Veneri stayed silent for a few seconds after that heavy declaration. Ely was still sitting there, staring at the white floor.
He stood up.
Ely flinched slightly at the movement. He didn't offer her a hand for her to stand. He didn't soften his expression. He just looked down at her with that same piercing gaze that had slapped her harder than his actual hand.
"Your past is holding you back. That's all there is to it. Out of all my beloveds, you're the only one who puts on an act."
That made her look up fully now. He didn't give her time to argue.
"Adelasta is actually a cold woman. She's capable of cold logic and ruthless decisions. She doesn't hesitate when something needs to be done. I thought that she was born that way but now after seeing your past, I'm starting to believe her past reinforced that side of her."
He glanced off to the side for a moment, as if picturing Adelasta in his head.
"The difference is, she doesn't pretend she's heartless. She doesn't act like she's something she's not. She's honest about it. That's why I can trust my entire Dynasty to her when I'm not around. I know exactly how she'll act."
Ely's lips parted slightly but then again, no words came out.
"Narisva is cocky and prideful because of her childhood. She was raised with power, expectations and competition breathing down her neck. That shaped her and she doesn't hide it. Asenane… she's still adjusting to life. She's hiding something from me too. I know she is. And I'll deal with that soon enough."
I stiffened at that. Even in this memory space, hearing him say that so casually made my stomach flip. He already knew? But then again, of course he'd eventually figure it out.
"And Phaenora…" he muttered, glancing briefly in my direction, even though Ely couldn't see me. "She might be the only one who's actually honest with me. And when she does hide something, she has very good reasons for it."
I swear my soul practically lit up at that. If I had a physical body, I would have been grinning like an idiot. Then he looked back down at Ely.
"But you're pretending. You act serene like some perfect priestess everyone can look up to. And yeah, it works. People love you. They respect and trust you but that's not all you are and you know it."
He crouched slightly so he was closer to her eye level.
"When the Krepsunas attacked the Elven city in this realm, you showed your real self. You were furious. You were ruthless. You killed without hesitation. And instead of embracing it, you buried it under duty and responsibility like it was something shameful."
Ely's fingers tightened in her lap.
"I told you back then to embrace that side of yourself and let your people see you as the serene High Priestess. And now, I see that as a mistake."
That made her look up again, confused and hurt.
"You didn't become honest. You just built a prettier façade that made you easier to approach. Maybe that's why we're together now, right?"
"..."
H"I wouldn't change how I see you even if your personality is different from what you've shown me. Why would I? Despite all that, you still managed to win me over. Honestly, that's an achievement in itself, considering how messed up your past is."
That… actually made Ely sigh in disbelief. He turned away from her, starting to walk across the endless white space.
"You need to figure out what you actually want. Hiding behind a serene façade isn't helping you. It's just delaying the inevitable. You're not allowed to hide behind duty or responsibility anymore. You can do that with everyone else but not with me or the other girls, understood?"
She nodded quickly.
"I'll stall the giant for you while you break through to the Fifth Enlightenment. After that, we're going to have a real conversation. And it's not going to be a romantic one."
Before Ely could respond, the white world began to crumble. The floor beneath us dissolved into drifting particles of light. The endless space warped and in the next instant, we were back on the battlefield.
---------
Black the Giant stood in the distance. He was smashing aside fragment after fragment of me. Each clone was shattering into motes of light as he swatted them away like annoying insects. His patience was clearly gone. Every movement he made now was more aggressive.
Veneri rolled his shoulders, cracking his neck as if he had just woken up from a nap instead of witnessing years of trauma in a few hours.
"We're going to severely injure the giant."
Inside my mind, I was screaming.
This was the side of him I loved seeing. Not the overly gentle, endlessly patient Veneri who let everyone walk all over his kindness. This was the one who got serious.
All my fragments responded instantly.
Across the battlefield, all my Phaenoras vanished into streams of sapphire light that shot toward a single point in front of Veneri. The air warped as the fragments merged my original body materialized fully formed right in front of him.
I stretched my arms, rolling my shoulders as if I had just been wearing something too tight for too long. The sensation of being whole again was intoxicating.
"You understand what I'm about to do, right?"
"Of course I do."
We both turned to face Black.
The giant let out a low, irritated growl as he prepared to charge again. His patience was completely gone now that his little game of swatting fragments had ended.
"I need a punching bag after what I just saw."
I actually laughed at that.
"Then let's make him suffer."
For the first time since we fell in this fairytale, I actually felt excited about how this would end.
And Black? Yeah, he was about to have a very, very bad night.