"We should teleport her back to the Empress's Palace," Legion said, his voice tense with worry as he looked at Seiryu.
They were inside the Golden Canopy, gathered around Ceres's unconscious form. Delphine, Duke Aurelian, High Court Magician Celion, and Holy Knight Commander Layla were also present, their faces shadowed with concern.
Delphine sat beside the bed, gently touching the Empress's cold cheek, her worry growing by the second.
"No, we can't," Seiryu said firmly.
Legion's eyes snapped to him.
"And why not? Are you waiting for a command?" he snapped, frustration laced in his voice. His usual calm was gone, replaced by raw fear.
"The Empress is under a Dream Spell," Seiryu explained, his tone steady despite the rising tension. "If we disrupt the spell by teleporting her, she could get lost in the Dream Realm, permanently."
Aurelian's brows furrowed, the usual sharpness in his gaze replaced with something almost… uncertain.
"Can you not wake her up?" he asked. His voice was composed, but there was a hint of unease. He then turned to Celion. "Aren't Dream Spells easy to break?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," Celion responded confidently. "I can break the spell immediately."
"No, you can't," Seiryu countered, his tone dropping. "This isn't just any Dream Spell."
At that, Delphine's head snapped up.
"Could it be… the Dream Spell the Empress wanted to cast?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Seiryu nodded.
"The Empress wanted to cast a Dream Spell?" Lady Layla asked, brows knitting together.
Delphine and Legion exchanged glances, before nodding in silent confirmation.
"But that's the problem," Seiryu continued, his voice grave.
Gone was the playful tone he usually carried, the one the Empress tolerated and indulged.
"She didn't cast it herself." His eyes darkened. "Her HP is too low to cast a spell of this level."
Silence fell over the room.
Aurelian's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean?" he asked, voice slow, calculating. "Did the magic she used earlier drain her HP so much that she couldn't even perform a simple Dream Spell?"
Seiryu exhaled, shaking his head.
"The Dream Spell the Empress wanted to cast doesn't just bend time and space." His gaze swept across the room. "Its target isn't even this world."
"I myself couldn't cast that Dream Spell," Seiryu admitted. "And for her to even attempt it, she would need at least 500 HP. Her maximum HP right now is barely 100."
He sighed.
"That's why I'm useless to her. I can't cast the spell for her, and I can't give her the HP she needs to perform it herself."
Silence stretched between them.
Celion was the first to break it.
"A Dream Spell… across worlds?" he whispered, eyes wide in disbelief.
Seiryu nodded.
Aurelian's hands curled into fists, his jaw tightening.
"Who…" His voice came out rough. "Who does she want to see?"
A question, yet at the same time, a demand.
Legion's eyes met Aurelian's. There was no hesitation when he answered.
"The man she loves."
The Duke's expression froze.
A heavy silence fell upon the room.
Then, Aurelian's eyes darkened, something ugly and unrecognizable stirring in his chest.
"The man she loves?" His voice was dangerously quiet. "She has someone like that?"
Legion sighed.
"It's not just someone she loves," he said, his tone matter-of-fact, as if stating something undeniable. "But someone who loves her so much. Someone whose entire world revolved around her."
The words felt like daggers.
"And how are you so sure?"
The Duke's voice rose, laced with a fury even he didn't want to acknowledge. The thought of another man being important to Ceres, more important than anyone in this room, was something he refused to accept.
Legion's jaw tightened, but he answered without faltering.
"Because she told me."
His words slashed through the air like a blade.
"From the very beginning," Legion continued. "She made it clear to me, no matter what I do, no matter what I give her, I can only claim her body…"
His throat tightened slightly.
"But never her heart."
Aurelian's breathing grew uneven.
"Because she's already given it away."
The air in the tent became thick, suffocating.
Legion's next words sealed the wound shut.
"And she wanted to see that man one last time."
His eyes didn't waver.
"Because they were separated against their will."
"Because she left him without saying goodbye."
And Aurelian, who had never feared a battle, never flinched before an enemy, felt something inside him twist into something he couldn't control.
******
The darkness was endless.
So thick and vast that Ceres couldn't tell if her eyes were open or closed.
She tried lifting her hands, but she couldn't see them.
Her feet were there, she could feel them against the invisible ground, but they, too, were lost to the void.
A chill crawled up her spine.
"Delphine?!" she called.
No answer.
"Legion?! Seiryu?!"
Nothing.
Only silence.
A strange, unsettling déjà vu washed over her.
Even without knowing where to go, she stepped forward.
She called out again, louder this time, but still, nothing answered back.
The silence wasn't just empty.
It was absolute.
It swallowed everything, her voice, her breath, even the sound of her own heartbeat.
She didn't know how long she had been walking in that endless darkness, but suddenly, in the far distance, a light.
A small, faint glow, barely visible, but it was there.
Ceres's chest tightened. She ran toward it.
Her feet pounded against the unseen ground, her heart racing with anticipation.
Yet, no matter how fast she ran, the light barely seemed to get closer.
But she didn't stop.
She couldn't.
She just kept running.
And then, slowly, almost imperceptibly, the light grew.
It expanded, growing larger and larger until it wasn't just a glow anymore.
It was a door.
Ceres came to an abrupt stop, her breathing steady despite the long run.
She stared at the door in front of her.
It didn't look like the grand doors of the Empress's Palace, nor did it resemble the intricate, celestial engravings of the Hallway of the Celestials.
Yet, it felt familiar.
An ache bloomed in her chest, but she didn't know why.
Would it open?
Or, like the Hallway of the Celestials, would she be forced to wait?
Ceres reached for the handle, and to her surprise, it opened effortlessly.
She stepped inside.
And her breath hitched.
It was her things.
Her shoes, her bags, her dresses, her jewelry, everything that had once belonged to her.
And then it hit her.
The door, it was the exact same door as the one in her walk-in closet at the Monteverde Mansion.
Her legs moved on their own, carrying her toward the section where all of Zeus's gifts were displayed.
Her fingers trembled as she reached out, touching one of the many items.
She didn't even realize when the tears started falling.
Her vision blurred.
"I must be dreaming," she whispered.
Ever since she arrived in Solmara, ever since her soul took over this body,
She had never once had a dream.
Not until now.
Her gaze landed on the 'Starlight' necklace, still inside its glass case.
A small, bittersweet smile touched her lips as she carefully picked it up.
With gentle reverence, she clasped the necklace around her neck.
The pendant rested warm against her skin.
It felt like a heartbeat, like his heartbeat.
And then, a memory.
The night Zeus proposed to her, under the fireworks and meteor shower, the way the necklace had glowed that night, just like the stars above them.
Her fingers curled around the pendant, holding it tightly in her palm.
And then, she heard it.
A sound.
A silent sob.
It was quiet, barely more than a whisper.
But it was there.
Ceres stilled.
Her gaze darted toward the door she had just entered through.
It was coming from there.
But there had been nothing outside, just total darkness.
Her pulse quickened.
She took a shaky breath and reached for the handle.
She opened the door again.
But this time, instead of emptiness, she saw a bedroom.
Her bedroom.
Her old bed.
Her old world.
Then, her eyes caught something else.
Something standing next to the bed.
A dress.
The dress she had worn when she died saving a little girl.
She stepped closer.
And then, the sobbing.
It was louder now.
Not the cries of someone in agony,
But the quiet kind of grief.
The kind where the person didn't want to be heard.
Ceres felt her heart pound against her ribs as she stepped around the dress, and then she saw him.
"No."
The word fell from her lips, barely a whisper.
Because there, on the floor, is Zeus.
His broad frame curled in on itself, his body trembling.
His shoulders shook violently as he silently wept.
His arms were wrapped tightly around a picture frame, a photo of them.
The one from their mock prenuptial shoot.
His usual meticulous appearance was gone.
His hair disheveled, his shirt wrinkled, his entire presence drowned in sorrow.
He looked lost.
Broken.
The sight made something inside her shatter.
His fingers clutched the frame desperately, as if it were the only thing keeping him together.
And then, his voice.
So soft.
So fragile.
"I need you."
She heard his voice, broken, raw, filled with grief.
"I'm sorry, I should have stayed by your side. I love you."
Ceres rushed to him, falling to her knees beside him.
"Zeus. Love."
She reached for him, her hands trembling as she touched his skin.
She could feel him.
His warmth.
The familiar strength of his body, but he couldn't feel her.
He didn't react.
Didn't flinch.
Didn't see her.
Didn't hear her.
"I don't know how to live without you."
His voice was empty, defeated, a man on the edge of despair.
Her Zeus was never like this.
And yet, she knew.
She knew it was because of her that he had become this way.
"Love, please, please continue living for me."
Her tears fell as she pressed desperate kisses against his face, his cheeks, his forehead, his jaw.
But to Zeus, she wasn't there.
She was nothing but a ghost.
"I can't do this anymore."
His body shook as he clutched the picture frame tighter.
"I can't take this anymore. I need you."
A choked sob tore from her throat.
"No! No, please don't say that. You're strong! You can live…"
"I need to see you."
His voice cracked.
"Love, I need to see you. I need you."
Ceres cupped his face, pressing her forehead against his.
"Love, I'm here… Please don't give up. Please, be happy, even if I'm not by your side."
But no matter how much she spoke, how much she begged, he couldn't hear her.
He couldn't feel her.
Ceres clawed at the edges of her magic, trying everything…
Silver Tongue.
Creation Magic.
Monarch's Blessing.
But none of them worked.
She was not Ceres Evadne Valeria, Empress of Aquilonis.
Here, in this space,
She was only Ceres Evadne Monteverde.
And magic did not exist here.
Her breathing turned erratic, her hands tightening into fists as she threw her head back and screamed to the heavens.
"Please! Let him see me! Anyone!"
Her voice cracked, filled with desperation.
"Azrael! Fates! Lucifer!"
She pleaded.
"Please, let him see me. I beg you!"
But there was no response.
No divine intervention.
No miracle.
Only silence.
Only Zeus's sobs, ripping her apart with every sound.
Ceres had nothing left to offer, except herself.
So she wrapped herself around him, held him as tightly as she could.
Even if he couldn't feel her.
Even if he would never know she was there.
She cried with him, planting tender, desperate kisses on his skin, whispering the words she knew he couldn't hear.
"I love you. I love you. I love you."
"Empress…"
Duke Aurelian's voice was soft, almost hesitant, as he stared down at Ceres's unconscious form.
For three days, she had not woken up.
For three days, they had waited.
And now, tears were slipping from her closed eyes.
Aurelian exhaled slowly.
Then, with an almost reluctant tenderness, he reached out and wiped them away.
She murmured something, a whisper, barely audible.
"Love…"
Aurelian froze.
Then, a shattered breath.
"I love you."
A sudden, unfamiliar warmth spread through his chest.
And then, she spoke again.
A single name.
A name that sent a sharp, burning weight into his gut.
"Zeus."
Aurelian stiffened.
"I love you. Forever and always."
The warmth in his chest turned to ice.
Aurelian shot to his feet.
His fists clenched, jaw locking as something ugly and suffocating coiled inside him.
Zeus?
Who the hell is Zeus?
There was no noble in the empire or any kingdom with that name.
His mind raced, who was he? Who was so important to her that she would say his name like that?
His pulse pounded with an emotion he refused to name.
Delphine entered, but she stopped immediately when she caught sight of Aurelian pacing back and forth at the foot of the Empress's bed.
She saw his clenched fists.
The way his chest rose and fell in controlled rage.
The way his eyes burned.
She said nothing.
Then, she heard a sudden gasp from the bed.
"Your Highness!"
Delphine rushed to Ceres's side.
Within seconds, Seiryu and Legion stormed into the room, as if they had felt it.
Felt that she had finally woken up.
But the moment Ceres saw Delphine, she broke down.
She collapsed into her arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Just like that time.
Just like the night she saw the fireworks during the late Emperor's burial.
She couldn't hide it.
She could not help but let herself cry, raw and unrestrained.
And none of them uttered a word.
They let her cry, because they knew, she needed it.