"I don't know how this happened, but it's true. Three times now, she has managed to take over her own body and act as the real Clairette."
Aeren stared at the glowing gemstone. His lips parted slowly. "When we returned to Emberlain, you addressed the people. That was her, wasn't she?"
Her eyes widened slightly.
He's quite observant…
"Yes. I felt strange afterward. It had come out so naturally that I didn't quite feel like myself. Then there was the time she spoke to Audreya in prison. And then again, she confronted Priscilla. I became certain at that time."
"Why can't she return to her body permanently?"
Vivia bit her lip slightly. "I don't think that's possible anymore."
"Why not? Her body is here. Her soul is here."
"Because I met her in a dream. She told me herself. Her soul…won't last indefinitely like this."
He froze.
"...There are unresolved things she wants closure on. That's why she's still here. But…" her eyes reddened, her voice trembling, "o-one day would come when she…"
Her hands came up to cover her face as soft sobs escaped her, heavy with gloom and despondency.
"Why are you crying for her?"
She lifted her gaze slowly to find him watching her with a blank gaze, struggling to absorb the truth.
"You didn't know Clairette at all."
"I've come to know her through her memories. I don't remember everything, but I do know that Clairette was a kind woman. I had never expected to see a royal that genuinely loving and humble. Clairette broke all those assumptions I had carried. She was a good person, and she deserved a long, happy life. That's why…" the more she spoke, the more her cheeks ached.
"I'm just as furious as you are. Why do good people have to always suffer like this? Who would want to kill Clairette? You still don't have that answer, do you?"
Aeren didn't respond.
"Or perhaps you do."
"What do you mean?"
She held his gaze, so unnerving that it matched the cold intensity as his eyes held.
"Are you truly on Clairette's side?"
"She's my sister."
"She's also Elvin's sister. How much does he really care about her?" Vivia's eyes narrowed.
"I'm not Brother Elvin."
"That doesn't automatically bring you on Clairette's side. Yes, you sent Lady Judith to help me today - but that's still not enough evidence."
His expression darkened. "Evidence for what exactly? If you're implying I plotted to hurt Clairette, you couldn't be any more wrong."
"Yet someone in this palace did hurt her. Someone who's supposed to be her family but turned out to be her enemy. I need to know it's not you."
Silence.
"I can only give you my word. I never hurt Clairette, nor held any evil intentions against her."
Vivia held his gaze. She would have struck him mercilessly had she sensed even a tiny hint of deception.
She found none.
She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. "I'm going to tell you something very important. Something I believe could be the reason why Clairette was attacked."
Aeren stared. "You're talking about Clairette's secret visits to Stras, aren't you? I know you had denied responsibility, but that's not true. I believe she had fallen for a commoner there."
Her lips parted to respond - but she held back.
"There was no way Father or Brother would've allowed a royal princess's relationship with a commoner. Clairette had mentioned it to me once. She had gotten acquainted with someone. Someone new. I didn't know who he was, nor did she tell me. But the more I observed her, the more I became certain that that person wasn't simply an acquaintance. She loved him."
The light in his eyes flickered. "I believe…Brother discovered it somehow. That's what you meant, didn't you? When you implied that I knew who it was."
Vivia said nothing. The silence that followed felt thick and close.
"Brother was deeply unsettled by Clairette trying to interfere in the palace politics. It's true Father wouldn't have sworn her as the Crown Princess, but certain members of the Senate were leaning towards her beliefs - the ones who don't favor Brother so much. On top of that, to learn that she loved a commoner would've been the final nail on the coffin."
Vivia clasped her fingers. "You're half-right. It's true that Clairette was in love, but he wasn't a commoner."
His eyes squinted. "Who else could he be?"
"Who else would your family hate other than a commoner?"
She let the question hang in the air.
Then as if the thoughts moved on their own and clicked together like missing pieces of a puzzle, Aeren's countenance changed at once.
"That's not possible," he said firmly.
"She used to often visit the Realm of Harmony."
He stared. "Only because she loved the forest. She likes gardening and nature, so she liked dropping by in the forest to see the birds and flowers and trees."
Instead of answering him, she quietly allowed Aeren to reach his own conclusion.
His voice quivered. "...Was there a demon visiting the Realm of Harmony too?"
Vivia only gave a light nod.
Aeren stared at the glowing opal ring, tremors bulldozing his heart from every direction.
A demon…
"Yes, that would…certainly make Brother beyond furious. Enough to…," he said, his voice low and unsteady.
There wasn't a visible shift in his countenance, yet Vivia could feel the underlying complicated emotions through his clenched fists. As the Second prince, he refused to drop his guard and express his vulnerable side in front of a stranger.
"Is that demon…Crown Prince Zerath?"
"No."
"Don't lie," he pointed at her neck, his gaze frosty. "You were not wearing the pendant before Brother and I stepped out of the carriage. But it was there when we returned. Brother never pays much attention, but you can't fool me. Someone had been inside."
He took a dangerous step closer. "Then the entire fiasco of Crown Prince Zerath asking your hand for marriage was also an act, wasn't it? Did you two plan all that to secure your engagement through political means?"
Vivia breathed out silently. "Yes. But Zerath is not the demon Clairette loved. Towards Zerath, I…" She shed that last strand of hesitation and confessed. "I love Zerath. Zerath gifted this pendant to me. It was him in the carriage that night."
He shook his head like an ultimatum. "You cannot walk down the same path as Clairette had. I think neither you nor my sister truly understand just how deeply we hate the demons - and how they hate us."
"I won't back down just like Clairette hadn't."
His gaze turned severe. "And what did Clairette get by being stubborn? She…"
Watching the opal ring shimmer with the remnants of her soul was more agonizing than anything. His lips quivered, a hint of mistiness glazed across his eyes.
"I won't allow you to put Clairette's body in danger. I don't care even if you love a commoner here. It just cannot be a demon," he coldly said.
"I won't put her in danger. I won't let either of us get hurt ever again," her quiet resolve matched his chill.
Aeren clasped his hands behind the back. "We can talk about your feelings some other time. Right now, I want to know who Clairette loved?"
A tinge of frustration passed across her features. "I don't remember. His face is too blurry in my mind. I…"
She closed her eyes, giving another try to remember the face of that demon. But the more she forced herself, the harder the pain stabbed through her head. Her eyes flew open, leaving her breathless. She wiped the small drops of sweat from her forehead.
"I think his eyes seemed blue…" she breathed out. "I can't remember anything else."
Aeren observed her. "You didn't remember about him when you were in Rudaheim? You didn't encounter a demon who felt familiar?"
"I didn't-"
The hazy figure surfaced in her mind again, and she stopped. Her hand reached to her chest as she swallowed a shallow gulp.
Did I really not meet her lover there? Why do I feel like I'm not certain?
"...I don't think so."
She looked back at him. "Elvin…did it, right? You think the same. And I think so too because he had someone try to have me killed in Rudaheim too."
His eyes narrowed. "Our convoy was there only for one day and nothing had happened to you."
"But a few days before that, the Demon Realm's Blessed had already hurt me."
She told him everything that had transpired right from the time they had found Eurus in the cave to Astaroth's retaliation against them.
"Zerath told me that Astaroth colluded with Sir Malphas - and Sir Malphas, in turn, had joined hands with a human to hurt me. Then he was murdered the same day we left Rudaheim. The accusation of his murder is now upon the Emberlain princes. His dying words pointed at a human as the killer."
Aeren went still.
"The only reason King Nefarion hasn't marched here with his army yet is because Zerath is holding things together. So tell me Prince Aeren," Her gaze was level and steely. "Do you have anything to say about Sir Malphas's death?"