Elarion walked alone through the moonlit imperial gardens, the same gardens where his heroines had waited only minutes earlier.
Cherry blossom petals drifted silently around him like pale ghosts, catching on the edges of his golden armor.
The crystal streams whispered, but their beauty felt mocking and hollow.
He had told them he needed air.
A breather.
A lie.
His boots crushed petals underfoot as he moved deeper into the secluded eastern wing.
The lanterns here were dimmer, the paths narrower, the statues of ancient heroes watching him with cold, unblinking marble eyes.
He stopped beneath a massive willow tree whose hanging branches formed a natural curtain, hiding him from the rest of the world.
For the first time since the Goddess had spoken, Elarion was truly alone.
He leaned his back against the trunk and slid down until he was sitting on the cool grass.
His golden armor felt heavier than ever.
The faint golden glow still lingered around his chest — the sliver of mana that had returned after Kael finished inside Aurora.
It should have felt like hope.
Instead, it felt like a curse.
She sacrificed herself… for me.
The memory crashed over him like a wave of acid.
Aurora’s lavender gown is pooling at her feet.
Her full breasts were exposed to that trash.
The way her body had arched in pain when Kael forced himself inside her.
Her broken cry of “It hurts…” The wet, obscene sounds as that worthless prince pushed deeper into the woman Elarion had loved since childhood.
Elarion’s hands clenched into fists until his gauntlets creaked.
His sky-blue eyes burned with hot, helpless rage.
I can still remember her teasing of saying their first would be behind the mirror lake, how happy she would be to share her purity with me, and now that mana-less trash claimed what’s mine.
Jealousy twisted like a knife in his chest.
Shame burned his face.
He had failed her.
He had failed all of them.
Astrid, who had fought beside him for years and fallen in love on the battlefield.
Charlotte, his wise teacher who had guided him since he was a boy.
Morgana, the proud vampire queen who had joined him for revenge, slowly opened her heart.
All of them would have to suffer the same fate now.
Elarion slammed his fist into the ground.
Dirt and grass flew.
A small crater formed where his gauntlet struck.
Why her?
Why Aurora?
She was the one I was promised to since we were children… the one who looked at me like I was her entire world…
Tears of pure rage and despair stung the corners of his eyes.
He could still hear her voice in his head — soft, trembling, trying so hard to be strong for him: “I will bear this shame for you. For our love.”
Elarion buried his face in his hands, shoulders shaking.
“What kind of hero am I?” he whispered bitterly to the empty garden.
“I couldn’t protect them… I couldn’t protect even one of them…”
The faint golden glow around his chest pulsed weakly, a cruel reminder that the price had already been paid.
He stayed there for a long time, alone under the willow tree, the weight of jealousy, shame, and helpless fury crushing him.
The empire’s perfect hero was breaking.
And no one was there to see it.
The imperial palace garden remained quiet under the moonlight, but the three heroines sitting at the tea table could feel the weight of the night pressing down on them.
Astrid’s hand still rested on her katana, Charlotte stared into her untouched tea, and Morgana’s crimson eyes kept drifting toward the direction Elarion had disappeared.
None of them spoke.
Meanwhile, in the Empress’s private study hall…
Empress Valeria Vossarian stood behind her heavy oak desk like a living monument of authority.
Her long royal purple hair cascaded in perfect waves, framing a face of mature, commanding beauty.
She looked down at her daughter.
Aurora kept her head low, fists clenched so tightly at her sides that her knuckles had turned white.
Shame and embarrassment radiated from her entire body.
Valeria’s voice was calm, cold, and regal.
“How long are you going to keep behaving like this, Aurora? Didn’t you already expect this when you volunteered?”
Aurora slowly lifted her head.
Her golden eyes were glistening with unshed tears.
“I… You didn’t see Elarion’s face, Mother. I think he may be thinking of me as one of those vile women who sold their bodies…”
Valeria’s eyes turned even colder.
“Aurora.”
Aurora flinched, biting her lip hard enough to draw a tiny bead of blood.
Valeria sighed softly and sat down behind the desk.
From the shadows, one of her Fox- kin twin maids materialized silently, poured deep red wine into two crystal goblets, and vanished the same way she had appeared.
Valeria took a slow sip, then spoke again.
“Stop thinking of useless things, my daughter. You saved his life, and Elarion knows it.”
Aurora’s voice was small.
“You really think that…?”
Valeria nodded once.
“Nobody likes the situation we are in. But we should do whatever is required to save the hero. Isn’t that right?”
Aurora nodded weakly, but inside her thoughts were screaming.
How I actually moaned in my fiancé’s presence… how Kael came inside me… it makes me sick with shame…
Valeria could read her daughter like an open book.
She set her goblet down.
“Does it really disgust you that your cousin touched you?”
Aurora’s voice cracked with raw emotion.
“Who wouldn’t be, Mother?! Even the servants feel their skin crawl. You never even allowed me to travel alone with the hero. We never even held hands properly… and my purity was taken by that mana-less trash—”
She stopped mid-sentence, realizing what she had just said.
She had just cursed her in front of her.
Valeria’s expression didn’t change.
She simply took another sip of wine, her voice remaining perfectly calm and cold.
“If that’s your problem… You can stop thinking about it.”
Aurora blinked, confused.
“What…?”
Valeria leaned back slightly, the golden light catching the edges of her circlet.
“After Kael completes his divine duty to the hero and the hero fully recovers… we don’t need him anymore, would we?”
Aurora felt her entire world flip.
Her golden eyes widened in shock.
“Mother… you don’t mean…?”
Valeria looked straight into her daughter’s eyes, her voice flat and merciless.
“Yes. I thought he would be useless for life, but apparently not. How long can a mortal live, Aurora? He should be honored; he was finally able to help the empire. So rather than let him live and make all of you uncontrollable… I will send him to the afterlife and pray for a better reincarnation for him. After all, he still carries the Vossarian blood”.
The words hung in the air like a death sentence.
Aurora stared at her mother, speechless, the weight of what she had just heard crushing down on her.
The Empress of Grandora had already decided Kael’s fate.