The pace garden, the highest pce in the heart of Aurathis, now tainted by the tension hanging in the air.

  A leader with light at the tip of his finger, and a guard unafraid to face death that was but a touch away.

  “Oh? It seems you’re not afraid to rush into Kaelion’s embrace, huh?” Suna sneered, his tone dripping with arrogance.

  Vaelion gave no answer. Suna’s smirk faded, his tone lowered.

  “I appreciate your recklessness. That is why I’ll make your death as silent… as the girl beside me.”

  "Lux transmutare in adamantem bifrontem!" The light at his fingertip instantly took the form of a sharp, double-pointed diamond.

  But before the attack could be unleashed, a strike smashed against his face, shattering his focus and the incantation he had just completed. Suna’s head snapped to the side, his breath caught for a moment.

  “You—” Before he could protest, Yoei shoved him down and pinned him, her fists nding over and over again.

  “You, don’t, know, how, precious, life, is!” she shouted, each word punctuated by a blow that made the air tremble.

  Vaelion jolted and immediately rushed toward them.

  Meanwhile, Suna remained still, his hands restrained, as if choosing to accept every ounce of fury hurled upon him.

  The flurry of blows finally came to a halt right after the twenty-third strike. The hands that were meant to heal were now used to hurt.

  Yoei’s gaze fell downward, staring at her hands, now stained with Suna’s blood.

  Vaelion, who had intended to intervene, froze upon realizing that Yoei was able to restrain her rage.

  “Lady Yoei, we must attend Kaelion’s funeral,” Vaelion said as he extended his hand to the girl. Meanwhile, Suna remained silent beneath Yoei’s weight.

  Without a second thought, Vaelion grasped Yoei’s hand without waiting for an answer—an impulsive act that could have cost him his life if Mira known of it.

  Behind his amber eyes, Suna watched the two of them walk away, now descending the spiral staircase, leaving him alone while his body y stiff after what he had just endured.

  “Yoei, you’ve really messed up my face…” he muttered as he touched it. Then—

  “Ex nihilo, vultus fictile, induere me.” Slowly, a porcein mask materialized, covering his face.

  He rose to his feet, feeling the dizziness in his head from the relentless blows dealt by the girl with such delicate hands.

  “How foolish of me… to teach Yoei about Curamancy while I’m left to suffer with these wounds,” Suna grumbled, his tone full of irritation.

  “I’ll have to ask Mira for help…” he added after a moment’s pause, already imagining the mocking remarks she might throw at him when he did.

  The pace garden fell silent once more, no visitors arriving that day. Only the wind occasionally stirred the Nirvel leaves.

  The pace halls were empty; no guards stood watch in front of Yoei’s room. Everyone had gone to attend the funeral of Kaelion, a guard who, despite working in only one pce, had managed to win the sympathy of many.

  Suna, busy pacing back and forth, grew increasingly frustrated as he searched for Mira. Even behind the porcein mask, his exasperation could be felt.

  It turned out there was one pce he had yet to check—Mira’s room. But the two of them had once made an agreement forbidding sudden intrusions.

  He now stood right in front of Mira’s room door, caught between an agreement and necessity.

  Suna let out a sigh, his hand reaching for the strange, round-shaped door handle.

  Just before he made contact, the handle suddenly sprouted countless tiny eyes that tried to bite him.

  “Gahhh!” Suna growled, instantly pulling his hand back and putting distance between himself and the creature.

  Behind him, the satisfied ughter of a woman rang out. There was no mistaking it—

  “Look at you, brother, like a child pying with fire,” Mira said, covering her ughter with the back of her hand. Her eyes now glowed purple.

  “Mira, just what kind of creature is that…” Suna asked in a ft tone, as if the earlier surprise was nothing.

  “Allow me to introduce her, this is Chika. Pretty, isn’t she?” Mira replied in the same tone she’d used when she had once annihited a guard.

  Behind his porcein mask, Suna’s eyes twitched in irritation, his breathing growing heavier.

  “You can expin everything ter. I need your help.”

  “What?” Mira suddenly cut him off.

  Suna exhaled heavily again.

  “I said, I need—”

  “I know you need help, but you’re asking the wrong way,” Mira said, stepping toward Suna.

  Suna didn’t respond; the corridor was filled only with the sound of Mira’s footsteps drawing closer. For some reason, each step made his heart pound faster.

  When she was just a few steps away, she suddenly attacked, catching him off guard and forcing him into a kneeling position.

  Before Suna could get up, a foot pressed down on his head, holding him in pce.

  “Good. Now beg,” Mira said with a mocking smirk and a condescending gaze, pressing her foot down harder.

  Weakened from the string of surprise attacks he’d suffered that day, Suna could only submit beneath his sister’s foot.

  “I’m asking you to heal my face, Mira,” Suna pleaded, making his voice sound deliberately desperate.

  “And what’s wrong with your face, brother?” Mira asked, her expression gleeful at having crushed Suna’s pride.

  “Yoei punched me in the face.”

  Everything suddenly fell silent, and the air turned cold. Mira’s expression slowly faded, her eye color now matching Suna’s—though her gaze was far sharper.

  “And?” Mira asked, her tone arrogant and ced with a scornful gre.

  “I let her do that to me,” Suna replied quietly.

  Mira didn’t answer right away; she simply stared at him in disbelief. Then, she lifted her foot, allowing Suna to stand again.

  “Manus evanescere, arte ficta solum!”

  Mira’s right palm instantly distorted into tiny purple particles.

  “Wait, what are—”

  Suna’s protest was cut short when Mira’s hand passed straight through the porcein mask, as if it were nothing but an illusion.

  He couldn’t speak or move when her palm touched his face—it seemed her hand only penetrated the mask, not his skin.

  “Quiet. I’m trying to heal you. Pathetic,” Mira muttered in an exaggeratedly ft tone, clearly bad at hiding her emotions.

  She exhaled first before speaking the healing incantation.

  “Vulnus cude, faciem restitue.”

  Once she was sure the magic had worked, she slowly withdraw her hand.

  “Manus redeat ad verum.” Mira spoke an additional incantation to return her right hand to its original form

  She stepped back a few paces, putting on that same terrifying yet elegant smile once more.

  “Now, you can take off that ugly mask,” she ordered in a mocking tone.

  “I swear I’ll obliterate you if you deliberately make my face grow any extra eyes,” Suna replied in protest.

  He removed the mask hesitantly. Once there was nothing covering his face, Mira conjured a floating mirror for him to use.

  “Good enough…” Suna murmured, studying every contour of his face in the levitating mirror.

  “Good enough, you say?!” Mira suddenly snapped.

  “That spell carried the risk of me losing a limb if it failed. And all you can say is… good enough?!” Her voice rose as she stepped toward Suna. Their heights weren’t far apart—Suna was only slightly taller.

  The two stood in silence for a moment, gazing into each other’s eyes—Mira with her piercing gre, Suna with his ever-cold stare.

  Without warning, Suna’s right hand nded on Mira’s head, gently ruffling her hair. He hoped to tame the fierce cat standing before him.

  “Are you insane? Do you think I’m some dragon you can just pet whenever you please?” Mira protested, her expression unchanged—though a hint of vulnerability crept into her voice.

  Not allowing that strange feeling to linger, Mira pulled out a rolled parchment and promptly shoved Suna’s arm toward it.

  “A letter from the Kingdom of Dedonia. You might as well pet this scroll until the ink fades,” she said while thrusting it into his hands.

  The moment the letter touched Suna’s fingers, Mira left without another word.

  Like a trap, the letter froze Suna in pce once he read its contents. He immediately headed in the opposite direction Mira had gone, his expression returning to the one he wore in that meeting room—back when Yoei was always involved in every discussion.