Solaris watched as Aurora exited the room, his whole face, except for his mouth, covered in red, lip-shaped markings.

Aurora stopped just at the doorstep, then turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. "When will I see you once again, my prince?" Her voice was weak and soft, as though she were restraining herself from crying.

And it seemed likely, for her eyes shimmered with tears welling in those starry irises that looked like clusters of stars themselves.

Solaris gave her his usual smile, his voice echoing directly inside her mind. "Soon, darling. I've given you everything I know about my mother, and I'll give you more if I manage to uncover other information."

"So now, it's your turn." His smile widened, his golden eyes glowing sharply. "Our future together depends on you."

Aurora's face hardened, becoming the epitome of resolve. She raised her hand, briskly brushed her tears away, and nodded toward Solaris. "I will not rest, my prince, until the day comes when the night itself is our blanket," she said, her tone carrying a rare note of seriousness.

Solaris smiled, satisfied. "I shall prepare the bed, then."

Aurora smiled faintly, then finally turned and left the room, closing the door behind her with a soft, almost inaudible click.

Silence swept through the room.

Solaris stayed still, his gaze fixed on the door for a few moments, his mind replaying his conversation with Aurora in disordered fragments before his senses returned to the present, when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him from behind.

He smiled. This time, it was not the cold, venomous smile he reserved for his brother, nor the strained, deceitful one he wore before Aurora.

This time, it was a genuine smile, one born from affection, a feeling no one who truly knew him would have ever believed he possessed.

"Oh? Jealous, darling?" he teased the woman behind him, gently clasping her hands in his own.

The woman had blue hair and cold, almost apathetic blue eyes, but within their dead calm burned an unmistakable warmth whenever they met Solaris's black.

She snorted at his words. "Don't call me the same name you called her, idiot," she said, punching his back playfully. Solaris exaggerated an ouch and laughed.

He turned to face her, his gaze softening further.

Aurora might have been more beautiful by worldly standards, but to him, the woman before him possessed a beauty that transcended the physical.

The woman, Neila, lifted a hand holding a blue napkin and began methodically wiping the countless lipstick marks left by Aurora.

Her eyes were clearly irritated, yet she said nothing, only continuing to clean his face with slow precision.

"I had no choice," Solaris whispered, this time, with no mental influence in his tone. "I hope you understand that."

"I do," Neila retorted, her lips curling into a cold smirk. "That's exactly why your two jewels are still in good shape."

Solaris chuckled softly. "You wouldn't dare," he said with a grin. "You want to bear my children, after all."

Neila finished cleaning his face, then leaned in and kissed him, exactly where Aurora had. The precision of her lips was unnerving. When she finished, she pulled him into a deep, lingering kiss, a mingling of breaths and saliva where neither could tell where one ended and the other began.

Seconds slipped away, and when the first minute crept close, she broke the kiss and smirked. "I do wish to bear them. That's the only dream the world ever allowed me to keep. But do not forget, Solaris"

She leaned in close, her breath ghosting his ear, "you are mine."

Solaris grinned, but his grin faltered immediately when he noticed a red mark on Neila's pale neck.

A mark left by a whip, he easily recognized.

His golden eyes turned cold instantly, yet the room itself was anything but cold. The temperature surged sharply, the air trembling with heat. Neila noticed it and instinctively raised a hand to her neck, trying to hide the mark.

A useless endeavor.

"He did it again?" Solaris growled, seizing her hand and pushing it away, his blistering golden eyes locking on the wound.

Neila bit her lips, unable to stop him from seeing what she wished to conceal. She had no power to resist him, none at all.

She wasn't even of the Awakened rank.

She was one of the rarest beings in existence. As rare as a Mythic Holder, yet the two were worlds apart.

She was a mere mortal without an Origin. A Wasted, as they were cruelly called.

Still, she was a mortal who had been lucky — or perhaps cursed — to earn the love of the Golden Son, only to fall into the clutches of a far greater monster.

She shook her head, noticing how quickly time was slipping away. "I need to go," she whispered, her voice trembling as she met Solaris's wrath-drenched face.

"I need to go," she repeated, more firmly this time, and the sound of her voice pulled Solaris from his fury. His eyes softened, pained.

Wordless, he pulled her into a tight embrace. "Wait for me," he whispered, his body trembling with contained rage. "I'll soon be emperor and when I am, I'll take you from him. I'll save you, Neila, and then we'll finally be together."

Neila nodded, her blue eyes shimmering with exhaustion and a hidden ache. Slowly, she broke the hug, her movements reluctant, and offered Solaris a soft but fragile smile.

"I need to go," she whispered again, her tone wrapped in sorrow that seeped straight into Solaris's heart.

He clenched his jaw hard enough that his teeth groaned.

This time, Solaris didn't stop her. He simply watched as Neila walked to the wall behind his chair and knocked twice on its right side. By design, the wall split apart like a hidden door. Neila stepped inside, turned her head to look back at Solaris, blew him a kiss, and disappeared, swallowed by the darkness.

The wall closed behind her.

Solaris stood there, staring blankly at the sealed wall. Slowly, his hand curled into a tight fist, his knuckles whitening until blood began to drip down.

"I will do it," he whispered. "No matter the price, I will do it."

Let the stars shatter into billions of pieces, scattered across the void, never to illuminate the night again.

Let the moon be devoured by darkness, never to be seen again.

Let the sun drown in a crimson sea, so that morning itself forgets how to rise.

No matter the consequences. No matter the cost.

'I will be the Emperor.'

And we will be together.

…

Meanwhile, outside, Aurora gave Knight Tib a radiant smile before slowly walking away, leaving the poor knight utterly dazed.

Kaden followed behind her, but not before sparing Tib a peculiar smile. "Let's meet again, Tib, shall we?" he said with unsettling familiarity, causing the knight to narrow his eyes. Yet before he could utter a word, Kaden was already ahead, following his Lady, with Lady Sora leading the way.

They left the golden mansion the same way they had entered and were met with the same looks of contempt and superiority as before.

None of them cared.

Outside, they boarded the carriage of House Starborn, Lady Sora taking the reins at the front while Kaden and Aurora sat behind.

Lady Sora snapped the ropes lightly, prompting the two silver horses to neigh, snort, and begin their slow trot toward the Starborn estate.

The carriage rode in silence, broken only by the rhythmic clatter of steel-shod hooves striking the rocky ground.

Behind, Kaden and Aurora didn't exchange so much as a glance. Aurora sat smiling from ear to ear, whispering to herself how handsome her prince was and how she already missed him.

Lady Sora smiled faintly at the sound, though a trace of pity edged her lips.

It seemed age was catching up to her, softening her heart toward those fated for sorrow.

How cruel, she thought, that such a young woman, who wanted nothing more than comfort and love, was used as nothing but a ladder to someone else's glory.

But if her age had filled her with pity, it had also granted her understanding, an intimate knowledge of the threads that wove what was called life.

Especially those belonging to nobles.

They cared for nothing except power and the pursuit of eternal glory. And they would use anyone or anything to achieve it.

'Even if it means sacrificing a young girl, or…' her eyes hazed and slipped into the past, 'cursing your own sister for crimes she did not commit, all to buy the favors of the nobles.'

She found it comical, and yet deeply sad.

She glanced back briefly, seeing the handsome knight speaking with Aurora, bantering with her.

Her sweet smile returned.

'Yes. At least feel one real connection before you join the stars,' she whispered inwardly. 'Let this young man be the one who eats away your loneliness…'

'…before the sun comes close and ashes your life across the sky.'

And just like that, the trio arrived at House Starborn.

Kaden and Aurora thanked Lady Sora before going toward the room, Lady Sora herself decided to rest her old body.

Inside the room, Aurora sat at the edge of her bed. She took out a napkin and slowly wiped her mouth, her eyes devoid of the overwhelming extroversion and excitement she had worn all day.

She raised her starry eyes and stared at Kaden, who was leaning against the wall watching her with a soft smile.

Aurora mirrored his smile. "My lips touched something unpleasant today," she said. "How about you override it, Fraud?"

Kaden chuckled, then coughed to hide his nervousness. "You want some water, maybe?"

Aurora laughed at his reaction, then turned to look at her painting board. "Fraud," she said, "we have information about the Sun Empress now."

Kaden focused.

"And what I learned will certainly not please you," she continued, her eyes still on the canvas that held Lady Sora's perfect portrait, odd tooth and all.

"The Sun Empress is the embodiment of cynicism, one who trusts not even her own blood, let alone others," she said.

"She saw herself in Solaris and thus favored him, offering only a glimpse of who she is."

She paused, letting Kaden digest her words.

"To make it short," she continued, "if we wish to move against Solaris, or even Soleil, as retribution for the tools they make of us, Starborn, and for your desire for revolution…"

She finally turned her head to him.

"Then we must first take care of Lady Sora."

Kaden's eyes widened at the sudden words, his heart skipping a beat.

"Because she is the slave of the Sun Empress."

Her voice went cold.

"She will die for her. Even if she does not wish to."

—End of chapter 320—

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