A week later, Lusian arrived at the place indicated in Elizabeth's letter.
They were finally going to see each other again.
She had planned the meeting carefully: the location, the time, and even how to avoid prying eyes. It had been too long since their last farewell, and the distance was becoming unbearable for both of them.
The memory of that last kiss was still fresh.
When they finally met, the world seemed to stop.
For several seconds, they simply stared at each other, holding their breath. Neither of them needed to say anything. The desire they had suppressed for days did the rest.
Lusian walked toward her.
Elizabeth didn't step back.
They met in an embrace that seemed to contain all the longing of their separation.
The kiss was intense, desperate. Every caress felt like a silent confession, an attempt to reclaim in a few moments all the time they had spent apart. The outside world gradually disappeared until only the two of them remained.
Lusian knew he shouldn't.
He knew the right thing to do was to pull away.
But for once, he didn't want to listen to duty.
Elizabeth clung to him as if that contact could make the weight of their family names and the obligations keeping them apart disappear, even if only for a few minutes.
There were no titles.
No bloodlines.
No engagements.
Not even the clothes they had arrived in remained between them.
Everything else had been left behind.
There were only the two of them.
When the intensity of the moment finally faded, they remained in each other's arms, breathing slowly. Elizabeth hid her face against Lusian's chest, overwhelmed by what had just happened.
Lusian smiled.
"Is this my birthday present?"
Elizabeth raised her head and frowned at him.
"Of course not. This wasn't supposed to happen."
Her voice was still trembling.
"You took advantage of me."
Lusian let out a small laugh.
"Take advantage of you? I don't remember hearing you tell me to stop."
"That's not true! I..."
Elizabeth was left speechless.
Finally, she gave him a small punch in the chest.
"You're insufferable."
Lusian caught her hand before she could pull it away and gently kissed her knuckles.
"Admit it. You enjoyed it as much as I did."
Elizabeth looked away.
The blush on her cheeks betrayed her.
"Maybe... a little."
Lusian smiled.
"Then you don't regret it."
He gently brushed his lips against hers.
Elizabeth sighed.
"No... I suppose I don't."
She leaned against his chest again.
For a while, they remained silent.
Only the wind and the steady beat of Lusian's heart could be heard.
He gently stroked her hair.
And in that moment of calm, something inside him changed.
Not even in his wildest dreams had he imagined feeling this way.
All this time, he had tried to behave like the real Lusian Douglas: the perfect heir, the nobleman with a firm gaze, the man who always knew what to do.
But the truth was different.
Deep inside, he was still Erwin Lenox.
The young man from another life.
The boy who had spent his days shut inside a room, hiding behind screens and games. Someone who had awakened in a completely different world, with another identity, another culture, and a life he had never chosen.
And yet, now he was here.
He could feel another person's warmth.
He could hear her breathing.
He could feel her heart responding to his.
For the first time, Erwin understood that perhaps he didn't need to become someone else.
He didn't have to be the Lusian everyone expected him to be.
He could still be Erwin.
He could make mistakes.
He could feel fear.
He could love.
And still live as Lusian Douglas.
Maybe he didn't need to imitate anyone to have a place in this world.
Maybe he could write his own destiny.
He closed his eyes.
For the first time in a long while, he didn't think about his past or the future he was trying to control.
Only this moment.
Her.
Himself.
As Elizabeth rested in his arms, Lusian made a silent promise.
He would stop pretending.
He would not give up being Lusian Douglas, but neither would he hide Erwin Lenox behind that identity again.
He would learn.
He would fall.
He would get back up.
And he would live.
Because, after all, what was the point of surviving if he never dared to live?
Elizabeth finally raised her head.
Her eyes had regained the determination Lusian knew so well.
"I'm going to break off your engagement with Emily."
Lusian watched her in silence.
There was tenderness in his eyes, but also a hint of sadness.
He knew that engagement would eventually end. If fate continued along the path he knew, Emily would one day receive the Goddess's blessing and be freed from that union.
But he couldn't tell her.
No one would believe that he knew the future.
And if he got even one detail wrong, it wouldn't just expose the two of them. The consequences could drag their families into it as well.
"I understand what you want, Eli."
Lusian gently caressed her cheek.
"But if we expose ourselves now, we'll only create chaos. This kingdom runs on appearances. One wrong move could destroy us both."
Elizabeth frowned.
"Then what do you want me to do?"
"Wait."
She slowly shook her head.
"I don't want to wait."
Lusian smiled sadly.
"I know."
Elizabeth wrapped her arms around him.
"Then let me do it my way. I don't want anything or anyone to come between us again."
Lusian looked at her for several seconds.
Then he gently kissed her.
"I trust you, Elizabeth."
He rested his forehead against hers.
"Just make sure you don't put what we're building at risk."
Elizabeth remained silent.
Finally, she nodded.
She nestled against his chest again.
Deep down, she knew Lusian was right.
But her heart wasn't willing to wait forever.
She wanted to shout to the world that she loved him.
That he was hers.
And sooner or later, she would find a way to do it.
Lusian returned to his room much later than he had planned.
He closed the door behind him and remained there for several seconds, leaning against it.
He could still remember Elizabeth's voice.
Her smile.
The way she had clung to him before they parted.
A smile appeared on his face.
For a few moments, he didn't think about the duchy, Emily, or the obligations waiting for him.
Only her.
He collapsed onto the bed.
It had been a perfect moment.
Too perfect.
The next day, Lusian had to leave the capital and return to the duchy. He wouldn't see her again for another eight months.
His smile slowly faded.
Lusian stared at the ceiling.
"Eight months..."
Saying it aloud made it feel even longer.
He closed his eyes.
He tried to preserve every detail of their meeting in his memory. Not because he was afraid of forgetting her, but because he knew those memories would be all he had during the coming months.
Then another thought surfaced.
Emily.
The engagement.
The Douglases.
The royal family.
All of it was still waiting for him.
Lusian let out a sigh.
"I have to be more careful."
One mistake could destroy much more than his relationship with Elizabeth.
It could pit two noble families against each other.
It could turn a personal problem into a political conflict.
Fortunately, Sophia had already prepared most of what he needed for his return to the duchy.
The troops were mobilizing.
The defenses had been reinforced.
Scouts were monitoring the borders.
And thanks to the warnings he had given over the past few weeks, the Carter territory wouldn't be completely unprepared when the monsters began appearing either.
At least, that was what he hoped.
Lusian slowly sat up.
Too many things were happening at once.
The situation of the Refrvollr tribe.
The strange behavior of the beasts.
Galdrok.
The increasing mana density.
The demon cult.
And the changes beginning to appear in different regions.
Everything seemed connected.
But he still didn't understand how.
He walked toward the window.
The capital was peaceful.
The lights of the houses shone in the distance, and for a moment, everything seemed normal.
Too normal.
Lusian rested a hand against the glass.
"Something is changing..."
He didn't know what.
He didn't know when it would happen.
But that feeling had been growing inside him for days.
A kind of unease that wouldn't disappear no matter how hard he tried to ignore it.
He had spent so long thinking about war, nobles, and threats he could understand.
But perhaps he had been looking in the wrong direction.
Perhaps the real danger wasn't coming from an army.
Or a conspiracy.
Not even the demon cult.
Lusian raised his gaze toward the sky.
Among the stars, a faint iridescent hue seemed to spread across the horizon.
It was so faint that it could have been mistaken for an illusion.
Lusian narrowed his eyes.
"What the hell is that?"
He watched it for several seconds.
Then the light disappeared.
The sky looked completely normal again.
Lusian remained motionless.
He had no way of knowing it yet.
But it wasn't a coincidence.
The catastrophe had already begun.
The world simply hadn't realized it yet.