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**Chapter 18: The Archivists Scheme**

  The taste of poison lingered on my lips as I woke from the seventeenth death.

  **[Kael, Internal Monologue]** *Lunar belladonna residue—3.2% concentration. First assassin's blade.*

  I pressed a finger to my mouth, letting my saliva pool. A single drop hissed as it hit the glorious tower floor, eating through stone.

  **[Kael, Internal Monologue]** *Adjust pH to 8.4. Add neutralizing enzymes.*

  Tonight, I wouldn't dodge the knife.

  Tonight, I would *catch* it.

  ---

  **Alley of Silent Deaths – 11:43 PM**

  The blade came right on schedule—left-handed, 23-degree angle, aimed for the jugular.

  This time, I turned *into* the strike.

  Cold steel bit into my lips as I caught the dagger between my teeth. The assassin's eyes—a startling violet behind her mask—widened as I *licked* the poisoned edge.

  **[Kael]** "Hello, Nightshade."

  Her real name was Elara Voss. Former head librarian of the Fourth floor of Spade tower. Disappeared three winters ago after uncovering something she shouldn't have.

  **[Kael, Internal Monologue]** *Recruited? No—blackmailed. Pupils dilated at 0.3% asymmetry—addiction tremor in blade hand.*

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  I spat the now-neutralized poison at her feet.

  **[Kael]** "The Archivist's keeping you on a tight leash, isn't he?"

  Her dagger wavered.

  ---

  **The Poisoned Librarian's Tale**

  Elara's safehouse smelled of mildew and desperation.

  **[Elara]** "He's not just an archivist." Her fingers trembled around the antidote vial I'd concocted from my own enzymes. "He's the *Keeper of Forbidden Records*—position created after the Purge of '73."

  I watched her throat work as she swallowed.

  **[Kael, Internal Monologue]** *Truth serum components activating. 5...4...3...*

  **[Elara]** "He's waited *decades* for an advisor position." Her words spilled out in a rush. "Studies every move the Count makes. Notices *patterns*—like how certain people always survive statistically impossible scenarios."

  Her hand flew to her mouth too late.

  **[Kael, Internal Monologue]** *Ah. So that's his game.*

  ---

  **The Keeper's True Nature**

  The records painted a chilling picture:

  A man who'd spent thirty years in the Tower's bowels, quietly documenting every anomaly. Who noticed when certain guards always survived massacres. When certain nobles repeatedly escaped assassinations.

  **[Kael, Internal Monologue]** *He doesn't know about loops... but he knows* something's *wrong.*

  Elara's nails bit into my arm.

  **[Elara]** "He calls you *'The Statistical Ghost'*. Thinks you're some kind of temporal anomaly." A hysterical laugh escaped her. "Gods help us, he might be right."

  I pressed a finger to her lips—now coated in my customized antidote.

  **[Kael]** "How does he control the Quiet Ones?"

  Her pupils dilated further.

  **[Elara]** "The *ink*... he poisons the official seals..."

  ---

  **The Kiss of Truth**

  Dawn found us tangled in her moth-eaten sheets, my saliva counteracting the Archives' poison in her bloodstream.

  **[Elara]** "He'll kill me for this." Her breath hitched as I traced the barcode-like scars along her ribs—tally marks for every "corrected" anomaly.

  **[Kael]** "Only if he finds you." I pressed my lips to the freshest scar. "And I'm rather good at making people *disappear*."

  My tongue deposited a slow-acting counteragent into her bloodstream.

  **[Kael, Internal Monologue]** *Neuroprotective enzymes. Will neutralize Archives' conditioning in 72 hours.*

  She stiffened as the taste registered.

  **[Elara]** "You're *worse* than him."

  I smiled against her skin.

  **[Kael]** "But you'll help me anyway."

  Because the scars told another story—not just punishment, but *research*. The Keeper had been testing various theories long before I entered the game.

  ---

  **Glorious tower – New Dawn**

  **[Kael, Internal Monologue]** *The Keeper's real goal: not advisor, but* replacement. *He wants the Count's temporal research.*

  The pocket watch ticked ominously on the nightstand.

  Outside, a single sheet of archival paper fluttered down from the Tower—covered in numbers that shouldn't exist.

  My survival statistics across 173 recorded encounters.

  **[Kael, Internal Monologue]** *Time to ghost my own records.*

  ---

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