“…Fine.”
I blinked. “Huh?”
Juliana gave me a look so exasperated like repeating herself was physically painful.
She dragged out each syllable with the grace of a blade being drawn slow. “I said… fine.”
Woah.
Just like that?
I honestly thought she’d refuse.
In fact, I’d even prepared a few more bargaining chips in case she did — a generous handful of Essence Stones, maybe even some money to sweeten the deal.
But she simply… accepted?
Huh.
Maybe I was overprepared.
Or maybe she was planning something.
Totally possible.
Not logical, of course. Because I was giving her everything she wanted. But logic rarely mattered to someone unhinged like Juliana.
While I was still caught in that spiral of thought, her voice reached me — raspy, almost fragile, yet full of that same unyielding resolve. “But can I ask why?”
I tilted my head slightly in surprise. “Why what?”
“Why me?” Her eyes burned — not with tears, but with something close to fury that had been caged too long. “Why are you asking me to help you kill your father?”
A ghost of a smirk tugged at the corner of my lips. “Because you hate him as much as I do.”
“That’s not a reason,” she snapped. “That’s convenience.”
I stepped forward. She didn’t flinch.
“You think I don’t know?” I said, my voice low, almost gentle. “You’ve been planning to kill him since the day they put that BloodWorm inside you. Since the day he paraded your family’s execution like a theater.”
Her jaw tightened — just barely, but I caught it.
“I’m not asking out of kindness, Juli,” I continued. “I’m asking because I need someone who wants him dead as much as I do. Someone with potential. And believe it or not, it’s very hard to find people crazy enough to even think about going after one of the strongest humans to ever walk the face of this world.”
She went quiet for a long second, then let out a scoff — not amused, but loud enough for me to hear.
“And why the sudden change of heart?” she asked. “Because it seemed like just up until yesterday, you were starving for his approval.”
I didn’t dodge the jab. After a breath, I answered honestly. “I told you. I plan to dethrone three of the five Monarchs. The Western Monarch is one of them — and my first thorn in that path would be my father.”
She let that hang between us, waiting a few beats before speaking again. “And why do you want that?”
“Doesn’t concern you,” I said without hesitation.
Juliana blinked, then asked with full honesty, “And what if I betray you?”
“You can try,” I laughed, though there was not a shred of humor in it. “But now that you’ve accepted this deal, we’ll soon sign a binding contract. Not the kind either of us could break just because we feel like it.”
“A… contract?” she frowned.
I nodded, watching her with silent interest. “Yes. I mean, neither of us trusts the other. So an absolute contract that binds us both is the best option.”
She looked at me like she wanted to spit my words back in my face — stomp them into the dirt until they stopped twitching.
But more than that… there was hesitation.
Not fear. Not doubt.
Just… hesitation.
“…How?” she asked eventually, her voice barely above a whisper.
“You’ll see,” I said with a casual wave of my hand. “But first, I need to do something here. Can you stand?”
She stared at me for a moment, as if measuring the sincerity in my tone, then quietly unfolded her leg with a wince and pushed herself up, gritting her teeth.
I pulled out a healing potion and poured it over her broken hand.
The liquid hissed where it met torn flesh and cracked bone, and Juliana grimaced right back — both from the sudden surprise and stinging pain.
“It’s a minor healing potion,” I explained, fishing out another vial. “It won’t completely mend your wounds. But it’ll stop the bleeding and push back the pain a little.”
She didn’t speak as I poured the second dose over her other forearm — the one pierced clean through by her own kunai.
And just as she opened her mouth — probably to say something cliché like she didn’t need my help — I turned around and started walking, raising a hand behind me in a wordless gesture that told her to follow.
This Dimensional Chamber was big enough to have two rooms in it.
One was the one we currently stood in — a large square space with a long experiment table in the center and countless shelves lining the walls, stacked with alchemical equipment and tools.
The other room was farther ahead, at the far end of this one’s entryway. That was Rexerd’s hidden lab.. Where he kept his journals and the research he didn’t want anyone seeing.
I wanted those.
As we walked, Juliana asked quietly from behind me, “Would you really have let me go if I had refused your deal?”
I glanced back at her over my shoulder, then sighed. “I think you already know the answer to that, Juli. I wouldn’t have.”
It was an honest answer.
I would’ve tried to convince her. Reason with her.
But if she still refused to join me, I would’ve killed her.
Because as much as I liked the idea of using her against my father, she was way too dangerous to be left alive without a leash.
Juliana didn’t reply.
Not at first.
She just kept walking behind me — slow, steady, deliberate. Like each step was a silent accusation.
When she finally spoke again, her voice had lost that usual edge. Her tone was less guarded.
“Yeah, that figures,” she muttered. Then, without waiting, asked, “So what’s the Syndicate?”
I raised an eyebrow.
Was she curious? That was rare.
She didn’t usually show interest in things unless they were immediately useful.
Then again, it made sense. She had just witnessed a game she’d unknowingly been a part of — and for the first time, she wasn’t the one moving the pieces. She didn’t even know what kind of board it was.
Naturally she’d want to know more about it.
“Rexerd and you both mentioned them. The Syndicate of the Nameless Lords, was it?” she added.
“Don’t say that name out loud,” I immediately warned. “You never know who might be listening. And they’re a secret organization. Powerful and hidden. They pull strings from the shadows — using celebrities, Hunters, nobles, prodigies. People the world trusts. People no one would ever suspect. You’ll never know who’s working for them until it’s already too late.”
Juliana’s frown deepened into a scowl. “That sounds dangerously close to a conspiracy theory. You said their goal is to surrender humanity to the Spirit King. What’s a Spirit King?”
“Not what. Who,” I corrected, stopping in front of the heavy door and placing my hand on its handle. “And you’ll find out soon enough.”
She clearly wasn’t satisfied with that answer, but she let it go and decided not to press further… for now.
“And Rexerd?” she asked. “He was working for them?”
“Yes,” I affirmed. “The Syndicate was funding his research. Fed him resources, rare samples, and covered up his crimes. All because he was very valuable to them. They’re going to be very upset about his death.”
Juliana’s scowl returned. Her voice came quieter this time. “What… what kind of research?”
Instead of answering her outright, I just smirked, twisted the knob, and slammed the door open with a dull clang.
Then I gestured vaguely inside. “This.”