The hall had begun to thin, nobles filing out in orderly lines, their robes brushing the marble floor with soft rustles. The air still carried the weight of the Dire's words and the lingering hum of the crest's resonance.
Eran hadn't moved yet. He stayed seated a moment longer, arms still folded, his gaze distant, until a faint shift beside him pulled him back.
Miyu rose slowly, her movements measured, almost too graceful for someone of her usual sharpness. Only then did he realize how close she had been sitting all along.
He turned slightly, and there she was... Miyu, her violet eyes glinting faintly in the fading light of the hall, her expression calm but unreadable.
For a long moment, he had almost forgotten she was beside him at all.
Her presence was quiet, but it carried a weight of its own... a noble's poise, a faint tension in the air between them.
