He wasn't watching Isolde like a man watches something he wants to possess.
He was watching her like someone studying an equation with an answer he already feared.
And just like that—the knot unraveled.
Valeria blinked.
The weight in her chest lightened.
Not vanished, no. But softened. Receded into something calmer.
Still—
She lifted her chin, expression cautious.
"You're always hiding something," she murmured, eyes never leaving his. "But if you say you don't lie…"
She trailed off.
Lucavion tilted his head, curious. "Then what?"
"…Then I suppose I'll believe you."
He smiled at that. Not wide. Not smug.
Just… softly.
"Progress," he said.
Valeria rolled her eyes. But a faint breath of something—not quite amusement, not quite relief—passed between them.
He looked away then. Only briefly.
Back toward the far end of the ballroom.
Toward where Jesse had vanished.
And where Isolde still remained.
"Still," he murmured, "your read on them… was more accurate than most."
