Liam's lips pressed into a thin, unreadable line as he finally tore his eyes from the hallway. He blinked slowly, like he was shaking off the residue of a bad dream.
"You okay?" Ariana asked, stepping a little closer, concern curling in her voice again.
"I'm fine," Liam replied, but his voice sounded distant—like it was running on autopilot. "Just… picked up something weird. Maybe he forgot to take a proper bath or something."
Ariana raised a brow. "Forgot to bathe?"
"Yeah. I think my nose's been overly sensitive lately." He sniffed, rubbing under his nose like it'd help. "Probably just me."
Ariana studied him for a second, then smirked. "Well, even if it is just you—I hope he does stink."
"Me too," Liam muttered, a little more seriously than he intended. Then, with a sigh, he turned toward the hall. "C'mon. Let's go eat. My brain's drifting."
"Wait up," Ariana called, jogging slightly to match his pace.
As they walked, Liam's mind circled back to that foul scent.
'Was it real… or just lingering effects from Seraphina's brutal training?' he wondered. 'Either way, I need to ask her. Or Mystica. That smell wasn't normal.'
The cafeteria came into view, but it was eerily quiet. Not a single student loitered around the tables. Even the few who, like them, had stayed back during break seemed to have vanished.
"Whoa," Ariana whispered. "I don't think I've ever seen the cafeteria this quiet."
"Yeah," Liam muttered. "Kinda nice."
They approached the food counter. It looked empty at first, but muffled voices filtered through from the back kitchen.
"I said don't put it there! It's gonna fall, are you deaf or just old?"
"Oh please," another voice shot back. "If you spoke to me the way you flirt with every young man here, maybe I'd actually listen."
"Oh, stars help me—I'm gonna kill this old hag one day," the first grumbled.
Ariana giggled softly and stepped forward. "Uh, excuse me? Can we get some food, please?" she called politely, but her voice barely registered through the banter.
She tried again, raising her volume—just as one of the cooks finally noticed them.
"Not the time, girl! We've got things to—" The woman froze mid-sentence, her gaze zeroing in on Liam. Her tone instantly changed. "Well, well, look at you. Mm."
Liam looked up, and immediately recognized the voice. Miss Layla. The woman who never handed him food without dropping enough flirtatious remarks to fill a diary.
"I didn't think you'd spend your break here," she said, striding out from the kitchen like a model on a runway. Her hips swayed. Her hazel eyes locked on Liam and absolutely no one else. "Had I known, I might've stuck around too."
Liam's face stayed calm and unbothered. But inside? He was over it.
The lingering stench of Gordon, his lack of sleep, the weird energy in the air—it all added up. And Layla's antics weren't helping. His irritation, like a quiet storm, started to stir.
However, Liam sighed internally before speaking. "Nice to see you again, Miss Layla."
Layla beamed like the sun had personally complimented her. "Ooooh, Miss Layla? So formal." She reached out and gently brushed invisible lint from his sleeve—completely unnecessary. "You know, Liam, you've gotten taller again. Or is it just my heart racing when I see you?"
He didn't flinch or blink. "Probably the latter," he said dryly, his tone carrying just enough sarcasm to be polite.
Ariana stood right beside him, hands clasped, a tight smile on her face as she watched this little show. Layla hadn't even looked at her yet. Not even a glance. She could've been a broomstick for all the attention she got.
"Oh, you still have that mysterious charm," Layla went on, circling slightly like a cat stalking its favorite toy. "So stoic and unreadable. I bet you drive the girls wild, don't you?"
"I doubt that's the case," Liam replied.
Layla gave a soft laugh, tilting her head. "Mmm, dangerous and humble. You're just checking off all my boxes."
Ariana's eyebrow twitched. 'Okay, what the actual hell.'
Her fingers tightened into little fists at her side, her eyes flicking between the two like she was watching a romance novel unfold that she definitely didn't sign up to be the background character in. And Liam—he wasn't reacting. At all. Not pushing Layla away. Not blushing. Not even flustered. He was just… standing there. Like it was normal for women to flirt with him like it was their full-time job.
Jealousy didn't just tap on Ariana's shoulder—it yanked her around and whispered: Look how comfortable they are. Look how she touches him. Look how he doesn't mind.
But she didn't let it show—at least not directly.
Layla reached out again, this time brushing a strand of hair near Liam's face. "You ever think about staying behind the counter with me sometime? I could show you a few secret recipes. Real hot ones."
Ariana cleared her throat—loudly. "Ahem!"
Layla blinked, finally turning her eyes to Ariana as if noticing her for the first time. "Oh… hello. I didn't see you there."
Ariana's voice was smooth, but sharp-edged. "Yeah. I figured. We actually came here to eat, not to watch a cooking show where the main ingredient is thirst."
Liam looked sideways at Ariana, the corner of his mouth twitching in the smallest hint of amusement. 'Glad she stepped in, I almost lost my urge for a second.'
Layla's smile tightened, but she kept it up. "Well, you could've just said something, sweetheart. No need to cough up a storm."
Ariana folded her arms. "I was being polite. You know, before the flirting started burning hotter than the ovens back there."
Layla chuckled, then turned back toward the kitchen. "Alright, alright, I'll behave. Let me fix something extra special for you two lovebirds."
"We're not—" Ariana started, but Layla had already disappeared through the swinging doors.
A beat of silence hung between her and Liam.
"…She's annoying," Ariana mumbled.
"I agree," Liam replied.
Ariana side-eyed him. "Then why don't upu just tell her to stop."
"Why would I?" he said simply. "She isn't the first lady to be around me and she won't be the last."
But that only made the twist in Ariana's chest coil tighter. 'So, he is saying it is normal for women to flirt with him like it was their full-time job.'
Moments later, Layla returned with two trays balanced expertly in her hands. She placed Liam's tray in front of him with a wink. "Made this one extra spicy, just like me."
Liam didn't even blink. He simply took the tray, muttered a flat "Yeah," and walked off to a nearby table without a second glance.
Layla's smile twitched, but she quickly masked it as she turned to Ariana. "And for you…" she said, setting the tray down just a little too hard. Not enough to spill anything, but enough to send a message only Ariana picked up on.
Ariana raised a brow but said nothing, biting the inside of her cheek as Layla flounced back into the kitchen.
She picked up her tray and followed Liam to the table, sitting across from him with a quiet thump. He had already started eating, calmy, like the past five minutes hadn't been a full-on flirty ambush.
But Ariana… her appetite had soured slightly. She poked at her food with her fork, eyes occasionally darting to Liam. He was sharp, always paying attention—even if he didn't act like it.
So of course, he noticed.
"You good?" Liam asked, not looking up as he scooped some food into his mouth.
Ariana hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah… just thinking."
He hummed lowly, then paused, pushing his plate slightly aside. "Hey. Can I ask you something weird?"
She blinked. "Weird how?"
"I need you to use Mystsense on me. Look at my core."
Ariana nearly dropped her fork. "Wait—what? You can look at your own core just fine. You know that."
"I know." Liam leaned back a bit. "I just… I've been noticing something off. Nothing crazy. But I want you to tell me if you see anything strange."
That made Ariana sit up straighter. She nodded slowly. "Alright. Gimme a sec."
She closed her eyes for a sec, before reopening them—now glowing faintly. Her vision tunneled inward, toward Liam's core.
It was still light green, he was still a low-tier five-star knightmage.
"Huh," she whispered. "Your core's fine. Same light green. Still five-star, low-tier. No cracks, no pulsing or nothing strange."
Liam nodded. "Figured. Just needed confirmation."
Then he lifted his hand, and with a twitch of his finger, summoned a flicker of ember. A playful glow danced at his fingertip. Then he molded it—compressed it into a perfect orb the size of a thumbnail. Inside the orb, the heat began to rise.
Ariana's eyes widened slightly. The myst forming that orb didn't almost belong to a 5 star, low-tier. The temperature inside it surged higher and higher, a silent storm compressed into something barely bigger than a coin. The kind of heat that could turn the cafeteria into molten rubble.
But as she kept watching with Mystsense still active, something clicked.
The myst around Liam wasn't flowing into the orb anymore. It had stopped—completely. Like it hit a wall. The orb could take more, but his core wasn't releasing more.
She blinked, dismissing Mystsense, realization dawning on her.
"…You're at a bottleneck," she whispered. "That's why you feel off."
Liam raised an eyebrow.
"You've reached the apex of five-star low tier," Ariana explained, now sounding almost amazed. "You've hit your limit. Your myst won't push past it unless you ascend. That orb should've gotten hotter—but your core didn't let it."