"Elyu, what you're saying points a direction but brings no solid proof. We can't slap a label on your brother for that, can we?" Ostos's face darkened like a storm front, plainly displeased.

"I know. That's why I came to talk to you..." Elyu exhaled long, relief peeling off him like wet bark.

Ostos stared at him for a while, then a smile finally broke like a small dawn. "You two brothers still have a long road. A few bumps are normal. We'll leave it here. I won't keep you."

With that, Ostos stood, the motion a quiet dismissal like a door easing shut.

Elyu nodded and left, torn between lightness and a deeper shadow settling in his chest.

...

"The sky over the Royal Capital is about to turn..." A duke watched the migration of large forces, banners flowing like rivers, and worry pooled deep in his eyes.

"Nigen, move my lady and the children to my brother's island. If there's no word from me in half a month, everything I own goes to him. Don't ask. Just do it." His voice fell like a blade.

The steward saw the heavy unwillingness in his lord's gaze, confusion rising like steam, then swallowed it and bowed away.

...

"Medith, Elyu sent a letter. A massive disaster just hit the Royal Capital of the Eastern Nation. The whole city took a brutal blow. Over a thousand dead and wounded. More than a dozen noble vassals gone. Even the entire Second Fleet was wiped out—seven thousand souls..." Iling burst into Medith's office, breath chopping like a startled sparrow.

Medith jolted, sprang from a seat buried in files, and strode out, urgency snapping at her heels like winter wind. Outside, Gill and Sais were already locked in a heated debate, words clashing like steel.

"Medith, perfect timing. We were about to find you," Gill said, his face grave as stone.

"Talk." Medith frowned, that sharp intuition throbbing restless, heartbeat drumming like hooves.

"It's like this, the Eastern Nation..."

...

On the lookout tower of the Eastern Nation's palace, Elyu and Paris sat side by side. Elyu's face was heavy, thoughts knotting like vines. Paris wore a smile, the corner of his mouth hooked, a touch of wild pride yet the calm of a chess master.

They stayed silent. Paris poured Elyu a cup of wine, the liquid glinting like dusk, and Elyu blinked back to himself.

"Paris, I've spoken with Father. I'll sit in this seat for at most five years. After five, it passes to you." Elyu's tone didn't ripple, and Paris's smile froze like ice mid-thaw.

His golden eyes widened, a statue of shock, his cup raised and his mouth ajar.

Elyu didn't react. He waited, still as a waiting shore.

After a while, Paris suddenly laughed. "So that's how it is? I figured you wouldn't stomach such a 'boring' seat. You went behind my back and made a deal with Father."

Elyu gave a helpless smile. "Yeah. You know me. I crave carefree adventure and circling the world. This heavy seat doesn't suit me. But look, Father and I didn't mean—"

"Alright, alright, I get it." Paris let out a breath, relief loosening him like a cut knot. "Elyu, tell me—you're suspecting me, aren't you?"

His gaze turned razor-cold, a god weighing a mortal, and the brotherly warmth vanished like smoke.

Elyu dipped his head the slightest bit; arguing would be a lie. He met Paris's glare with equal edge. "One question. The siege of Sia City... was it connected to you?"

Paris's lip curled, wicked and shadowed, his face darkening like a thundercloud. His hand squeezed the cup until the pure gold nearly warped. "Elyu... do you know what you're saying?"

"I know." Elyu didn't even blink. The air congealed like glass, the breeze stopped stroking the eaves, and the moon slid behind clouds, too wary to show its face.

Paris bristled, robes trembling like struck reeds. "I know... I know what I am in your eyes. For the throne, by any means. Right? Hm?! Leave Father aside—even you don't trust me?!"

Elyu's heart twisted like wire, but his face stayed calm. "Marquis Powell was loyal, and his work in building Sia City is indelible like carved stone. If a man like that had malice, he wouldn't need to wait for the Segireneto coalition to storm the gates to make a move.

"Delaia was reassigned by you, wasn't he? He told me you met him in secret before it happened, said Marquis Powell had a thief's heart, and ordered a quiet investigation in the shadows. Two days after he arrived, the siege broke like a thunderclap.

"And in the letter Powell left when he killed himself, ink dark as blood, he—"

"You foolish little brother! He was a traitor! The nobles, the vassals, the people—all say so. Why are you still making excuses for him? Are you blaming me for this?!" Paris jabbed a finger at Elyu's nose, fury blazing like dry grass.

Elyu studied Paris's anger, then spoke cool as a winter stream. "He wrote that his wife died, hanged from a tree. Notice I said hanged, because we found skin flakes on the Fire Eagle ring in her hand. It carried a strange perfume. I suspect a woman did it. Does that ring a bell?"

"Listen to yourself. Do any of these have a thing to do with me?!" Paris kept raging, but one eyebrow twitched like a flicker behind a screen.

Elyu caught it all, and his face grew heavier, a sky loading with rain.