In that instant, Aldrich’s gaze was a maelstrom of conflicting emotions.

There was the fleeting, involuntary spark of admiration for the sheer, startling talent the girl had just put on display.

But it was immediately followed by a cold dread and wariness welling up from the depths of his eyes.

Out in the Dead City beyond the academy district, hard power was the only metric that mattered. Talent—unrealized potential—usually had to take a back seat.

However, when talent reached a certain suffocating threshold, it became far more noteworthy than current strength.

Especially since Pandora was already Second Rank.

At this rate, in three or four years, she could very well be Third Rank.

That was a force capable of looking him in the eye and fighting him on equal footing.

When he’d greenlit the Iron Hand squad’s operation on Poxman’s advice, he’d definitely been a bit too reckless.

If he’d just been a little more cautious, had his subordinates dig a little deeper into this so-called “Baroness,” he might have avoided making an enemy out of such a terrifying prodigy—and kept a few useful subordinates from getting themselves killed.

Then he wouldn’t still be stretched thin dealing with people other than Ember right now.

But... the feud was already forged. Nothing to be done about it now.

Shaking his head, he tossed the pointless what-ifs out the window.

As the girl across from him took her seat, Aldrich cleared his dry throat, preparing to open with some diplomatic small talk.

But Pandora beat him to the punch.

“I need that Fifth-Rank Wizard Meditation Method you’ve got.”

Her voice was calm, direct, without a trace of hesitation.

“Let’s make a deal.”

Aldrich’s prepared words died in his throat.

He looked at her, genuinely surprised. Was this girl always this aggressively direct?

In a place like the Dead City’s Eden, where scheming and backstabbing were the local pastimes, even mortal enemies meeting face-to-face would typically spend a while probing before finally whipping out the daggers.

The surprise faded, and a cold smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he shot back:

“Agreed.”

“But what exactly do you have that I could possibly want? Potions?”

His gaze swept over her.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I’ve heard your talent for potions is solid. Exceptional, even. But I—”

“Charges.”

Pandora cut him off.

Aldrich blinked, his brow furrowing. “What?”

“I said, the chips I’m putting on the table are the charges against me.”

Pandora met his eyes, her tone as serious as if she were discussing an alchemical theorem. “Given the current trajectory, what do you think the odds are that the Disciplinary Court convicts me?”

Aldrich didn’t answer.

Because he knew exactly what she was driving at.

With the faction working against him pulling strings, Julian Bennett clearly wasn’t going to let his accusations stick easily.

Relying on his limited connections to force a conviction with insufficient evidence was a long shot at best.

Especially since he no longer wanted to waste any more capital or energy on Pandora.

Wilbur’s death had only been the fuse, drawing out probing attacks from the numerous enemies he’d made previously. He was stretched entirely too thin playing defense; he couldn’t even spare the manpower to hunt down the architect of all this chaos, “Scorchface”...

“But if the charges do stick, they could at least lock me away for ten years, right...?” Pandora paused.

“If I voluntarily request it, I can use the Disciplinary Court’s sentence commutation rules to swap out a ten-year stint for the one-year equivalent of the Sentence of the Void. The Court wouldn’t have any grounds to refuse.”

The cold smirk on Aldrich’s face slowly curdled.

He knitted his brows tightly, his eyes filling with genuine confusion.

“What are you playing at?”

“What am I playing at?”

Pandora fired back, looking at him like he was a bit slow on the uptake.

“You’ve made so many moves, exhausted so much effort. Even if things haven’t been going your way lately, are you really content to just watch me take a month-long vacation at the Disciplinary Court?”

She leaned forward slightly, staring right through the transparent partition into Aldrich’s gloomy eyes.

“Or would you rather I walk out of here without a scratch, head over to Eden, and team up with the Echo Quarry to keep fighting you alongside Julian? Or maybe wait two or three years until I hit Third Rank, and you gain another peer-level mortal enemy?”

“What, so many leaks you can’t plug them all? One more enemy doesn’t worry you?”

“To you, that Meditation Method—while its rank is undeniably high—does it really hold that much value? Is it really worth hoarding?”

Aldrich fell silent.

He looked at Pandora, his expression visibly turbulent.

If the charges actually stuck, he would indeed be spared the headache of dealing with another troublesome enemy for the foreseeable future—especially one backed by Julian.

But...

“Admitting to the charges.”

He spoke slowly, his voice low.

“What’s the upside for you?”

“Compressing ten years into one saves time, but the Sentence of the Void...”

When he said the name, even his tone grew heavy.

“That isn’t normal imprisonment. It exiles your consciousness into the void. No senses. No time. Just endless blankness and the disintegration of your self-awareness.” 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

“In the Disciplinary Court’s history, almost no one has survived it. And of the ones who did, most went completely insane.”

“No matter how big the payoff, if you end up dead or drooling, it’s all rather pointless, don’t you think?”

Aldrich stared intently at Pandora, searching her face for the slightest crack of fear, hesitation, or bluff.

“I don’t see... the logic in this.”

“The logic is the Meditation Method.”

Pandora’s voice was as flat as if she were reading a textbook.

“I need it. Simple as that.”

Aldrich didn’t immediately reply, keeping his eyes locked on her.

Pandora didn’t look away. She just kept talking.

“Let me spell it out. Agree to this deal, and I, Pandora Douglas, will have no quarrel with you ever again.”

“Even if I one day hit Third Rank... or if I just flat-out die in the Sentence of the Void, the future Pandora Douglas will have nothing to do with you.”

“If I survive, I’ll even guarantee that for the next five years, I, Pandora Douglas, won’t make a single proactive move against you or your faction.”

She paused for a fraction of a second, then leaned back in her chair, visibly relaxing.

“So, what’s holding you back?”

“Is it because I’m being too blunt? Or is it that just one Scorchface isn’t enough of a headache for you?”

“Think about it, Mr. Aldrich.”

“On one hand, you’re holding a poisoned chalice that does you no good.”

“On the other, you’ve got a chance to freeze all your problems right now. Even if you don’t gain a future ally, you lose an enemy. You get a neutral bystander...”