A fire lit up in her golden eyes. It was the fire of ambition, fueled by love.
"I will train," she vowed. "I will push my body until it breaks and rebuilds. I will sharpen my claws until they can cut steel. I will learn to hunt the monsters he hunts"
She looked at the cabin one last time. The jealousy was still there, burning like a hot coal, but now she used it as fuel.
"Enjoy your night, human girl," Elara hissed softly. "You may be sleeping under his roof tonight because you are weak and have nowhere to go. But one day..."
Elara placed a hand over her womb, a silent promise to the future.
"One day, I will sleep beside him because I am his equal. I will be his shield when he is tired. I will be his blade when he commands"
"I will be his Life Partner"
Elara turned and walked into the communal tent.
She knelt beside Miko. The little fox-girl was sleeping soundly, her chest rising and falling in a rhythm that was only possible because of Lord Zero's mercy.
Elara stroked Miko's soft ears.
Elara stroked Miko's soft ears, but her mind was still outside, fixed on the cabin where the human girl was sleeping under his roof.
The love story had begun, but it wasn't a fairy tale. For Elara, it was a claim. She had lost everything else in her life; she would not lose him too.
"Your mother is going to become strong. Strong enough that Lord Zero will never have to look at another woman again"
She lay down on the mat, but she didn't sleep immediately. She lay awake, listening to the wind, her mind filled with the image of the man in the black armor.
"Wait for me, Lord Zero," she breathed into the dark, her golden eyes glowing with a fierce, terrifying devotion.
She clenched her hand over her heart.
"I will not let anyone else have you. You are mine... only mine"
While Elara made her silent vow under the moonlight, the atmosphere inside the small wooden cabin was heavy with two very different kinds of silence.
In the far corner, Lysander lay on a simple mat of woven reeds. He wasn't merely sleeping; he was undergoing a calculated recharge. To a normal observer, he looked like a statue, his breathing imperceptible. But inside his mind, the System was wide active.
[SLEEP MODE: ACTIVATED]
[PERIMETER MONITORING: ON]
[THREAT DETECTION: PASSIVE]
He didn't dream. Dreams were for people with memories they wanted to relive or futures they hoped for. Lysander had neither. He simply existed in a black void, allowing his SP. The System acted as an invisible guard dog, scanning the room for any spike in killing intent, any sudden movement, or any magical fluctuation.
If an assassin tried to open the door, Lysander would have a dagger in their throat before the hinge squeaked.
But tonight, the System didn't alert him to an external enemy. It alerted him to a disturbance inside the room.
Beep.
[ALERT: ABNORMAL HEART RATE DETECTED]
[SOURCE: SERAPHINA]
[STATUS: HIGH DISTRESS]
Lysander's eyes snapped open. The red iris of his mask glowed instantly in the dark.
On the other side of the cabin, Seraphina was not finding peace.
She was thrashing on her makeshift bed, her legs kicking at the woolen blanket, her hands clawing at the air as if trying to push something away. Her forehead was slick with cold sweat, strands of silver hair sticking to her face.
She wasn't in the cabin anymore. In her mind, she was back in the place she hated most.
The Academy Locker Room.
In the dream, the air smelled of stale perfume and blood.
"Look at her," a shrill voice laughed. It was one of the noble girls, clutching a wooden training sword. "She's trying to cover herself. As if she has any dignity left"
Smack.
Seraphina felt the phantom pain of the wood hitting her ribs. She curled into a ball on the cold tile floor.
"Please..." Dream-Seraphina begged.
"Please stop. I didn't do anything"
"You existed!" another girl screamed, kicking her in the stomach. "You walked around with that face and that body, pretending to be one of us! But you're Rank-F! You're trash! You're just a whore waiting to be sold!"
The scene shifted. The locker room dissolved into the Valerius Estate.
She was crawling toward her brother.
"Julian... help me..."
Julian turned around. He looked at her not with love, but with pure disgust. He raised his boot.
"Don't touch me," Julian sneered. "You'll infect me with your failure"
Thud.
He kicked her away. She slid across the polished marble floor, crashing into a pair of black boots.
She looked up.
It was Cedric. But he was ten feet tall, his eyes glowing with a sick, yellow lust. His hands were covered in black slime.
"Found you," Cedric's voice boomed, echoing like a distorted bell. "Did you think you could run? You belong to me, Seraphina. Your father signed the paper. Your body is mine to break"
He reached down, his massive, slimy hand grabbing her throat.
"Scream all you want," Cedric laughed.
"Nobody is coming. You are alone. You are trash"
"No!"
Seraphina gasped, her back arching off the mat.
"No... don't touch me! Get away!"
She woke up with a strangled cry, sitting bolt upright in the darkness. Her chest was heaving, her lungs gasping for air as if she had been drowning. Tears were streaming down her face, cold and stinging.
She scrambled backward, pressing her back against the rough wooden wall of the cabin, pulling her knees to her chest. Her eyes darted around the dark room frantically, still seeing the shadows of Cedric and the bullies in the corners.
"Stay back..." she whimpered, trembling violently. "I have... I have a sword..."
She didn't have a sword. She was holding a pillow.
"Seraphina"
The voice was low, mechanical, and calm.
Seraphina froze. She snapped her head toward the corner.
Two glowing red lights—the eyes of the Iron-Wraith Mask—were staring at her from the darkness. Lysander was sitting up, one leg resting on the other, watching her.
"Calm down," Lysander said. "There is no one here but me"
Seraphina blinked, her vision slowly adjusting. The locker room was gone. Cedric was gone. There was just the smell of pine wood and the silent, imposing figure of Zero.
The reality hit her. She was safe. But the terror of the nightmare was still pumping through her veins.
"Zero..." she choked out, her voice breaking.
"I... I..."
She buried her face in her hands, trying to stifle the sobs that were threatening to tear her apart. She didn't want him to see her like this—weak, broken, crying over a dream. She wanted to be strong for him.
But she couldn't stop shaking.
"I'm sorry," she whispered through her fingers. "I'm sorry I woke you up. I just... I saw them. I saw all of them"
Lysander didn't move from his corner. He didn't offer empty comfort. He simply watched her, his System analyzing her state.
[OBSERVATION: PTSD EPISODE]
[HEART RATE: 140 BPM]
"Go back to sleep," Lysander said quietly.
"I can't," Seraphina whispered, hugging her knees, her body shaking violently. "If I close my eyes... Cedric is there. He's touching me. I can't make it stop"
She buried her face in her hands, expecting Lysander to scold her or tell her to be quiet from his corner.
But he didn't.
Rustle.
There was a sudden movement. Before Seraphina could look up, a shadow fell over her.
"Stand up"
It wasn't a command; it was an offer.
Lysander didn't wait. He reached down, grabbed her trembling shoulders, and pulled her up from the mat. Before she could process what was happening, he pulled her into him.
"Don't be afraid," Lysander whispered, his voice vibrating through his chest. "I am here"
He wrapped his arms around her, engulfing her small frame in the massive, protective bulk of his Void-Weave Hoodie.
Seraphina froze for a split second, her eyes wide. But then, the warmth hit her.
"Zero..."
She crumbled.
She threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder. She didn't just hug him; she clung to him like a drowning woman clinging to a rock in a storm.
"It's okay," Lysander murmured, one hand resting on the back of her head, pressing her closer. "You are safe"
Seraphina squeezed her eyes shut. She had never felt safe like this. Not in the castle. Not in the Academy. Not even in her mother's arms had she felt such absolute, impenetrable security. It was as if the world outside had ceased to exist, and the only reality was the man holding her.
Instinct took over. She needed to be closer.
She needed to fuse with him.
She jumped slightly, wrapping her legs around his waist, locking her ankles behind his back. Lysander didn't buckle; he held her easily, his arm supporting her lower back.