Noon in Aurathis. The city had just endured an attack by a group of mysterious assaints, targeting its eastern district. Many citizens, especially those around the marketpce, were caught in the chaos. Some lost their family members, their partners… even people who meant the world to them.

  Now, sorrow bnketed Aurathis from all sides—even Yoei herself was not spared from its weight… and it was likely that Suna too was affected in his own silent way.

  Meanwhile, in Suna's room, a blonde-haired woman stood by the window, quietly observing the unrest unfold outside.

  "Why are you here..." Suna asked, his voice ft and devoid of any discernible emotion. Yet his eyes, sharp and unwavering, locked onto hers with quiet intensity.

  "Hmm?" the woman turned toward him. Her face—regal and poised, carried the elegance of someone who had long mastered her presence.

  "We're family, aren't we? Surely that grants me the right to enter your room, no?"

  "Don't py games with me, Mira…" Suna said, his hand slowly curling into a fist.

  "Oh? Isn’t that what you’ve always done—pying games with a woman?" Mira rose to her feet and began walking slowly toward him.

  "What are you talking about?" Suna asked, his tone faltering slightly as she drew closer, closing the distance between them.

  "You’ve been using Yoei’s innocence as if—"

  Before she could finish, Suna’s hand abruptly reached forward and covered Mira’s mouth. It was harsh, forceful—yet she didn’t resist. She stood still, her eyes meeting his, unreadable.

  "I could shatter that refined jaw of yours in an instant. Remember that," Suna said, his voice now ced with anger, his gaze simmering with something near fury.

  He then let go. Mira didn’t protest—instead, a twisted, satisfied smile crept across her face.

  "Ever think that defying higher powers can feel a bit... romantic?" she said, wiping the spot on her face as though his touch had left a curse.

  Suna didn’t respond. Perhaps he was just too tired of dealing with her constant provocations.

  Then, the door suddenly creaked open. A pace guard, wearing the signature armor of royal protectors, stepped inside.

  "Your Majesty! I heard—"

  But his sentence was cut short. A glowing cube of concentrated energy struck his leg, and in seconds, tiny luminous particles began to envelop him.

  Cries of pain echoed through the grand hallway—raw, pained, unforgettable.

  Suna watched in disbelief as the guard’s body faded beneath the consuming light. It didn’t matter how cold-hearted one might be—watching someone unravel like that could shake anyone.

  All that remained was the scattered armor and a dark trace where the man once stood.

  "Entering a room without knocking is a breach of protocol. I do hope you remind your guards of that, Suna," Mira said, her tone as casual as if she'd just swatted away an intruding fly.

  "Now you've tainted the pace..." Suna muttered, his voice calm once more, as though none of this had happened.

  "There’s nothing wrong with my conjuration magic. Perhaps my transmutation could use some refining," Mira mused, inspecting the hand that had cast the spell.

  As usual, Suna chose to walk away. His eyes could no longer meet the amber gaze of his sister, filled as it was with cruel delight. Mira said nothing either, merely watching him go with that eerily elegant smile still lingering on her lips

  "It seems I don’t really need that many pace guards… what kind of beast am I even keeping here?" Suna muttered after taking a few steps away from Mira. His voice was quiet, as if it wasn’t meant to be heard by anyone.

  Suna’s gaze soon nded on Yoei, who was being carried by a pace maid. Yoei’s hands were stained with blood and dirt. Her face looked ghostly pale, as though the life within her had been drained by the earlier carnage. Her crimson-red eyes were now closed, perhaps due to the tears that had left her too exhausted to remain awake.

  After pausing for a moment, Suna approached the maid and requested to carry Yoei himself. With a slight nod, the maid handed Yoei over and quietly walked away.

  In his mind, Suna thought that Yoei might be better than Mira. But he immediately pushed that thought aside and began to carry her to her room.

  Even the two guards who normally stood outside Yoei’s chamber exchanged gnces, clearly bewildered by the sight before them — Suna, personally carrying Yoei.

  As he approached, the guards opened the door for him. And surprisingly, they weren’t the ones who were taken aback.

  It was Suna himself.

  He stood still at the threshold of Yoei’s room—a chamber filled with odd, unique objects and thick creeping vines growing freely throughout. It was as if he had never truly noticed where Yoei went after being used in the council room.

  “So this is where you disappear to… after all those times I summoned you,” Suna murmured, his eyes now properly taking in Yoei’s presence. “But I can’t say I’m sorry… This was also for the sake of our Kingdom, Yoei.”

  His voice was heavy—as if the battle between empathy and duty echoed within it.

  He then walked to her bed to let her rest.

  Just as he was about to leave, a glint of crimson light reflected in his amber eyes. It came from a figure on the table—a small statue resembling Suna, made of red crystal.

  Beside it were sheets of paper filled with notes on Transmutation magic… and others on Conjuration. It seemed Yoei had been secretly studying new magic without Suna’s knowledge.

  Silence began to flood the room—until a voice called out from beyond the door. It was Valoric’s.

  Evidence of the previous battle still clung to his armor, smeared across its surface like shadowed memories.

  “Your Majesty! I’ve been searching everywhere for you… Didn’t you request the gathering of myself and the high-ranking members of the Aegis Order to discuss something important?”

  His voice was full of respect as he knelt on one knee, his gaze lowered in deference.

  The nearby guards watched in awe at how Valoric carried himself like a true knight—though hidden behind the mask of his armor were wounds far deeper than any bde could inflict.

  “Very well. I’ll come shortly,” Suna replied, unmoved by Valoric’s knightly reverence.

  Before leaving Yoei’s chamber, he took several of the magical documents from her desk.

  Without looking back, Suna made his way to a different room—one Yoei had never been part of.

  And as the door to her chamber quietly closed behind him... something within him had already changed.

  The further they walked through the pace corridors, the fewer guards could be seen. They were now entering a much rger hallway, where along the right wall stood towering statues—each one representing a leader of the pace’s various divisions.

  Only four out of the seven statues remained intact. The rest were reduced to crumbling ruins—some shattered beyond recognition, others with nothing left but a solitary leg. The state of each statue seemed to depend on how its corresponding leader had fallen.

  Not far from the monument, a pair of enormous doors stood tall. Beside them was a man cd in a silver cloak, his face almost entirely obscured by his hood.

  “Oh? So it seems our valiant hero who vanished during the attack has been here all along…” Suna remarked, his tone ced with condescension, deliberately aimed at the cloaked man.

  “I beg your pardon, Your Majesty, I didn’t—”

  “We’ll discuss everything once we’re inside that room, Torveth,” Suna interrupted, as if insisting that Torveth confess whatever needed to be said, within those walls.

  At Suna’s signal, Valoric stepped forward and pushed the grand doors open, revealing a circur chamber. At its center stood a round table surrounded by seven chairs.

  Suna entered first, followed by Valoric and Torveth. Each took a seat marked by the insignia of the division they commanded. Though several chairs remained empty, some even covered in dust. Suna’s presence alone seemed to fill the room with weight and authority.

  His chair stood just a few inches taller than the others. The only source of light in the room came from a dome of stained gss above, casting soft beams across the stone floor.

  “Before we descend into more… distasteful matters,” Suna paused, casting a gnce at Torveth, who sat only a short distance away.

  “We will begin by addressing the recent attack. I request the leader of the Grand Marshal Division to speak on this matter.”

  Suna’s voice was calm now. His eyes no longer rested on Torveth — they were fixed on Valoric.

  "Thank you for granting me the floor, Your Majesty" Valoric said as he slowly rose from his seat.

  "The recent attack at the marketpce was one of the most devastating we've seen in recent years. The motive behind the killings remains unclear. However, after examining the victims, I discovered that the attackers deliberately targeted the neck. As far as I know, there’s only one organization adept at killing in such a swift and precise manner—"

  “Silthroat,” Suna interrupted.

  “Silthroat is the only assassin organization known to use Aeromancy magic to strike at their victims’ necks,” Suna added, as if a piece of the mysterious puzzle had just fallen into pce for him.

  “Forgive me for my boldness, Your Majesty” Valoric asked cautiously, his voice filled with respect, “but may I ask how you are so certain about the type of magic they used?”

  “Because I was wounded while protecting that girl of light...” Suna replied, his voice rising ever so slightly at the mention of Yoei’s title.

  Valoric merely nodded, thinking it wiser to remain silent than risk worsening Suna’s mood.

  “Very well. I’ll entrust the further investigation to the Cloaked Sentinel Division. You may sit down now, Sir Valoric.”

  Suna sighed, his eyes now shifting to Torveth, who remained cloaked in silence. Suna did not speak right away. Instead, he continued to study the leader of the Angel Hands Division—quietly and intently.

  —

  Author's Note:

  This isn’t even the worst thing Mira does.

  -Your lovely doll, Cyruka.