After uncovering the truth, Aoleria spent sleepless nights in turmoil. A bitter dilemma consumed her: should she reveal her family's betrayal, or keep it hidden to preserve her people's unity?
Wandering alone through the high towers of her ice palace, she gazed at the faded blossoms frozen into the crystal walls. Her people looked to her with unwavering hope—for them, Aoleria was not only a queen but the very embodiment of life and light. Yet now she bore a heavy secret.
"If I tell them," she thought, "their faith will crumble. Their strength will collapse, and they will never rise again. I must not betray them. What they need is not the pain of truth, but the strength of an Ice Queen."
So Aoleria buried her grief deep within her heart. She would not betray her people. She would carry her family's sins in silence, sealing them within herself, while offering her people only hope and strength.
Zytherion sensed her choice, and it filled him with both fury and admiration.
"You know the truth and yet remain silent…" he murmured with a broken smile. "It will make you stronger in their eyes—but it makes you drift even further from me."
Her gaze was cold but resolute.
"My duty is to keep my people alive. Neither the blood of the past, nor your darkness, nor the wounds in my heart will ever outweigh that."
Zytherion's soul sank deeper into shadow. He had revealed the truth to claim her, but her silent sacrifice only made her more unreachable. His obsession tightened its grip; winning Aoleria's heart was no longer a desire, but the sole purpose of his darkness.
Thus, while the Ice Queen sacrificed her heart to protect her people, the Dark Lord lost more of his own soul in the attempt to claim her.