She looked down at her own hands for a moment, fingers curling slightly.

"I'm disappointed—just a little—that I'm not the one behind these changes in you. Maybe marriage to me has affected you in small ways… but I'm certainly not the one who truly changed you."

She lifted her eyes again, watching the slow spin of the sword above his head.

"It's fine," she whispered. "I can understand. Luna had a head start. She was with you when I wasn't there. She saw parts of you I hadn't yet reached."

Thea's expression firmed, though a quiet ache lingered behind her eyes.

"But I won't leave you alone from now on."

She straightened her back, gaze steady on his face.

"I'll be here. Every step. Every change. Whatever path you walk—Sage or otherwise—I'll walk it beside you."

The sword continued its slow, glowing orbit.

The white layer pulsed brighter.

And Thea sat in patient silence, guarding the man she loved while he drifted in a place no one else could follow.

Meanwhile, in the quiet of the adjacent healing chamber, Vanessa lowered Luna gently onto the wide, low bed prepared earlier by the maids. The room smelled faintly of medicinal herbs and clean linen; soft light filtered through paper screens, keeping everything muted and calm.

Kaelan stepped forward without a word. He knelt beside the bed, placed one large hand flat against Luna's stomach—just below her ribs—and closed his eyes. A thin thread of his own mana flowed outward, careful and probing, sinking into her body like roots seeking water.

Seconds stretched into a minute.

His brows drew slowly together. When he finally opened his eyes, the usual calm in them had been replaced by something darker—grim certainty.

"This is a problem," he murmured.

Vanessa, standing at the foot of the bed, immediately straightened.

"What happened, milord?"

Kaelan withdrew his hand and rose to his full height, gaze still fixed on Luna's still face.

"Her mana core is damaged, yes. Recovery itself is not the issue—the damage can heal naturally over time, especially with the right support. But there is something else inside her."

Vanessa's eyes narrowed. "What is it?"

Kaelan exhaled once through his nose.

"A curse."

"Curse?" Vanessa repeated, frown deepening.

He nodded once.

"Yes. But this is no ordinary curse. It has tendrils—fine, invisible threads—woven directly into the fragments of her shattered mana core. They are holding the pieces together, preventing total collapse. That means the curse was not added later. It was planted when she was still in her mother's womb, fused into her very foundation from the moment her core first formed."

Vanessa's expression hardened. "Even for you… it is difficult to remove?"

Kaelan's mouth pressed into a thin line. "Extremely. Only a Half-Deity would have any realistic chance of extracting it cleanly without destroying her core entirely in the process."

Vanessa folded her arms, voice low. "What does the curse actually do, Milord?"

"Fortunately," Kaelan said, "nothing immediately lethal. It imposes a hard ceiling. As long as the curse remains, she will never reach Rank-10. She can climb high—perhaps even touch the edge of grand-sorceress potential—but the final step will always be barred. The curse was designed to limit, not to kill."

Vanessa's brows furrowed deeper. "If it isn't a threat to her life, then there is no urgent need for us to be overly concerned."

Kaelan shook his head slowly. "That is not what worries me."

"Then what is it?" Vanessa asked.

He glanced once more at Luna's peaceful, unconscious face.

"Now that the curse is no longer tightly sealed—now that her core has been forced open by the damage and the vampire blood she carried—the curse has begun to loosen. Until the mana core is fully repaired and stabilized, she will not wake. Her mind and body are locked in limbo, waiting for the fragments to knit back together without the curse tearing them apart again."

He paused.

"My real concern is whether we should tell Icarus the full truth."

Vanessa blinked. "Of course, we can tell him," she said without hesitation. "In fact, he could help her. Lord Icarus is His Majesty's favorite nephew. His Majesty is a Half-Deity. If anyone can remove this curse, it would be him."

Kaelan's gaze turned distant, almost weary. "No," he said quietly. "You know nothing about His Majesty."

He looked back at Vanessa, voice dropping to something almost confessional.

"His thoughts cannot be deciphered that easily. Every action he takes carries weight—layers of meaning most people will never see. Even when he casually picks up a pebble on the road and tosses it aside, that pebble might one day roll into place and alter the course of a battle a decade later. Nothing is meaningless. Nothing is casual."

He shook his head once.

"And to him, there is no 'son' or 'nephew.' Everyone is a son. Everyone is also a stranger. He loves no one more than he loves anyone else. He favors no one more than he favors the world itself. If we bring Luna's curse to his attention… he will act. But we cannot predict what form that action will take, or what price it might carry."

Vanessa remained silent for several long seconds.

The room felt smaller.

Finally, she spoke, voice steady but quieter than before. "Then… what do we do?"

Kaelan looked down at Luna one last time.

"For now? Nothing. We wait for her core to heal naturally. We watch. And when—if—she wakes, we decide then whether Icarus needs to know the full extent of what was done to her before she was even born."

He turned toward the door.

"Come. Let us leave her to rest."

Vanessa gave a single nod.

Together they stepped out, closing the door softly behind them.

Vanessa lingered in the corridor outside the healing chamber, arms folded, gaze fixed on the closed door behind which Luna slept. Kaelan stood a few paces away, hands clasped behind his back, staring out the narrow window at the late-afternoon light slanting across the villa grounds.

After a long silence, Vanessa spoke first, voice low. "Milord… something you told earlier got me curious. If His Majesty's actions carry importance of such a high degree as you suggested earlier, what could be the reason behind Lord Icarus's marriage into House Griffin?"

Kaelan did not turn immediately. When he did, his expression was grim, almost resigned.

"Don't you think it is too much of a coincidence?" he asked quietly. "The entire House Phoenix exterminated on the Silver Moon Night… and Icarus alone managed to avert the crisis—because he had already left the estate exactly when the attack began."

Vanessa's brows lifted slightly at that.

"And don't you find it odd," Kaelan continued, "that His Majesty would send his own nephew—infamous reputation or not—as a matrilocal husband to another house? Even considering the political advantages, it is… unusually convenient."

Vanessa blinked, surprise flickering across her face. "I… never thought about it that way." She exhaled slowly. "Yes. It is too much of a coincidence."

She paused, mind turning over the pieces.

"Do you think His Majesty knew House Phoenix was going to be exterminated beforehand?"

Kaelan gave a single, slow nod. "Highly possible."

Vanessa's eyes widened further.

"Wait. But Lady Thea's marriage to Lord Icarus was decided more than a decade ago. Do you think… he had already foreseen House Phoenix's destruction ten years in advance?"

Kaelan's gaze drifted back to the window.

"Highly possible," he repeated, softer this time.

He let the words hang between them for several heartbeats.

"Anyway," he said at last, straightening, "there is no use in speculating about His Majesty's intentions. We cannot read what he does not wish to be read. We should focus on what is in front of us."

He turned fully to face Vanessa.

"Since we cannot invite a Half-Deity to handle Luna's curse, we can replace one with three Rank-10 experts working in concert. That should be enough to extract the tendrils without shattering what remains of her core."

Vanessa nodded once.

"Understood. Who do you have in mind?"

Kaelan's expression did not change, but his voice took on a deliberate weight. "I want you to make a trip to the Imperial City. Bring my foster sister."

Vanessa's breath caught. "Madam Isolde?"

She stared at him, openly startled.

"Are you sure? Grandmaster Isolde made it very clear she has no desire to associate with House Griffin ever again. She left on terms that were… less than amicable."

Kaelan's mouth curved in the faintest hint of a wry smile. "Tell her it is for Thea's husband. I am certain she will come."

Vanessa hesitated. "But are you sure she will help Lord Icarus? After all, she left on bad terms with..."

Kaelan cut her off gently but firmly. "Yes. She will—once you tell her that I will personally help her meet her master again… to find out the truth about her so-called fated husband."

Vanessa went very still.

She swallowed once, then spoke more quietly. "Okay… but I don't think I'm the best choice for this errand."

She met Kaelan's eyes. "It takes three days of hard travel to reach the Imperial City and return. Lord Icarus's safety is my responsibility. I cannot leave the villa for that long."

Kaelan studied her for a moment. "Are you afraid to meet your senior sister?"

Vanessa held his gaze for two full seconds before dropping her eyes to the floor. "I'm terrified," she admitted softly. "She will kill me if she sees me again. After all… I betrayed our master. I refused to follow her when she left. I chose to serve House Griffin instead."

Kaelan let out a low, quiet chuckle—almost fond. "Fine," he said. "I will send someone else to fetch her."

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