Bait

"When exactly did you learn spellcraft?"

That question resounded endlessly in Laemno's mind, ringing a deafening alarm that made him instinctively reach for a way out. However, Anthea's bizarre lack of response and her calm demeanor stopped him in his tracks before he even got out of bed.

"You're smarter than I've given you credit for, that's for sure," she added while carefully inspecting her golden fingernails. "You've quickly realized the situation you were in yet still took a logical choice despite the stirrings of your natural instincts. Most people in your place would have thrown themselves from the window already."

Laemno's dark gray skin was a shade fairer under the afternoon's light. He saw the familiar silver-and-white city and Adonaios' ornate statue through the room's casement.

He was back in the Divine Capital, probably in a new wing of the Great Sanctuary's Inner Monastery. From the sun's position, it was safe to assume that he had passed out for a few hours at most.

"Oh? Interesting." Anthea's gaze swept over Laemno no more than an instant, yet it felt like she read his thoughts in that fleeting moment. "Don't worry. We're still on the 11th of December. You have five days until the Sacrificial Ceremony."

"Why did you bring me back to the Great Sanctuary?" He asked with careful wording, leaving the implications unsaid.

"I could give numerous answers. You'd believe none of them. I see it in your eyes."

Anthea peered into his ashen gaze, maintaining eye contact while faint glints of reminiscence glowed in hers.

"How much you resemble Him," she whispered, displaying an emotion that Laemno couldn't read. After a brief pause, her face regained its finely crafted mask. "Shall I reiterate my question? When did you learn spellcraft, or rather, how did you do it?"

"What will happen to me now?" Laemno obviously wasn't about to spill his secrets that easily.

The Grace of Blossoms seemed amused by his stubbornness and merely sat back, her hands gently clasped. "Many things."

Her smile irked Laemno, so he took a more comfortable posture against his pillow, answering her previous question with a flippant "Who knows?"

"How impudent. It's been a while since a mortal spoke to me like that." Anthea let out a dry chuckle. "There's no need to be on guard. I'm merely curious, you know—about why you attempted to kill yourself with hemlock two days ago, why there are traces of magecraft on that table mirror, and why there are residuals of the spellcrafting process in your chambers."

Laemno's mind froze once his activities were laid bare, but fortunately, one part of him remained lucid.

She didn't mention the notebook or the triangular mirror! She either doesn't know about them or wishes to glean more information by asking about the simpler stuff first. Anyhow, I still have room to wriggle out of this if I play my hand right.

"I don't know what you're talking about. What's spellcraft anyway? The instructors told me I couldn't learn magecraft, even after I begged them. Hmpf. If I can't do it, then it's stupid!" Laemno used some of his fragmented memories and the fact that he was technically an eleven-year-old boy to his advantage.

Anthea didn't seem to hear his faked response and kept staring at him. "My Sorceries don't have the best perceptive magecraft. In fact, you could say that we're bad at it. However, some signs can't be missed when you have enough experience."

She adjusted the ornate wreath on her head. "As you have no mystical imprint, spellcraft doesn't leave signs that could be tied to you. That holds true even when you're actively causing stirs in the atmospheric Mana, but that's only in normal circumstances."

"Merely processing the mediums for spellcraft creates residuals that pollute the Mana flow in the area. Outside the Great Sanctuary of Priene or anywhere else in the Inner Monastery, those traces would've been dismissed as meaningless ebbing and not given another thought."

Something clicked in Laemno's mind, which prompted an involuntary change in his expression. The Grace of Blossoms picked on that instinctive spasm and widened her smile.

"You forgot that you're a particular case. As the Celestial Offering, the flow of Mana in your wing is heavily monitored. No one is allowed to alter it without specific instructions. With every entrance and exit carefully surveyed through divination, there's no way that someone would've been able to sneak past the Luminous House's watch and create a disturbance unnoticed."

"Spellcraft is an archaic way of manipulating Mana that's been lost to time. No modern magus is aware of it, including the Temple of Stars' lower clergy. Considering the people who have been to your chambers and eliminating those unlikely to perform it, we can narrow down the identity of our culprit by quite a lot, don't you think?"

Laemno displayed a nervous grimace. "How could I learn something that escapes the knowledge of most magi?"

Anthea suddenly leaned forward, getting closer to the bed. "That's what I'm curious about. You never left the Great Sanctuary of Priene before today. No one suspicious ever approached your chambers, yet two days ago, you attempted to kill yourself out of nowhere."

"What's more, your previous caretakers were under hypnosis magecraft. The elder ascetic hung himself shortly after interacting with you. You learned how to use spellcraft without any guidance. And today, you smashed your skull at Mount Eurymedon's entrance. If this doesn't stir one's curiosity, then what could?"

"Why does it matter? Now that you're aware of an anomaly, shouldn't you just keep me at arms' length until the Sacrificial Ceremony?"

"Cheeky, aren't we?~" The Grace showed a genuine smile for the first time. "There are many reasons, but I believe there's no harm in revealing one of them."

She marked a pause, lightly crossing her thin arms. "It's simple. You're bait."