"Mira!"
The cry ripped itself from the copper-haired woman's throat, raw and trembling. Her cheeks were already streaked with tears, though more welled hot and unrelenting, blurring her grief until only the fire in her grey eyes remained clear. That fire cut through the haze, fixing on the figure standing tall above the crowd, the one who had just seized the crown.
Aurex.
Her gaze clung to him, her anguish sharpening into something harder, a mixture of betrayal and fury. To everyone else, he was the victor, the man who had wrested power with his own hands. But to her, he was the one who had abandoned Sini. The other woman, the mirror image of herself, her twin sister.
The resemblance was undeniable. Same delicate jawline, same sharpness to the nose, the same way grief gathered in their features like storm clouds. And yet one lay dead, on the floor, because Rex had chosen his path and left her behind.
The copper-haired woman's chest heaved with each breath, her voice trembling again as though the air itself was cutting her lungs. The hall seemed to fall away around her, cheers, cries, the shuffling of armored men. All of it muted beneath the weight of her grief and the sight of him, crowned, stained by what she saw as unforgivable choice.
Mira Lilith stepped forward with unhurried grace, her long black hair spilling like a veil of night around her pale face. There was something almost bridal, almost funeral, in the way her black dress swept the floor as she moved. Her smile was sweet, calm, even serene, but her violet eyes gleamed with a predatory light that froze the room.
Around her fingers coiled two circles of chains, each link glowing with a violet aura. They pulsed faintly, alive, like serpents eager to squeeze.
One chain bound the ridiculous noble with the pink bob, his body slack as if the pain had knocked him unconscious. The iron grip of the links bit into his ribs, and each pulse of purple light made his chest twitch, as though the chains themselves breathed for him.
The other chain held the short-haired woman who had dared leap at Rex, now suspended like prey caught mid-pounce. Her arms strained uselessly against the shackles, the dagger she had carried lying abandoned on the floor below.
"Inis," Mira said, her tone gentle, almost chiding, as she tilted her head to the side. Her free hand rose to brush a curtain of black hair from her cheek, the gesture deceptively delicate. "What did I just say…?"
The chains tightened with a low, metallic groan. The short-haired woman's cry broke into a gasp as the violet aura flared, squeezing her harder.
"Nobody touches His Majesty."
The words were soft, spoken like a lullaby, yet they carried through the throne room with lethal clarity. Nobles shrank back, whispers breaking out like ripples across the chamber, and even the knights at the doors shifted uneasily, as though none of them wished to be the next caught in those glowing coils.
"No!" The copper-haired woman's voice cracked with fury, her whole body trembling as tears streaked her cheeks. "He let her die! How can he just sit there, how can he!" Her words tore through the chamber like a blade, silencing even the nobles who had dared to whisper.
Mira Lilith's smile faltered, the sweetness vanishing as if it had never been. Her violet eyes slid upward, pinning Inis in place with the weight of something colder than steel. The girl froze, her defiance caught in her throat, as though those glowing chains threatened to close around her as well.
Then, slowly, almost unnervingly, Mira's lips curved once more. The smile returned, polished and pristine, though Rex caught the sharpness underneath. He leaned back against the throne, narrowing his eyes, watching the exchange.
Something about the performance, the sudden switch, tugged at his instincts.
Now that's interesting, Rex thought, the corners of his mouth twitching.
Mira didn't look at Inis again. Instead, she turned her head, her gaze flicking lazily toward the tall man at her flank. "Don't make me restrain you too, Shin Lan."
The white haired mercenary already had his lance in hand, the weapon angled in front of him. His green eyes burned across the distance, fixing not on Mira but squarely on Rex. It wasn't just anger, it was accusation, the kind that would end in blood if given the chance.
For a heartbeat, Rex can feel the man would strike. But then Shin Lan faltered, jaw tightening as though something unseen bound him just as surely as Mira's chains did her captives. His tongue clicked against his teeth in frustration before he lowered the lance, the movement stiff and reluctant.
The tension in the room throbbed like a wound. Nobles lingered at the edges, pale and silent.
And Mira, she only smiled again. She let the chains loosen slightly, enough for the bound figures to breathe raggedly, and then she moved with the poise of a cat. Her black skirts whispered as she bent into a bow, one hand pressed lightly to her chest, her eyes gleaming up at Rex through dark lashes.
"How about we discuss what really happened, Your Majesty?" she purred, her voice sweetened once more. "Your faction ought to celebrate their king…" Her grin widened, playful and dangerous all at once. "…somewhere private."
Rex hummed under his breath, one brow lifting as he leaned back in the throne.
Honestly, in a place he knew nothing about, the one thing he needed more than gold crowns or jeweled scepters was information.
These people, dangerous, unhinged, and apparently loyal, might have it. Of course, it could come with a blade at his throat.
But wasn't that just another Tuesday for him? Even before prison, living with death close at hand had been his routine.
So he grinned.
He pushed himself up from the throne, and the shift rippled through the chamber like a warning bell. Nobles flinched backward. The priest's face twisted, his lips parting as though to scold, while the knights bristled, half-moving to intercept him.
But Rex kept walking, unhurried, deliberate.
Each step carried him down from the dais, his boots sinking into the plush carpet now soaked scarlet. The blood had dried in places, still wet in others, and the stench of iron clung to the air.
His heel dragged across it without hesitation, smearing the stain of not just one, but several corpses abandoned where they'd fallen. No one had cleaned them. No one had even dared.
He didn't look down. He didn't need to.
Instead, he tilted his head, eyes fixed on the dark-haired woman at the heart of the intruding group. "Should we?" Rex asked, his tone deceptively casual, almost mocking. The grin curled on his lips like he was testing her. Retaliation, provocation, invitation, it was hard to tell which.
The hush that followed wasn't silence at all. It was alive with whispers, gasps, and the faint rasp of chain links sliding over Mira's pale fingers.