"Strange."
"She said she'd be here," Selphine murmured, eyes narrowing slightly.
"So she is," Aurelian said, stepping back and folding his arms. "Or will be."
They settled into a patient silence near the courtyard's edge, where morning frost still clung to the paving stones. Selphine stood straight, her eyes scanning the side garden, her posture a perfect portrait of composed nobility. Aurelian, on the other hand, sat on the low wall, legs crossed, arms draped lazily over his knees.
But his eyes weren't idle.
'Let's see what the city has offered us today…'
His mana twitched beneath the surface, a spark in his chest pulsing with rhythm. The Way of Hollow Glance, his cultivation method, wasn't designed to dazzle—it was subtle, silent, a technique rooted in observation and resonance. It allowed him to feel mana—not just power levels, but temperament, structure, intent.
One by one, he swept his perception across the people moving through the nearby streets.
