Clang—!
The moment she stepped into his cell, a steel wall fell in front of the bars, covering the entrance, blocking the view to the outside, and even muffling the sounds.
Ashen tilted his head, observing the Sin Lord he was now stuck with in a single cell. He read her aura, searching for hostility, aggression, anything that would signal immediate danger.
Finding nothing, he allowed his shoulders to drop fractionally.
He crossed to the bed, picked up his grey prison shirt, and pulled it on with deliberate slowness. Then he sat on the bedside, gestured toward the chair with practiced courtesy, and spoke.
"Commander." His tone carried all the appropriate respect. "To what do I owe this... unexpected honor?"
The emphasis was almost invisible, but it was there—a quiet acknowledgment that having the supreme commander personally visit his cell made whatever followed infinitely more difficult to navigate.
A small jab wrapped in deference.
Cornelia's lips curved slightly, catching it. But she didn't comment. Instead, she crossed the cell without ceremony, adjusted the chair to face him directly, and settled into it with the easy confidence of someone who owned every space she entered.
"Well," she began, folding her hands in her lap, "normally, Sabrina would handle this kind of situation."
She paused, letting her gaze drift across his face.
"But given Alice Sinclair's identity, I decided to come down and fix it myself."
Ashen's expression remained neutral, but his jaw tightened fractionally. Fix it. 'When did I become a problem to be solved, I wonder…'
Cornelia leaned forward slightly, the teasing edge never leaving her voice. "So why don't you make it easier for both of us and tell me exactly how you slipped past every security measure..."
Her smile widened.
"...and eloped with your little lover for a two-week honeymoon?"
The words were light, almost playful. But Ashen felt the change immediately… like the temperature in the room had dropped several degrees.
He opened his mouth to respond.
Cornelia lifted her index finger, cutting him off mid-breath.
"Before you start spouting any nonsense," she said, tone still pleasant, "I'll let you know something."
She ticked points off on her fingers as she spoke, each one punctuated by a slight lean forward.
"Those 'security measures' include defenses against mental interference, spatial displacement, and concealment. So don't tell me you stayed there for fifteen days and no one noticed."
Another finger.
"Normal teleportation would never work, so don't try that lie either."
Another.
"And even if Alice went willingly with you—which, let's be honest, she probably did—she'd never leave unnoticed. In fact..."
She paused, letting the silence stretch.
"...your every entry and exit of that villa has been noted down to the last detail."
Her hand lowered back to her lap.
"So speak wisely."
Ashen's throat worked, but no sound came out.
Cornelia tilted her head, studying him with interest. "Go on. We already know it's the work of an innate ability."
She waved a hand dismissively.
"But we also have defenses against those. It's just that this one bypassed everything, and..." Her eyes glinted. "...it made us curious."
She leaned back, crossing one leg over the other.
"No need to be shy. Speak up."
"..."
Ashen's jaw clenched. His hands gripped the edge of the bed.
Cornelia sighed, as if disappointed by his stubbornness. "This is also for Alice's sake, you know?"
She let that sit for a moment.
"Isn't she your lover? Sharing your method now will allow us to set up better defenses for her in the future."
Her voice softened into something almost maternal.
"Wouldn't you want that?"
Still nothing.
Another sigh, this one sharper.
"How about this." She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward again, elbows resting on her knees. "If you share the innate skill's description, I'll vouch for you."
Her gaze locked onto his.
"You won't stay a single day more in this pit. You can trust me… I know you never meant any harm to her, after all."
A pause.
"How about it?"
Ashen's fingers dug into the bedframe. Sweat beaded at his temples despite the cool cell air.
By now, he was barely holding his silence.
Cornelia's tone remained calm, and even the teasing edge she always carried hadn't left. But for Ashen, every new sentence carried a whole new weight.
Not the weight of meaning but a literal pressure applied directly to his mind.
When she'd first entered, she'd appeared as nothing more than a beautiful woman who wouldn't harm a fly. When she'd taken her seat and started talking, he'd suddenly felt like he was being stared down by an angry wolf.
Now…
Now the wolf had grown. With each sentence, each coaxing word, it became bigger. More wrathful. Until he had the illusion of facing a behemoth—something vast and terrible that could crush him with only its temper.
In the face of such anger, he was a mere speck.
In the face of such fury, he could only appease by speaking.
And in the face of such rage—
"I… don't know."
He spoke.
Tick—
Cornelia opened her palm, revealing a small red cube, glowing faintly.
Ashen's expression darkened instantly. His eyes dropped involuntarily to his wrists.
A bracelet had appeared there.
He lifted his gaze back to her, expression turning grim. 'The lie detector... I fucked up.'
"Seems like you do know after all." Cornelia's smile turned sly, and the pressure vanished like it had never existed. She held up the glowing cube, turning it lazily in her fingers. "Nifty little gadget, don't you think?"
She pocketed it.
"Your girlfriend helped improve it, actually. You should thank her for that."
Ashen let out a long, slow breath. His shoulders sagged for just a moment.
Then he straightened.
His demeanor shifted entirely. From timid and respectful to uncaring in the span of a heartbeat.
'Since the cat's out of the bag, I'll just roll with it.'
"Okay." He shrugged, crossing his legs casually. "You got me. I have an innate ability, and I'm responsible for my and Alice's disappearance."
The cube glowed green as he met her gaze directly.
"But what of it?"
Cornelia's eyebrow arched. "Hm?"
"If you think about it," Ashen continued, gesturing loosely, "I haven't done anything illegal. Last I checked, I was off duty. I could go wherever I wanted as long as I was back before my vacation ended."
He leaned back slightly, tone growing more confident.
"Same goes for Alice. I don't think she had any obligation to stay in that villa as long as she fulfilled her duties."
His expression turned exasperated, almost incredulous.
"As for kidnapping? Do you really believe that? Why would I want to kidnap my decade-long girlfriend, who also happens to be my childhood sweetheart?"
He counted off on his fingers.
"And guess what else? She was adopted by my parents at one point. That also makes her family."
He spread his hands, palms up.
"So, Commander..." His tone grew genuinely curious, almost innocent. "Why am I being accused of kidnapping out of nowhere? Did Alice even say anything about being kidnapped?"
A beat.
"Why am I even here in the first place?"
He tilted his head, expression perfectly earnest.
"Commander, can I get a lawyer here? I'm in urgent need of one."
Silence stretched between them.
Cornelia stared at him for one second too long.
Then she burst into laughter.
"Pfft—hahahaha—!"
Her shoulders shook. She pressed a hand to her mouth, but it did nothing to stifle the sound.
"A lawyer, he says—hahaahaha—haha—ha!"
After a good ten seconds of giggles mixed with chortles, she finally composed herself. She wiped at the corner of her eye, still grinning, and gave Ashen an almost fond look.
Ashen didn't share her mood. His expression remained flat, knowing she was laughing at him, not because he'd suddenly discovered a talent for humor.
"Kid." Cornelia's amusement faded, though traces of it lingered at the edges of her smile. "That was a good joke. Since you made me laugh like that, I'll give you a piece of advice."
She leaned forward.
"And you'd better listen. Even if it's just for your own sake."
The light atmosphere dissolved like smoke.
"This mostly happens with Esperrians," she began, tone shifting to something colder, "because of your way of life. You had those things—law, lawyers, equality, fairness."
She waved a hand dismissively.
"But you must leave those things in Esperra where they belong."
Her eyes locked onto his.
"In here? Those things don't exist."
She smiled, but Ashen could swear her eyes held a trace of bitterness.
"Laws?" She tapped the armrest once. "The biggest fist is law."
Another tap.
"Equality? Everyone is equal before overwhelming violence."
Another.
"Fairness? As long as you're stronger, everything you do is fair."
She stopped tapping and let her hand fall still.
"This is the truth of Seravelle. So you'd better wipe that wimpy mentality from your head—the idea that humans here will be afraid of rules they put together for their own convenience."
She stood slowly, towering over him from her position.
"When one person holds the power to kill millions with a thought..." Her voice dropped. "...every rule becomes meaningless."
She began to pace, boots clicking softly against stone.
"Only the strong create rules and have their words turn into facts. The weak can only get trampled on..."
She paused mid-step, glancing back at him.
"...or seek shelter under the strong."
Another step.
"You came under my shelter when you chose Ashbastion. But I'm not the only strong one around here, unfortunately."
She stopped pacing, turning to face him fully.
"So when they say you're a kidnapper? That becomes a fact. No one will care about what really happened."
Her expression hardened.
"And no one will call a lawyer for you, Ashen."
She raised two fingers.
"There are two reasons you're not being subjected to much worse methods despite your weakness."
She folded the first finger.
"One is my generosity and leniency—deciding to take the pressure off the other domains instead of simply handing you over to them."
She folded the second.
"Two is because that lass knows precisely her value and used it to its limit to plead your case."
Her hand lowered.
"But even that has its limits. She's also bound by a contract, and no matter how valuable she is, she won't be indulged forever."
Ashen's expression finally changed.
His eyes, which had remained placid throughout the entire conversation, suddenly glowed intensely under the dim light of the cell.
Even Cornelia felt it… a faint illusion that a beast was about to awaken. Goosebumps prickled across her arms.
But she dismissed it as merely that. An illusion.
The look he was giving her, though? That was as real as it could get.
She decided to clear the misunderstanding before it escalated.
"Her life won't be in danger." Her tone gentled slightly. "I'll make sure of that. She's a contributor to the resistance against the Narkals and a soldier from my Ashbastion."
A pause.
"You, however?" She shook her head. "Not so much."
Ashen's shoulders relaxed fractionally. He breathed out slowly, the tension draining from his frame.
But it was short-lived.
"Even if the status quo persists," Cornelia continued, resuming her pacing, "for how long will you be able to hold out here?"
She glanced at him sidelong.
"Don't you have a family you want to see? A lover who's waiting for you?"
Another step.
"Is hiding your innate ability really that important to you?"
'If I say it,' Ashen thought bitterly, 'I'm afraid I'll never see their faces again. I'll just be used as a trigger to transport people to Fragments of History.'
Crikk—
Cornelia leisurely stood up from where she'd been leaning against the wall. She crossed to the entrance with unhurried steps.
Grrr—ka.
The steel barrier receded. Light from the corridor spilled in.
Ashen's eyes followed her out, tracking every movement.
She paused at the threshold, glancing back over her shoulder.
"I'll give you time to think it over."
Her teasing, oddly fond smile returned.
"I hope you're not as stubborn the next time we meet."
A small wave.
"See you, little heartstealer~."
Click—clack.
Click—clack.
Ashen watched her disappear down the corridor, heels clicking with the same rhythm she'd arrived with.
Then silence returned.
He sat there for a long moment, staring at the empty space where she'd been.
⛧⛧⛧