“Okay, is this another scandal?” Lilia asked. “Let me check if there are any paparazzi around…”

At that moment, Shirei suddenly materialized among them. Everyone present screamed in fear, but the violet-eyed boy remained rather impassive and simply commented, “Did I do something?”

“Ghost!” Marina jolted backward before calming herself. “I mean, Shirei. No, don’t worry. Good morning.”

“Good morning, Marina.”

Lilia stood frozen, shifting her gaze from the boy to the girl, utterly stunned. Marina noticed both a flicker of terror on her face and a glint of pure hatred. The daughter of Torari, along with everyone else, eventually settled down. The brunette shot a glare at Marina, a clear message of disdain. Lilia had never approved of her friendship with Dahlia due to the bad reputation surrounding Cragar’s children—she certainly wouldn’t accept Shirei. Michela had kept it from her, and perhaps it would have been better if she had never found out. That simple feeling of contempt was only amplified by her divine lineage, being a daughter of the goddess of vengeance. Marina, therefore, chose to brush over the subject to avoid conflict.

“They are my sister Michela and my friend Lilia,” the daughter of Ien quickly added.

Shirei gave the girls a slight nod before turning to Lorenzo. “Go on. You’re talking about the son of Tefine, right?”

“You already know?” the blonde asked.

“I was just informed.”

Marina narrowed her eyes, confused by that statement. From what she had gathered, Shirei wasn’t exactly a social person—on the contrary, he preferred to keep to himself. So how had he gotten information from others? Once again, Marina sighed and resigned herself to the mystery.

Lorenzo decided to begin his story. “So, I was talking to a child of Corgi, and she told me she heard noises near the cabin by the beach,” he said, pointing toward the sea. “She went to check, and when she arrived, she found some guys talking with a certain Salix. One of them looked like he was about to pass out while Salix was rambling about not being able to stay for long, saying his services were required by someone important. She tried to calm him down, but he was completely out of it.”

“And who the hell is this guy?” Lilia blurted out.

“Tefine is the goddess of sleep, and as her son, Salix surely has the ability to put people to sleep. That’s probably why the Blendbreed was about to faint,” Marina reasoned.

Shirei narrowed his eyes slightly at the mention of the mysterious figure. “Go on.”

“At one point, he summoned a strange chain that circled around him, with a blade at the end. He wanted to attack them, then…”

“So, like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat?” Michela interjected, deciding to stop doodling and focus on the story. Shirei continued listening in silence.

“Worse. Salix even started transforming into some kind of monstrous creature.”

“Monstrous?” Lilia asked, almost in disbelief.

“Yeah. Apparently, he’s not a Blendbreed like us…” Lorenzo concluded.

Silence fell. Everyone stopped talking, likely lost in formulating their own thoughts about the news, with only the sound of the wind filling the moment. Marina glanced at Shirei and noticed him staring into the void, as if he had just heard something terrible—he looked truly disturbed.

“Shirei, are you okay?”

“He’s dangerous for Lilies Park,” the boy replied.

“We’re all walking dangers, in the end.”

The son of Cragar didn’t respond, implying that he knew more than he was letting on.

“This whole thing is starting to worry me,” Lilia said with a grimace.

“It’s really strange…” Marina replied, glancing at the Blendbreed with violet eyes.

Shirei closed his eyes. “We have to kill him.”

Marina froze for a second, thinking she had misheard. She turned to Shirei and, hesitantly, responded in kind: “Take it easy!”

“Why?” The Blendbreed seemed genuinely confused. “Did I overreact?”

“Well, yes?! We need to inform Mr. D’Agostini and the goddess Aena, but we definitely can’t kill him!”

“We need to understand why he did it first,” Lorenzo assessed. “It could be for revenge. Lilia, what do you think?”

“I need to meet him first to know.”

“You’re all ready to fight him… Look at the cards on the table, first,” suggested the young Blendbreed, daughter of Ien.

Shirei lowered his gaze to the cloth beneath them, his furrowed brow indicating that he hadn’t understood what Michela meant.

“It was just a figure of speech,” Marina whispered to him, trying to stop herself from yelling at him again.

Under normal circumstances, he would have made her smile, but not after what he had just said.

“We know practically nothing about him. We should wait for another misstep—then it’ll be time to worry,” Marina paused. “For now, we just need to report this to the Grand Manor.”

“You know I follow your decisions,” Lilia responded with a smile.

Lorenzo nodded. “I’ll go tell Lyceum everything, then.”

Michela leaned slightly forward to get a better look at the son of Cragar. “Shirei, right?” she asked. “You’re awfully quiet.”

“He always is, really,” Marina answered for him, partly trying to provoke a reaction.

Shirei merely sighed, keeping his usual calm expression. “You’re right, better to do it this way.”

The son of Cragar stood up, intent on leaving. Marina watched him, perplexed, aware that there was more behind his words. Her role was clear—she had to figure out what he was planning, and, as much as she didn’t like the idea, she had to deceive him to get new information. She didn’t want to take advantage of him, but the situation made it necessary.

She steeled herself and, with a brief farewell to her friends, followed Shirei. The girls laughed and waved her off, promising to meet again at lunchtime. Lorenzo, on the other hand, headed toward the Grand Manor.

Marina caught up with Shirei in a few seconds and called out to him: “Hey, Ghost!”

The Blendbreed with violet eyes turned, his usual calm expression still plastered on his face.

“Yes?”

“Sorry if I reacted that way,” she said, referring to the moment earlier. “I didn’t mean to come off as rude, but you caught me off guard. It’s just… really wrong, and I hadn’t even considered it as an option. We don’t kill anyone here—I just wanted you to understand that.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I understood. Anything else?”

This was her chance.

“I was wondering…” Marina averted her gaze slightly, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Tomorrow morning, there will be a lesson about the Forbidden Heirs. You and Dahlia are the only ones in the park who—”

“Do you need help?” Shirei interrupted.

“Yes,” she confirmed. “It would be a huge help if you could come and show us what Cragar’s children are actually capable of. Dahlia still struggles to control herself—I don’t know if you already knew that.”

The boy lifted his gaze slightly, weighing the idea before responding. “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow outside the Seventh House.”

“There’s no need! I can come pick you both up…”

Marina’s words trailed off as she noticed a subtle shift in the Blendbreed’s expression. It was strange—she could still sense that mysterious aura that had made her skin crawl the day before, but now, the feeling it gave her wasn’t oppressive anymore.

Calm and tranquility were the first words that came to her mind.

Without hesitation, she widened her lips into a smile as well. “Thanks. See you tomorrow then, Ghost!”