Silas’s question left the hallway quiet.

"Am I leaving?"

Lunea moved first, lowering herself slightly so she would not tower over him. "Not like that, Silas. No one is throwing you away."

Silas held the blanket tighter around his shoulders.

Trafalgar watched the boy for a moment before speaking. "We are trying to find a place where you can be safer."

Silas looked at him. "With him?"

His small eyes moved toward Arthur.

Arthur answered before anyone else could.

"Only if you want to know more first. No one is taking you anywhere today without asking you."

That seemed to help, though not completely.

Alena, who had remained quiet until now, turned toward Trafalgar with a controlled expression.

"Trafalgar, may I speak with you privately?"

Trafalgar nodded.

Cynthia glanced at him, clearly wanting to ask something, but the look on Trafalgar’s face stopped her. Lunea understood the same thing and guided Silas gently toward the room where Arthur was waiting.

"Come, Silas. Let’s talk with Mister Arthur for a while."

Silas hesitated at the doorway, then looked back at Trafalgar.

"Will big brother come too?"

Trafalgar’s expression softened by a fraction.

"I’ll be here."

That was enough for him to follow Lunea inside.

Alena led Trafalgar into a smaller office near the back of the orphanage. The room had a plain desk, shelves full of old records, and a narrow window that let in the last of the afternoon. She closed the door carefully before turning back to him.

Her black horns caught the dim light when she lowered her head.

"Lord Trafalgar, I will be direct. You are acting with urgency, and you clearly know something about Silas that we do not. If I am to allow this process to begin, I need to understand why."

He had expected that.

Alena was not Lunea. Lunea carried the warmth of the place, the daily care, the hands that fed children and cleaned wounds. Alena carried the weight of decisions. If anyone here needed to know part of the truth, it was her.

"Silas may have awakened his mana already," Trafalgar said.

Alena’s brows tightened. "That is unlikely. He is an orphan child, Lord Trafalgar. Children in his situation rarely awaken that early. They do not have the resources, the guidance, or the bloodline support for it."

"That is true for ordinary children."

Alena went still.

Trafalgar’s voice lowered.

"What I am about to tell you is important, and it must remain private. If I discover this information has left this room, there will be consequences."

Alena’s face changed slightly, not in defiance, but in the instinctive tension of someone who finally understood she was not speaking only to a young man anymore.

Trafalgar continued.

"I respect what you are to Bartholomew and Cynthia. I know they see you as family." His tone stayed calm, which made the words worse. "But if this secret spreads, I can make sure nothing connected to you remains standing."

Alena swallowed.

For a woman who had teased him in the courtyard without fear, she now looked very aware of the bloodline sitting across from her.

"I understand," she said quietly. "You do not need to worry. I will say nothing." Her hands folded together, tighter than before. "I only want to know more about that boy."

Trafalgar watched her long enough to be sure.

Then he spoke. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"Silas carries a dragonic bloodline."

Alena brought both hands to her mouth.

The reaction was immediate, raw, impossible to hide. The name alone was enough. Dragon blood was not something that belonged in orphanage records, nor in a child staring through windows while other children played outside.

"A dragon..." she whispered.

"Yes."

Alena lowered her hands slowly. "And you are certain?"

"I am."

"How?"

Trafalgar did not explain the ring. He had no intention of adding that secret to this one.

"I have ways to recognize bloodlines."

Alena accepted that after a short pause. With someone like Trafalgar, some answers were not going to be opened unless he chose to open them.

"Are you planning to use him?" she asked.

Trafalgar’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"No."

The answer came colder than she expected.

"I do not want to harm the boy. If I wanted a tool, I would not have brought Arthur through the front door and started a legal process in front of you."

Alena lowered her head. "Forgive me. I had to ask."

"I know."

His gaze shifted toward the closed door.

"Silas has a past related to me. More specifically, related to my family. That is all I can say for now. If he stays here without proper guidance and that bloodline wakes violently, he may hurt himself or someone else by accident."

Alena’s face tightened with pain then.

"That is why you want him moved."

"Yes. Euclid is safer. Arthur is reliable. And I can keep an eye on the situation from there."

Inside the other room, Lunea sat across from Arthur while Silas remained on the bed, blanket still around his shoulders. The child kept stealing glances at Arthur, as if trying to decide whether the man was frightening or simply serious.

Lunea had already asked what needed to be asked.

Residence. Income. Stability. Staff. Education. Safety. The sort of questions that protected children from being handed to people who only looked proper on paper.

When she finished, her expression had eased a great deal.

"You are a very qualified person, Mister Arthur."

Arthur inclined his head.

"Thank you."

Lunea glanced toward Silas.

"But the important opinion is his."

Arthur turned to the boy as well.

Silas hugged the blanket tighter. "If I go with you... will big brother be there?"

Arthur did not pretend not to understand.

"You mean Young Master Trafalgar."

Silas nodded. "Will he help me? Can I see him? Can we play again?"

Arthur’s expression softened, though only slightly.

"Young Master Trafalgar is a very busy person. There will be days when he cannot come, and days when he has duties somewhere far away."

Silas lowered his head.

Arthur continued before that disappointment could settle fully.

"But he is the reason I am here. That means he cares about what happens to you. If you come with me, I will make sure you have a proper room, food, lessons, and people who will protect you. I cannot promise he will be there every day, but I can promise you will be able to see him."

Silas looked up again.

"And play?"

Arthur paused.

Lunea looked away, hiding a small smile.

"I will ask him," Arthur said. "But if you want to be strong like him, you will also have to train."

Silas’s eyes brightened a little.

"I can train."

"I believe you."

The boy thought about it, then asked in a smaller voice, "Will I have to stop coming here?"

"No," Arthur said. "If Sister Lunea and Sister Alena allow it, you can visit. This place does not vanish from your life because you gain another home."

Silas absorbed that quietly.

In the office, Alena stood with Trafalgar near the desk, her expression far more serious than before.

"If he truly carries dragon blood, this place cannot protect him."

"No," Trafalgar said.

"And if others discover it?"

"They will come for him."

Alena closed her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them again, her decision had not fully formed, but it had begun moving.

"Then we proceed carefully," she said. "Quickly, but carefully."

Trafalgar nodded.

"That is all I ask."

A small knock came from the door before it opened. Lunea stood there with Arthur behind her and Silas holding the edge of his blanket.

The boy looked at Trafalgar first.

"Big brother," he said, "if I go with Mister Arthur... will you come see me?"

Trafalgar looked at him.

For once, there was no reason to complicate the answer.

"Yes," he said. "I will."