Chapter 341: A Grain of Truth

’Ugh... I still want to sleep for a little longer.’

Ruvian inwardly grumbled. It was already eight in the morning, and as usual, the sky outside the vessel was still dim.

Last night, after experiencing that vision, Ruvian had tried to sleep again but barely managed to get any proper rest, as his thoughts kept drifting back to what he had witnessed within it.

Then, not long after he woke up, a healer came by and handed him a letter from Ophelia, requesting that he come to her room immediately as soon as he was well enough to move.

Which was precisely why he was here now, sitting directly across from the cold and menacing beauty known as the Chancellor.

’Come to think of it... she really didn’t give me much time to rest after I woke up, did she? How considerate of her.’

To be fair, Ruvian had somewhat expected this. He knew Ophelia was never the type to willingly wait whenever it concerned something important she needed to know.

More than anything, this private meeting was exactly what he had wanted and expected to achieve from his plan. Of course, he had no intention of revealing that this had been his motive from the very beginning.

Eventually, he spoke.

"Where do you want to begin?"

"The demon. Especially the one within you," she replied immediately.

Ruvian nodded slowly.

"Sure. Morvayne. Come out."

At his command, a faint dark mist slipped out from Ruvian’s body and gathered beside him, slowly taking the shape of a woman.

Morvayne soon appeared in her human form, with long dark hair flowing down her back, calm grey eyes, and two black horns rising from her head.

A long dark dress covered her body down to her ankles, made from deep black fabric that fell in smooth, neat layers without a single wrinkle.

Ophelia said nothing as Morvayne fully formed beside Ruvian, quietly examining the Great Spirit from head to toe.

Her attention lingered on the black horns before moving toward Morvayne’s face, studying every detail without giving away what she was thinking.

Morvayne simply stood there under her scrutiny, neither looking away nor saying a word.

"She’s my contracted spirit," Ruvian explained.

’Contracted spirit?’

Ophelia repeated those words in her mind as a faint change crossed her features. Her violet eyes narrowed slightly at the woman standing beside Ruvian.

Spirits were not creatures humans encountered easily.

In fact, most people would live their entire lives without ever seeing one, and even high-ranking magus often knew them only through old records. It had already been several hundred years since the last confirmed appearance of a true spirit within human territory.

That absence was hardly accidental.

During the First Demon-Human War, countless spirits had been hunted down, captured, and taken away by demons. Some were forced into contracts, others were used as materials for rituals and experiments, while many simply disappeared without ever being seen again.

After the war ended, the surviving spirits withdrew almost completely from the world.

They hid themselves within isolated domains, ancient forests, sealed ruins, and places that humans and demons could rarely reach. Since then, even finding a Lesser Spirit had become something worth recording in history.

Spirits themselves were divided into several ranks.

Lesser Spirits stood at the bottom, followed by Common Spirits, High Spirits, Great Spirits, and finally King Spirits, beings said to have existed since the earliest ages of the world. The higher their rank, the stronger their will became, and the less likely they were to ever accept a human as their contractee.

A spirit contract was not something that could simply be forced.

Both sides had to accept it, and once formed, the spirit could lend its power to the contractee, strengthen their mana, share certain abilities, or even manifest beside them when enough power was available.

Some pacts went even further, allowing the spirit to protect the contractee’s soul or temporarily take control of their body.

Which was why Ruvian’s answer should have been extraordinary enough on its own.

He was claiming that the woman beside him was his contracted spirit, something so rare that even Ophelia herself had never personally witnessed one before.

And yet, one detail refused to fit.

Her attention returned to Morvayne’s horns.

The being standing beside Ruvian did not look like a spirit at all.

She looked like a demon.

Ophelia frowned as she looked from Morvayne back to Ruvian.

"You expect me to believe that this woman is a spirit?" she asked, her voice sharpening slightly. "Everything about her appearance and aura points toward a demon."

Ruvian shifted in his seat, straightening his back as his expression grew calmer. "Because that is what the demons wanted her to become," he replied, meeting Ophelia’s gaze without hesitation.

"Morvayne was one of the spirits taken during the war, and she later became part of their experiments."

Ophelia’s expression tightened, but she remained silent.

"From what she told me, the demons were trying to create a spirit capable of controlling Dark Mana while still remaining bound under their orders," Ruvian continued. "They wanted something with the nature of a spirit, but with the power and traits of a demon."

He leaned back slightly in his chair.

Some of what he was saying was true, while the rest had been carefully prepared beforehand. Giving Ophelia nothing but lies would only make the story easier to break apart.

"She has been with me since before I entered the academy," Ruvian continued calmly. "We met in a certain place, and after that, we formed a pact, although saying we formed it together would be rather generous since she was the one who forced it on me."

He let out a quiet sigh before glancing toward Morvayne.

That was the signal they had agreed upon earlier. Ruvian had already rehearsed this part with her several times, although they had barely been given enough time to prepare everything properly.

Still, Morvayne looked completely at ease.

She lifted her chin slightly, carrying herself with the effortless pride befitting a Great Spirit.

"Do not mistake me for those creatures simply because of what they did to my body," she said, her grey eyes turning cold. "I despise demons far more than most humans ever could, and I have sworn that one day, I will make them pay for what they turned me into."

Her voice remained unwavering, without even the slightest trace of doubt slipping through.

Ruvian quietly observed from the side, and despite knowing every part of the story beforehand, even he had to admit that she was far more convincing than expected.

Perhaps he had underestimated just how naturally Morvayne could deceive others when she truly wanted to.

Morvayne then turned toward Ruvian.

"There is also a reason why I chose this boy as my contractee," she continued, her tone growing far more serious. "I would never have bound myself to an ordinary human."

Ophelia’s fingers stilled against the armrest of her chair.

Morvayne let the silence hang for a moment before continuing.

"Among every human I have encountered, this boy possesses the highest concentration of the factor my Father left behind."

Her attention remained on Ruvian as she added, "That was the reason I chose him."

"Your Father?"

Ophelia asked, both confused and intrigued.

"Yes, my Father."

Morvayne replied without hesitation, still perfectly composed. Then she continued.

"Or perhaps you would know him better by the name Necraz Lox Mevillion." (+2,000PP)

Ophelia froze.

For one brief moment, even her breathing seemed to stop.

’WHAT!?’

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[Chapter 341: A Grain of Truth]

Plot Points = 277,000