The silence that followed was different. It was no longer the oppressive weight of a predator assessing prey, nor the sharp edge of a debate.
It was something far more profound: the sound of a cosmic mind recalibrating. The very fabric of reality seemed to shudder as Kaeleth shifted his assessment of the mortal standing before him.
The divine presence didn't just observe her now; it began to weigh her as an equal variable in a grand equation.
"That is the first genuinely useful thing you have offered me tonight," Kaeleth said.
His voice had lost its mocking edge, replaced by something colder, something almost resembling respect. "Not the working itself... But the cover for it."
"You understood that I would eventually require plausible deniability, so you built the legal architecture into the proposal before I could even ask for it."
Celestina felt a tremor of triumph in her chest, though she kept her features as frozen as ice. "I told you, Kaeleth..."
