Chapter 4 - A Glitch in the Arithmetic
Victoria walked back to the open register. The crimson ink had spread further, consuming the names of twelve previous debtors, erasing their cleared statuses and replacing them with a single, repeating phrase: TRANSFER PENDING.
"The arithmetic is unraveling," Victoria murmured. For the first time in her immortal servitude, she felt the foundation of the manor tremble beneath her heels. The building wasn't just stone and wood; it was an engine powered by cosmic equilibrium. If the ledger was forced into a false deficit, the engine would violently self-destruct.
"How much time do we have?" Elena asked, her cocky demeanor slipping to reveal the raw tension underneath.
"The harvesting operates on algorithmic compounding," Victoria explained, her analytical mind instantly calculating the velocity of the dark magic. "Every soul he consumes accelerates the transfer rate. At the current trajectory, the balance will tilt entirely in three hours. At that point, Arthur—or Julian, as you know him—will possess the title to this estate."
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Victoria picked up her silver stylus. She looked at the sharp, scalpel-like tip, then at Elena’s wrist. "An Immunity Token protects you from the Manor. It does not protect you from an audit. If you want my help to hunt down your father, I need to verify your DNA against the original contract. Extend your arm."
Elena hesitated, staring at the gleaming silver point. With a sharp inhale, she pulled back her white sleeve and offered her wrist. "Do it. Just make sure you don't miss."
