The royal training chamber was quiet except for the soft hum of mana in the air.
Elizabeth stood across from Auther, her posture perfect, demonstrating a simple mana circulation technique. After several minutes of silence, she finally spoke.
"Why did you decide to come after all?"
Auther watched the faint blue light swirling around her fingers.
"A friend advised me it would be stupid to reject the best teacher in the kingdom… even if I hate her."
Elizabeth's hands paused for a moment.
"This friend… does she have something to do with the three days you disappeared?"
Auther's jaw tightened.
Elizabeth continued, voice softer than usual. "I was relieved when I learned you didn't spend those nights on the street. Not after what Viola did to you."
That was the breaking point.
Auther laughed bitterly, the sound echoing in the chamber.
"You were relieved?" His voice cracked with anger. "Where the fuck were you when I took my first steps? When I learned my first words? When I had my first crush? When Viola was beating me bloody for three years straight? When she almost killed me in the training yard?"
He took a furious step forward, eyes blazing.
"You weren't there for any of it. But now that I'm suddenly useful — now that I'm Divine Rank — you want to play mentor? You want me to trust you? I don't need you to mind-control me into loyalty. I'm standing with my family because you're still my mother… even if you don't know what that even means."
Elizabeth stood frozen. Her usual cold mask cracked. A sharp, unfamiliar pain bloomed in her chest — heavy and pulsing. She didn't recognize it as guilt. She only knew it hurt.
Auther turned and walked toward the door.
"I'm done for today."
He left without looking back.
Later that afternoon, Auther intentionally skipped Viola's training session.
He wandered the palace gardens until exhaustion finally took him. He collapsed on a quiet patch of grass under a tree eyelids suddenly too heavy to support.
"I guess I'm still afraid of her I'm a coward," he said tracing a faint line on his neck where he was decapitated in the previous timeline, "none of this shit feels real none of it."
In his dreams, he saw his real mother from Earth — warm, smiling, loving nothing like Elizabeth who to him was more like a hallowed shell someone who never did anything wrong but also never did anything right. When he woke up, the sky was already turning orange.
"Shit… Lana!"
He bolted upright in panic. He was extremely late for their first tutoring session. "Did I even tell her where the lesson would take place?" he asked himself as he shifted from the library's direction to the alchemy lab.
Auther rushed to the Alchemy Wing, heart pounding. He stood outside the main laboratory door for almost a minute, arguing with himself.
She did tell me to not acknowledge her but how am I going to ask for her without asking for her.
He knocked.
The door opened. Neon Gold stood there, silver hair immaculate, handsome face twisted into an irritated sneer that immediately faltered when he recognized who was standing before him.
"Great goodness this boy is even worse than I thought." Neon silently said already profiling him as Auther, he was a bit too much even for him, the royal immaculate aura made him want to vomit.
"…Your Highness," Neon said, forcing a tight smile. "To what do we owe this honor?"
Auther swallowed.
"I was… curious about the Alchemy Department. I do owe you my awakening success."
Neon narrowed his eyes gently smiling at the appreciation stepping aside, welcoming him in.
Meanwhile, in the East Wing in Viola's room…
Lana stood rigidly in the center of Viola's sparse room, sweat running down her back.
Viola circled her slowly, rapier still sheathed but her hand resting on the hilt.
"So," Viola said, voice dangerously calm. "You're the one who hid the prince for three days."
Lana's hands trembled.
"You must be the one who beat him to a pulp." Lana internally thought wondering just how the hell she found herself in that situation and more importantly how the hell she was going to take herself out of it.