Talant looked around. Familiar scenes blew away like mist; the crowned Elyu and wine-flushed Ostos never appeared. Instead, acrid smoke hung over the hall like a storm.

A sea of unfamiliar nobles in brocade stared, wide-eyed. The imagined war-god, distant as a mountain peak, now stood within reach like a blade at their throats.

Her golden hair poured to her waist like a waterfall; light rouge on porcelain features. Less war god than highborn lady—yet her gaze was a drawn sword aimed at Paris.

“Where are Elyu and my father? I want to see them.” She stepped forward, closing on Paris like a gathering squall.

Paris stood, one hand on the armrest, grief carved hard as granite. Beside him, Hippo clenched the Black Spear, his body strung like a tight bow.

“So much happened these days. Eunomia’s great fortune ebbed like a receding tide; a heaven-sent calamity descended, with omens long before the accident.”

“First, a tsunami struck Sia City like a devouring wave. Then remnants of the old era closed in, a noose tightening around the walls.”

“Next, Valde, the King’s Eye, went to rest like a candle guttering out, and the Royal Capital drowned beneath an apocalypse-scale surge.”

“In the end, Meteors fell from the sky, iron hail that shattered all we had.” Paris’s face darkened; pain leaked through his voice like cold rain.

Talant lowered her head; her breath hitched, eyes flushing red. Her right hand pressed the greatsword; she wept in silence, snow melting in the night.

The nobles and vassals slipped away in the lull, scattering like sparrows before thunder, afraid to be a step too slow.

In a blink, the bustling hall fell cold and still, a lake under a pale moon. Only two women, Hippo, a few men, and Paris remained.

“The bodies... where are the bodies? I want to see...” Her words snagged in her throat like thorns.

Paris set his broad palm on her shoulder. “They’re buried, at peace. And... you wouldn’t want to see how they looked.”

“Uu... uu...” Talant shook off his hand and collapsed into Haidra’s arms, sobbing against her shoulder like a child lost in rain.

Haidra patted her back. Two silent tears slid like silver threads. “Your Majesty... Tianensai’s betrayal—is it true?”

“As true as iron. The Royal Guard’s mutiny was the most terrifying in years—rot under the crown. Our forebears gave them power too high.”

“High seats breed idle hearts; they dared reach for the throne. If not for Captain Hibo’s timely support, the city would’ve cracked like thin ice.”

Suddenly, Talant turned from tears to fury, golden eyes blazing like a tidal fire. She fixed him with a stare. “Then tell me—why move Haidra?”

“Why did you pull her from Godspear City?!”

Paris didn’t flinch at the sudden blow. He rubbed the gold ring on his right hand like polishing a coin; his expression grew grave.

“I received a ‘warning’ from Delaia. He messaged me in secret that you were being stonewalled in the Northern Kingdom.”

“He even showed your letter, stamped with your seal. Time was tight; I had no choice but to ask Captain Haidra. When she moves, it’s sunrise certain.”

“What letter?!” Haidra wiped her tears, surprise flaring like a struck match.

Paris gestured. A buzz-cut strongman in white-dragon armor stepped up and offered a letter with both hands.

Talant snatched it, eyes sweeping like a hawk. Moments later, she set it down; her gaze hardened to ice. “You had this ready. Even the Northern Kingdom has your rats.”

Paris’s expression froze like clay; his eyes turned sharp and scornful. “Talant, I know Elyu and your father’s deaths cut deep, but don’t pin them on me.”

“Fate and misfortune. Delaia slandered me and trapped me in the castle. If not for a keen nose catching threads, and Captain Hibo striking with me—”

“—to clear my name—then that would’ve been the true catastrophe. Who can know? The heavens sought to end Eunomia.”

“We dodged man-made disaster, but couldn’t dodge the storm from the sky.”

Talant’s golden eyes widened; her lips trembled. At last she broke, falling into Paris’s chest and crying like summer rain let loose.