[Realm: Álfheimr]
[Location: Heart Kingdom]
[Pulchritudo]
[Banquet]
A few silent seconds passed after Mikoto's declaration.
Nothing happened.
No movement came from the displays. No footsteps sounded from the corridor beyond the vault. Even the hum of the wards seemed to have settled into the background, leaving the silence to stretch between them.
To Gretel, it was almost suffocating.
She kept her breathing measured, refusing to let it become shallow, but the rest of her body betrayed her. Her shoulders had tightened. Her weight had shifted onto the balls of her feet, and her hand had already settled around the grip of her rapier.
She did not draw it; her fingers simply rested there, ready.
Facing a Royal Guard was one thing when it was merely an abstract possibility. Standing inside the vault with the certainty that one was actually watching them was another.
Weariness pressed against the back of her mind, urging caution.
Fear would have been understandable.
