As the nobles were dismissed without further discussion, the palace corridors fell silent once more. The grand halls that had been filled with tension only moments ago now felt strangely empty, as though the palace itself was holding its breath.
Sylphira, the Crown Princess, quietly watched Liam as they walked side by side.
Another sigh escaped him.
"Isn't it a little late to be thinking about what you should have done?" she asked softly.
Perhaps it was because they had spent so many years together, but she no longer needed to hear his thoughts to understand them.
Liam lowered his gaze to the stack of papers in his hands.
"Isn't it my fault?" he paused. "I thought I had everything under control. The borders, the nobles, the trade routes... everything."
His grip tightened around the documents.
"But things are slipping beyond my reach. And we still don't know what else Lilly was involved in."
She stopped walking.
"Liam."
His name alone was enough to make him look at her.
"Sometimes things are unpredictable," she said gently. "No matter how capable you are, you cannot control every single thing that happens."
Her hand rested on his shoulder.
"What matters is not whether you prevent every disaster. It is how you rise after one. That is what will make you a great Emperor."
For a moment, Liam simply stared at her.
Then some of the weight in his eyes seemed to ease.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Thank you."
He lifted her hand and pressed a gentle kiss against her palm.
And for the first time in days, the future felt a little less heavy.
In the palace corridors, Umbros drifted silently through shadows, unseen by servants and guards alike. He listened to every whisper, every rumour, and every careless conversation. Nobles complained behind closed doors, maids exchanged stories in quiet corners, and knights speculated about the events in the forest. Umbros gathered it all, storing every detail before slipping back through the darkness.
Moments later, the familiar merged back into Abigel's shadow.
Abigel stood quietly in the corner of Aria's bedroom.
The room was peaceful, almost painfully so.
Aria sat beside the window in a simple nightgown, her silver hair illuminated by the afternoon sunlight. Her gaze remained fixed on the distant horizon beyond the palace walls, yet it felt as though she wasn't truly looking at anything.
She had awakened the day after the incident with the help of the palace healers and the strength of her newly awakened familiar, Aurelios. Physically, she had recovered far faster than anyone expected.
But her mind was elsewhere.
For days she had barely spoken. She answered when spoken to. She ate when reminded. She slept when exhaustion forced her to.
Yet a part of her seemed absent. As though something inside her had remained in that forest.
Abigel noticed it more than anyone. Because he could feel it. Through their connection, fragments of her emotions reached him constantly. The grief. The guilt. The loneliness.
And beneath all of it—
The anger.
A terrifying amount of anger. It wasn't explosive or wild. It was worse than that. It was controlled. Buried deep beneath the surface like a tsunami hidden beneath a calm sea.
Every day Aria forced herself to push it down.
And every day Abigel could feel how close she was to breaking.
Yet he remained silent.
Sometimes it was simply staying beside someone, so they didn't have to face the darkness alone.
When Abigel finally left the room that night, Aria was already asleep.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
For the first time in days, Abigel allowed himself to rest.
Then a familiar voice echoed inside his mind.
"Master."
Umbros rarely sounded alarmed.
"What is it?" he asked, immediately sitting up.
"Princess is gone."
For a moment, Abigel thought he had misheard.
"What?"