The heavy, sound-proofed door of the antechamber clicked shut, plunging us into a world of shadow and flickering firelight. The chaotic, festive energy of the wedding ceremony faded into a distant, muffled hum, leaving only the two of us in the tense, suffocating silence. A single, glowing firecrystal, suspended in the center of the room, cast long, dancing shadows on the dark, volcanic stone walls. My own body was still wreathed in the faint, shimmering golden light of the mana oath, a visible testament to the truth I was about to speak.
"Your mother and father were killed," I began, my voice a low, steady murmur that cut through the silence like a blade. "And I know you know that, too. These lies, these convenient stories of a tragic, natural accident… they are a flimsy, pathetic veil, a story so full of holes that even a child with a functioning brain could see through it."
