"You can't sign the document if the rule is a trap." Aefia pointed out to Helio while leaning against the table. Her fingers traced the lines in the document she had drafted to teach him.
"They sometimes add some lines that state things like; 'the treaty is not valid after six months' or that, 'the clause on line two is only valid for the receiving party'. In cases like that, write a letter to the sender for why this was added or what benefit it gives us."
Helio looked at that line, them circled it. "And what about 'agreed in person'?"
"Also that. You can't get out of unnecessary trouble if you can't prove that 'anything' was 'agreed in person'. Speeches can't be recorded in this world. So we have to stay one step ahead and cross out whatever is unfruitful for us."
"Right. I understand it now." He answered while circling that line as well. Finally, he was signing her name to close the treaty—
"My Sovereign! There is a bit of a problem!" Matthew shouted while slamming open the door.
"What now?" Aefia lifted her eyes off the table to look at the white-haired knight. She reached out to stop Helio's wrist when she saw he messed up the signature due to the sudden opening. It was also to tell him to hold back from shouting.
"The second Aethalgard has brought the first Aethalgard to inspect this palace!"
"Huh? This quickly?" Aefia furrowed her brows as she walked around the table to follow Matthew. She glanced over her shoulder to look at Helio.
"And can you burn that paper? Hide the journals that Seraphina left behind and if you find anything suspicious... Stand in a shadowed corner and only observe."
With her last words, she shut the door and rushed downstairs. Her deep green skirt rustling behind her. "So what is it that they say they want to talk about?" She calmly stated as she practically hoped down the fleet of stairs.
"They requested to inspect this palace. I am afraid of it since you have those journals of Seraphina. You were planning on using them on something right?"
"Yeah. And keep your voice down. There might be people listening." She gritted her teeth while almost losing her balance.
Thinking back, she shouldn't have worn a thick skirt that restricted half her movement. Although it reached mid-shin. To top it off, she wore boots which were heels.
A rather very unanticipated day to be fashionable.
Who knew how long she had to run in these? Or just fight in this? Victoria wasn't predictable and knowing how she looked liq her dead step-daughter... She was just panicked. However, she tried her best to stay calm.
The marble steps beneath her boots echoed in a rapid, steady rhythm. It almost matched the rhythm her mind was racing.
Victoria bringing the First Aethalgard wasn't a casual visit. It was a pressure test. Victoria had likely caught wind of Aefia's sudden interest in the historical territory records or wanted to catch the new Guardian of Death unprepared, off-guard, and overwhelmed.
It seems that Victoria didn't change. This puts me in the advantage! Aefia thought, her deep red eyes darkening into a cold, dangerous calm as she reached the bottom of the grand staircase.
Matthew fell into step behind her, his hand resting near the hilt of his sword. His expression was grim. "They are waiting in the central reception hall, Sovereign. Sovereign Victoria insisted on an immediate inspection of your entire palace and territorial balance ledger. Are you sure you want to meet them?"
"Let her do whatever she wants. I am not reciprocating." Aefia said smoothly, adjusting the cuffs of her white shirt sleeves and the lapels of her waist-length golden coat to give a good composure. "She wants to see if the rot is spreading. She just wants to see me suffering and then laugh while trampling on my weak frame."
She paused right before the heavy double doors of the reception hall, turning her head slightly towards Matthew.
"Did she bring her personal army?"
"Only two other Guardians from the Rise faction who you already know." Matthew reported in a low whisper. "And the First Aethalgard himself... who remains as unreadable as ever."
"Great." Aefia let out a slow, measured breath, smoothing her posture until she would seem like she was actually glad they came. "Keep the guards stationed a bit to the left of my study. Tell them to not speak unless spoken to. And just observe and report if there is an attack."
With a nod, Matthew signaled the door attendants. The heavy oak doors swung open silently, revealing the vast, sunlit expanse of the central hall.
Standing near the tall stained-glass windows were two figures. Victoria stood tall, her presence radiating the polished, artificial brightness—typical of the Rise faction when meeting a member of the Eclipse faction. Her sharp eyes immediately snapping toward Aefia the moment the doors opened. Beside her stood the first Aethalgard—an imposing, ancient presence whose mere existence seemed to weigh heavy on the room's atmosphere.
Aefia stepped forward, her heels clicking cleanly against the polished floor. She put up a faint, polite smile—the kind of smile a politician uses to keep things calm before the storm begins. But it faltered almost instantly. Just by seeing the smirk on Victoria's face.
"I greet the Aethalgards." Aefia bowed, her voice carrying clearly across the silent hall as she inclined her head just enough to remain formal. "To what do I owe the unexpected honor of an unannounced inspection?" She asked with her straight face.
Victoria stepped forward—her smile thin and devoid of warmth. "Sovereign. We were simply concerned. Rebirthing a dead territory after the Attrition Era is no small task... We wanted to ensure the burden wasn't proving too severe for someone so new to our realm."
Huh... New. Well I have been the Guardian of Death for six months now. Aefia's Garner eyes locked onto Victoria's, the unspoken war between them instantly igniting beneath the diplomatic surface. She could start using those sign languages from the banquet... But she didn't want to steer trouble with a person who turned a blind eye out his own daughter's safety.
"Your concern is sincere, my Sovereign." Aefia replied instantly, her voice laced with ice. "But as you can see... My territory is thriving."
***
Upstairs in the study, Helio watched the door click shut.
The silence returned to the room, heavy and charged. He took a slow breath, letting go of the tension in his shoulders before looking down at the ruined signature on the treaty where Aefia had caught his wrist.
Without wasting a single second, he walked over to the fireplace. Touching it to the corner of the document.
The parchment caught instantly, curling into ash inside the brass tray he laid out beforehand. He then moved with quiet, practiced efficiency—locking away Seraphina's journals into the hidden compartment beneath the desk floorboards, double-checking that every piece of sensitive paperwork was cleared.
Once the desk was completely spotless, Helio stepped back.
He looked toward the corner of the room where the shadow cast by the heavy velvet drapes fell deepest. Remembering Aefia's exact order—Stand in a shadowed corner and only observe. He stepped smoothly into the dark, resting his hand against his side, his radiant green eyes narrowing in the dim light.
Downstairs, he was worried Aefia was walking straight into a room with the people who had orchestrated a multi-generation conspiracy—who also sent the previous third Aethalgard to death.
He wasn't Aefia who knew how to save himself and save the people around him... But he wanted to try and think her way too.
At his left hand was a small paper he had taken along with him to occupy himself in the dark. He felt like he was playing hide-and-seek. But this one was one which determined his survival.
By the blink of an eye, a shadow entered the room. His eyes trailed over the floorboards to look directly at the person who intruded silently through the window.
One of those people who bullied Aefia down in the basement.
His grip on the paper tightened as he narrowed his gaze at the man who was now searching thouroughly through her bookshelves.
And look who we got here? He crossed his arms and watched in annoyance. His hand reached for the dagger that was hidden within his pocket. Truthfully... He grew to be more like Aefia just by watching her and treating her injuries.
Within seconds, her study became a mess. And he knew Aefia hated whenever someone else touched her room and messed with it. Even if it were a servant.
He stepped out of the shadow with his fingers already wrapped around the hilt of his concealed weapon. Before the Guardian could look back, Helio pinned him down on the ground using his knee onto the man's sternum.
"Gah! Who are you?!" The pinned man squirmed as a hand clamped down on his throat.
Helio's face stayed stoic as he lifted the blade high above his head. "Rule three.... Cross out whatever is unfruitful for us."
***
Victoria's eyes swept over Aefia, lingering on the tailored golden coat and the calm, unyielding posture of the young Sovereign. She looked exactly like Seraphina but was not easy like Seraphina.
A flicker of annoyance passed through Victoria's features, though she masked it instantly behind that practiced, artificial warmth.
"Thriving? A bold claim for a realm resurrected from ash, Sovereign," Victoria said, taking a deliberate step forward. "The Guardian of Death's seat has always been... volatile. The first Aethalgard and I simply wish to conduct a thorough walkthrough of your archives and current administrative ledgers. To ensure there are no irregularities in how power is being drawn."
Aefia didn't flinch, although she mentally did. Her hands remained loosely gripping her sleeves since she couldn't visibly grit her teeth like she usually would. Her mind was already calculating the distance between the reception hall and her study upstairs.
"My ledgers are open to official review through standard protocol... Sovereign Victoria." Aefia replied, her voice calm. "However, an unannounced search of a Sovereign's personal place of stay without prior council approval sets a rather strange precedent, doesn't it? Unless... the Rise faction no longer respects administrative boundaries?"
Beside Victoria, the first Aethalgard remained silent, his heavy, ancient gaze fixed on Aefia. He was testing her reaction—seeing if she would crack under the pressure or reveal any sign of the illegal historical digging she had been doing.
Regardless of whether this was a thorough palace sweep or a normal investigation, wasn't his business. He tagged along for one thing.
Whether she truly knew nothing about Seraphina.
But Aefia had already been fed the informations of the previous thrid Aethalgard's birth and younger ages. So she didn't know 'nothing' about Seraphina.
She was worried about exactly that. What if they had magic that could detect her truths from her lies. Deceiving normal humans was easy because she knew how to fool them and how to seem normal.
However, in the Guardian Realm, the rules were different.
One would be pricked by a needle until bled and if it pooled, it meant the person is telling the truth. But if it rolled over, the person is lying. And as she could see, the first Aethalgard was carrying a pin on his sleeve.
The silence that flowed between them was loud enough to tell that each of them were in their own world of thoughts.
But slowly, one of them would have to open their mouths and have the case solved. In this case, Aefia.
She was walking down a narrow path of thorns and blades. One wrong step could end her.
However, what if she was the one who laid out the narrow path?
With a deep breath, she glared Astraea dead in the eyes.
"If any one of you suspects that I am hiding something, why not try the ancient method of finding out if I am truly lying or not?"
This sparked a genuine light in the first Aethalgard's eyes as he reached for the needle. Victoria looked concerned and happy at the same time.
A simple thing though—Aefia was a host not to trust if she felt like a rule was broken inside her domain. They came without her needing to invite them, so it was a rule being broken. She would find one way or the other to humiliate Victoria since she brought three others in here.
Just that he is your spouse... Doesn't mean you get to rule over him to torture other people. Aefia thought to herself while stepping forward and rolling her sleeve up to her elbow.
Justice punctured the needle into her skin deep enough to immediately draw blood, and pulled it back for those drops to collect.
As she watched the blob form, she seemed to have grasped the idea of it.
When a person is nervous, they tend to tremble a bit. However, a person will only be nervous of they are lying and are afraid of being caught. That trembling caused the blood to roll over and drip.
Meanwhile, if you are confident that you are telling the truth, the blood will not roll off. Proving that you were indeed right.
But what if that person understood? The blood pools since you know how it works.
"Do have any suspicious activity going on in this domain?"
"No I don't."
"Is there something you are meaning to hide?"
"If I did, won't I have been nervous about this?"
"If we asked this instant to go with the investigation, will you allow it without a second to think of it?"
"I am still allowing you the access."
The Guardian of Justice observed one last time before letting out a fond smile. "Well she is telling the truth."
Aefia didn't even need to see the blood. Her gaze immediately fell on Victoria whose face had darkened. She bit on her bottom lip and her hands clenched her pretty dress. She was ridiculously, utterly, defeated.
"I am so sorry for causing you trouble. We will leave immediately." The first Aethalgard spoke while grabbing Victoria away. His fingers clamped tightly on her arm until it was bruised.
"My Sovereign. It can't be too bad to have a cup of tea? Besides, why leave so hastily?" Aefia turned around before she could miss Victoria's terrified face.
"Ah! It would have been nice. But I will return for it another time."
As Aefia watched, she let out a knowing smirk.
This is what you get for killing someone so innocent and young, Victoria.
Then, a memory clicked into her mind. "Oh wait. Where is..."