The column advanced slowly along the old imperial road.
It was no longer merely a military caravan. Civilians—women, elders, children, and former adventurers—had joined the procession after witnessing the devastation of the last city.
No one had been turned away.Lusian had made sure of that.
Disciplined soldiers surrounded them in protective formations, while priests walked among the civilians, offering water, mana, and brief prayers.
Among the crowd, murmurs were inevitable—echoes of fear, curiosity, and admiration.
Lusian rode to Elizabeth's right.She had not spoken a single word since they departed at dawn.
Her posture was impeccable, proud… yet her hands gripped the reins so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. When she finally spoke, her voice was cold, sharp as ice.
"Did you enjoy yourself last night, Lusian?"
The question fell like a soft but precise dagger.
Lusian did not look directly at her. His gaze remained on the road and on the civilians moving forward in silence, uncertain how to respond.
Elizabeth let out a short laugh without humor—more a cutting breath than a sound of joy.
"You have nothing to say to me, even if it's a lie," she said. "Emily wanted me to know, didn't she?"
A heavy silence settled between them.
Thunder, the warhorse, snorted uneasily at the tension.Umber lifted its head, more attuned to the emotional currents than to the sounds of the forest.
Elizabeth continued, this time with pain barely hidden beneath her composure.
"You are my guardian knight, Lusian. My…" She stopped herself before saying the word lover. "My protector. And last night, you let someone else claim my place."
He finally looked at her. His dark eyes were calm.
"Elizabeth… I'm sorry. I didn't seek her out… but I didn't turn her away either. She found me at a difficult moment. Things just… happened."
She turned her gaze away, pressing her lips together. The fury had not vanished; it remained there, contained and silent. It was not hatred toward him.
It was frustration… toward the circumstances that had trapped them in this web of loyalty and desire.
A short distance ahead, the voices of Alejandro and Emily rose among the trees.
Alejandro walked beside her, muttering under his breath.
"What the hell are you doing, Emily?" he asked, frowning. "Why are you sticking so close to that guy?"
Emily did not even look at him.
"That's none of your business."
That only made him angrier.
"Of course it is! Lusian can't be trusted. You know his family destroyed mine. And you… you defend him. You follow him. You go into his tent…"
Emily stopped abruptly.
Alejandro nearly collided with her.
She looked at him coldly, with that blinding light she used not only to heal… but to manipulate.
"Alejandro," she whispered, sharp as a blade. "Stop behaving like a jealous child. Lusian is my fiancé. And as for your family… he had nothing to do with it."
"Why him?" Alejandro asked, his voice barely cracking. "What does he have?"
Emily stared at him for a moment, as if weighing whether to tell the truth.
"You wouldn't understand."
Then she continued walking.
Alejandro clenched his teeth.
He knew that wasn't an answer.
It was a declaration of war.