Abyss System The Rise of the Lord-Chapter 121 between two fires

The night had descended upon the palace like a slow, heavy curtain.

In the sky, Ruya and Siamon were half-visible, their cold light striking the marble columns and spreading like flowing white water. The palace walls were silent. Candles burned in a low flame. Thick carpets swallowed the sound of footsteps. The silk curtains at the windows trembled faintly even in the windless night, giving a certain pressure to the air inside.

But this silence was not peace.

Here, every sound was heard. Every step was measured. Every breath was evaluated.

Zaber leaned against the balcony railing, observing the courtyard.

Below, the inner courtyard was illuminated. The guards continued their patrol rotation. The rhythm of their steps was different from usual.

Last night, Zaber had inspected the entire house structure. Every wing. Every corridor. Every turn.

He was not an ordinary guest. He was one of those who could not live without knowing the place where he lived.

He had measured:

— The guards’ shift time.

— The servants’ walking direction.

— How many candles were lit in which room.

— Which corridors had energy flow.

— Behind which walls hidden voids lay.

Thanks to his sensory ability, detecting this was very easy for him.

The palace was not just luxury.

It was a system.

And a person who understood the system could open the cage.

But today, something was different.

Below, the patrol walking order had changed.

Last night, the knights patrolled in pairs.

Today, in threes.

The distance between them had also shortened.

This was not a coincidence.

Zaber narrowed his eyes.

— So, you’ve started thinking too... — he said inwardly.

Aurora was not a careless ruler.

She liked observing people.

And perhaps, last night’s actions of Zaber had not escaped her attention.

The door was knocked softly.

He did not turn back immediately.

— Enter.

A servant girl entered with her head bowed. She was very young. There was caution in her steps. In her hand, a sealed paper.

Golden-colored. Decorated with a winged emblem.

The servant extended the paper with both hands.

— A message from the lady, sir.

Zaber took the paper. The girl left. After the door closed.

He broke the seal.

There was a short note in the letter.

"Since you’ve explored the house, now I want you to feel like the owner of the house, not a guest."

The corner of Zaber’s lip rose.

He had already memorized seventy percent of it.

He went to the table and pondered while looking at the drawings he had found in the library while wandering around last night.

Thick parchment. Corridors drawn with ink. Towers. Wings. Basement. Inner courtyard.

Zaber was not just looking at the map.

He was measuring.

Two things immediately caught his eye.

First — the placement of the stairs in the northern tower.

Last night, he had gone up there and measured the wall thickness. The turn of the stairs on the map did not align with the inside of the wall.

So — incorrectly drawn.

Second — the basement part.

Excessively simple.

Only three rooms shown.

But last night, Zaber had sensed the cold air flow passing under the floor. This indicated a hidden void.

So — the basement was hidden.

This was not a mistake.

Aurora was checking two things:

What Zaber was doing while wandering around the house, looking for weak points or warning something?

Would he reveal that he had scouted beforehand?

If he went straight to the northern tower — it would mean "I know."

If he checked the basement — he would expose his own observation.

This was not an ordinary map.

It was a psychological trap.

Zaber slowly folded the map.

— Is this a trap or something?

He stared at the candle flame on the table for a moment.

Then he called the servant.

When the girl entered, he said in a calm tone:

— Tell Lady Aurora that I am grateful for her hospitality.

No questions. No comments.

Just gratitude.

The servant bowed her head and left.

Zaber, however, immediately began to feel uneasy in the room.

He waited.

He thought he was being observed, but from where and who, he could not find, as if this was just a wrong feeling?

One minute.

Ten minutes.

Half an hour.

He sat in the armchair. Leafed through a book. As if the map was an ordinary gift.

One hour passed.

Two hours.

No action.

This was his response.

"I saw your trap and I won’t fall into it."

But Zaber was not yet fully convinced that this was a trap, but he did not want to risk it.

Finally, he stood up. Extinguished the candle.

Left the room.

But not to the north.

He walked toward the southern wing.

The corridor was narrow. Few windows. This wing was not for guests — it was the service zone.

He took his steps slowly.

He stopped at the fourth turn.

From behind the wall, a very subtle energy vibration was felt.

He activated his sense without closing his eyes: a spherical barrier like a round shape spread thirty meters away, invisible, and everything inside the barrier began to appear in his mind in blue color in the form of lines.

This was not an ordinary crystal. It was intertwined with strange magic.

Aurora had not limited herself to just the map.

She was observing directly.

— What is this? Is this crystal related to me? — he whispered.

He turned back. Started walking toward his own room.

---

At that time, in the upper part of the palace, a shadowy silhouette stood behind the window.

Aurora.

She was staring at the crystal on the table.

Inside the crystal, a faint image — the southern corridor.

The place where Zaber stopped.

He noticed the wall.

But did not touch it.

Aurora’s eyes glittered with indifference.

— What are you doing, just walking back and forth, will you do something else?

She said in a low voice:

— Are you waiting, but for what, or do you have forces behind you?

This was a sign of a dangerous person.

Most people rush to demonstrate their power.

This one was hiding it.

She turned off the crystal.

— You said two months, Zaber... You agreed too quickly to go to the academy, do you have some plan? I thought you can’t hide anything from me.

---

Zaber had returned to his room.

He sat by the window.

Looked at the sky.

Two months.

How could he oppose Aurora? At first, he wanted to possess her, then escape, now he was standing in her hands with invisible chains.

In the next two months, he had to do three things.

Find Aurora’s weak point: documents, brother, sister, lover, the secret she hides from everyone, the thing she fears, but how to find it, Zaber felt like he was standing in front of a huge wall.

In two years, he

Was planning to establish an organization, and for that, he should not go to the academy.

This name is still whispered.

But one day — this name will become dominant.

Neither Aurora nor other powers will be able to ignore it.

The night deepened.

The palace became silent again.

But now, in this silence, a hidden war had begun.

For the next three days, Zaber did nothing.

On the surface.

He woke up late in the morning. During breakfast, he maintained silence in accordance with palace etiquette. He took a book from the library and sat on the balcony or in the garden, leafing through it, sometimes having wine brought and drinking.

This did not please Aurora; was he really doing nothing, just a freeloader? But Aurora had heard that some try to achieve something through such a path.

But this was only the outer layer.

In reality, Zaber was busy with something else.

He was observing.

Listening.

And most importantly — digging the foundation inside the palace.

---

The palace kitchen — the most overlooked place.

But the most secrets circulate there.

Every order ultimately affects the food. Every visit, every secret meeting — means an extra table, special preparation. The cooks seem not to see, but they hear everything.

On the third day, in the afternoon, Zaber went down to the kitchen.

The excuse was simple.

— Among the plants in the garden, I saw the tea leaf I like. I wanted to know how to brew it.

With these words, he went to the old servant Oren.

Oren did not talk much. His hair was gray. His hands were covered with thick skin. His movements were calm, yet confident.

He had been in this palace-like house for twenty years.

Zaber asked him a direct question for the first time:

— How long have you been here?

Oren raised his head. There was caution in his eyes, but no fear.

— For quite some time, about twenty years.

So, Oren knows the old system.

Zaber marked it inwardly.

He conducted the conversation in a reminiscent tone.

— Do you miss your youth? What were those times like?

— Yes, sir. The wings were used less. The basement was also different.

Zaber took the tea leaf in his hand, as if indifferently.

— When was the basement renovated?

Oren thought and answered.

— Three years ago, sir. Along with the northern wing.

Northern wing.

So, the incorrectly drawn staircase on the map is not without reason.

Zaber asked another question, as if casually:

— Where was the old weapon storage? Lady Aurora told me to choose a weapon, but I didn’t know whom to ask.

— Officially? In the western basement. But... — Oren stopped.

— But?

— There was another floor below. Now closed.

Zaber smelled the tea. No change in his eyes.

Inwardly, it was confirmed.

So, there is something below.

On the official map — one floor.

In reality — two.

What is Aurora hiding?

An ancient artifact?

A prison?

Or just a hidden exit path?

Zaber did not deepen the question.

Everything is fine in its own way.

He asked to brew the tea. Oren showed.

In this way, to avoid suspicion, he also asked Oren about things that happened in his life and left the kitchen with that.

---

That night, after Zaber returned to his room, he locked the door from inside.

Extinguished the candles.

Left only one.

He sat on the floor.

Closed his eyes.

He was thinking how to get rid of Aurora; Aurora was new to the city, and this house was recently fortified; knowing about this house could only give an additional advantage, but he had not found information that could harm Aurora.

If in two months he did not know what to do against Aurora, but time was turning seconds into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into days without waiting for Zaber.

After one hour, he exhaled deeply.

Sweat on his forehead. It was from thinking so much and various things.

The next day, he went out to the balcony again.

Below, three knights were standing.

Before, there were two.

Aurora is worried.

Or preparing.

Perhaps, after the map test, she is also evaluating Zaber’s patience.

Zaber leaned against the railing.

One of the knights frequently looked up.

So, he was ordered to observe.

At that moment, a small noise occurred in the lower courtyard.

A young servant girl slipped and fell while carrying a water bucket.

The bucket overturned. Water spilled on the marble.

One of the knights quickly ran over.

He roughly lifted the girl.

— Be careful!

In the tone, there was more nervousness than anger.

Zaber narrowed his eyes.

Rough treatment.

What, are they under pressure?

Zaber observed the knights again for one day.

The knights were tense. Their steps were hurried, and their communication with each other had become less.

If the pressure inside increases, someone will make a mistake.

Or a knight.

Or a servant.

Or... Aurora.

He returned to his room.

And in every system, there is a weak point.

Zaber looked out the window once more.

— Don’t rush, Aurora... — he said inwardly. — I will find the weakness of your knights, and yours will come from behind them.

We will see which of your knights has the weakest will, and I will extract information about you from him.

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