When they arrived at the mansion, Sophia did not allow Lusian even a moment of rest between the end of the journey and what awaited him. With firm determination, she led him directly to his room.
The air smelled of mint incense, clean and refreshing. Heavy golden curtains hung on both sides of the windows, filtering the light from outside.
Sophia closed the door behind them.
Lusian stopped pretending. His doubts were laid bare, and Sophia noticed immediately.
They sat down.
Lusian sank into the armchair, which felt far too large compared to the weight pressing down on his chest. Sophia sat beside him, upright and composed, trying to give him the calm he lacked while making sure he did not completely break under the pressure.
Sophia's maternal side surfaced. She looked at her son with a mixture of tenderness and a faint urge to laugh. She was the kind of woman who would tear the world apart if anyone dared touch even a single hair on his head.
—In six days, at the Temple of Sangus, the engagement oath with the Carters will take place.
Lusian felt the air leave his lungs.
—Mother...
Sophia looked at him.
—Is it mandatory?
A brief silence followed.
—Do you think anyone can reject an oath before Sangus?
The question was not harsh.
It was sad.
Lusian lowered his gaze.
Of course.
This was not a simple ceremony.
It was a pact before a god.
—The oath belongs to Emily —Sophia continued—. She is the one who will give her word before Sangus. You only have to accept that promise.
Lusian raised his eyes.
—Is that all?
Sophia smiled faintly.
She interpreted his silence as the natural anxiety of a young man facing a responsibility far greater than himself.
She could not imagine that behind that restrained expression, Lusian was not worried about the burden of a title...
But about a future that only he knew.
—That is all the world expects from you.
Her thumb gently brushed over his knuckles.
A small gesture.
"That is all."
Lusian stared at her. There were a thousand things he wanted to say, but he could not find the words. In the end, he swallowed them and tried not to show any emotion.
—I have never seen anything like this... —he murmured—. It is terrifying.
Sophia looked at him with the quiet understanding only a mother could have and replied in a whisper meant almost only for the two of them.
"I know."
She gently caressed his cheek.
"But that is what growing up means, Lusian."
A pause.
Her eyes never left his.
"This does not threaten your life."
When Sophia left the room, silence immediately returned.
Lusian could not simply sit there doing nothing. He had to plan something, or death would eventually catch up with him. He could not just watch events unfold as they had before; he had to act, even if everything went wrong. At the very least, he had to try.
"In six days," he told himself, "the oath will take place at the Temple of Sangus."
Six days.
Finally, he sank back into the chair.
If he could change one thing... the first would be preventing the death of the crown prince.
Lusian remained still for a moment.
Then he exhaled.
He could not remain like this.
He had to do something.
Otherwise...
he would die.
He closed his eyes.
In the game, everything began with the death of the crown prince.
Officially, an accident.
A tragedy caused by wild beasts.
A lie.
It was an assassination.
At first, it seemed like nothing more than another tragedy.
A dead heir.
A kingdom in mourning.
But afterward, the consequences began to appear.
Without the prince, the noble families slowly lost their influence. The Church filled the empty spaces left behind. The heroes gained authority while the ancient houses that had supported the kingdom for generations began to disappear one after another.
The prince's death was not the beginning of a war.
It was the beginning of the end of an era.
And now, he could prevent it.
But there was a problem.
How could he warn them without revealing too much?
He could not simply appear before the Crown and say:
"The prince will be assassinated."
They would treat him as a conspirator.
Or worse...
as an idiot.