Julian Cornelius had spent the entire day drinking.
It had begun with a single cup.
Something small to settle his thoughts, or so he had told himself.
One cup became two.
Then, at some point, Cornelius stopped bothering with the cup altogether and reached for the bottle.
By the time evening settled over the village, empty bottles rested around his chair. The room smelled faintly of wine, and the dying fire in the hearth cast long, restless shadows across the walls.
Cornelius stared at the half-empty bottle in his hand.
He couldn't remember when he had opened it.
Nor could he remember how many had come before it.
Strangely enough, he wasn't even certain why he continued drinking.
Was it because Raven had abandoned his daughter?
Was it because Silva, his own grandson, might now grow up without his father?
Or was it because Raven's sudden departure had torn open wounds he had spent decades desperately trying to bury?
Perhaps...
It was all of them.
Cornelius sank deeper into his chair and stared absently at the wine swirling inside his cup.
His life had never been an easy one.
He had known victory. While thousands of soldiers shouted his name. He had earned medals, titles, and the respect of king. He had forged friendships strong enough to survive war itself.
He had stood upon battlefields with his 2 friends the Prince,now King, and the man who single-handedly saved him and the King from an ambush.
To the people of Kingdom, Cornelius had once been a hero.
A great general.
A warrior whose name inspired soldiers across the kingdom.
But when he looked back upon his life, those weren't the memories that came to him first.
He remembered the people who never returned from those battlefields.
His friend
Comrades.
Brothers in everything but blood.
One by one, the years had taken them from him.
Yet even those losses struggled to compare to the emptiness left behind by one particular person.
Scarlet.
The happiest day of his life had been the day he met her.
The second happiest...
The day Lucia was born.
Cornelius closed his eyes.
Even after all these years, he could still remember holding his daughter for the first time. She had been so small that the great General Cornelius had been terrified he might somehow hurt her simply by holding her incorrectly.He had promised himself something that day.
Lucia would have a better life than he had.
She would never know the loneliness he had experienced as an orphan.
She would never understand what it felt like to wake up one morning and realize that someone precious was simply...
Gone.
Yet fate had a cruel sense of humor.
Now his daughter was suffering through the same pain.
Raven was gone.
Lucia was alone.
And Silva...
His fingers tightened around the cup.
His grandson might grow up asking the same questions Lucia once had.
Why did he leave?
Was I not important enough for him to stay?
A small crack appeared along the edge of the wooden cup.
Cornelius immediately loosened his grip.
"If Raven never returns..."
His voice was low but firm.
"I'll raise Silva as my own."
He stared into his wine for another moment.
Then the corner of his mouth slowly lifted.
"A grandfather..."
He rubbed his beard thoughtfully.
"When did I become old enough for that?"
A laugh escaped him.
For a few precious seconds, the heaviness surrounding him disappeared.
Then he raised the cup.
"To Silva."
He drank.
And then—
"To think..."
A woman's voice drifted through the room.
"The great General Cornelius would drown his sorrows in wine over something so trivial."
Cornelius stopped breathing.
The voice...
No.
Impossible.
His fingers went numb.
The cup slipped from his hand.
Crash!
It shattered against the floor.
Wine splashed across the wooden boards, but he didn't even notice.
Slowly...Very slowly...
He turned toward the doorway.
His vision was blurred from the alcohol.
Or perhaps it was the tears suddenly gathering in his eyes.
A woman stood there.
Flowing crimson robes covered her figure, their fabric shifting gently around her as though moved by an invisible breeze.
She hadn't changed.
That was the first thing Cornelius noticed.
Her face.
Her eyes.
Her hair.
Even that familiar smile.
Decades had passed, yet time seemed to have forgotten her entirely.
Cornelius stared at her as though looking at a ghost.
His lips trembled.
"...Scarlet?"
The woman tilted her head.
Then she smiled.
"Who else would it be?"
Her expression turned playfully offended.
"Has it really been so many years that you've forgotten my face?"
"Forget you?"
A broken laugh escaped him.
He slowly rose from his chair, nearly stumbling as he did.
"Never."
His voice cracked.
"Not in this lifetime."
Scarlet's smile faded into something gentler.
For several seconds, neither moved.
There were decades of questions between them.
Decades of anger.
Regret.
Loneliness.
Things Cornelius had imagined saying to her countless times if fate ever allowed them to meet again.
Now that she was actually standing before him...
He couldn't find the words.
Then hurried footsteps shattered the moment.
"Master!"
A young girl rushed through the doorway.
Cornelius turned sharply.
She was one of two identical girls who had arrived with Scarlet, both dressed in matching red robes.
"Come quickly!"
Scarlet's expression changed immediately.
The warmth disappeared from her eyes.
"What happened?"
"It's Lady Lucia!"
That was enough.
Scarlet vanished from his sight.
A rush of air swept through the room.
Cornelius blinked.
She was already gone.
"Lucia?!"
His drunkenness seemed to disappear instantly.
He hurried after them.
Lucia lay motionless upon her bed.Her face had lost much of its color, and her breathing was shallow and uneven.
The second twin knelt beside her.
Scarlet appeared at the bedside.
"Master..."
The girl's expression was grim.
"The lady has been poisoned."
Cornelius's heart sank.
"What?"
Scarlet said nothing.
She placed two fingers against Lucia's wrist.
Her eyes slowly narrowed.
She then gently lifted one of Lucia's eyelids and examined her.
The atmosphere changed. A dangerous chill settled across the room.
The warmth that had surrounded Scarlet moments earlier disappeared completely.
Even Cornelius instinctively became alert.
Scarlet's expression had become terrifyingly calm.
"...Silent Torment."
The words were spoken quietly.
But the anger behind them was unmistakable.
Cornelius stepped closer.
"Silent what?"
Scarlet ignored the question.
"June."
One of the twins immediately stepped forward.
"Yes, Master."
"Wake her up."
June raised her hand.
A tiny flame appeared at the tip of her finger.
Dark blue.
Cornelius had seen countless types of elemental auras during his years on the battlefield, but this was different.
Fire should have produced heat.
This flame produced none.
Instead, the temperature in the room seemed to fall.
Cornelius watched carefully as June brought the strange flame near Lucia's face.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then Lucia's body trembled.
A stream of thick black smoke began escaping from her mouth and nostrils.
"What in the—"
Cornelius's eyes widened.
The dark blue flame flickered.
The black smoke was immediately drawn toward it.
Every trace disappeared into the flame. Within moments, nothing remained.
June withdrew her hand.
The strange fire vanished as quietly as it had appeared.
"It is done, Master."
Scarlet examined Lucia once more.
Finally, some of the tension left her expression.
"Excellent work."
Cornelius looked from June to Scarlet and then toward his unconscious daughter.
He struggled to process what he had witnessed.
"What just happened?"
Scarlet turned toward him.
And then she told him everything.
The poison. Cain's betrayal.
The attempt on Lucia and Silva's lives.
With every revelation, his face grew darker.
By the time Scarlet finished speaking, his hands were trembling.
Not from fear.
From fury.
"That damned brat..."
Scarlet raised an eyebrow.
Cornelius teeth clenched.
"I knew Raven would bring trouble the moment he entered my daughter's life!"
His aura stirred unconsciously.
"If I ever see that boy again..."
His fist slammed into his palm.
"I'll beat some sense into him before I even let him explain himself!"
A weak sound came from the bed.
"...Father?"
Cornelius froze.
"Lucia?"
Her eyes slowly opened.
She blinked several times, confused by the figures surrounding her.
"Where..."
Before Lucia could finish—
Scarlet embraced her.
Lucia stiffened.
Scarlet's arms wrapped tightly around her daughter as though she feared that releasing her would cause Lucia to disappear.
"My precious daughter..."
Lucia's eyes widened.
Scarlet's shoulders trembled.
"I'm sorry."
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
"I'm so, so sorry."
Lucia stared at the unfamiliar yet strangely familiar woman holding her.
"You must have suffered so much without me."
Scarlet's voice broke.
"I should never have left you."
Lucia stopped breathing for a moment.
Those words...
That voice...
Something buried deep within her heart stirred.
"...Mother?"
Scarlet pulled back just enough to look into her eyes.
The answer was written across her tear-streaked face.
Lucia's lips trembled.
"...Mother."
That was all it took.
Years of unanswered questions came crashing down at once.
The loneliness.
The nights spent wondering where her mother had gone.
Whether she was alive.
Whether she had abandoned her.
Whether she would ever return.
Lucia threw her arms around Scarlet.
"Mother!"
Scarlet held her tighter.
"I'm here."
The two women wept in each other's arms.
No explanations were needed..
There would be time for questions later.
For now, they were simply a mother and daughter reclaiming a moment that should never have been taken from them.
Cornelius watched silently from across the room.
His anger slowly faded.
For the first time in decades, Scarlet was standing beneath the same roof as him.
Lucia was alive.
His family was together again.
He quietly turned his head away and wiped his eyes.
He would blame the alcohol if anyone asked.
After Lucia had been given time to recover, Scarlet's expression became serious once again.
"We're leaving today."
Cornelius looked up.
Lucia stared at her mother.
"Leaving?"
"Lucia can no longer remain here."
Scarlet's gaze shifted toward Cornelius.
"Neither can you."
Scarlet turned toward the window.
"What happened today wasn't some random attack."
Her crimson eyes narrowed.
"This was deliberate."
"Someone tried to murder my daughter."
"And my grandson."
The pressure within the room increased.
For the briefest moment, Cornelius saw something frightening in Scarlet's eyes.
Not anger.
Something beyond it.
A cold, murderous promise.
"The Sei Family will answer for this."
Her voice became dangerously quiet.
"Every last one responsible."
Cornelius studied her before slowly nodding.
"I understand."
His gaze drifted around the small home.
Everything had changed in a single day.
Raven had disappeared.
His daughter had nearly died.
His grandson had been targeted.
And Scarlet—the woman he had spent years believing he might never see again—had suddenly returned.
"It's just..."
Cornelius released a long breath.
"Everything happened so quickly."
Then he looked at Scarlet.
Despite everything, a genuine smile appeared on his face.
"But I'm happy."
Scarlet's expression softened.
"Truly."
Cornelius stepped closer.
"I spent years wondering where you were."
His voice became quieter.
"Wondering whether you were alive."
He hesitated.
The legendary general who had once commanded thousands suddenly found it difficult to ask one simple question.
"This time..."
He met her eyes.
"Will you let me stay by your side?"
Silence filled the room.
Scarlet approached him.
She raised one hand and gently cupped his cheek.
"I want nothing more."
His eyes immediately opened.
"But..."
His expression fell.
Scarlet smiled sadly.
"You aren't ready."
His brow furrowed.
"What do you mean?"
"Your strenght."
Scarlet's hand fell from his cheek.
"You've only reached the Primary Elemental Stage."
For most humans, reaching that level was an accomplishment worthy of admiration.
Cornelius had spent decades being considered one of the kingdom strongest warriors.
Yet Scarlet spoke of his strenght as though it were barely enough to protect himself.
Her expression became grave.
"The enemies surrounding us possess power beyond anything you've faced on a human battlefield."
She paused.
"Some are capable of destroying entire kingdoms."
Cornelius said nothing.
"If you followed me now..."
Scarlet looked directly into his eyes.
"You wouldn't be protecting me or Lucia."
"You would be throwing your life away."
The words struck Cornelius harder than he expected.
His hands slowly curled into fists.
All his life, strength had been the one thing he could depend upon.
As an orphan, strength had allowed him to survive.
As a soldier, it had allowed him to rise.
As a general, it had allowed him to protect thousands.
Yet now...
When his daughter and grandson were facing their greatest danger...
He wasn't strong enough.
His fists trembled at his sides.
For the first time in many years, Cornelius truly understood what it meant to feel powerless.
And he hated it.