Unmade Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Late Night Talk(3)

Read chapter 42 of Unmade by churro on NovelPedia.

Vale stood before Bianca, giving a small, polite bow. After a quiet breath, he lifted his head again, a grateful smile softening his pale features. Bianca returned the look with her usual tired gentleness, but before she could speak, Vale straightened. “Well,” she said at last, brushing a lock of grey hair behind her ear, “you should get going. I still have quite a mountain of work to finish.” Vale nodded. “Alright, i will.” He turned and took a few steps down the hallway before something nudged at the back of his mind, Evelyn’s voice reminding him to thank Bianca properly for all the time she’d spent on his documents. He paused, glanced over his shoulder, and raised a hand in a polite wave. “Thank you for looking out for me,” he called back. Bianca didn’t reply with words. She simply looked up from her desk and offered him a small, exhausted smile, one of those smiles that said more than speech could. She nodded once, as if placing a quiet blessing on him. Vale chuckled under his breath and continued onward. After a while, he lifted the phone in his hand and stared at it. The thing hummed faintly, but he realized, rather belatedly, that he had absolutely no idea how to use it. “It might’ve been better to ask her before I left…” he muttered to himself. The device stared back at him blankly, unhelpful and silent. He sighed. “Fine. I’ll just try it myself.” Clearing his throat, as if preparing to address a dignified guest, he held the phone at eye level. “Can you guide me to the garden?” he asked. To his pleasant surprise, the black screen pulsed once, then turned white. A set of dark arrows appeared, floating like ink strokes that pointed down the corridor. “Nice,” Vale murmured, pleased with himself. He followed the arrows through the labyrinthine academy, passing countless white hallways, doors sealed with strange glyphs, and windows revealing the moonlit courtyards outside. Now and then students drifted by, their faces a blur of exhaustion and curiosity, but none stopped to speak to him. Then, something caught his attention. A massive door loomed to his right, large enough for a giant to walk through without ducking. It was decorated with golden inlays and an emblem Vale didn’t recognize. He stopped. “What’s this…?” He glanced at the phone’s arrow, then shrugged. “A small detour won’t hurt.” With a gentle push of power, the door responded, surprisingly easily. It swung open without resistance. Behind it stretched a vast library. Vale’s breath caught. Endless shelves of varnished wood rose like carved cliffs. Thousands, no, tens of thousands of books were stacked and organized with loving precision. The place carried the warm scent of old paper and polished oak, a whisper of dust and history floating in the air. “Amazing…” he whispered, stepping inside as if afraid he might disturb the hush. He wandered a few steps between the towering shelves, losing himself in the warm glow of golden lamps and the soft rustle of pages turned somewhere far within. Then a voice called out from behind him. “Sorry, can I help you with anything?” Vale turned, ready to explain himself, but the moment he faced the speaker, his words faltered. Before him stood a towering man, nearly two and a half meters tall, with the build of someone carved from bedrock. His hair was a deep, heavy brown; his eyes a crisp, crystalline blue. A man who looked as if gravity worked slightly harder on him. “Ah, I was just looking…” Vale paused, momentarily taken aback. “…around.” He forced the rest of the sentence out. The giant of a man bowed slightly. “I see. Sorry for interrupting.” As he straightened, Vale’s gaze drifted to the small name tag clipped to his white shirt. Korin. Vale’s eyes widened. 'Korin? Bianca’s son? This mountain of a human?' It didn’t make sense at first, Korin was supposed to be his age. This man looked twice that. But when Vale studied his face more carefully, he saw Bianca in the subtle shape of the eyes, the arch of the eyebrows. Korin turn