The entire Duchy had gathered in the central square, now transformed into a solemn scene of mourning.
The air was heavy with incense and ash. The flags fluttered slowly above the buildings, as if even the wind were paying its respects.
Upon a raised platform adorned with black and gold banners lay the body of Sofia Douglas de Mondring.
Her body was covered by a cloak embroidered with the symbols of the Duchy and the ancient Douglas lineage.
No one spoke too loudly.
The soldiers kept their heads bowed.
The citizens wept in silence.
Even the magical beasts, normally restless and proud, remained lying around the square, eerily still.
As if they, too, understood the loss.
Beside the main platform rested Larriet's coffin.
It had been specially built for him.
Lusian stood before both.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he spoke in a low voice.
So low it almost seemed like a thought.
—Take care of her for me... in the afterlife.
His voice broke at the end.
Behind him, Thunder remained motionless.
The electric steed had kept his head lowered since dawn and had barely moved.
As if he were still waiting for her to wake up.
Umber, meanwhile, sat beside the platform, watching the funeral in complete silence.
He looked like a dark guardian protecting the remains of his former companion.
Slowly, the nobles of the Duchy began approaching to pay their respects.
Commanders.
Mages.
Beast tamers.
One after another, they bowed their heads before Sofia and Larriet.
The silence in the square grew heavier and heavier.
Then one of the elders of the Douglas lineage stepped forward.
He took a deep breath.
And spoke with a broken voice.
—Today... the Duchy bids farewell to our lady.
For a moment, no one answered.
Then it happened.
A heart-wrenching cry echoed throughout the square.
Then another.
And another.
Thousands of voices rose at the same time, filled with pain, grief, and despair.
They were bidding farewell to their duchess.
To the woman who had protected these lands for years.
Their lady.
Their shield.
Their protector.
Many openly wept.
Others raised a fist against their chest as a sign of their oath.
And although no one said it aloud, the same determination took root in every heart.
They would protect her son.
Their new lord.
They would not allow the young duke to suffer the same fate as Sofia Douglas de Mondring.
Lusian stood beside the coffin.
Motionless.
His eyes were red.
His jaw remained tense, as if he were holding back something too overwhelming to allow himself to break down in front of everyone.
Emily stood nearby.
She said nothing.
She barely dared to look at him.
She didn't know how to approach someone who seemed to have become hollow inside.
Then Albert, captain of the ducal guard, slowly stepped forward through the crowd.
The man knelt before Sofia's coffin.
Tears streamed down his aged face.
His voice, broken with emotion, echoed through the silence of the square.
—My lady... —he whispered—. I swear to protect my lord Lusian... even if it costs me my life.
The days began to pass slowly.
But for Lusian, time had lost all meaning.
Only one thing mattered.
Moving forward.
Every day became an almost self-destructive routine.
He trained until his muscles gave out.
Until his hands bled.
Until he could barely remain standing.
And then he stood again.
Again and again.
Every day followed the same cycle.
Train.
Fall.
Get back up.
Train again.
His pain had become strength.
His anger had become discipline.
But training alone wasn't enough.
Lusian began consuming increasing amounts of mana-rich food.
Every human needed time to process that energy.
Mana was absorbed slowly.
The body grew stronger.
The core adapted.
It was a slow process.
A safe one.
A natural one.
But Lusian had no patience.
He needed to become stronger.
Now.
Not months from now.
Not years from now.
Now.
And to accelerate the process, he began pushing his body beyond its limits.
He knew perfectly well how dangerous it was.
Too much mana could overload the core.
And when the core could no longer process it...
The mana began behaving like poison inside the body itself.
Lusian knew this.
Even so, he continued.
Every day he consumed more.
Every day he trained harder.
Every day he pushed his core a little closer to the limit.
Albert tried to stop him more than once.
But Lusian never stopped.
One afternoon, after watching him train himself to the limit, Albert finally lost his patience.
—My lord... your body has a limit.
Lusian didn't even stop moving.
—Then I'll break it.
The answer came without hesitation.
Without emotion.
As if he truly didn't care what happened to him.
Albert watched him for several seconds.
And for the first time since he had known Lusian...
He felt afraid.
The young man who had once shown barely any interest in training now seemed incapable of stopping.
He wasn't training to improve.
He was trying to destroy the limits of his own body.
It was as if he wanted to turn pain into a form of punishment.
But the body always demanded its price.
Days later, during one of his training sessions, Lusian felt that something was wrong.
His breathing grew heavy.
The world began to spin.
His veins burned.
The mana accumulated inside his body was no longer circulating normally.
His core was saturated.
—Not yet...
Lusian gritted his teeth.
He tried to continue.
One step.
Another.
Then the pain exploded inside his body.
His magical pathways began to tear.
The mana overflowed.
A searing energy coursed through his veins like liquid fire.
His body had reached its limit.
Mana poisoning.
Lusian collapsed to the ground.
His core was on the verge of collapse.
The soldiers rushed toward him.
—My lord!
—Call a healer!
But there was no time.
If his core collapsed, Lusian would die.
Then Emily arrived.
The Hero of Light placed both hands over his chest.
The divine blessing began to shine.
White light enveloped Lusian's body.
The uncontrolled mana began to be purified.
Once.
Then again.
And again.
Every time Lusian's body began to collapse, Emily used her power once more.
Until she finally managed to stabilize his core.
But the effort left her exhausted.
Lusian did not open his eyes again.
He remained unconscious for days.
Emily never left his side.
She remained seated beside his bed, ignoring the exhaustion, the dark circles beneath her eyes, and the pleas of those asking her to rest, even if only for a few hours.
She didn't want to leave.
Not after coming so close to losing him.
When Lusian finally opened his eyes, the room was still dim.
The scent of medicinal herbs filled the air.
Emily was still there.
Asleep beside the bed.
Her hand was still holding his.
Lusian tried to sit up.
The movement immediately woke Emily.
Her blue eyes snapped open.
When she saw that he was conscious...
Tears began streaming down her face.
—Idiot... —she whispered.
Her voice trembled.
Emily quickly stood and hugged him tightly, as if afraid he might disappear again.
—Lusian, enough! —she sobbed—. You can't keep doing this! You're destroying yourself!
Her tears soaked Lusian's clothes as her body trembled in his arms.
—You almost died! Do you understand that? You almost died!
Lusian remained silent.
He didn't know what to say.
How could he explain it to her?
He couldn't tell her that he felt time slipping through his fingers.
He couldn't tell her that, in the future he knew, there were too many people destined to die.
He couldn't tell her that every day lost could mean another tragedy.
And he couldn't tell her that, in the original story, the person crying for him now was destined to one day become his enemy.
How could he possibly explain something like that?
Emily raised her face to look at him.
Her eyes were red from crying.
—Sofia wouldn't want this... —she whispered.
Lusian froze.
—She wouldn't want to see you destroying yourself with your own hands.
Those words struck him directly in the chest.
Emily slowly rested her forehead against his.
—You don't have to carry everything alone... —she said through her tears—. You're not alone anymore.
Her voice broke.
—So please... stop trying to destroy yourself.
Lusian closed his eyes.
For days, he had endured the pain.
He had endured the exhaustion.
He had endured the anger.
He had been willing to destroy his own body just to become stronger.
But those words...
They were different.
Because for the first time since Sofia's death...
Lusian could no longer hold himself together.
A tear escaped his eye.
Then another.
And finally...
He began to cry.
Not as the duke.
Not as the heir of the Douglas family.
Not as the man who would one day declare war on the demonic cult.
But simply as a son who had just lost his mother.
Emily said nothing.
She simply held him tighter.
And for the first time since that tragedy...
Lusian allowed someone else to carry a small part of his pain.