Free Web NovelChapter 45: Chapter 45: Rumors and Reality
Chapter 45: Rumors and Reality
A comfortable silence settled over the tea room.
Warm morning sunlight streamed through the towering crystal windows, spilling across the polished oak table in ribbons of gold. Beyond the glass, the manor’s rose garden swayed beneath a gentle breeze, carrying the delicate fragrance of blooming flowers into the room. It mingled with the rich aroma of freshly brewed tea, creating an atmosphere of quiet elegance.
For several moments, neither of them spoke.
Seraphina gracefully placed her porcelain teacup onto its saucer.
The soft clink echoed faintly before dissolving into the silence.
A small smile curved her lips as she looked across the table.
"So..."
She tilted her head ever so slightly, her sapphire eyes resting on Andras.
"Is that truly everything you’ve heard about me?"
Andras met her gaze without the slightest hesitation.
"Yes."
His answer came immediately.
"I’ve heard of your beauty."
"Your exceptional talent."
"And the reputation you’ve built within noble society."
He gently set his own teacup aside.
"Nothing beyond that."
Seraphina blinked in mild surprise.
"Nothing else?"
He shook his head.
"I’ve never found noble gossip particularly interesting."
His tone was calm, almost matter-of-fact.
There was no attempt to flatter her, nor any trace of deception.
Among the younger generation of the Empire, Seraphina Valebright’s name was known almost everywhere.
People admired her extraordinary magical talent.
Her flawless etiquette.
Her intelligence.
Many even referred to her as the brightest jewel of the Empire’s noble houses.
Yet the man sitting across from her claimed to know almost nothing about her.
And somehow...
She believed him.
A trace of amusement flickered across her eyes.
"Then perhaps it’s only fair," she said, "that I tell you what I’ve heard about you."
Andras inclined his head.
"Go ahead."
Supporting her chin lightly with the back of her fingers, Seraphina regarded him with quiet curiosity.
"I’ve heard that the Young Master of House Darkmoor dislikes training."
No response.
"That you spend most of your days avoiding responsibility."
Still nothing.
"That you’re arrogant."
"A womanizer."
"And..."
She paused for dramatic effect.
"...the greatest disappointment House Darkmoor has produced in generations."
Silence returned to the room.
Throughout her words, Andras remained perfectly composed.
He simply lifted his teacup and took another unhurried sip.
His expression didn’t change.
Not even slightly.
Seraphina observed him carefully.
She had expected something.
Embarrassment.
Annoyance.
At the very least...
A frown.
Instead—
Nothing.
His composure remained unshaken, as though the rumors were directed at someone else entirely.
Her curiosity deepened.
She decided to push a little further.
"I also heard," she continued thoughtfully, "that during a hunting expedition, you abandoned your guards and fled from a magical beast."
A complete fabrication.
She had invented it only moments ago.
"And that you’ve squandered thousands of gold coins in gambling halls."
Another lie.
Still...
No reaction.
"And..."
Her voice softened slightly.
"I heard that you mistreat the servants within your own estate."
The antique clock continued its steady ticking.
Andras calmly returned his teacup to its saucer.
Only then did he speak.
"Some of those rumors are true."
Seraphina’s brows lifted slightly.
"Some are exaggerated."
"And the rest..."
"They’re nothing more than stories people invented."
His voice remained even, carrying neither irritation nor defensiveness.
"Rumors exist because people enjoy talking."
"They always have."
"They always will."
He leaned back slightly in his chair.
"Whether those stories are true or false makes very little difference."
"Most people don’t seek the truth."
"They seek the version of the story that satisfies them the most."
"And once they find it..."
"They stop asking questions."
Seraphina remained silent.
There was something strangely convincing about the way he spoke.
No resentment.
No bitterness.
Simply acceptance.
After a brief pause, she asked,
"You’re not going to defend yourself?"
"To whom?"
His answer came so quickly that it caught her off guard.
"To the people spreading those rumors."
A faint smile appeared on Andras’s face.
"If they choose to believe those stories, nothing I say will change their minds."
"And if they don’t believe them..."
"Then there’s nothing to explain."
His gaze drifted toward the gardens outside before returning to hers.
"I’ve never understood why people waste their lives chasing the approval of strangers."
He spoke as though discussing the weather.
Calm.
Detached.
"If someone admires me..."
"My life doesn’t improve."
"If someone despises me..."
"My life doesn’t worsen."
"Their opinions don’t make me stronger."
"They don’t make me weaker."
He shrugged almost imperceptibly.
"So why should I concern myself with them?"
Silence followed.
But this time...
It felt different.
His words weren’t profound because they were complicated.
They were profound because they were simple.
Seraphina found herself unexpectedly speechless.
She hadn’t brought up those rumors out of malice.
She had merely wanted to see how he would react.
The Andras she remembered from childhood had been impulsive.
Proud.
Quick to anger whenever someone questioned him.
The young man sitting before her...
Was nothing like that boy.
He possessed an unusual calmness.
A quiet confidence that wasn’t born from pride, but from complete indifference toward the opinions of others.
For the first time since arriving at Darkmoor Manor...
She wondered if the countless rumors surrounding him had ever reflected the truth.
Or perhaps...
People simply preferred believing a more entertaining story.
The silence between them gradually became comfortable.
Neither of them felt compelled to fill it with meaningless conversation.
Instead, they simply enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere of the tea room.
At that moment, the door opened.
Evelyne entered carrying several neatly sealed letters beneath one arm.
The moment she saw the two young nobles sitting peacefully together, a warm smile spread across her face.
"It seems the two of you are getting along quite well."
Seraphina smiled politely.
"We were simply talking, Duchess."
"I can see that."
Evelyne’s eyes shifted toward Andras.
A trace of maternal pride appeared in her expression.
She had expected awkwardness.
Instead...
The atmosphere was unexpectedly relaxed.
Then, as though remembering something important, her eyes brightened.
"Oh."
"I nearly forgot."
She turned toward Seraphina with obvious excitement.
"There’s something I’d like you to see."
Before either of them could ask what she meant, Evelyne raised her left hand.
A faint ripple of mana spread through the room.
The storage ring upon her finger emitted a soft flash.
The next moment...
A thick leather-bound manuscript appeared in her hands.
Andras recognized it instantly.
It was the complete script he had finished writing the previous evening.
He let out a nearly inaudible sigh.
Mother really intends to show it to her...
Whether Evelyne noticed his reaction or simply chose to ignore it was impossible to tell.
Smiling proudly, she placed the manuscript before Seraphina.
"My son wrote this."
There wasn’t the slightest attempt to hide the pride in her voice.
"I intend to turn it into a moving picture play."
Seraphina’s eyes widened slightly.
She looked down at the manuscript.
Then slowly raised her gaze toward Andras.
"...You wrote this?"
Andras gave a small nod.
"Mother wanted to turn the story into a moving picture play after I told it to her."
"I wasn’t interested in spending my time producing plays..."
"But she seemed genuinely disappointed when I refused."
"So..."
"I wrote the complete script instead."
"This way, she can bring it to life herself."
Evelyne immediately looked at him with amused disbelief.
"Listen to him."
"He makes it sound as though I emotionally blackmailed him."
For the first time that morning...
A faint smile appeared on Andras’s face.
"You looked disappointed."
Evelyne opened her mouth to argue.
Then paused.
For a moment, she was completely speechless.
Finally...
She laughed.
"I suppose I did."
A soft laugh escaped Seraphina as well.
The atmosphere inside the tea room became noticeably lighter.
She gently rested both hands upon the manuscript before opening the first page.
"I hope you don’t mind."
"Not at all," Andras replied calmly.
"You may read it."
Seraphina lowered her gaze to the pages.
Within moments...
The tea room fell silent once again.
Seraphina lowered her gaze to the manuscript.
Within moments...
The tea room fell silent once again.
At first, she expected nothing more than another conventional romance.
A noble hero.
A beautiful heroine.
A few misunderstandings.
A predictable ending.
After all, that was the formula behind nearly every successful moving picture play produced within the Empire.
She turned the first page.
Then the second.
A few breaths later...
Her delicate brows drew together.
This wasn’t what she had expected.
The story did not begin with a ballroom, a noble banquet, or a chance encounter between lovers.
Instead...
It opened with a world where dreams were not merely illusions.
They were another reality.
A vast, mysterious realm known as the Astral Sea.
A place where memories drifted like islands, emotions took physical form, and fragments of forgotten souls wandered endlessly through an ocean without a sky.
Her sapphire eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
She turned another page.
Then another.
Dreamweavers.
Individuals capable of shaping dreams as though they were master architects constructing cities from nothing.
Dream Layers.
Worlds nested within worlds, each deeper than the last, where time itself obeyed different laws.
Every layer concealed new dangers.
New mysteries.
New truths.
Her attention sharpened.
The room around her slowly faded from her awareness.
She continued reading.
The protagonist—
Kael.
A Dreamweaver burdened not with saving the world...
But with changing it.
His mission wasn’t to assassinate a king.
Nor steal a priceless artifact.
Instead...
He had to plant a single idea deep within another person’s subconscious.
An idea capable of ending a war before it ever began.
It was unlike anything she had ever read.
Page after page unfolded with concepts that felt both impossible and strangely believable.
Cities built from memories.
Endless stairways connecting fractured dreams.
Nightmares that hunted intruders through shifting labyrinths.
A silent ocean where forgotten names floated like drifting stars.
Several times, Seraphina unconsciously returned to previous pages.
Not because she was confused—
But because she wanted to appreciate the ideas more carefully.
Across the table, Andras quietly observed her.
He didn’t interrupt.
He didn’t explain.
He simply watched.
Beside him, Evelyne noticed the gradual changes in Seraphina’s expression.
Curiosity.
Then surprise.
Then genuine fascination.
The young duchess no longer looked like someone politely reading another person’s work.
She had become a reader completely immersed in the story.
Evelyne’s lips curved upward.
Her son’s imagination truly was extraordinary.
Time passed unnoticed.
The tea sitting beside Seraphina had long since grown cold.
Yet she never reached for it.
She continued turning page after page.
The deeper Kael ventured into the Astral Sea...
The deeper Seraphina herself seemed to sink into the story.
Every revelation surpassed the last.
Every answer gave birth to new questions.
Eventually...
She reached the final act.
The deepest layer of the Astral Sea.
The place where dreams and reality became indistinguishable.
Kael stood before the final choice.
Remain within the perfect dream...
Or awaken to a broken reality.
There was no obvious right answer.
No heroic speech.
No miraculous solution.
Only a quiet farewell.
A promise.
A single step forward.
Then—
The crystal spinner.
It continued rotating upon the wooden table.
Round...
And round...
Its steady motion became the only thing described on the final page.
The story ended.
No explanation.
No confirmation.
No answer.
Only uncertainty.
Seraphina slowly closed the manuscript.
Her fingers lingered upon the worn leather cover.
Silence filled the tea room once more.
Even Evelyne refrained from speaking.
She wanted to hear Seraphina’s thoughts first.
After several long moments, Seraphina finally exhaled.
"...This..."
She searched for words worthy of what she had just experienced.
"...is unlike any moving picture play I’ve ever seen."
She lifted her gaze toward Andras.
There was no politeness in her voice.
No obligation.
Only sincere admiration.
"The world."
"The Astral Sea."
"The Dream Layers."
"The characters."
"The mission."
She shook her head slightly.
"They’re astonishingly original."
"I’ve never imagined a story like this could exist."
Evelyne smiled proudly.
"I had exactly the same reaction."
Seraphina looked back at the manuscript.
"I kept expecting the story to follow a familiar path."
"But every time I thought I understood where it was going..."
"It surprised me."
Her fingertips gently brushed the cover.
"And the ending..."
She looked directly at Andras.
"I kept waiting for the story to reveal whether Kael truly escaped the Astral Sea."
"It never did."
"It simply..."
"...ended."
There was genuine confusion in her voice.
"Weren’t readers supposed to know the answer?"
Andras met her gaze calmly.
"No."
His answer was immediate.
"Because that was never the question."
Seraphina waited.
"The important question isn’t whether Kael returned to reality."
He spoke quietly.
Yet every word carried remarkable certainty.
"The real question is..."
"If a dream feels completely real..."
"If every joy you experience..."
"Every sorrow you endure..."
"Every memory you create..."
"Every bond you cherish..."
"Feels no different from reality..."
He paused briefly.
"...Does calling it a dream truly make it any less real?"
Silence.
Neither woman spoke.
The question lingered between them.
Simple.
Yet strangely profound.
Seraphina lowered her gaze.
She replayed the story within her mind.
The more she thought about it...
The less certain she became of her own answer.
Perhaps...
That uncertainty had been the ending all along.
She smiled faintly.
"I think..."
"I understand now."
Andras merely nodded.
He had never intended to give readers an answer.
Some questions became more meaningful precisely because they remained unanswered.
The room fell quiet once again.
"Almost unconsciously" Seraphina reopened the manuscript to see if see have missed anything.
She slowly flipped through several pages.
Admiring the detailed notes written in the margins.
Character expressions.
Body language.
Stage directions.
Lighting.
Even camera angles had been meticulously described.
It was far more than a simple story.
It was a complete blueprint.
No wonder Evelyne had been so confident about producing it.
As she continued turning the pages...
Her fingers suddenly stopped.
Her gaze settled upon a heroine’s name .
She blinked.
Then looked again.
For a brief moment...
She wondered if she had misread it.
Slowly...
Very slowly...
She raised her head.
A complicated smile appeared on her face.
Curious.
Confused.
Almost embarrassed.
"...Andras."
He looked at her.
"Hm?"
She lifted the manuscript slightly.
"My name..."
She hesitated for a heartbeat before meeting his violet eyes.
"...Why..."
"...is the heroine called..."
"...Seraphina?"
The question hung quietly in the air.
For the first time since the conversation had begun—
Even Evelyne turned toward her son in surprise.
The smile on her face slowly froze.
She hadn’t noticed that detail before.
The tea room fell completely silent.
Only the gentle breeze beyond the crystal windows disturbed the stillness, carrying the fragrance of roses into the room as both women waited for Andras’s answer.
