Kyle wakes up on a guest bed, head pounding and pride bruised.He groans, sits up, and mutters, "Dang it! All I've been doing is just loosing."
Zach, who's been sitting beside him the whole time, bursts out laughing."You're crazy. You're already a bit stronger than me now."
Kyle squints at him. "Oh wow... how funny."
"I'm dead serious," Zach says, hands raised. "Marshal Glauderia doesn't hype anyone. If she says you're insane, you're insane."
Kyle still isn't convinced, but Zach drags him out of the room and starts giving him a tour of the manor. Training grounds, stables, libraries, courtyards. Kyle pretends to listen, but his mind is stuck on the fight. On that feeling. On that strange state.
Meanwhile A loud BANG shakes the duke's office.
Marshal Glauderia kicks open the Duke's doors without a shred of decorum, wearing a grin that's basically illegal.
The Duke, mid-paperwork, sighs. "Is there a-"
"Where. Did. You. Find. That. Child?"
Her tone snaps the air. She steps forward, practically vibrating with excitement.
The Duke raises a brow. "I assume you mean Kyle right?"
"He outpaced Zach," she cuts in. "He adapted mid-battle faster than any prodigy I've ever seen. His mana control is raw but terrifying. And that stance..."
She narrows her eyes.
"That was no coincidence. That stance belongs to one person. And his mana? It was identical. Drake, don't play stupid with me. I know exactly who that boy is."
The Duke goes still.
She folds her arms. "That child is Arthur Midgar. Now explain to me how the hell he's alive."
A long silence.
Then the Duke chuckles softly. "Your memory truly is frightening… White Shadow."
Her expression doesn't change. Her glare sharpens.
So he tells her everything.
How the Midgar line vanished overnight.How the kingdom covered it up.How the boy's mother hid with him.How she was later assassinated.How Kyle escaped with barely any memories.How he was delivered to the Baron and given a new name, a new family, a new life. And how Kyle still doesn't know who he truly is.
When he finishes, Marshal Glauderia looks down. And just for a second a flash of old grief passes through her eyes.
"…Lloyd saved my life more times than I can count," she says quietly. "That man was more than a master to me, he was a father to me... And yet I failed to be there when he needed it the most."
She lifts her head, eyes blazing.
"So listen carefully, Duke Oriana. I will train this boy. I will make him stronger than Zach, stronger than every prodigy this kingdom worships. Stronger than any knight alive."
Her voice trembles not with fear, but conviction.
"This is the only way I can repay Lloyd Midgar."
The duke smiles faintly."You haven't changed. Still that stubborn girl Lloyd took in, even if you weren't Midgar by blood."
She scowls. "Don't get sentimental."
"That's why I assigned Kyle to you," the duke adds. "There's no one else I'd trust with him."
Glauderia smirks. "Good. Because I'll turn that boy into a monster that shakes the continent."