"Are you sulking?" Ceres asked with a sly smile, glancing at Legion, who was riding silently beside her carriage.
They were just a few hours away from reaching the gates of the Aquilonis capital.
Legion didn't answer right away. His gaze remained fixed on the road ahead, and his grip on the reins tightened ever so slightly.
"I am not, Your Highness," he replied at last, though the clenched fists around his horse's reins said otherwise.
Of course he was sulking.
Last night, when it came time to replenish her HP, she chose Aurelian instead of him.
What Aurelian didn't know, and what Ceres didn't feel the need to tell him, was that she only agreed to sleep with him because, like Legion, he could replenish her HP. But unlike Legion, Aurelian could restore twenty percent of her HP in a single session. That meant it would only take four rounds with him to fully restore her life force, unlike Legion, with whom it took much longer.
"You're sulking," Ceres said again, this time more as a statement than a question.
Legion finally sighed, turning to face her.
She saw the pain flicker in his eyes, but she chose to ignore it.
She had warned him many times not to let his feelings go too deep.
"I could have served you last night," Legion said quietly.
"Yes, but I didn't allow you to," Ceres replied, her tone even. "After all, you lost when you tried to defend my honor. You were so confident when you challenged Sir Draven, consider this your punishment."
Legion's jaw tightened.
"But I asked for a second chance, Your Highness," he said, almost like a child seeking forgiveness.
"You don't always get second chances in life, Legion," Ceres said, her voice softening briefly before returning to its usual sharp edge. "Focus on your training with the Knight Commanders. You need to be ready before we leave the kingdom... unless, of course, you no longer wish to travel with us?"
"Of course I do, Your Highness," Legion replied instantly, a flicker of panic flashing in his eyes.
"Good," Ceres said, arching her brow. "Then stop obsessing over who shares my bed. You know I don't do it out of desire, but out of necessity. If I ever find a way to replenish my HP without sleeping with you or Aurelian, do you think I'd still choose either of you?"
Legion couldn't respond.
And for a moment, just a moment, Ceres felt a flicker of guilt. But she buried it.
She needed to be harsh.
That was the only way to keep him from falling deeper into something he could never truly have.
"I need you more as my knight," she added coldly, her tone slicing through the tension between them. "Not as my lover. So stop sulking... it's starting to irritate me."
With that, Ceres shut the carriage window, leaving Legion alone.
Alone with his thoughts. His frustration. And the silence.
When the towering gates of the capital came into view, Ceres quietly stepped down from the carriage, joined by Delphine and Arwen. Without a word, they slipped into the crowd of returning mages, seamlessly blending into their ranks.
She had already ordered Seiryu to teleport the children, their mothers, and Morgana back to the Empress Palace. Upon his return, she lent him to Duke Aurelian... to make a statement.
It wasn't difficult for the mages to hide her. The robes, the dust from the road, and the crowd gave her the perfect cover.
For the first time in history, the Yearly Monster Hunt Expedition returned with an overwhelming sense of victory. Though there were still lives lost, the people waiting beyond the gates wept... not in grief, but in joy.
They cried tears of reunion, relief, and newfound hope.
Hope brought by a woman they weren't even allowed to thank.
Because their Empress had given only one command: "Tell no one what I've done."
And so they didn't.
But though she moved among them hidden, every soldier, every mage, every knight, and every commoner in that expedition carried a silent vow.
To honor her.
To defend her.
Even if she never asked them to.
When the procession reached the town square, all eyes turned to the sky.
Beside Duke Aurelian, Seiryu... levitating in his human form... suddenly shifted.
There was a radiant flash of celestial light, and in his place now soared the Serpentine Celestial Dragon, coiling through the sky in gleaming scales that shimmered like moonlight on water.
With a powerful beat he ascended high above the capital.
Then came the roar.
A deafening, soul-stirring roar that echoed through the city like a divine proclamation.
The sky seemed to tremble. The ground pulsed with warmth. And across the kingdom, something impossible happened.
With that roar, Seiryu blessed the entire kingdom of Aquilonis.
Dry riverbeds began to flow again.
Frozen streams melted.
Withered crops sprang back to life.
Spring had come... not a mere shift in season, but a rebirth. A miracle.
For many commoners, it was the first spring they had ever experienced.
And at that moment, they knew in their hearts: This was not the work of the gods. This was the Empress's doing.
Far away, nobles waiting impatiently at the Emperor's Palace felt the tremor of Seiryu's flight.
From the balconies and windows, they looked up and saw the Holy Beast... his body stretched over the capital, his roar still echoing in the mountains.
Some paled.
Particularly the nobles aligned with Prince Augustus and Princess Aurora. They could taste the power shift in the air. And they swallowed hard.
Meanwhile, the nobles loyal to Duke Aurelian could not hide their smiles.
Because the message had been made clear: The Duke had returned, victorious. With a Holy Beast at his side.
But Seiryu's roar did more than shake the stones of Aquilonis.
It reached far beyond.
From the Magic Tower of Aquilonis, the sound reverberated into the skies and through the ley lines that connected all magic towers across the continent.
The roar was heard in the Water Kingdom of Vaelundis, Ceres's home.
It echoed through the Wind Kingdom of Zephyriax, rippling across the cloud cities.
It was felt beneath the silver trees of the Moonlit Kingdom of Noctharis.
Heard within the volcanic peaks of the Fire Kingdom of Pyrrathis.
And carried by sandstorms across the golden dunes of the Desert Kingdom of Gaianthos.
In that moment, the entire world realized one truth...
A Holy Beast had awakened.
And it had answered the call of the kingdom they had long deemed the weakest.
Aquilonis.
And everything was about to change.