"That is wonderful news."
Valerius Lie let out a heavy sigh of relief, his massive chest rising and falling. He nodded contemplatively, momentarily banishing his darkest fears.
"Medic Malachi, it must have been a burden to be summoned at such an ungodly hour. Steward, escort the Master to the parlor so he may rest and take some refreshment before the ceremony."
"Very well," Malachi replied with a dismissive wave of his hand as he clicked his ebony apothecary kit shut. "Since your grandson is back in working order, I shall take my leave. My congratulations, Elder Valerius, on gaining the most magnificent granddaughter-in-law in all of Skybright Fortress. I can't count how many influential men are turning green with envy right now. Ha ha! Farewell."
"Remember, you must appear for the wedding toast! Steward, see him out."
Once the door closed behind the medics, the silence in the room grew heavy. Valerius Lie's gaze remained fixed on his grandson, his brow furrowed in deep thought.
"Kaelen, is everything truly alright? No tightness in your chest?" he asked, his voice laced with a tenderness that defied his stern exterior.
The old man was no fool. He had seen it with his own eyes: Kaelen dropping breathless, his body turning ice-cold, his life force nearly extinguished. That wasn't a simple fainting spell brought on by excitement. Though the boy looked healthy now, a seed of unease still flickered in the warrior's heart.
"Everything is truly fine, Grandfather. You can put your mind at ease," Kaelen said with a gentle smile, though a sudden lump formed in his throat.
Looking at Valerius Lie's face, Kaelen realized the staggering weight this man carried. The Valerius House was governed by five Elders, and though his grandfather was the last among them, he was indisputably the strongest. Five years ago, he had breached the Tenth Level of the Spiritual Ether Realm. Now, he stood at the very peak of that realm, with a genuine chance of stepping into the True Ether Realm - a level that countless warriors could only dream of.
Valerius Lie was only fifty-five years old - an age where masters of his caliber should be in their prime - yet his head was already a shock of pure white. Every time Kaelen looked at that silver hair, bitterness flooded his heart.
He knew it was the constant worry over his "useless" grandson and the endless political maneuvering against other clan members that had drained his grandfather's vitality. The reason Valerius Lie had gone gray so young was a dark legend known to every resident of Skybright Fortress.
His only son, Kaelen's father - Aidan Valerius - was once hailed as the number one genius in the entire region. His progress had been terrifying: at seventeen, he broke into the Nascent Ether Realm, and three years later, he wielded the power of its Fifth Level. When he shattered the barrier to the True Ether Realm at twenty-three, the Fortress shook to its foundations.
Aidan was the pride of the clan and his father's greatest joy. Almost everyone believed he was the destined future leader of the Valerius House.
Unfortunately, the gods are often jealous of mortals who reach for the heavens. Barely a month after Kaelen's birth, a brutal assassination took place. Days earlier, Aidan, driven by honor, had saved the life of a daughter of the Selwyn House. That heroic act cost him a vast amount of energy; when the killers struck, he could only fight with half his strength. He defended himself fiercely but ultimately drew his final breath. His wife's heart shattered with grief, and she soon followed him into death's embrace.
Valerius Lie's hair had turned white in a single night under the weight of that terrible blow.
Nine months later, Lydia Valerius was born. Her mother, too, had been unable to carry the burden of mourning for her only son and died of exhaustion shortly after childbirth.
No one knew how Valerius Lie had managed to survive those years. His snow-white hair hid an ocean of regret, hatred, and a deep, unspoken sorrow. To this day, he had never found those who robbed him of his son.
Later, he poured all his love and hope into Kaelen... but the brutal truth of the crippled Ether Veins struck him like a bolt from the blue, extinguishing the last flicker of his dreams for his lineage's power.
Kaelen looked at the old man, and within his soul - hardened by years in the Azure Sky Realm - something snapped. He felt the weight of those white hairs more than ever before.
Yet, in the face of his grandson's hopeless situation, Valerius Lie had never shown a hint of disappointment or anger. From his perspective, being born with damaged Ether Veins was a sentence handed down by an unjust fate, one for which the boy bore no blame. Instead of indifference or mockery, the grandfather showered Kaelen with even more love, trying to compensate for what nature had stolen.
For years, he had tirelessly searched for ways to repair the boy's energy channels, even though he knew they were the life-essence of a human - something nearly impossible to mend.
Though Kaelen had grown up in the shadow of the clan's sneers and contemptuous glares, he had always considered himself lucky to have someone like Lie by his side.
Staring at the old man's silvery hair, Kaelen's gaze gradually sharpened, taking on a steely glint.
Since the gods have given me this second chance and allowed me to keep both streams of memory, I must live life to the fullest - if only to bring relief to my grandfather! he thought with determination.
So what if my veins are shattered? I am the heir to the Holy Master's knowledge and I possess the Seraphic Shell of Decay. If I can just gather the right ingredients, I'll restore my Ether channels to absolute perfection within three weeks!
"Since everything is fine, a weight has been lifted from my heart," Valerius Lie said, glancing at the sky brightening outside the window. "Kaelen, the hour of the nuptials is near. Go prepare yourself, and I will see to the wedding procession... Ah, one more thing - do you wish to ride on horseback, or would you prefer to hide within a closed carriage?"
If this were the Kaelen of yesterday, he certainly would have chosen the safe, shielded carriage. As the "useless" grandson of an Elder, standing in jarring contrast to the brilliant Selyna Selwyn, he would have had to endure an avalanche of insults, jealousy, and mockery on the way to the Selwyn House. Every step on horseback would be a public display of failure and humiliation.
Kaelen, however, smiled slightly, a newfound pride flashing in his eyes.
"I'm riding, Grandfather! You don't need to worry about me. Selyna may be high-born and talented, but as of today, she is destined to be a daughter-in-law of the Valerius House. I will bring her into our home openly, with dignity and honor, so that you never have to lose face because of my weakness again."
Valerius Lie froze for a moment. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine his withdrawn grandson would speak words of such power and self-assurance. A rare, delicate smile touched his rugged face. He nodded slowly.
"Good."
That single word expressed profound satisfaction and a spark of new hope. The old man left the room, quietly closing the door behind him, leaving Kaelen with his Little Caretaker.
As soon as Valerius Lie was gone, Lydia Valerius stood before Kaelen and pouted playfully. Her face twisted into a mock grimace of sadness, though her eyes danced with amusement.
"So that's it! You really are that excited about this wedding, and here I was worrying myself sick over you for nothing," she sighed theatrically. "You've only seen Selyna Selwyn a handful of times in your life, and already you've completely lost your head... Ah, well, she is the greatest beauty in our Skybright Fortress, isn't she?"
Kaelen immediately raised his hands, waving them vigorously in denial and putting on a mask of innocence.
"How could that be! Selyna is undoubtedly fair, but I believe my Little Caretaker is much prettier. If I were truly going to faint from beauty, I wouldn't have regained consciousness for a single moment around you, since you're by my side every day."
"Hehe..." Lydia's face instantly lit up with a sweet smile, and a pearly giggle escaped her chest. "You really know just what to say to coax me. Fine, have it your way. Even if you fainted from the rush to marry her, it's hard to blame you. Selyna isn't just beautiful; she's a genius. The Selwyn House is the wealthiest clan in the Fortress, so half the kingdom dreams of this ceremony. And in the end... it's my Kaelen who's marrying her!"
At that moment, genuine pride washed over Lydia's face. But a moment later, her gaze clouded over, and her voice became soft and low, almost nostalgic:
"I feel like this day came so terribly fast... My little Kaelen is about to become a husband..."
Knock-knock!
A sharp rapping at the door broke the fragile moment. The hoarse voice of the old steward, Valerius Hong, drifted from the hallway:
"Young Master, the hour has struck! It is time to set out to greet your bride!"
"Ah... already?" Lydia startled, glancing at Kaelen's attire and falling into a mild panic. "Uncle Hong, please give us just another moment! We're coming out!"
She stepped directly in front of Kaelen, her delicate hands nimbly straightening his wedding robes.
"This outfit is terribly complicated, and after that fainting spell of yours, everything is a mess. Stand still and don't wiggle; I'll have you sorted in a second. You must look impeccable when you stand before the gates of the Selwyn House."
Kaelen stood motionless, catching the scent of peach blossoms wafting from the girl. He looked at her focused face and thought about how she was the only person, besides his grandfather, who had loved him unconditionally when he was a nobody.
A pair of snow-white, delicate hands worked in a feverish hurry. Lydia adjusted his collar, snapping it back into place, and tightened the loosened sash of his robes with a firm tug. Though her movements betrayed a slight nervousness, every gesture was full of gravity and almost sacred attention.
Kaelen watched her in silence, his vision gradually blurring as the two streams of memory began to intertwine.
Today he was to marry Selyna Selwyn, but he didn't delude himself for a second - he knew this brilliant girl wasn't marrying him out of love. If not for an old agreement between their fathers made years ago, Selyna likely would never have graced him with so much as a glance.
The only people in this world who had shown him unconditional kindness were his grandfather, Valerius Lie, and his Little Caretaker, Lydia.
In their childhood, Lydia had clung to him like the sweetest candy. She followed him step for step, and he could barely shake her off. Just a few moments apart were enough to send her into a loud crying fit.
However, when Kaelen turned ten and the damage to his Ether Veins was finally confirmed, Lydia seemed to grow up in a single night. She understood what disability meant in this brutal world and took up a murderous cultivation regime. She did it for one reason only: so that in the future, she could become a shield for the weak Kaelen Valerius.
After decades spent in the darkness and hatred of the Azure Sky Realm, Kaelen felt that Lydia's pure goodness was something so luxurious and precious it was almost surreal. He knew that Selyna Selwyn, though she would become his wife, would be to him like the coldest moon in the night sky - something to be admired from afar, but impossible to touch without frostbiting one's fingers.
If I had married someone like Lydia... someone who truly sees me, and not just my status... This thought, dangerous and uncontrolled, bloomed in Kaelen's mind.
Finishing her struggle with the complicated robes, Lydia let out a visible sigh of relief. She stood on her tiptoes, raised her hand, and affectionately ruffled his hair, smiling radiantly.
Her rose-tinted lips parted slightly, like the petals of an exotic flower, as she moved to say something.
Then, something happened that neither of them anticipated. Driven by an instinct that had survived death and rebirth, Kaelen tilted his head with supernatural speed.
Before Lydia could react, she felt the warm, firm pressure of the boy's lips against her own.