[The Next Morning - Before Dawn]
The room was freezing. The fire in the heart had died out hours ago.
Seventeen-year-old Lyra sat on the edge of the massive bed, shivering as she pulled her clothes on.
She looked back over her shoulder. I was fast asleep, my breathing deep and even, unaware of the magical violation that had just occurred.
A choked sob escaped Lyra's lips. She covered her mouth with her hands, hot tears streaming down her face.
I betrayed him, she thought, her heart shattering. He protected me from his sister. He smiled at me. And I used dark magic to violate his mind. I am a monster.
She couldn't stay. The guilt was eating her alive. She knew that when Zion woke up and realized his mind had been chemically manipulated, he would look at her with the exact same disgust and hatred she had seen in her family's eyes her entire life.
With trembling hands, she grabbed a quill and a piece of parchment.
Zion, she wrote, her tears staining the ink. I have committed an unforgivable sin. I betrayed your trust. I am so sorry, but I cannot stay here anymore. Please, forget about me. Do not follow me.
She placed the letter gently on her pillow.
Because she had spent her life treated as a servant, Lyra knew exactly how to move like a ghost.
She slipped out of the bedroom and crept down into the servants' quarters. She found a coarse, heavy wool cloak left near the laundry bins and pulled the hood deep over her silver hair.
She waited in the shadows near the kitchen exit until she heard the heavy bell chime for the 5:00 AM guard shift change. As the night guards turned over their posts to the morning watch, Lyra walked out the side door, carrying an empty woven basket.
"Morning," a yawning guard muttered, barely glancing at her.
Lyra kept her head bowed, mimicking the exhausted shuffle of a laundry maid heading to the river. The guard opened the side gate, and she slipped out into the freezing, unforgiving dawn of the Capital.
[Mid-Morning - The Master Bedroom]
The bright mid-morning sun hit my face.
I groaned, my head pounding with a bizarre, heavy ache.
I rolled over, reaching my arm out. "Lyra...?"
The bed was empty. The sheets were cold.
My eyes snapped open. The blurred, red-tinted memories of last night rushed into my mind.
I sat up quickly, rubbing my temples as the lingering fog of the potion finally broke.
That was when I saw the piece of parchment resting on her pillow.
I picked it up. As I read her tear-stained words—I betrayed your trust... do not follow me—my heart stopped.
Then, the realization of what she had done, and exactly why she had done it, hit me like a physical blow.
The box from her sister, I realized. My Three Aditya mana flared from my chest, cracking the wooden bedframe.
House Valerius forced her to do this! She ran away because she thinks I will hate her…
"GUARDS!"
I shouted, my dual-layered voice shaking the foundations of the estate.
Within seconds, the heavy doors burst open. The Imperial Knights rushed in.
"The Princess is missing!" I commanded, strapping my broadsword to my waist.
"Lock down the Capital gates!"
I sprinted down the hallway, my mind racing. I needed tracking magic. I needed the Phoenix.
But I cursed under my breath, hitting the stone wall with my fist.
I had sent Elian back to the Inner Palace yesterday afternoon. The Sovereign Beast was miles away, locked behind the Emperor's heavily warded gates.
I couldn't summon Cinder. I was entirely on my own.
"Send an emergency hawk to the Imperial Palace immediately!" I yelled to Silas, running toward the stables.
[Noon - The Capital Streets]
For hours, I rode my warhorse through the sprawling, crowded streets of the Outer Capital.
The initial, explosive panic had faded into a cold, suffocating dread.
I checked every alleyway. I looked at every passing woman wearing a cloak. Every time I saw a flash of pale hair, my heart leapt into my throat, only to plummet when they turned around.
The physical exhaustion was setting in, but the emotional toll was infinitely worse.
Where are you? I thought, gripping the leather reins until my knuckles bled. Why didn't you just tell me? I wouldn't have been angry. I would have burned Valerius to the ground for putting you in that position.
Meanwhile, miles away in the Inner Palace, Emperor Aldric dropped his crystal glass of wine. It shattered across the marble floor of his study. He stared at the emergency message in his hand, his icy eyes widening.
Down the hall, Crown Princess Seraphina read her copy of the letter. Her Budla Aditya magic flared out of control, instantly freezing the entire palace corridor in jagged spikes of ice.
"Saddle the warhorses!" Aldric's sovereign voice echoed through the Palace.
"Find the Princess!"
[Late Afternoon - The Outskirts]
Lyra had been walking for nearly eight hours.
She was exhausted, hungry, and shivering.
She had wandered far past the safe districts of the Capital, venturing into the lawless outskirts bordering the dense wilderness. Her feet were blistered, but she kept moving, driven by a hollow, crushing guilt.
But a young girl wandering alone in a dirty cloak attracts the wrong kind of attention.
As the sun began to set, casting long shadows across the dirt road, four heavily armed men dropped from the trees. They surrounded her.
"Look at this," the leader sneered, roughly pulling Lyra's hood back. Her beautiful silver hair spilled out.
"A high-class noble brat running away from home. She'll sell for a fortune in the underground market."
Lyra turned to run, but the leader snapped his fingers.
One of the thieves, a Magical Beast Contractor, slammed his hand on the frozen ground. He summoned a massive Shadow-Weaver Spider.
The beast shot a thick, magical web, binding Lyra's arms and legs instantly. She hit the ground, trapped.
"Throw her in the carriage," the leader ordered.
Lyra was roughly tossed into the back of a dark iron carriage. The heavy doors slammed shut, plunging her into pitch blackness.
Before her eyes could even adjust, she heard a faint, terrified sniffling coming from the far corner.
She gasped. Huddled in the freezing shadows were two tiny children—a boy and a girl, no older than five years old. They were twins.
"Who... who are you?" Lyra whispered.
"I'm Leo," the little boy sniffled, holding his crying sister tightly.
"And this is Mia. The bad men took us because they said our magic is rare."
Lyra's eyes widened. She could feel the faint, chilling aura radiating from the shivering children. They were young Budla Aditya users—insanely valuable to black-market slave traders looking to harvest Imperial-tier ice magic.
Lyra looked at the terrified children. Her own despair vanished, replaced by a fierce, undeniable maternal instinct.
I am not going to let these monsters sell these children, she vowed.
[Nightfall - The Northern Frostwood]
Hours later, deep into the night, the carriage jerked to a stop. Lyra could hear the thieves outside laughing, drinking, and setting up camp.
This was her only chance.
Lyra reached awkwardly into her leather boot. Hidden inside was a small, incredibly sharp dagger bearing the Imperial Crest—a gift Zion had given her for self-defense just a few days ago.
With her hands tied, she painstakingly dragged the blade across the spider-silk ropes until they snapped.
She quickly cut Leo and Mia's bindings.
"Listen to me carefully," Lyra whispered urgently, pressing the Imperial dagger into little Leo's hand.
"When I open this door, you both run. Do not look back. If you find an Imperial Knight, give them this dagger.
Tell them: 'The bird is in danger.'"
Leo nodded bravely, grabbing his sister's hand.
Lyra kicked the iron door open.
"RUN!"
The twins bolted into the dark trees.
"Hey! The merchandise is escaping!" the Beast Contractor yelled, drawing his rusted sword.
"Spider, get the kids!"
"No you don't!" Lyra screamed.
She threw her own body directly at the Beast Contractor, tackling him into the dirt. The Shadow-Weaver Spider hissed, turning its venomous fangs away from the children and toward Lyra.
"You stupid bitch!" the kidnapper shouted, punching Lyra viciously in the face. "I'll kill you for that!"
[Deep Night - The Capital Border]
I was riding my warhorse at top speed near the northern gates, my vision blurring from exhaustion.
Suddenly, my horse reared back. Two tiny, freezing children stumbled directly out of the brush and into the middle of the road.
I jumped off the horse, rushing over.
"Hey! Are you two okay?"
The little boy, Leo, looked up at my Imperial uniform. His eyes widened. He reached into his torn pocket and pulled out a dagger.
The exact moment I saw the golden Imperial Crest on the hilt, the blood froze in my veins. It was the dagger I gave Lyra.
"A-A lady gave this to me!" Leo cried, out of breath. "She said... 'The bird is in danger!"
"Where is she?!" I grabbed the boy's shoulders, panic ripping through my chest.
"Where did she give you this?!"
The little girl, Mia, pointed a trembling finger toward the dark mountains. "In the middle of the big Magical Forest! The one near the North!"
The Northern Frostwood!
Terror seized my heart. That forest was known for High-Level Magical Beasts and lawless mercenaries. It was hours away by horseback. Even at my fastest speed, I couldn't reach her in time.
If a Beast Contractor was attacking her, she would be dead before I crossed the border.
Think! I screamed at myself. Who is close enough to save her?!
The Northern Frostwood was right on the border of the neutral territory.
I bit my thumb, drawing blood, and slammed my hand against a nearby ancient tree.
"Summon: Imperial Gale-Hawk!"
A bird made of pure, green wind magic materialized on my arm. I stripped the royal signet ring from my finger and tied it to its leg.
"Find Grand Duke Yash! Tell him Lyra is in Frostwood! Go!"
The bird shot into the sky, shattering the sound barrier as it vanished into the clouds.
[The Camp - The Arrival]
Lyra was thrown against the side of the iron carriage. Her lip was bleeding, and her cloak was torn to shreds.
The Beast Contractor stood over her, his eyes hollow with rage. The massive Shadow-Weaver Spider loomed behind him, clicking its fangs.
"You cost me a fortune, you little rat," the kidnapper spat, raising his heavy sword.
" I am going to feed you to my spider right now."
Lyra closed her eyes. I'm sorry, Zion, she thought, a single tear falling down her bruised cheek. At least the children got away.
The spider lunged forward, opening its massive jaws to bite her.
BOOM!
The entire forest instantly fell dead silent. The freezing wind stopped blowing. The nocturnal birds stopped singing.
An atmosphere of pure, suffocating terror crashed down from the sky.
The sheer gravitational pressure of the mana was so overwhelming that the massive Shadow-Weaver Spider instantly collapsed onto its stomach, its armored legs cracking loudly under the weight.
The kidnapper gasped for air, his sword falling from his hand as he dropped to his knees. His eyes rolled back in his head as his nervous system began to shut down.
Through the dark, silent trees, the sound of slow, calm footsteps echoed.
A twenty-two-year-old man with messy hair and a laid-back expression walked into the clearing. He was casually tossing a red apple in one hand, but his eyes... his eyes were glowing with a terrifying, absolute Sovereign power.
Grand Duke Yash took a crisp bite of his apple, looking down at the paralyzed kidnapper.
"Well, well," Yash said.
His voice was quiet, yet it echoed like rolling thunder directly inside the kidnapper's breaking mind.
"Which bastard dares to hurt my precious nephew's wife?"