Her heart stopped.
It was Yuuta.
Her mortal.
He was kneeling in the grass, examining a patch of torn earth by the light of the moon. His borrowed pants were ripped at the knees, and dirt clung to his sleeves. He worked carefully despite his exhaustion, separating the grass with scraped fingers before moving to the next patch.
Erza stared at him through the window, unable to believe what she was seeing. Beyond him, the field was littered with stones, broken branches, and debris from the explosion. Several patches of soil had already been turned over, marking the ground he had searched.
He was searching for her ring.
For a moment, the world seemed to fall silent.
Erza pressed her hand against the glass, her breath catching. He had been out there for hours, and there was still so much ground left to cover.
Why?
The question burned inside her chest.
Why would he do something like this? She had told him that the ring was old, nothing more. She had never explained its importance or told him about the generations of queens who had worn it before her.
He knew nothing about her mother, her grandmother, or the memories attached to that small piece of jewelry. He didn't know how carefully she had preserved it throughout the centuries, nor how much it had meant to her when she placed it on Elena's finger in the palace and watched her daughter admire it beneath the candlelight.
He couldn't possibly understand.
Yet there he was, alone in the cold, refusing to give up on something whose true value he had never been told.
Yuuta reached a section of the field where the explosion had scattered broken branches and stones around the remains of a fallen tree. He stopped to study the debris, then crouched beside a large boulder that had settled into the disturbed earth. A narrow gap ran beneath it, too dark for him to see inside.
He picked up a long branch and pushed it into the gap, probing the soil. When it caught against the stone, he set it aside, braced both hands against the boulder, and tried to move it.
"Come on... just a little."
The stone barely shifted. Yuuta planted his feet more firmly, pressed his shoulder against its rough surface, and pushed again. His arms strained, and the sharp edges scraped against the cuts on his palms. He hissed through his teeth but kept his footing, rocking the boulder until it finally rolled far enough to expose the earth beneath.
Breathing hard, he knelt beside the exposed soil and sifted through it, checking each glint in the moonlight. There was no ring.
Yuuta sat back on his heels, disappointed, then glanced toward the fallen tree. Its trunk was too heavy to lift, but several branches lay tangled across the ground. He examined where they had broken, chose a loose section, and began pulling it free.
The wood resisted. He shifted his grip and put his weight into it until a branch snapped with a sharp crack. The sudden release sent him stumbling, and a splinter cut across his palm.
"Ah—damn it!"
He looked at the blood on his hand, then tore a strip from his damaged sleeve and wrapped it around the cut. Instead of trying to lift the entire trunk, he used the fallen branch as a lever to raise one end of a smaller piece of debris. He wedged a stone beneath it, leaving enough room to search the ground safely.
From the palace window, Erza watched every movement. He wasn't blindly tearing through the field. He was finding places the ring might have landed, moving what he could, and working around what he couldn't. But the strain was steadily taking its toll on him.
You foolish mortal...
Yuuta swept aside the damp leaves beneath the wood. Nothing. He lowered the debris carefully and surveyed the field.
"There has to be somewhere I haven't checked," he murmured.
He picked up the branch he had used as a lever and headed toward another pile of wreckage, marking the section he had finished with a line in the dirt.
Erza's hand moved toward the window latch before she realized what she was doing. She pushed it open, allowing the cold night wind to rush against her face, and leaned forward as though she might somehow reach him from where she stood.
She wanted to call his name.
To order him to stop.
But the words refused to leave her throat.
If she called out, he would look up. He would see her standing there, watching him with an expression she herself didn't understand. And what could she possibly say when he asked why she was so concerned?
She had no answer.
The distance between them was not particularly great. With her power, Erza could have crossed it in an instant.
Yet somehow, she couldn't bring herself to move.
The night stretched on longer than any Erza could remember. The moon crossed toward the distant mountains, and dew settled over the grass. Below her window, Yuuta continued through the wreckage, checking beneath each obstacle as the hours passed.
His pace slowed, and blood seeped through the cloth around one hand. Each time he straightened his aching back, he surveyed the ground ahead before choosing where to search next.
Stop, you pathetic mortal. You'll hurt yourself even more.
Erza gripped the window frame. She wanted to shout at him, to drag him back to the palace and force him to rest. The ring wasn't worth his life; no piece of jewelry could justify what he was putting himself through. Yet each time she drew breath to call him, she hesitated, overwhelmed by the sight of someone caring so fiercely about something she had tried to dismiss as unimportant.
She was the Dragon Queen. She had faced countless battles without hesitation and endured losses that would have broken ordinary people. But watching this stubborn mortal work through the night for her sake had left her uncertain of what to say.
At last, Yuuta sat beside the fallen tree to catch his breath. Erza leaned forward, hoping he had finally decided to stop. But after a short rest, he rose and used his branch to examine the next stretch of grass.
Erza closed her eyes for a moment. She didn't know whether she wanted to scold him or cry. Perhaps both. When she opened them, he was already farther along the field, still refusing to abandon the search.
Dawn approached slowly.
Pale gray light revealed the damaged field as the moon slipped behind the mountains and the first birds called from the trees. Yuuta had neither slept nor eaten. By morning, his search had become slower and more deliberate; he used the branch to part tall grass, checking the soil carefully so fatigue wouldn't make him overlook anything.
Erza watched him with burning eyes.
She had never imagined that someone could be so foolish.
Or that such foolishness could make her heart ache this much.
Elsewhere in the palace, the Headmaster stood beside a window overlooking the field.
His hands were clasped behind his back, and his exhausted expression revealed that he, too, had been watching throughout the night. Beside him stood Zeak, who shifted uncomfortably as he observed the lone figure still searching below.
"Headmaster," he said, his voice low, "do we have to go this far? To test them like this?"
The Headmaster remained silent for a moment.
Throughout his years leading the academy, he had encountered countless parents willing to make extraordinary sacrifices for their children. Some had spent their fortunes, others had abandoned their pride, and a few had even resorted to deception to secure a place for their families.
But what he had witnessed tonight was different.
Yuuta Konuari had worked through the wreckage long after any reasonable person would have surrendered. He had been offered no guarantee of success, no assurance that the ring could even be recovered.
Yet he had refused to stop.
"We do," he said finally. "And I have seen enough."
The Headmaster reached into his robe and withdrew a small velvet pouch.
It was the pouch that had contained the offerings lost during the rocket incident. The academy had recovered it hours earlier from a distant corner of the field, where it had landed beyond the worst of the explosion.
Inside were the rings, lockets, brooches, and other precious objects that the families had entrusted to the academy.
All of them were safe.
The Headmaster opened the pouch and handed it to Zeak.
"Take the Konuari ring. Put it where he will find it. And call the elders. I have decided to give them the scholarship. I have seen enough."
Zeak accepted the pouch without another word.
Zeak descended from the palace and crossed the dew-covered courtyard. He approached an untouched section near the edge of the field, far enough away that Yuuta wouldn't notice him.
He reached into the pouch and withdrew a delicate silver ring.
Two bands were intertwined around a gemstone that seemed to possess a faint light of its own.
For a moment, Zeak examined the unusual ornament.
Then he threw it.
The ring sailed through the morning air, catching the first rays of sunlight before disappearing into the tall grass.
It landed in a patch of ground Yuuta had not yet searched.
Zeak glanced once toward the exhausted young man before turning around and making his way back to the palace.
Erza noticed none of this.
Her attention remained fixed entirely on Yuuta.
She had been watching him for so long that the rest of the world seemed to have disappeared. The rising sun, the distant mountains, and even the guards moving along the palace walls barely registered in her mind.
All she could see was the mortal who had spent the entire night searching for her mother's ring.
Then Yuuta slowly rose to his feet.
His legs trembled as he straightened, but he found his balance. Standing amid the torn grass and disturbed soil, with his bandaged hands at his sides, he raised his face toward the sunrise. The first light fell across the bloodstained earth.
Then something flashed in the distance.
A tiny glimmer of silver.
Yuuta turned his head.
Near the edge of the field, something had caught the sunlight. Yuuta stared for a moment, then hurried toward the glimmer and dropped to one knee. He parted the untouched grass carefully, afraid of knocking the small object out of sight.
His trembling fingers brushed against something small and cold.
He closed his hand around it.
Then he slowly lifted it toward the sky.
The ring caught the light of the rising sun, its silver bands and gemstone shining brilliantly against his bloodied palm.
For several seconds, Yuuta simply stared at it.
And then he screamed.
Not from pain.
Not from grief.
But from the overwhelming relief of finally finding what he had spent the entire night searching for.
His cry echoed toward the palace walls as he held the ring high above his head, his voice breaking with relief.
At the palace window, Erza froze.
She saw it.
Her mother's ring.
The ring she had believed lost forever was shining in Yuuta's wounded hand.
For a moment, she couldn't believe her eyes.
Then she covered her mouth.
Tears began streaming down her cheeks before she even realized she was crying.
She had lived for centuries without allowing anyone to witness her tears. She had endured loneliness, loss, and countless battles while maintaining the cold dignity expected of the White Dragon Queen.
Yet now, a mortal she had known for barely two weeks had brought her to tears.
A man she had insulted, threatened, and repeatedly called pathetic had spent an entire night crawling through a field for something precious to her.
He hadn't known what the ring truly meant.
He hadn't known how deeply its loss had hurt her.
He had simply seen that she wanted it back.
And that had been enough.
Erza pressed her trembling hand against the window.
She wanted to call his name.
To tell him she had seen everything.
But before she could speak, Yuuta collapsed.
His knees buckled beneath the night's strain, and he fell into the grass. Even then, his fingers remained tightly closed around the ring.
For a moment, he lay motionless beneath the morning sunlight.
Only the faint rise and fall of his chest showed that he was still breathing.
Then the guards came running.
Stationed nearby under the Headmaster's orders, the guards hurried over with water and food. One lifted Yuuta's head to help him drink, another offered bread, and a third examined his injured hands and knees.
Yuuta managed a little water and food. His red eyes remained fixed on the brightening sky as the guards spoke around him.
Erza was no longer at the window.
She had already hurried down from the palace, crossing the field toward him.
But when the guards reached Yuuta first, she slowed.
She stood a short distance away, watching the guards help him sit upright.
The sight should have relieved her.
He was alive.
He had found the ring.
The terrible night was finally over.
Yet her heart continued pounding so fiercely that she could barely think.
Then Yuuta noticed her.
His gaze settled on the silver-haired woman standing nearby, and his eyes widened slightly.
And despite everything, he smiled.
Yuuta began pushing himself to his feet.
The guards urged him to rest, but he gently moved their hands aside and stood. After steadying himself, he walked toward Erza without accepting their support.
She remained where she was as he approached, sunlight catching his torn clothes and the bloodstained cloth around his hands. He stopped before her, close enough to touch, still wearing that small smile.
She opened her mouth.
But no words came.
Yuuta stepped forward.
He wrapped his arms around her, resting his bandaged hands against her back and his face near her shoulder.
For a moment, Erza stood motionless.
Then she hugged him back.
Her arms closed around him, pulling him closer as though she feared he might collapse if she loosened her hold. One hand rose to cradle the back of his head, gently pressing him against her shoulder.
She could feel how badly he was trembling.
How exhausted he had become.
And how desperately he had pushed himself for her sake.
"You idiot." Her voice was shaking. "You stupid, pathetic, idiotic mortal. Who told you to dig all night? Who told you to search for a piece of jewelry? Who told you to" Her voice broke. Her hands tightened in his hair. "Who told you to do this?"
Yuuta didn't answer.
He was too tired to find the right words, but he was fully aware of her trembling voice. His arms remained around her, and she could feel his heart beating against her own.
For several moments, they stayed like that.
Erza held him tightly, her face buried in his hair, while the morning breeze moved gently through the grass around them.
Then Yuuta slowly pulled away.
Only enough to look at her face.
He raised one bandaged hand between them, carefully uncurling the fingers that had protected something precious throughout the morning.
He opened his palm.
There, resting against his bloodstained skin, was the ring.
Her mother's ring.
The ring she had given away.
The ring she had believed she would never see again.
It shone beneath the morning sunlight, its delicate silver bands intertwined around the gemstone.
Yuuta held it toward her.
And Erza could only stare.
The Eternal Flower Ring
To Be Continue...