= Mira's POV =

  "Why do you keep bringing up that nightmare, Suna..." Mira muttered, still alone among the scattered papers in the pace corridor.

  Her thighs bore red marks from her restless fingers that had been scratching at them nonstop.

  At the far end of the corridor, two pace guards were watching her — their posture uncertain, torn between checking on Mira’s condition or staying back out of fear of her unstable emotions.

  "Hey, isn’t it time we do something?" said one guard, his tone filled with empathy despite the tremor in his gloved hands.

  "Idiot, don’t you remember King Suna’s orders?" the other replied sharply.

  "I know that, but this isn’t the time to argue when a woman is crying."

  They both fell silent again, their eyes fixed on Mira, who had buried her face completely in her hands.

  "Ugh, fine... but I’m not cleaning up this corridor if one of us ends up flying across it, got it?"

  "I’ll take full responsibility," the trembling guard said firmly.

  With a shared nod — enough to push their bodies forward, they took cautious steps toward her. Each step felt as though unseen eyes were watching, yet their resolve to help Mira remained unshaken.

  Their footsteps halted right beside her. One of the guards reached out, trembling, to touch Mira’s shoulder.

  "Are you insane?! Don’t do something stupid that’ll get you killed!" hissed the other, grabbing his partner’s arm.

  "Let go of me, coward!"

  "You think leaving a woman like this alone is a good idea, huh? Step back, I’ll handle this myself," he snapped, quickly gathering the scattered papers despite his trembling hands.

  The other guard stepped back, one hand gripping the hilt of his sword, ready to act should things turn chaotic.

  "What’s this..." the guard’s breath grew uneven as his eyes caught the writing on the topmost sheet.

  "This agreement will be valid if the negotiation fails to benefit Altheria, by selling the body o-" his voice suddenly stopped.

  "Go on, whose body?" asked the guard still on alert.

  "Sorry, the ink’s smudged... from tears, I think."

  From where Mira sat, a long exhale could be heard. Slowly, she lifted her gaze, locking eyes with the guard holding the papers.

  "So, when will you help me? I’ve waited so long I had to throw away my own dignity," she said, her face a mess, hair disheveled.

  The two guards were struck speechless, stunned by her sudden shift in tone. Realizing their confusion, Mira stretched one hand forward, her fingers pointing downward.

  "I don’t want you two to feel ashamed. So... take my hand," she teased, wiggling her fingers pyfully. But the guards only exchanged confused gnces.

  "Ugh, who’s the sweet little iron-cd guard boy, hmm?~"

  Still, no response — though a guard standing farther down the corridor could be heard stifling a shy ugh.

  Without harming anyone, Mira stood and began to walk away. Her cheeks flushed red, unable to believe what had just come over her.

  "Just pce that pile of papers on the meeting room table. Tell the guard there you have my permission," she said, pausing briefly. Her tone flowed so smoothly, as if her emotions had never once shaken her composure.

  "And one more thing, keep all of this secret. Everything you saw, and everything that happened between us."

  Once Mira’s shadow vanished from sight, the guard still on alert suddenly burst into ughter, unable to believe what had just unfolded.

  "Maybe my view of Lady Mira has changed a little, huh?" he nudged his partner, who was still holding the stack of papers.

  "Told you nothing would happen, didn’t I? Even if Lady Mira’s terrifying in the stories — even from King Suna himself — she’s still human, with feelings," the other replied.

  "Thank goodness. We’d better put these papers away before we end up reading too much."

  The two guards agreed and soon left the spot where they had been standing, letting the awkward atmosphere dry out on its own like Mira’s tears that had fallen onto the marble floor of the royal corridor.

  At the far end of the hall, Mira leaned against the cold stone wall, staring at the hand she had waved earlier, its outline glowing faintly under the amber sunlight piercing through the tall windows.

  “Shameful…” she muttered.

  “So, even the King’s Tamer can show weakness, huh?”

  Mira turned sharply to her side — her gaze nding on Valoric, who stood holding a book in one hand.

  “Since when were you there…?”

  “No need to worry,” Valoric replied calmly, his tone deep, his lips carrying a faint, almost teasing smile. “I just arrived, and happened to see the leader of the Cloaked Sentinels reflecting alone.”

  Mira lowered her head until her golden hair hid her eyes. Her pale hand clenched tightly, veins rising beneath her skin.

  “Lady Mira-” Valoric’s words halted when Mira’s left hand struck the window beside her. A crack spread instantly across the gss — precise enough not to shatter it.

  “What are you holding,” she asked, her voice enough to make Valoric’s blood run cold.

  “This… it’s merely a book-”

  “I know it’s a book,” Mira interrupted sharply. “But what kind of knight brings a book into the Pace… without a hidden agenda behind it?”

  Valoric’s heart raced. His mind churned — to tell the truth, or to lie.

  If he managed to deceive her, the reward might be the loss of one of his limbs, or worse, being fed to Mira’s own creatures.

  After several seconds of heavy silence, Valoric exhaled and decided to redirect the pressure.

  “Then allow me to ask instead,” he said evenly. “Have you seen the leader of the Angel Hands division?”

  Mira’s jaw tightened. For the first time, she looked cornered — by a question that sounded ordinary yet struck her heart.

  “Lux mea, audi…” Valoric suddenly whispered, raising his right hand. His sword slowly emerged, its edge glowing faintly with light.

  Damn it… what is he thinking?!

  “Don’t even think about doing anything rash, Lady Mira. At this range, your skills won’t save you.”

  So… he’s using Silent Edge, huh?

  “You’d better start talking, Lady Mira-”

  “And what if I don’t?” she cut in, her lips curling. “Too afraid to stain the Pace with blood?”

  Mira smiled, she knew well that Valoric wouldn’t dare.

  “Go on, strike me then. STRIKE ME!”

  “Enough!” Valoric shouted, shutting his eyes tightly as though one swing could end it all. But instead, he sheathed his sword again, abandoning the half-finished incantation.

  Pain seared his retinas, his eyes stinging as tears welled up from holding the Silent Edge longer than he should have.

  “Another few seconds,” Mira murmured, “and you’d be blind, for daring to threaten me with such an unstable chant.”

  “If you truly wish to know about Torveth,” she continued coldly, “promise me you won’t act like a na?ve child seeing evil for the first time.”

  “Don’t tell me… you killed Torveth?”

  “Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t,” Mira replied.

  Her amber eyes lifted toward the pale moon that had begun to rise. She didn’t even realize how quickly time had passed, so much had happened tely.

  Meanwhile, Valoric slowly opened his eyes, light returning faintly to his vision. Everything was blurry, but he could tell the damage wasn’t permanent.

  “Alright then… follow me, Sir VaLoRiC,” she said, deliberately mocking him.

  They left together, down a narrow passage even Valoric hadn’t known existed. A secret path behind the pace walls, descending through endless stairs that seemed to pierce straight into Aurathis’s heart.

  Valoric fell silent as Mira revealed one shadowed room after another, torture devices neatly arranged like books in a library.

  Their footsteps echoed endlessly, shadows twisting and multiplying across the dim walls. The pce felt unreal, a nightmare beneath the pace known as the “Light of Hope.”

  Mira kept her gaze low throughout the descent, occasionally taking detours whenever the stench of blood grew too strong.

  Finally, they stopped before a sealed door covered in runes. Blood seeped from beneath it, thick and metallic.

  “Lady Mira, the door is-”

  “Quiet… I know.” Her voice trembled, and for the first time, the aura of fear she usually inspired seemed to wash away. Her shoulders shook.

  Choosing not to interfere, Valoric approached the seal, examining it as if he understood its magic. Like a moth drawn to fme, he reached out, only to have Mira grab his wrist.

  “Don’t touch that seal,” she warned coldly. “Or your arm will disintegrate.”

  “Before it destroys anyone else,” she added, “we’ll destroy it first.”

  “But… if we break it, won’t the caster know instantly?” Valoric asked.

  “Ever wondered how it feels,” Mira smiled darkly, “to have your heart race when you sense someone searching for you… yet you don’t know why?”

  “That’s enough. You’ll drive me insane with your words,” Valoric muttered, stepping back. “Do whatever it takes to open it. I’ll watch from here.”

  Mira raised her right hand toward the door, her gaze identical to when she had once taken the life of an innocent guard in Suna’s chamber.

  “Ex nihilo orior, ad nihilum redeo…”

  Her voice was barely a whisper, yet the air around her distorted as if gravity itself bent to her will. A bck-violet cube materialized before her palm, pulsing like a heart.

  “Cubus Devorator!”

  With the final chant, the cube shot forward, piercing the door — then shattered into countless motes of devouring particles.

  The seal flickered violently as its life-force drained away, leaving a gaping hole rge enough to reveal bones within the room.

  What awaited them beyond the shattered seal was a ghastly sight — Torveth’s corpse impaled by crystalline growths emerging from his chest. And beside him, a woman sat amid the blood.

  “Y–Yoei…?” Valoric’s voice cracked, his jaw dropping at the sight of Yoei surrounded by carnage.

  Mira walked closer, not to check on Yoei, but to inspect the corpse beside her.

  “You… killed Torveth?” she asked.

  Yoei shook her head slowly, though Torveth’s heart was still in her hand.

  “Lady Mira, there’s much to expin… Let’s bring Miss Yoei to my pce first,” Valoric urged, setting the book aside and gently lifting Yoei in his arms.

  “Hey, hey, who do you think you’re carrying?!” Mira snapped.

  “Enough,” Valoric replied firmly. “Don’t make this worse. Right now, we focus on Miss Yoei’s safety. Whether you like it or not, we must help her.” He held Yoei tighter as she trembled weakly in his grasp.

  “Ugh, fine. I’ll help you. But only this once,”

  The two of them immediately left the pce, leaving Torveth’s body behind, swarmed by giant rats.