Chapter 441: Chapter 441: The Aftermath [V]
The door gave way without warning.
Darian stood there.
For a fleeting second, the image did not match the expectation. The striped tiger ears were unmistakable against his dark hair, and the tail behind him shifted once, then stilled low near his leg, tension coiled but restrained. Yet the presence did not impose. It flickered.
He looked younger up close.
His shoulders held slightly inward, not squared. His gaze lifted toward Trafalgar and Aubrelle, then faltered before settling fully. The contact lasted barely a breath before his eyes shifted aside.
More stray cat in a storm than apex predator in his territory.
Silence filled the narrow corridor.
The three of them standing in the doorway while the air still carried the faint pressure of mana that had not yet dispersed.
Trafalgar did not lower Maledicta imdiately, though the blade no longer thrumd with imminent force. He studied Darian without speaking, giving him space to claim the mont.
Aubrelle remained still beside him, hands resting lightly over her staff, expression unreadable.
Another second passed.
Trafalgar cleared his throat.
"May we co in?" he asked, blade lowering slightly.
Darian lifted his head again, forcing himself to look in their direction, though his eyes did not quite hold steady.
"Yes... of course," he said, voice low, fingers brushing briefly against the edge of the door. "Please, co in."
He stepped aside to make space.
They entered.
Maledicta dissolved into dark particles before the door had fully settled behind them, the steel thinning into shadow until nothing remained in Trafalgar’s hand. The pressure in the corridor eased with it, leaving only the muted quiet of the chamber and the distant echo of reconstruction far below.
The room was modest for soone of Darian’s status, more functional than ceremonial. A narrow table near the wall, two chairs positioned opposite each other, a third slightly to the side as if placed without much thought. The balcony doors stood half-open behind him, letting in pale light and a thin current of air that stirred the edge of his hair.
Trafalgar guided Aubrelle toward one of the chairs, his hand steady at her elbow until she found the seat. She lowered herself carefully, staff angled against her leg. He took the chair beside her without hesitation, posture relaxed but deliberate.
Darian remained standing.
He had closed the door, but now seed unsure what to do with himself. His hands hovered briefly at his sides before one brushed against the back of the remaining chair. His tiger ears angled slightly back, then forward again, tail shifting once behind him before settling low. He was older by a few years, taller by a small margin, yet the imbalance in presence was difficult to ignore.
Trafalgar watched him for a mont, then tilted his head slightly.
"Are you going to stand there?" he asked.
Darian blinked, as if only now realizing he had not taken a seat. He pulled the chair back with a faint scrape and sat opposite them, movents careful, almost rehearsed.
Silence settled again, thicker this ti.
Trafalgar felt a flicker of irritation rise in his chest, not sharp, more like impatience tapping at the edge of his composure. He pushed it down. He understood this posture too well, the hesitation, the instinct to let others speak first, the reflex to shrink rather than impose.
’He reminds
of what I was... before.’
He let the quiet stretch, giving Darian the space to break it himself.
The silence did not break all at once. It shifted, as if Darian were weighing each word before allowing it to exist. His fingers tightened briefly against the edge of the chair, then released. When he finally lifted his gaze, it did not fully et Trafalgar’s, but it did not flee either.
"What do you want?" he asked, voice low, chin slightly raised.
There it was.
Trafalgar felt a faint easing in his chest. At least the conversation had begun.
"To talk," he replied, one shoulder lifting lightly. "I just want to have a conversation."
Darian’s ears flicked once. He did not look convinced.
A brief pause followed, then his tail shifted behind him before stilling again.
"Thank you... for saving . And my siblings," he said, fingers curling faintly against his knee.
Trafalgar inclined his head a fraction.
"Oh. Don’t worry. It was an order we had to fulfill."
For a mont, Darian’s expression did not change, but his gaze steadied more than before. "Maybe," he said, leaning back slightly. "But you saved the heirs of a family that was condemned to die. Others could have disobeyed and killed us. The future is uncertain. We may not always be aligned."
His tail moved once, slower this ti.
"And letting us live when we should have died with the house ans... you have a use for us."
Trafalgar had anticipated hesitation, fear, perhaps even quiet gratitude. What he had not expected was that level of clarity. Darian had already processed the implications of being spared. He had already understood that survival had not been an act of rcy alone.
For a brief mont, Trafalgar simply looked at him.
The ears that twitched at the smallest shift in tone. The tail that betrayed tension despite his effort to appear composed. The posture that still carried uncertainty.
And yet—
’So he isn’t simple minded after all.’
Aubrelle’s fingers adjusted slightly over her staff. She did not speak, but there was the faintest change in her breathing, as if she too had reassessed him in that instant.
Trafalgar felt sothing shift internally.
This was not rely a frightened heir hiding from responsibility.
There was calculation here.
Potential.
"If that’s a question..." Trafalgar said, leaning back slightly, one leg crossing over the other, "I don’t know the answer. I don’t know what my father or the Sylvanel family plan."
It was delivered evenly.
It was also a lie.
He had already drawn the outline in his mind. The order to spare the heirs had not been sentintal. Houses were not erased when they could be reshaped.
Darian leaned forward just a fraction, elbows near his knees.
"Can I ask what you’re looking for, Trafalgar du Morgain?" he said, ears angled slightly back. "I’m surprised soone like you ca to soone like ."
Inside, Trafalgar almost smiled.
It had been coincidence. Aubrelle had seen him first. Any heir would have sufficed for an initial approach. Yet now, sitting across from him, he could see that Darian fit better, like a glove.
"Why do you say that?" Trafalgar asked, chin tilting slightly.
Darian hesitated, fingers rubbing lightly against his palm before answering.
"Well... since everything ended, people have only talked about you," he said, voice steadying as he continued. "Most of them only speak about what you did."
Trafalgar scratched the back of his neck, a faint exhale leaving him.
"Well... what do I want?" he echoed, mouth curving slightly. "Like I said. To talk."
He let that sit for a mont, then shifted the direction cleanly.
"Why are you here so far away from everyone?"
"Because..." Darian began, fingers tightening briefly against his knee, ears angling back a fraction. "I didn’t want to be found. But it seems my plan didn’t work."
Trafalgar’s mouth curved slightly.
"It would have worked," he said, glancing toward Aubrelle for a mont. "If not for Aubrelle."
Aubrelle smiled faintly, lifting her chin slightly, as if she were proud.
Trafalgar returned his gaze to Darian.
"Why didn’t you want to be seen?" he asked, leaning back into his chair. "You don’t want to involve yourself in what happens to your house from now on?"
Darian hesitated, tail shifting once behind him before stilling.
"No," he said at last, looking sowhere just past Trafalgar rather than at him. "I don’t want to be involved. I just want to act as if this never happened and continue with my life."
Trafalgar leaned forward slightly, elbows resting against his thighs, eyes fixed on him.
"You know that’s not possible, right?" he said evenly. "Your house is in chaos. Your father was killed. Nothing will go back to how it was."
His gaze did not waver.
"Why don’t you take advantage of the situation like your siblings probably will?"
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