Valentine Dukedom, five minutes before the incident.

Lazily lying on her bed, Veronica yawned and stared at her ceiling. She had been busy before coming here. In the Blood Tower, she spent most of her time locked inside her office. People rarely saw her outside the Tower. They even started calling her a shut-in.

But that was not true at all.

How could she ever get the time to go out when she was drowning in documents? Right? She had the perfect reason to be trapped in her office all day. She was doing important work. She was contributing to the kingdom. She was literally drowning in paperwork.

Yet somehow, others still compared her to the other Calamity Tower Heads.

"They get time to roam around, so why can't she?"

This made Veronica furious. So she countered it the only way she knew.

She called the other Tower Heads slackers.

"Haaah…" She sighed, rolling over and burying her face in her pillow, as she recalled the reaction the other calamity tower head's made.

"Huh, it's their fault for flaunting themselves."

Anyways, it had been so many days since she last visited her old room. She did not feel nostalgic. She just felt weird.

The bed was softer than she remembered, and the room smelled different. The walls were too bright. After Veronica left, they rearranged the whole interior. Her own room didn't felt her own anymore.

'Ah, I just want to go back to my tower.'

She thought that for the fifteenth time.

But as the eldest Valentine sibling, she had to be here for the event. But when she reached the dukedom, her mother and father did not give her any task at all. So she simply roamed around like a lost ghost.

'This is only the first day.'

There were still two more days to go before the event ended. She had no idea what she was supposed to do until then. Unlike Rowan, she was never that close with the twins. Even Layla always stuck to Leon whenever she visited the family.

Nobody treated her like a sister after she became a Tower Head.

They treated her like a walking calamity who needed to be respected from a distance.

'That reminds me…'

She flopped onto her back again and stared at the ceiling.

'Leon and Layla went out to Tiara today…'

That thought made her feel even more left out.

'He did not even ask me, huh.'

She thought she was at least close with Leon. But she guessed she was wrong.

Knock knock.

"Lady Veronica." Myra's voice came right after the light knock.

Veronica turned her head, then slowly dragged herself up from the bed and sat straight.

"Come in," she said.

Myra stepped inside holding a tray. Veronica's eyes immediately locked onto it. The tray was huge. Too huge for just an evening snack.

"Myra, what did you bring?"

Myra placed the tray on the side table. Veronica noticed two cups and a teapot.

"Oh." She understood right away and looked at Myra's face.

"Did Leon not ask you to come with him?"

Myra narrowed her eyes a little and gave her a side glance.

"How did you know this, my lady?"

"Wait, really?" Veronica blinked.

Myra nodded. "Mhmm. Young master did not say anything to me. The maids around my station said he went with Lady Layla."

"So that is what is troubling you."

Myra calmly poured the tea into both cups. "I have no trouble, my lady. It is just that I have to track what happens afterwards every time around him."

As her most important duty, Myra had to keep a close eye on Leon. That included knowing where he went, who he met, and if anything suspicious happened. It was not stalking. Veronica simply had no other choice. Leon was a special case.

"Here." Myra handed her a cup and took the other for herself. She sat on the chair near the bed.

Veronica took a slow sip and leaned back. A small silence settled in before she suddenly asked, "Did you find out what Duke Vallahail was doing that night in the under market?"

Myra nodded. She placed her cup aside and took a folded paper from her pocket.

"Yes. He went there to buy some alchemy related items. Here is the list." She handed it over.

Veronica opened the list and read through it.

"…"

A long pause.

"What is the possible use of all this?" She asked. "What was he planning to make?"

"We are still working on it," Myra replied. "House Vallahail has their own formulas that only their core members know. Some of them are not even understood by anyone outside."

Veronica closed her eyes and lay back on the bed again.

"They are onto something. After the missing cases and suddenly the kingdom supporting Duke Sebastian Vallahail. They even proved him non guilty. They think we are stupid enough to ignore it."

She let out a tired sigh.

"Anything else worth noting?"

Myra nodded again.

"Twilight Order was after them."

Veronica opened one eye slightly. "So they noticed the odd ones too. Nothing surprising. What else?"

"The Authority has declared a war with the Order. And for that they reassigned Raizen Nightson."

Veronica froze for a moment. Then she burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha. So Holmes finally decided to take it seriously. Twilight Order will be in a tough spot now. Raizen does not play around." She rubbed her forehead while laughing softly. "Haah… things are getting interesting."

Myra nodded in agreement.

Veronica took another sip of her tea and set the cup down with a more serious face.

"Focus on House Vallahail," she said. "The Twilight Order has their hands full with the Authority now. They will not get the time to focus on them much, I mean, they are not capable of handling handling both cases at once."

Myra took note immediately and nodded with full respect.

They went quiet again.

Veronica raised her cup for another sip.

BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!

An ear piercing sound shook the estate like a hammer. Her cup slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor.

"…?!"

"…?!"

Both Veronica and Myra stood up at the same time. Their heads snapped toward the window.

A bright flash lit the distant sky, followed by a huge pillar of smoke rising into the clouds.

Myra's eyes widened. Her hand covered her mouth in shock.

"My lady… that came from Tiara Town."

Veronica did not say anything. Her eyes were wide, completely stunned. The disbelief on her face made Myra's heart sink.

Myra looked back at the window again, then turned toward Veronica.

"Master Leon and Lady Layla were there—"

Her words stopped. Because Veronica was no longer in front of her.

Only several red lily petals floated in the air where she stood seconds ago.

"My lady…?"

Myra stared at the same space, then looked back at the distant explosion.

"Ah…"

She understood.

Veronica had already gone.

— — —

Tiara Town, moments after the explosion

Amid the thick smoke and rising flames, with burned stones scattered across the road, a figure suddenly appeared out of thin air.

Step.

Her red heels touched the cracked ground gently, as if the destruction around her did not dare to disturb her arrival.

Veronica stood in the middle of what used to be the town's central square. Now it was only a crater of destruction.

"This was the origin."

She could still feel the mana around her. It was thick, heavy, and somewhat unstable. The traces left behind were enough to make her skin crawl.

'Dark mana…?'

She walked forward slowly, her eyes scanning everything.

Corpses were scattered across the broken road.

Some were burnt beyond recognition. Others were torn apart, their limbs thrown several meters away. It looked like the remains of people who had been standing here just moments ago, living their ordinary day.

Puff.

Her heel pressed on something soft.

She looked down.

A half-burnt teddy bear lay on the ground, its fabric charred, and one button eye melted.

"…"

She bit her lip hard, almost enough to draw blood.

She forced her gaze away and looked around again, her heartbeat was growing faster.

"Where are you?"

Her chest tightened. A strange dizziness hit her head as her thoughts raced.

She could not hold it any longer. The worry and frustration filled her mind to the point it hurt to think.

Without another second of hesitation, she activated her skill.

[Time Trace]

The world around her shifted instantly.

Countless scenes rushed through her mind all at once. Moving shadows, running people, screaming voices, mana reactions, faces, and even footsteps. Every sound and every movement from the past few minutes played in her mind all at once, layered on top of each other. Her brain felt like it was being stabbed from the inside, but she forced herself to keep watching.

After a moment, she deactivated the skill and opened her eyes again.

"A short term teleportation," she whispered. "They are safe."

She looked to her right, toward the direction where Leon and the others had teleported.

Her eyes narrowed and her figure vanished again.

.

.

[A/N: Weekly goal, 600 PS for 3 extra chapters!]

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