SWNOVELXO Chapter 8: Chapter 8 – A Name No One Knows(2)
The grand dining hall had emptied, its chandeliers now dimmed, casting a soft golden hue across the marbled floor. Servants moved quietly, clearing dishes, as the three teenagers were escorted back to their respective quarters in the mansion.
Aeron walked beside Lyra in silence, still remembering Selene's piercing gaze during dinner—the way her silver hair glowed under the candlelight, her red eyes unreadable yet locked onto him more than necessary.
> "It's begun," he thought grimly. "She's curious… I need to stay harmless. Irrelevant."
---
Inside their shared room in the eastern wing, Lyra flopped down on the couch with a sigh. "That was the first time she invited us to eat with her," she mumbled, playing with the hem of her sleeves.
Aeron, seated at the desk near the window, glanced at her reflection in the glass. She looked tired—but beneath it was something else. Her golden-white eyes shimmered faintly, following his every move.
> "It felt like we didn't belong there," he said quietly, organizing some papers he had hidden in a book. "I don't think it's kindness. It's control."
Lyra looked up sharply. "You think she's trying to control us?"
> "Not us," he lied. "Just you. You're special. I'm just your brother—an omega with no use."
Lyra frowned.
But that wasn't how she saw it anymore. Her memories of their childhood were vague, almost like fog—but ever since their parents' accident, Aeron had been her constant. She didn't care that he was an omega. He wasn't weak. He was quiet. Calculating. And… different. Like he didn't belong here. Like he had seen things no one else could understand.
She was starting to need him more than she understood.
---
Meanwhile, in another wing of the mansion, Selene leaned against the window ledge, sipping wine. Her father had long gone to bed. The silence of the house wrapped around her like a storm waiting to erupt.
"Aeron Kael," she whispered to herself.
There was something wrong about him. He had been timid, polite, and spoke just enough… but he was too measured. Too precise.
> "You look at me like you already know who I am. Like you've read every chapter of my mind."
And that irritated her.
For years, Selene had ignored both Lyra and Aeron's presence in her estate—nothing more than burdens her father had brought in for business leverage. But tonight, something had shifted.
That look in Aeron's eyes. It wasn't submission. It was amusement.
---
The Next Morning
Aeron left the room early, excusing himself for "a walk," though in reality, he made his way toward the estate's disused storage cellar—where he'd hidden his secret: a modified tablet he built using parts stolen from the lab and custom-written code from memory.
He wasn't just surviving here anymore.
> He was building something.
A digital empire from nothing—leveraging everything he remembered from his past life.
---
Step One: Fake Identity
He used the system's old scheduling terminal to quietly register a beta ID:
> Name: Eon Vale
Status: 17-year-old Beta student, remote enrollment
Background: Nonexistent child of a minor branch family
Profile: Average grades. Average scent. No medical flags.
It was just believable enough to slip under the radar of even the more advanced modern systems. Most security in this world still relied on scent tracking and lineage—not subtlety. And Aeron was very good at subtle.
He linked the Eon Vale ID to a shadow banking node, and with careful precision, funneled estate micro-credits and forgotten financial remnants into it—pennies at a time.
---
Step Two: The Eon Vale Company
Under the fake identity, Aeron launched a company under the same name: Eon Vale Corporation.
It started as a modest consultancy. Registered quietly, hosted through foreign servers, with stock orders placed at unpredictable hours.
But with knowledge from the Yuri novel—his favorite story from his past life—he began to play the market ahead of the curve:
He invested in a small biotech firm that would monopolize omega-safe meds.
Bought stock in a nearly bankrupt software company that would soon provide scent-blocking tech.
Planted funds in an obscure fashion startup that would go viral in two arcs.
> "I won't let the plot kill me," he whispered. "I'll own this world before it swallows me."
---
Later That Afternoon
Selene appeared without warning.
Aeron had just stepped into the library when she walked in—alone, dismissing the maid who tried to accompany her.
She walked past him like a storm in silk, then turned, her crimson gaze sharp and unreadable.
"You didn't eat much last night," she said.
He smiled gently, lowering his gaze. "I'm not used to such… generosity."
Selene raised a brow. "That's a careful answer."
He didn't reply.
> "You're not the boy I remember," Selene thought. "You're hiding something. And I'll find out what."
For the first time, someone challenged her without saying a word.
And she was intrigued.
---
Lyra's Thoughts
As Aeron helped her practice basic sword forms later that evening, Lyra watched him closely.
The way he moved. The way he smiled, even when she made mistakes. He was calm in a way that made her feel safe—and that safety was becoming addictive.
But more than that…
She hated the way Selene looked at him. As if she had any right to him. As if she could take him away.
> "She'll never understand you the way I do," Lyra whispered under her breath, tightening her grip on the sword hilt.