The door creaked open with a soft groan and Ryker stepped into the quiet chamber.

The moment he entered and his eyes fell on her, his breath caught in his throat.

There she sat alone, radiant, untouchable.

A cascade of white hair. It was so pale that it looked almost silver under the warm glow of the library's enchanted light. Her hair going down her back like moonlight covered across silk. Her hair framed her delicate features in gentle waves, as if the wind dared not disturb perfection.

But it was her eyes that stopped the world for him.

Those, Ruby red eyes.

Not the red of bloodshed. Not the red of roses. They were deeper like molten gemstones forged in the heart of stars. Alive, ancient, dangerous. Eyes that didn't just see you. They consumed you. Eyes that read your mind before your lips could form a lie.

And her body was an impossible sculpture. Graceful, polished and balanced with the elegance of a deadly blade. She had the kind of beauty that artists tried and failed to capture for centuries. An hourglass figure. Framed in a sharp black uniform that clung to her curves like it had been tailored by god himself.

She wasn't just beautiful.

She was unreal.

There was no one like her in this world. Ryker had seen nobles, models and celebrities but none of them had this kind of pull. None of them had that suffocating mix of serenity and chaos that bled off her skin like perfume.

"So this is why…" Ryker thought, "She became a fan favorite not because of what she did but because of what she could be. A perfect example of how presence alone can capture attention and never let it go."

He found himself standing still for too long, as if the weight of her gaze, even if not aimed at him, it was holding his feet in one place.

But he forced himself forward.

He cleared his throat and smiled with practiced elegance and said,

"Miss Eleanor"

She didn't move. Not at first.

Then, slowly, she lowered the book she had been reading and her eyes finally turned toward him.

That was the moment Ryker truly felt it.

Her gaze hit like a narcotic. A quiet, lethal addiction. It wasn't just beauty. It was something carved from deeper. It was like nightmares and forgotten dreams. Something not meant for human comprehension.

And right after that came the system notifications.

[Warning!!!!]

[The user's mind is completely shaken]

[Skill: Mental Resilience has been activated]

[Stabilizing cognitive functions… complete]

Even with a skill that meant to protect his mind, Ryker's felt his chest was hollow for a moment. It was like something vital had been taken from him and replaced with a quiet hunger.

Her lips parted.

"Leave."

One word. Cold as ice. Soft as mist. And yet her voice carried a duality that haunted Ryker instantly.

"An angel speaking in demonic tongues…" he thought, "Or maybe a devil whispering grace"

There was nothing raised in her tone. No malice. No hatred. Just a detached command.

As if his very presence in the same room as her was fundamentally wrong.

Ryker chuckled softly. Then he respectfully bowed,

"Miss Eleanor," he said, smoothing his tone. "It seems I have been terribly rude. My apologies. There is a reason I sought you out but before that, allow me to introduce myself...."

"You are Ryker Case."

The interruption came without hesitation. Her voice was still distant but this time, her eyes stayed on him.

"You want me to accept you as my squire."

Ryker blinked.

[Warning!!]

[Psychic power is infiltrating the user]

[Mental Resilience has activated]

[Countermeasures in effect…]

'Of course. Her powers'

'She's exactly as Arthur described in the novel,' Ryker thought as his eyes narrowed.

But before he could respond to her, a strange force hit his chest.

He didn't see it. Didn't hear it.

One second, he was standing inside the chamber. The next second, he was flat on his back outside the chamber. And then the door closed itself shut behind him with a muted click.

Ryker groaned, he slowly sat up.

"So that's how it is…" he thought.

He approached the door again, but before his hand touched it, a voice, her voice echoed inside his mind.

"Leave."

The voice didn't shout. It wasn't threatening. It was simply there.

A quiet command that the soul obeyed before the brain even processed it.

Ryker let out a breathy laugh and stepped back. He began walking down the spiral staircase of the Serene Mountain Library, his eyes were distant and a smile lingering on his face.

"Eleanor Nightingale…" he thought, "The older sister of Arthur Nightingale. The First of the Nightingale siblings. A walking anomaly."

He remembered her story.

She had been kidnapped as a child by a demonic cult obsessed with creating vessels for the Seven Deadly Sins. They had chosen her for Gluttony. The irony being she never desired anything except silence.

The experiments were brutal. Infusions of demonic mana, injections of monster DNA. It forcefully awakened her psychic power.

They burned memories into her brain. Made her hear voices before she understood language. Her mind cracked open like a mirror, reflecting too many truths at once.

When she was finally rescued. She was no longer a child that everyone knew. She was something else.

Something fractured.

She started speaking aloud the thoughts of her parents.

She couldn't help it. Their doubts. Their guilt. Their affairs. Their resentment.

She revealed truths no child should know, the truths no parent wanted to expose.

The house turned into a battlefield. Her mother wept every night. Her father drank to forget she existed.

Soon, no one dared speak in front of her. Eventually, no one dared to even look at her.

And in the isolation of her silence, the remaining trust rotted.

That's why, in the original novel, when her pain was finally pushed too far, she broke.

She accepted her fate and the power of Gluttony. Became the Apostle of Gluttony.

And with her psychic army of beasts and controlled humans, she became the strongest general of 'The One in the Boiling Abyss'

Her path painted cities in blood. She bent monsters to her will. People, too. No one could lie to her. No one could deceive her. She saw through every motive, every scheme, every betrayal.

"She caused more damage than 'The One in the Boiling Abyss' himself," Ryker recalled grimly about the novel.

That was Eleanor, who was not bound by love.

That was Eleanor, who was abandoned.

"But if I can bind her loyalty... if I can claim her love…" Ryker thought as he stepped outside the library.

"Then she won't just be a weapon. She will be a god in my hand"

He looked up at the sky, the cold wind brushing against his cheek.

"If I can make her trust me... if I can make her fall for me….she will burn the world at my command. And the worst part is…"

He looked back at the library one more time,

"She will thank me for saving her from it"

His smirk deepened. And just then a voice took him out of his thoughts.

"Ryker."

He turned,

Lucas stood a few meters away with his arms crossed. He had the same determination that Ryker had seen in the novel. The one that refused to be crushed, no matter how much blood it took.

Ryker raised a brow.

"Lucas"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.