n

n

nA few hours ago:

nElijah felt the back of his skull tingling when Liam came in to report to him about the matters concerning Emilin.

nWhen Liam informed him that the young lass had already gone off, he immediately felt like something was wrong.

nIf she was left off so quickly then that would mean that there was absolutely nothing suspicious about her.

nThat was the message Moulan was sending him through his actions, especially since Moulan would have easily understood his intentions through the report he had told Liam to send.

nIt was clear that Elijah had wanted a spark, no matter how small it was, to light the fire that would allow him to go forward with his plans against various of his uncles who had strong ill intent against him.

nElijah didn't really have anything against Emilin, but if she were the least bit suspicious, he could use his own methods to 'connect the dots'.

nIt just didn't settle right with him.

nIt made no sense.

nIf she wasn't the least bit suspicious, then there would just be no need for Moulan to take that long.

nThings didn't add up.

nElijah dismissed Liam with a wave of his hand. After hearing the clicking sound of the door, Elijah used one of the lanterns that were supposedly fixed to the wall as a lever, which allowed for the bookshelf in front of him to slide into the wall.

nWhoever designed this establishment seemed incredibly fond of office rooms within other office rooms as the passage opened by the sliding bookshelf was that previously (in the future) mentioned office room with the timeless design and fantastic woodwork.

nWalking up to the head of the table carved with Aether Ebony, a priceless piece of ancient history, known for its life span, Elijah started pressing buttons before he even sat down.

nEven if you didn't use special means to preserve this wood after it was cut, you wouldn't be seeing it rot even in another two millennia without it having to be kept outdoors.

nThe tree was presumed to have gone extinct during the wars in the M continent, and only some of the royal family and higher-ups could find these in bulk.

nAs for the merchant families, they had mostly sold their stock at sky-high prices.

nAether Ebony Wood was not only scarce, durable, and gorgeous, the scent emitted was also later found to have calming effects, but that was only once it was too late.

nThough the trees were all presumed to have been destroyed during the multiple wars that had plagued the M continent, many were still skeptical about this claim.

nSome thought that the royal families wanted to keep it for themselves after finding out their miraculous effects and so they cut off the supply from the source.

nAs for the possibility of finding an Aether Ebony tree outside of the M continent, those were nonexistant.

nBefore the numerous chains of wars in the M continent, though most of the people who resided there had different ideologies, they all had something in common.

nThey were all incredibly xenophobic.

nAt least that was before the wars that lasted longer than anyone would have liked ended.

nThings slowly changed after that.

nAnyways.

nEven though you could find such wood outside of the M continent, it was still quite rare, especially now that it was believed to be slowly disappearing from the face of this planet.

n

"Let's see what is going on then.

"

nElijah's lips thinned into a line, narrowing his eyes as he clicked to play the video feed from the moment Moulan brought Emilin into his second office.

nThis was a video feed that even Moulan didn't have access to, even he, as the 'owner' of that space didn't know where the cameras were located at.

nElijah had a specialist personally install the cameras. No one else would know where they were located. Even though Moulan had a strong inkling that there were cameras here and there, he didn't dare claim he knew where exactly they were actually located.

nThis was also one of the reasons Moulan was adamant about getting this second office. He didn't want unknown surveillance cameras in his personal space and since Elijah insisted on having cameras in the hypnosis room, Moulan proposed installing another side room for just those purposes.

nWell, it all worked out in the end.

nElijah sat comfortably in his seat, his head supported by his palm with his elbow on the armrest, but he couldn't sit like that for long.

nTwo minutes into the video and he was already on the edge of his seat, his firm butt threatening to slide right off to meet the cold, icy, marble floor.

n

"How did she do it?

"

nThere was no one else in the office and Elijah didn't bother hiding his surprise.

nHe rewinds the video, and then again, and then again.

n

"I can't believe it...

" He muttered.

n

"She did it with her eyes.

"

nElijah hid his shaken pale green pupils with his hands as he thought about the possible repercussions from what he had just seen.

nElijah had an acute eye. He would normally be able to catch even the smallest details with a glance. But this was a little tricky.

nAfter Elijah watched it 3 times over, he hadn't found anything unusual.

nNo tapping, no sounds, no signaling. Nothing.

nBut there had to be something to initiate the hypnosis, and that's when Elijah came up with a more probable theory.

nThe one thing that could have brought Moulan into a daze, something with similar effects to the pocket watch, had to be Emilin's eyes, which had been following that clock the whole time.

n

"No, this isn't what is really important right now. I have to figure out just how much Moulan has said after being hypnotized before I can figure out a plan to lessen the impact of this hit.

"

nElijah's face was grim, pursing his lips when he thought about how badly this could go.

n'Did I overestimate Moulan?'

nElijah watched as Emilin ordered Moulan to answer all her questions honestly and his face only got darker by the second.

nBy the time Emilin finished the hypnosis, Elijah's face was already so dark that he could probably squeeze ink out of it if he tried really hard.

n

"Just what could she want? What kind of information did she extract? With her caliber, there's simply no way Moulan could have kept his mouth shut for very long.

"

nElijah wasn't being self-deprecating, you could tell just from the fact that the lass had run off safely and Moulan still had no clue, that he stood no chance whatsoever against Emilin.

nElijah was being realistic.

nElijah's question was answered in the very next minute and it was continued to be answered for the next 3 hours in similar manners.

nElijah's face changed so many times throughout the video, no, film that he couldn't even count the number of times his face went into shock.

nThe conversation was so boringly entertaining that Elijah couldn't make himself skip a second for fear of missing out on something important, but he was really just lying to himself.

nThere was absolutely nothing of remote importance spoken about in the first 3 hours.

nSome of the samples of this conversation that Elijah found especially intriguing included...

n

"So what's your favorite color?

" The girl asked. Her face didn't suit the type of question she was asking. It was quite grim, but it hid some enthusiasm as well.

nElijah almost wanted to believe that there was some secret message being transmitted seeing as he couldn't understand what could make her so serious.

n

"Orange?

" Moulan replied in a questioning tone as if he were asking for confirmation.

nElijah had never seen Moulan wear or even come close to the color orange purposefully in his life.

n

"I see.

" The girl responded as if she were interviewing someone for a job as the manager of a company and the results were extremely subpar rather than asking for someone's favorite color.

n

"What about your favorite food?

" She continued. Emilin nearly took a battle stance, as if she were fighting the greatest BOSS monster in a MAX LV. Dungeon.

nHer face grimaced as her glabella scrunched up.

n

"Oranges.

" Moulan replied once again, solemnly.

n

"I see.

" Emilin said through gritted teeth.

nAt this point, she felt like something was seriously off.

n

"Favorite show?

" Emilin didn't sound reluctant as she kept asking, but she sure as hell looked the part.

n

"Orange.

" Moulan replied a third time. He was really just looking for a death sentence.

n

"I. See.

"

nSeeing as Emilin didn't completely understand, he added,

"an anime

", just in case there was a miscommunication.

n

"Fuck I suck at this, is this problem with me or this guy? Did the hypnosis fry his brain or something? No way. I would never make such an amateur mistake. It might have affected his ability to form and make connections between opinions and preferences.

"

nEmilin just spoke out loud seeing as she believed herself to be the only one who would remember this.

nWell, she was wrong, anyways.

n

"It shouldn't have affected his ability to transmit facts. For someone of his caliber, some of those neuronic connections should be stronger.

"

n

"But what's up with the obsession with Orange?

"

n