Vesha answered with the ease of someone who kept a wide gossip network among common folk. "She is Thalira Luna, the daughter of the Lunari ruler Silverlight Zephan."

"Daughter of a ruler?" Niva repeated quietly. At first, the title sounded heavy and impressive. Then she remembered she herself was now the sister of a ruler. The weight of the words suddenly felt weaker, almost hollow.

They kept watching Thalira's natural beauty and the effortless allure of her walk, just like everyone else around them.

After a while, Thalira became aware of their gaze. She turned, ignored everyone else, and looked straight at Niva, meeting her eyes with a steady, measuring look.

"Oh, she is looking this way." Niva whispered, quickly lowering her gaze. Her heart gave a small, nervous jump.

On Earth, staring directly at someone would already be rude. Getting caught doing it was even worse. The realization sent heat to her cheeks, leaving them faintly red.

"And now she is coming this way." Marielle spoke with a small laugh, still watching. Unlike her daughter, she didn't look embarrassed at all and seemed more amused than anything.

The group fell quiet and watched as Thalira walked toward them.

Her steps were calm and unhurried. The closer she came, the more the sounds of the market seemed to fade into the background, as if the space around them was narrowing.

Until her voice reached them and broke the illusion of silence in an instant.

"You might be locals here, am I correct?" Thalira asked when she finally stopped in front of them. Her tone was casual, her face almost expressionless. Calm, but distant.

She looked at Marielle, Niva, and Vivienne.

It was easy for her to see that they were not Velari, but she failed to notice that they were more than just random visitors. She did not realize these were some of the most important people in the city.

Vesha stepped forward to answer on their behalf and to bridge the language gap. "I greet Lady Luna." She bowed her head first, giving the Practitioner the respect she naturally deserved.

Then she replied in a respectful tone. "Lady Luna, they are guests here as well. If there is anything you need, I'll be glad to help."

Even though the person in front of her was a Practitioner, Vesha kept her emotions under control and spoke without hesitation, her words coming out clear and without strain.

Previously, she would have felt shaken when speaking with someone like Thalira.

Now, as someone who was close not just to any Practitioner but to a ruler, she had enough confidence to face one calmly.

"And you are?" Thalira raised one eyebrow as she questioned the short girl, a slight tilt of her head adding weight to the words.

Vesha stayed calm. The sharp silver eyes assessing her did not make her flinch. "I'm Vesha Draven from the Velari Kingdom. I know the place quite well. Perhaps I can be of help to Lady Luna."

She was trying to prevent any potential tension by offering help first.

She knew what kind of person Thalira was and how easily carelessness could turn a simple meeting into a problem.

Adyr had once tasked Vesha with investigating the backgrounds of all young generation Practitioners who would participate in the Legacy Domain.

During those investigations, she had learned what people said and thought about Thalira Luna.

Thalira was not only very talented and powerful.

She also carried the arrogance of a princess, completely fitting her title and background. She moved through life as if it naturally belonged to her.

If someone like that wasn't handled properly, she could easily ruin Marielle and the others' day in one way or another.

That was something Vesha absolutely wanted to avoid, especially with Adyr not at their side right now.

Thalira stayed silent for a moment.

Her gaze moved from Vesha's head to her toes, taking in her simple clothes and composed posture. Then she looked again at Niva and the others, studying them with a cool, condescending gaze, as if weighing their worth on an invisible scale.

Everyone felt the pressure.

Under the focus of a Rank 3 Practitioner, the air itself seemed to grow heavier. A strange, suffocating aura settled on their bodies, tightening their chests and shortening their breaths.

"I'm searching for the place where important people are usually hosted," Thalira finally said.

It was clear she was looking for her father, but she had come to this strange Human-built city alone and had no idea where to start.

She wasn't here to cause trouble; she was genuinely trying to keep herself restrained and polite.

Still, her words came out cold, reflecting her nature of always standing at the top of the food chain. To the mortals in front of her, they sounded more like a warning than a simple question, making them even more tense and breathless.

Vesha forced herself to endure the invisible pressure.

She opened her mouth to answer. "I…" Before she could finish, another voice cut cleanly through the air between them.

"It's not a very kind way to ask for directions, you know that, right?"

All of them, including Thalira, turned toward the source of the sound.

A young woman was approaching, every bit as beautiful and striking as Thalira. Her midnight purple hair caught the light with each step she took.

As she drew closer, Thalira's calm expression tightened into a slight frown.

Not only did the woman appear strong, but her posture and steps exuded quiet confidence, indicating that she was also a Practitioner.

What bothered Thalira was the fact that she had managed to come this close without her noticing, and that alone was enough to put a flicker of irritation in her eyes.

"Approaching people silently can't really be called kind either," Thalira said, faint electric sparks flickering in her silver eyes.

She had been expecting an answer from the woman in front of her, but the reply came from behind.

"Oh, then forgive my rudeness."

With the voice coming from so close that she could almost feel breath on the back of her neck, Thalira snapped her head around and found herself face-to-face with a man with blood-red eyes and a blond ponytail, wearing a cheeky, almost indecent smile that made his gaze feel uncomfortably intrusive.

How? Thalira took a step back on instinct, bringing up her guard as she tried to understand how this man had come so close without her noticing a single thing.

Selina watched her reaction with clear satisfaction, a small smile tugging at her lips before she turned away from Thalira and headed toward Marielle and the others, openly treating the Lunari princess as if she weren't there.

"Sorry, I just got back to the city from a mission. How was your day?"

She asked it as if she and Victor hadn't been there for hours, hidden in the crowd and quietly watching over them for their safety, only stepping out now because of Thalira's threatening presence.

Marielle and Niva were exactly the kind of guests Henry would never invite to the Beyond without extreme preparation. Victor and Selina were only two of those measures; the rooftops were lined with long-barreled guns loaded with gold-sand-coated rounds, and a small army stood ready to move at a single command.

As long as the threat wasn't Rank 4, they were confident they could end any danger before it even had the chance to form.

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