’s chest.
No, sister, you’re acting like I forced myself on you.
Thank heavens there’s no third party here. If this got out, and I can’t find a wife in the future, it’d be on her.
That would be the worst-case scenario.
“Tossed around all night—kidnapped, drugged, and now I have to comfort the perpetrator too?”
Luo Ye massaged his forehead and instinctively reached out with the other hand, gently running his fingers through Hisnai’s smooth silver hair in a soothing, comforting gesture.
“All right, enough lingering. I’m leaving now.”
His movement was light and brief, pulling away as soon as he touched her hair. Then he turned and briskly walked toward the heavy iron door without a trace of hesitation or regret.
His goal was clear as day:
Anna, temporarily solved!
Hisnai’s crisis, temporarily resolved!
Next step—leave this place, go home, and plan the next move!
The study left behind by the Old Sage was the most likely place to hide clues!
The truth behind Alicia’s death, the whirlpool he was trapped in—all awaited his unraveling. Who had time to fuss over this girl’s teenage heart?
However, the moment Luo Ye’s fingers grasped the doorknob, he neither saw nor cared about the change in those ice-blue eyes behind him.
HIsnai remained half-kneeling, her fingertips still feeling the cold trace of the shackles, when suddenly a warm and fleeting caress touched her head.
She stiffened as if struck by an electric shock.
That touch… was so light.
It was like a restraint, a concealment she couldn’t put into words.
As if she were touching something precious yet fragile—too fragile to hold tightly.
Then came the words: “I’m leaving now,” cold, hurried, and almost… like an escape?
In a flash, Hisnai’s heart roiled violently.
“All right, enough lingering…”
He’s worried I’ll be embarrassed, isn’t he? He must know how ashamed I feel right now, unable to meet his gaze…
That’s why he’s using this distant tone to help me relax…
And touching my hair… Oh heavens, isn’t this the classic sign of ‘desperately wanting to touch, but forced to suppress it for some reason’?
That’s exactly how the imperial banned palace romance novel Paranoid Emperor Falls for Me described it!
He obviously wants to… possess me, just like before… cough, but he held himself back!
Thinking this, Hisnai’s cheeks flushed a deep red again.
Yes, yes! It has to be this!
He’s liked me for so many years, this feeling is a forbidden wound deep in his bones!
I’m his fiancée’s best friend—practically his little sister-in-law, even if not by blood.
He bears the responsibility toward the royal family, the nominal promise to Alicia… How could he dare express it?!
So he can only show tenderness and care through this… this restrained way.
Touching my hair is the closest and gentlest comfort he can give right now.
He’s telling me to calm down, but also forcing himself to stay calm!
“He’s suffering so much he has to use this faint touch to ease his repression! What profound affection this is!”
HIsnai’s heart felt like ice dropped into boiling oil, shattering, melting, and transcending in an overwhelming flood of self-moved emotion.
A new kind of pity and resolve engulfed her.
She finally lifted her head and summoned immense courage, locking blazing eyes on Luo Ye’s retreating figure at the door.
That silhouette, seen through her eyes filled with tears, emotion, and aching pain, appeared especially tall, solitary, and tinged with a heartbreaking hue.
“I understand everything now… Lord Luo Ye…”
HIsnai shouted fiercely inside, clenching her fists tightly, her pale nails digging into her palms. “I will never let you bear this pain alone. No need to fear, no need to hide anymore!”
“Wait for me… someday, I will definitely—definitely make you bravely and proudly say those words in front of me!”
“I want you to cast away this damn restraint and disguise in front of me!”
“This feeling, I will bring it into the light!”
Meanwhile, Luo Ye nearly fled the core area of the Lorant family’s influence in a disheveled state.
The cool morning air filling his lungs finally eased the tension he’d held all night.
“What a nightmare.”
Rubbing his forehead, he dragged his exhausted body toward the Imperial Magic Academy.
Passing through livelier streets, Luo Ye even deliberately bought two freshly baked loaves of bread, devouring them to fill his empty stomach.
Though his body felt heavier with fatigue, his mind grew sharper.
In his memory, the Sage’s old residence—the place he was nominally called home—was a single detached building tucked deep within the academy grounds.
He passed through the campus paths and entered a quiet courtyard, familiar yet strange.
Pushing open the neglected and slightly heavy oak door, a mingled scent of old books and dust wafted out.
No one had lived here for half a year. Most of the furniture was covered with a thin layer of dust; the once lavish magical instruments and decorations had lost their luster with the owner’s passing, looking dim and dilapidated, whispering loneliness in the vast hall.
“So lonely. Even after death, the wife’s run away.”
Luo Ye sighed.
Fortunately, the academy head had preserved the contents inside, and only a select few had access.
And he was one of them.
Luo Ye didn’t linger in the hall, heading straight to the tightly closed door deep on the second floor—the study of Sage Kardia.
He showed no respect, completely unconcerned about the deceased’s legacy or the need to handle things gently.
After all, this “home” gave him no sense of belonging—not as a bastard, nor as someone who had transmigrated halfway through life.
He pushed open the thick carved wooden door of the study.
The scene before him was much as he remembered, except for the absence of the old man, Sage Kardia, who had always buried himself in files and experimental apparatus.
A massive desk faced a wide floor-to-ceiling window, outside of which the silhouette of the academy’s spires could be seen.
Bookshelves covering an entire wall were stuffed with thick tomes and scrolls in various languages, some shimmering faintly with magical light.
Beside the desk stood several glass cabinets nearly half a person’s height, once holding the sage’s beloved alchemical devices and magical materials. Now covered in dust, they had lost their vitality and operation, like forgotten antiques.
Luo Ye scanned every corner of the room, took a deep breath, and his sharp gaze locked onto his bookshelf.
“Old Sage, jackpot.”