The cold night was finally pushed away by a faint light as dawn began painting the dark sky. Birds fluttered across the fading night, and two men—each burdened with his own life—stood gazing out their windows. The man behind the pace window pondered the future of his kingdom. The man behind his humble home’s window only wished he had never been born a knight who was always far from his family.

  “Oh Yoei, get ready for your seventh,” Suna muttered, his amber eyes fixed on the city of Aurathis he had protected all this time.

  “…why do I feel so uneasy right now,” Valoric whispered, staring at the grand Altheria Pace reflecting the morning sun.

  He often drifted into thought whenever Altheria Pace bathed in morning light, imagining how he would die if someday he failed to protect everything.

  “Sir Valoric.” A woman’s voice came from behind him, but he didn’t snap out of his drowning thoughts.

  “SIR VALORIC!!” Mira shouted as she yanked his shoulder.

  “My apologies, Lady Mira. I was lost in my own thoughts,” Valoric replied, his tone suddenly filled with worry.

  “I don’t care. Where is Yoei right now?” Mira asked, her gaze piercing sharply into Valoric’s eyes.

  “Lady Yoei is out for a walk with my wife, Thessa…”

  Thessa?… A name gone for eight years, suddenly resurfacing now? Don’t tell me—

  Wait. Why does Mira look like she’s thinking about something? Is she really Thessa’s teacher…

  “Ah—Lady Mira,” Valoric said, breaking the silence.

  “It would be better if you had breakfast first. I have bread from a famous bakery in the neighboring kingdom. Would you—”

  “No. I want Yoei back here. Now,” she insisted.

  “In that case, let’s just wait for their return. I’ll go chop some wood first,” Valoric said, his eyes still fixed on Mira’s face.

  Without waiting for her response, Valoric walked to the axe hanging on the wall, taking it like a true knight before heading outside.

  “Wait a moment.” Valoric froze for a second at Mira’s call.

  “Shouldn’t you be responsible for the safety of Aurathis right now? You are the leader of the Grand Marshal division.”

  Division leader, city security, responsibility. All of it was Valoric’s daily bread. Hearing it felt like swallowing poisoned thorns.

  “I know. But I’m choosing another priority,” he answered.

  “So your dull brain thinks chopping wood is more important than the safety of Aurathis?” Mira asked, her tone unbelievably casual.

  “Lady Mira…” His gaze dropped to the floor, and the determination that had filled him as he held the axe slowly faded.

  Silence once again filled the house. The answer Mira was waiting for never came from the unmoving Valoric.

  “…I’m sorry.”

  And with that, Valoric walked outside again. The pain in his voice had been impossible to miss.

  “Good, now I’ve hurt his feelings,” Mira muttered, now alone there.

  “I hurt his feelings…” she repeated.

  Twenty minutes had passed since Mira had been thinking about her words. She stood right behind the door, weighing whether she should apologize or act indifferent.

  I have done something bad to someone who lent me their home, then I said something I shouldn’t have said…

  However, if I apologize… it would ruin people’s image of me as I am now. Better to just leave it.

  After deciding, Mira pulled her hand back from the doorknob and stepped back.

  Her gaze nded on the wool mattress she had used earlier, the only one still messy compared to the others that were already arranged neatly.

  Without thinking, she went straight to that mattress, then tidied it with precise movements, like an assassin covering their tracks.

  But her sense of smell caught something that made her nerves grow slightly more alert. The scent came from the mattress she was holding.

  After making sure the surroundings were safe, she slowly inhaled the mattress deeply, the familiar smell slightly calming her uneasy feelings.

  “Maybe I’ll sniff it a little more, Yoei’s scent is so nice…” Mira murmured from behind the wool mattress pressed against her nose.

  “Ummm, Lady Mira.” Mira immediately pulled her face away from the mattress in her hands after hearing Valoric’s voice from behind.

  “What exactly… are you doing?”

  Mira didn’t answer right away. Instead, she stacked the mattress on top of the others, her body stiff, unwilling to turn around.

  “Why didn’t you knock first? Have you forgotten royal etiquette?” Mira asked in a panic.

  Valoric first put his axe back in its pce, then walked toward Mira while keeping his distance.

  “We are now outside the pace, more precisely in my house. So perhaps royal etiquette isn’t really neces—”

  “Bullshit. Pace or not, at least knock before entering!” Mira cut him off.

  “But it’s not my fault if I suddenly enter and catch Lady Mira—”

  “Enough.”

  “You should go take a bath first. That sweat smell of yours could drive me insane!” she added.

  But Mira received no answer from the voice behind her. She slowly peeked back and found Valoric already gone. The sound of running water could be heard from one of the rooms in his house.

  Yet Valoric’s departure did not calm her, because her stomach began making noises she could no longer ignore.

  Slowly, Mira walked toward the kitchen, checking the ingredients avaible with great care. It turned out there was a sack of oats, a jar of honey, some bread, and many spices stored neatly beside the water container.

  “Alright, I’ll make them breakfast too, once Valoric is done. I can use the alibi that his wife came back and made all this,” Mira said confidently, her mind working quickly, pnning the best scenario.

  She filled a pot with water first, then pced it on the stove over coals she had ignited with lightning magic.

  Her hands were swift as if she were used to all kitchen matters. The dining table had been neatly arranged, wooden bowls filled with oats lined up properly, the tools and ingredients restored as if untouched.

  Just before she poured water into the st oat bowl, Valoric—wearing only shorts—finished first and froze, seeing Mira in the kitchen. Mira’s pn was disrupted a little, but she still had control over the situation.

  “Don’t misunderstand, I’m only helping your wife—” Before Mira could finish her sentence, the main door suddenly opened, revealing Thessa with Yoei holding a basket of berries.

  “Oh! Looks like Lady Mira is already awake,” Thessa said cheerfully.

  Before saying anything, Mira first finished her task calmly and without a single word. Four bowls of oatmeal were ready without much drama.

  Her pn was completely ruined because she had been caught by three people at once, but at least breakfast was prepared well.

  “Ahem, please enjoy,” Mira said without the slightest emotion, her tone ft like a living doll.

  Thessa became the first to sit at the dining table, followed by Yoei, whose appearance had returned to being neat and clean. The basket of berries they brought was left just outside the door.

  “Ahhh, I’ll join you shortly, just enjoy the meal first,” Valoric said as he hurried into a room.

  After Mira sat beside Yoei, a small smile formed on Thessa’s face. But Mira’s expression was the complete opposite, showing no sign of happiness at all.

  “Don’t compin if the food doesn’t taste good,” Mira said, taking her first spoonful.

  Thessa could only shake her head while smiling, her heart beating fast at meeting the special person who once taught her magic long ago.

  On the other hand, Yoei remained still, not touching the spoon in front of her. Her hands were clenched together, resting near each other with her gaze cast downward.

  “Umm, why aren’t you eating, dear?” Thessa asked, her eyes shifting into a worried expression.

  Yoei pressed her lips together, as if trying to speak words that felt too heavy to say. Her pupils trembled slightly, unfocused.

  “Actually…”

  Thessa paused her meal, then immediately moved to sit beside Yoei.

  “Just say it, no one will be angry,” Thessa said with a voice soft as silk. Mira acted indifferent, continuing her breakfast.

  “I’m not allowed to eat before all members are present at the table…”

  Mira choked upon hearing that innocent sentence from Yoei’s drying lips.

  “Oh… but why?” Thessa asked.

  “King Suna will punish me if I break the rules,” Yoei added.

  The old wooden floor began creaking as if someone upstairs were walking in a hurry.

  Soon after, Valoric appeared wearing simple clothing—shorts and a linen shirt whose colors had faded with age.

  “Huh? You haven’t—”

  “Sssshh.” Thessa pced her index finger over her lips, ordering Valoric to be quiet.

  He slowly sat beside his wife, across from Yoei. His brow furrowed again as he realized what was going on.

  “Dear, I want to get to know you better. But allow us to know your name first,” Thessa coaxed gently.

  Realizing Yoei’s nervousness, Mira chose to walk away toward the porch, carrying her bowl with her.

  None of them made a sound except for Mira’s soft footsteps.

  The front door closed gently, marking that Mira would not interfere with the three of them.

  Valoric and Thessa turned their attention back to Yoei, whose shoulders were no longer stiff now that Mira’s tense presence had left.

  “Don’t be afraid of her, she won’t bite,” Valoric joked with a small ugh while tapping his wife’s shoulder lightly.

  “Besides, I haven’t told my wife your name yet. And that was my own choice,” he added.

  “So just say it— ow ow ow!” Valoric’s words were cut off by his wife’s pinch aimed at his muscur right thigh.

  Seeing the couple tease each other, a small smile began to return to Yoei’s gloomy face.

  “Well, since my husband has stopped talking, now it’s your turn,” Thessa said.

  Even the wind seemed to pause for a moment to listen to Lady Yoei’s words. The chirping birds outside the house felt as if they had vanished into the earth. Everything fell into a silence so deep it almost rang in the ears.

  Valoric, with a knight’s heart forged by decades of experience, looked uneasy with the sudden stillness. His eyes scanned left and right, searching for the source of the discomfort.

  Thessa, unaffected, chose to focus on the words Yoei would speak.

  “My name—” Yoei’s breath hitched, and Thessa responded with a tiny nod.

  “Yoei…”

  “Yoei Bougainvillea.”

  Without any warning, the loud sound of shattering gss erupted from the main room. Instinct sharper than any knight’s bde made Valoric immediately grab a sword hanging nearby.

  “You two hide, quickly. Don’t argue, and don’t interfere. Understand?”

  Realizing the seriousness of her husband’s tone, Thessa pulled Yoei’s arm and guided her toward the bathroom.

  “I swear I’ll tie you up if this is your doing, Mira,” Valoric said with a short sword gripped in his right hand. He moved cautiously toward the source of the sound.

  What he found was not just broken gss, but fresh blood spttered across the floor—blood belonging to Mira.

  “Get down, useless!” Mira yelled from behind a door as she pressed a wound on her left abdomen.

  Right after she spoke, an invisible attack sliced across Valoric’s forehead with silent precision, leaving a shallow cut.

  He immediately took cover, crawling along the floor to avoid the windows and the suspected direction of the attack.

  “What’s actually happening?!” Valoric shouted, loud enough for Thessa and Yoei to hear.

  “Silthroat!” Mira answered. One word—enough to remind them of the nightmare that once struck the Aurathis city market.