The guards unlocked the cell door and stepped aside. Their expressions were stiff, almost nervous, as Ghislain Vasco walked past them and entered the room.
Aden sat on the bench, hands resting in his lap. His wrists were still locked in nullification cuffs. The suppression weighed like damp iron on his chest.
Ghislain stood in front of him for a silent moment, studying him. The look was too calm. Too measured. Aden felt it scratch at his nerves.
"Release him," Ghislain said.
The guards hesitated but obeyed. They unclamped the cuffs and backed away quickly, as if afraid Aden would lash out the moment the metal left his skin.
He didn't move.
The guards left. The door shut.
Ghislain flicked two fingers sharply. A ripple spread through the room. The sounds outside softened until everything felt padded, distant, like thick curtains had been dropped over the world.
A sound barrier.
Aden stared at it, his face unreadable.
Ghislain pulled out the metal chair across from him and sat. A small table separated them. The air between them thickened with something ugly or complicated. Aden couldn't tell.
"Aden," Ghislain said quietly.
Aden didn't respond.
"Do you know why I am here," Ghislain continued. He leaned forward.
"I want you to think carefully about your next step. If you keep quiet like this, you will die here. If you explain what happened..."
"There is still a chance to run. To live. But you cannot sit here and wait for the sentence. So. Tell me. What are you planning."
Aden watched him for a long second.
Then he said, calm and flat, "I did it"
"I'm the one who killed Claire"
Ghislain did not react.
Not for a full heartbeat.
Then something moved behind his eyes, hard to catch. A slight tension in his jaw. A small delay. A beat too slow.
Aden saw it and felt the confirmation click into place.
"You don't look surprised," Aden said quietly. "Almost like you already knew."
Ghislain's stare sharpened. "I came to help you. This is not the time for games."
Aden leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "you can drop the act now."
Ghislain froze.
Aden nodded at his hand. "The ring. Whoever you are talking to through it. You can tell her I know she's alive."
The faintest sound filtered through the barrier. A woman's voice. Shocked. Soft.
[Father, he knows. Be careful.]
Ghislain's eyes flicked down to the ring.
A low sigh left him.
Cold gathered in his palm. Frost crawled across his fingers and spread fast, eating into his skin. But it didn't tear him apart. Instead the frost broke away the outer layer like a crust. The illusion peeled. Skin and coat cracked like thin shells.
A second set of clothes and a different face appeared underneath.
Duke Remes sat in Ghislain's place.
Aden stared at him without surprise.
The duke dusted bits of frost off his sleeve. His expression finally relaxed into something real. Tired. Irritated.
Claire's voice came faintly from the ring.
[there is something different about him, be careful]
Aden let the words sit there.
The duke lifted his eyes. "You figured it out quickly."
"It wasn't hard," Aden said. "You move nothing like Ghislain. You talk nothing like him. Your timing is different. And the ring gives you away."
Claire's faint voice came again. [Father, be careful. Something feels wrong about him.]
The duke rubbed his forehead. [I know.]
He looked at Aden. "Let's continue. I came here because my daughter wanted it. She wanted to hear what you would say in your final hours. She wanted to confirm her own safety."
Aden kept his voice level. "So she is alive."
"Yes," the duke said. "And she will stay hidden. Because the Public will not stop."
Aden gave a short nod. "I figured."
The duke leaned back in the chair. He looked in control again, posture straight, eyes cold. "Now. Let us talk about you."
Aden said nothing.
The duke continued. "You do not have options. Your own house submitted the final evidence tonight. The Intelligence Bureau accepted it. The case is already moving. You are not escaping what is coming."
Aden studied the floor for a moment, then looked up. "Then drop the case."
"No." The duke's answer was immediate.
Aden's jaw tightened.
"You think that would work," the duke said. "Even if I wanted to help, there would still be evidence. Witnesses. Records. The moment Claire appears, the Public will know she survived. They will move for her again. And they will finish the job. You know this."
Aden sat back. "So that's it. I stay here and die."
"You were dead the moment the senate signed your name," the duke replied.
"I am not the one who killed your chances. Your own people did that."
Aden looked at him quietly. No anger. No frustration. Just a steady stare.
The duke stood up, brushing his coat.
"This was your chance to ask for something reasonable. Instead you want me to march into court and erase reality."
"That is not how this world works. I have leverage. You do not."
He walked toward the door. His hand touched the handle.
Aden's pulse tightened. This was the last moment. If the duke walked out now, everything ended.
So Aden spoke.
"Let me ask you something."
The duke paused.
Aden lifted his eyes. "Can someone use both aura and mana in the same body."
The duke frowned. "What kind of question is that."
"Just answer."
The duke sighed. "No. Aura and mana reject each other. If a person tries to hold both, they collide and tear the core apart. One force will always destroy the other. There is no middle ground. Even trying would cause internal collapse. Aura users cannot form spells. Mages cannot draw aura. That is the limit of the human body."
Aden inhaled slowly.
He knew what he was about to do would hurt.Possibly break something inside him.But it was the only card he had left.
The duke continued speaking. "Even theorizing about such a thing is pointless. The body would not support the-"
Aden lifted his hand.
A small flame appeared above his palm.
It flickered weakly, the size of a candle flame, but it was unmistakable. Real mana. Real magic. Raw. Basic. Alive.
The duke froze mid sentence.
Claire's voice leaked through the ring in a panic. [Father, what it it. What did he do.]
The duke stared at the flame like he was looking at something that should not exist.
"You…" His voice cracked, the calm completely gone. "How did you do that."
Aden closed his hand. The flame vanished.
He met the duke's stare. "So. Are we on equal footing now."
Silence filled the room.
The duke slowly stepped back from the door. He walked toward the table again and sat down, his eyes never leaving Aden's hand.
Claire breathed sharply in the ring. [Father. What is going on.]
The duke swallowed once, hard. His voice was lower, stripped of its earlier confidence.
"Tell me what you want."
Aden leaned forward slightly.
Finally, he had leverage.