The halls of the Duke's mansion stretched endlessly before her, familiar and yet suffocating. The weight of her steps felt heavier than they should, her body moving on instinct even as her mind reeled.
The words still echoed in her skull.
"Lady Aeliana has returned... And she is cured, apparently."
Cured.
Her fingers clenched into the fabric of her sleeve, nails digging into her palm. Her breath ca uneven, the faintest tremor running down her spine as she struggled to process the reality laid before her.
How?
For years—years—they had tried everything. Healers. Enchanters. Forbidden spells. Rare elixirs.
Nothing had worked.
And yet now, as if the gods themselves had decided to mock her, Aeliana had returned—whole, untouched by her illness.
It didn't make sense.
It couldn't make sense.
Madeleina exhaled sharply, her footsteps faltering as she turned a corner. Her body was tense, her head pounding with the weight of thoughts she dared not speak aloud.
Aeliana had been lost to the whirlpool.
She should have died.
But now, she had returned, miraculously healed, as if the years of suffering had never happened. As if all those long nights of agony, of desperation, had been erased in an instant.
The world felt wrong.
Then—more words.
From two passing knights in hushed conversation.
"Apparently, it was an adventurer nad Luca who saved her…"
Madeleina's breath hitched.
"The Duke has accepted this fact."
Sothing in her froze. The air in the corridor suddenly felt thinner.
Her eyes snapped toward the speakers, who had yet to notice her presence.
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"This adventurer… where is he?" one knight asked.
"Miss Madeleina," the other hesitated, "that adventurer was given a room in the west wing…"
The rest of the words faded into a dull hum as Madeleina felt her pulse quicken.
Her mind raced, piecing together the impossible.
Luca.
Madeleina's hands trembled, though whether from anger, disbelief, or sothing more insidious, she couldn't yet tell.
'Luca.'
Her breath ca out sharper, the syllables of his na tasting bitter on her tongue. She knew that na. Of course she did. She had watched him back then—watched as he shattered every expectation, as he stood before them all, an anomaly wrapped in the skin of a re adventurer.
He had broken through.
She had been there, standing just beyond the flickering torchlight, witnessing the mont that should have rewritten the rules of their world. And yet… it was him? That sa insufferably laid-back, borderline irritating man?
It didn't make sense.
No, it shouldn't make sense.
Her heart pounded as she turned sharply on her heel, her steps quickening without conscious thought. The knights had barely finished speaking, but she had already made her decision.
'I need to see him.'
There was no other option. Not because she needed answers, not because the past clawed at her insides like a rabid beast—but because so truths demanded to be confronted. And this? This was one of them.
The west wing lood ahead, its towering halls quieter than the rest of the estate. She moved swiftly, her pulse a steady drum against the walls of her throat.
She already knew her life was over.
The weight of that truth sat heavy in her chest, but it did not crush her. She had co to terms with it long ago, the mont she made her choice—the mont she chose the Dukedom over herself.
She had no regrets.
She would do it again.
For the Duke. For everything he had built.
Her fingers curled tighter into her sleeves as she neared the door she had been directed to.
Aeliana had returned. Cured.
Madeleina's steps were steady, precise. Not a single mont wasted, not a single breath misplaced. She moved like a woman possessed, like soone who had already decided her course long before her body had caught up.
And yet, beneath the surface, her thoughts churned.
She had seen him before. Not in person, but through the artifact—the one that had allowed her to witness what should have been impossible.
Black eyes.
Black hair.
A presence that should not have belonged to a re adventurer.
And now, she stood before his door.
Her hand hesitated only for a fraction of a second before she knocked. Three sharp raps against the wood. The sound echoed in the quiet corridor, a stark reminder that she was truly here, standing at the threshold of sothing she could not yet na.
Then—movent from within.
The door creaked open.
And there he was.
Lucavion.
His black eyes flickered over her, curious, assessing. He leaned casually against the doorway, one hand resting against the fra as if he had all the ti in the world. His coat was slightly disheveled, as if he had only just risen from so languid rest, and yet—his gaze was sharp. Far sharper than the lazy smirk that curled his lips.
"Hmm?"
His voice was smooth, unhurried, touched with just the barest hint of amusent.
Then, that amusent deepened, and a spark of mischief lit behind his gaze as he tilted his head slightly.
"Who is this, I wonder?" he mused, the words dripping with faux curiosity. Then, without missing a beat, his lips curved into sothing dangerously close to a smirk.
"A lady knocking on a young man's door?" His tone was light, teasing. "How scandalous. Are you here to ruin your reputation, or perhaps mine?"
His black eyes glead as he watched her, waiting—no, enjoying—whatever reaction she would give.
Madeleina inhaled sharply, keeping her expression schooled into perfect composure. She had dealt with enough nobles in her lifeti to recognize when soone was playing with her.
This man—Lucavion—was doing exactly that.
Still, she did not rise to the bait. Instead, she bowed her head slightly, just enough to acknowledge propriety without losing ground.
"Ahem... I am Madeleina."
Lucavion raised an eyebrow, his smirk unwavering. He said nothing, only watching her as she lifted her head once more.
"I am one of the head attendants of the mansion," she continued, her voice even, asured.
And that was when it happened.
A flicker.
Faint—so faint that an untrained eye would have missed it entirely.
But Madeleina saw it.
His black eyes glinted, sothing shifting beneath the surface. Not surprise, not exactly. No—sothing else. Sothing more calculated.
'What was that?'
Madeleina's fingers curled ever so slightly against the fabric of her sleeve. She had spent years navigating the intricacies of nobility, learning to read the subtlest tells in posture, breath, and silence. And this?
This was not the reaction of a man eting a re head attendant for the first ti.
Still, Lucavion recovered in an instant, his smirk smoothing out into sothing unreadable.
"And what brings one of the esteed head attendants to my humble doorstep?" he asked, his voice casual, almost lazy.
"I wish to speak with you," Madeleina answered, keeping her gaze steady on him. "In private."
Lucavion tilted his head slightly, studying her as if weighing sothing unseen.
"Why?"
A pause.
Madeleina did not answer imdiately.
Her silence did not go unnoticed.
Lucavion's black eyes sharpened just a fraction, the teasing glint in them cooling into sothing far more serious.
Then, after a mont, he exhaled lightly, shaking his head as if indulging a particularly persistent curiosity.
"Alright," he said, stepping aside. "Co in."
Madeleina stepped inside.
The room was modest yet comfortable, a temporary guest chamber befitting an adventurer who had sohow earned the Duke's hospitality. She noted the bare furnishings—nothing excessive, nothing ostentatious. Practical, but not lacking.
The mont the door clicked shut behind her, she subtly shifted her gaze, catching glimpses of Lucavion from the corner of her eye.
Sothing… is different.
It was slight, almost imperceptible, but she could feel it. A change in his aura, the weight of his presence in the room. It was not sothing as crude as strength—it was subtler than that. The kind of shift that was not easily nad.
Had he always been like this? Or was it simply the distortion of mory, the result of only ever seeing him through the artifact?
She couldn't say for sure.
Lucavion, for his part, seed entirely at ease. He gestured toward the chair across from him with effortless hospitality.
"Have a seat," he said, as though they were nothing more than two acquaintances exchanging pleasantries.
Madeleina hesitated only for a breath before lowering herself onto the offered chair. She had co here for answers, not to get lost in aningless observations.
She straightened her posture, folding her hands neatly in her lap, before speaking.
"The thing I wanted to talk about—"
"It's about how I saved Aeliana, isn't it?"
Lucavion's voice cut through the air, smooth and precise.
Madeleina stiffened, the words striking before she had even finished her sentence.
Then, as if that wasn't enough, he tilted his head ever so slightly, his black eyes gleaming with quiet amusent.
"After all," he mused, voice lighter, but no less sharp, "you were the one who pushed her."
------------------A/N--------------
My new sester started today, and it was a hell of a day. Hope you like the chapters.
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