HDBMTD 22

Chapter 22

“Ari… you—”

Lucien looked flustered, biting his lip.

“That’s enough. I’ll take you to your room. You need rest.”

“I’m really fine. We just reunited, it’s too soon to say goodby—”

“You’re not fine.”

Lucien cut her off, his voice strained with emotion. A moment later, his voice entered her mind — slightly rushed.

— Ari, you hid it from Tita, didn’t you?

“Hid what?”

— That you haven’t completely lost your powers.

Aria’s eyes widened.

“How did you… know?”

— You’re easy to read. That habit of yours.

“Habit?”

— Suppressing painful feelings and sensations like they don’t exist.

“Ah…”

Aria’s expression tightened slightly.

“Do you think anyone else noticed?”

— …No.

“Phew.”

Well, it made sense. Lucien had spent time with her during the war, had the opportunity to observe her closely, and was also a high-grade psychic. He must’ve picked up on the subtle changes when she used pain suppression.

Lucien let out a half-smile.

— I told you before — that’s a dangerous habit. Pain is a necessary sense. Keep numbing it, and your other senses might deteriorate too.

“I’ve lived like this my whole life. How am I supposed to change now?”

“You—”

— I’ll fix it when things are more stable.

Aria quickly defended herself before he could continue scolding her.

Since she’d been caught anyway, she used telepathy to explain herself. Lucien looked annoyed, then sighed in resignation.

— Fine. But for what it’s worth, Tita is someone you can trust. She was living comfortably in our kingdom, but risked her life to come to the palace for your sake.

— You seem to know her well.

— She’s an A-grade psychic with mental defense skills. Of course we’re close.

Aria gave a nonchalant shrug.

— I know she’s a good person.

— Then rely on her more. That’s your problem — even when people are all around you, you insist on standing alone.

— …

Aria fell silent. Lucien seemed to realize he was being too intense and quickly softened his tone.

“Sorry. I was nagging too much.”

He held out his arm.

“I’ll be in the capital for two more days, so don’t push yourself. I’ll escort you back.”

Aria nodded quietly and took his arm.

She was already planning to try her psychic abilities on Nocturne again soon. His weakening resistance was a good sign — maybe it wasn’t too early to attempt it tonight.

Just then—

“Ahahaha!”

A peal of laughter echoed through the hall. Aria turned toward the sound and spotted Minette, dancing with Padva.

So she’s not Nocturne’s partner after all… maybe she came as my brother’s?

Minette had been flirting with Nocturne aggressively, and Padva was already engaged, so the pairing was a little odd. She looked quite drunk too, her face flushed red.

“Why is she always so drunk…”

“Hmm?”

Lucien turned to her curiously, but Aria shook her head.

They probably just stepped away from their original partners.

Accepting that explanation, Aria quietly left the ballroom.

✦ ✦ ✦

She had no idea how long she’d been resting her weary body…

But suddenly, she was falling — helplessly, uncontrollably, plunging downward from a collapsing building.

Beneath her: hellfire.

Flames surged upward from a chain of explosions, chasing her like a ravenous beast. Just before being swallowed, Aria looked up toward the rooftop.

Someone stood there.

A shadowed figure, silhouetted by fire. Deep blue eyes gleamed like gemstones through the smoke. A tense jawline, a face twisted with anger and resentment.

The man looking down at her was—

Nocturne.

“Gasp!”

Aria woke with a start, panting. Tita rushed over in alarm.

“Another nightmare?”

“No, it was… different…”

Aria gulped water and swallowed a calming tonic, pausing before continuing.

She’d intended to say it was a memory of the accident — but something was off.

She had been pushed into the flames by the leader of Cambiata.

She didn’t remember the exact details, but she was definitely on the top floor with the leader before the fall.

And it was Nocturne who had defeated that leader.

So why had she dreamed of Nocturne watching her fall?

“Just a random dream.”

Aria smiled faintly at Tita’s worried face.

“No need to get worked up over a nightmare. Anyone would think I’m made of glass.”

“That’s not true! If a glass orb hit you, Your Highness, it would shatter. You have no idea how scared I was yesterday.”

“…It was just a little nosebleed. It stopped right away.”

Aria laughed softly, trying to soothe her.

Last night, she’d attempted to break Nocturne’s brainwashing again. The suggestion had been taking hold, and she’d come up with a great idea.

Normally, using her powers too much caused her to pass out — not because her body couldn’t handle it, but because her mind would simply shut off like a switch.

So she tried to force her mind awake, disable the blackout reflex, and enter her deeper consciousness.

But then… her nose started bleeding.

Guess I overdid it.

Trying that after a full day of public appearances had been too much. Clearly, the strain had accumulated.

I’ll rest for two days and try again once I’ve recovered.

She’d accepted that and let herself rest.

“It wasn’t just a little nosebleed…”

Tita still seemed shaken. She sighed and added quietly:

“Forgive me, but… it breaks my heart to see you suffer. I know you have your reasons, but please take care of yourself.”

“…Yeah. I’ll be careful.”

Tita had spoken more politely than usual, but her words struck deeply.

That was why Aria had ended up confessing the truth last night — that her powers were slowly returning, and the bleeding was from overload.

But Tita hadn’t been upset that Aria kept it from her — she was more horrified that Aria was quietly hurting herself.

“I promise, I won’t push myself again.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Tita still looked skeptical, but Aria meant it.

She had marked D-day as two days from now. If she was going to break Nocturne’s brainwashing and escape the palace, she had to recover her strength. Until then, she’d conserve her powers and focus on preparation.

Later that day, as promised, Nocturne visited.

“Since I broke our contract mid-way, I propose we rewrite it.”

That suggestion surprised her.

The contract didn’t really matter anymore since she planned to escape soon. Still, her fiancé remained strangely dutiful.

Aria offered him a handshake — while reinforcing the mental suggestion once more. If she could see him again under the pretense of updating the contract, she might reach his deep consciousness next time.

After Nocturne left, she collapsed into rest and only woke late at night. After dinner, she received a message — Lucien wanted to see her.

It seemed he planned to meet her every day for the next three days while staying in the capital. With Lucien following Nocturne’s visits, it felt like the party hadn’t really ended.

Lucien invited her for a walk. They walked in silence until they reached the inner garden.

“Ari, I’ve heard everything.”

He suddenly spoke.

“Everything?” Aria asked. Lucien stopped walking and turned to her. Under the moonlight, his face looked colder than usual.

— I mean how the palace has been treating you.

It was embarrassing to have a foreign prince know all this, but it wasn’t surprising.

After all, Lucien had Tita, and he himself was a high-grade psychic. Aria had once lamented how her own powers constantly exposed others’ secrets to her — Lucien likely had the same burden.

— How much do you know?

— Everything. Your family, your attendants, your friends… and your fiancé’s behavior.

Ah. So he really did find out everything…

Lucien’s usually beautiful face was twisted with anger. He trembled, lips clenched, and for the first time Aria realized how objectively terrible her situation must look from the outside.

— How could they treat you like this? After all you did to end the war…

— Well, it wasn’t the Empire’s war. They probably didn’t take it seriously.

— If you hadn’t sacrificed yourself, everyone in this palace would be dead.

The leader of Cambiata was, to put it simply, a mad scientist.

A powerless Normor obsessed with creating an army of Espers, he carried out countless human experiments in pursuit of his goals.

The worst part? Once the war began, he began using prisoners as high-quality test subjects.

Every time the Allied Forces invaded a lab or facility, they’d find mutilated comrades. Those who lost their partners often went mad. Some even took their own lives.

At one point, a captured building was used solely to confine berserk comrades on the verge of mental collapse.

It had been nothing short of hell.

Lucien, after venting his fury, finally calmed himself enough to speak again.

— But that’s not what I came here to talk about. Ari, I came with two proposals.

— Alright. I’m listening.

Aria nodded solemnly.

— I know you said you don’t want revenge. But please reconsider. If you want to reclaim the throne, I’ll help you. Once the truth comes out, everyone will support you.

— And the other one?

— …I didn’t want to say this here, of all places…

Lucien, who had just been proposing a royal coup in the garden, suddenly looked awkward about time and place, glancing around.

— Come with me to Elysia.

“Elysia?”

— Come with me, and I’ll give you a life where you can do whatever you want, without worry.

“You’re offering a foreign citizenship to a princess of the Empire?”

He was surprisingly committed to recruiting her. Aria laughed, and Lucien frowned slightly.

— That’s not what I meant…

Even under moonlight, his cheeks were visibly red. After struggling for a while, Lucien finally smiled — shy and sincere.

“Come to think of it… I never confessed in person. Ari, I’ve liked you for a long time. I was devastated when I found out you had a partner.”

“…”

“But Ari, just because you have a flame mark on your ankle doesn’t mean that’s your destiny. A true soulmate is the one who stays by your side until the end. And I swear, no matter what happens… I’ll never betray you.”

The moonlight scattered across Lucien’s golden hair like the radiance of a celestial being. With his golden eyes — the mark of Elysia’s royal blood — fixed on her, he whispered gently:

“So please come with me… and become the Queen of Elysia.”