The heat hadn't left my lungs.
Even after the clash ended… even after the light faded…
That wasn't a fight.
That was a different world.
I exhaled slowly, pressing my hand against the stone wall. The surface was still warm to the touch, vibrating with the residual energy of the Commander's 'Sunfall.'
"So that's the level…" I murmured.
Elena. The Commander. People who could turn stone into liquid just by trying. And me? I couldn't even survive someone caring about me for too long without my internal stability cratering.
My fingers curled slightly against the masonry.
Pathetic.
But… a faint smile tugged at my lips. I don't need to be stronger than them. I just need to survive them. I don't need to be a mountain if I can be the wind that passes through the cracks.
As Elena began walking away from the molten pit, her head tilted down. She was so lost in her own turmoil that she didn't even notice the shadow moving from the arched entrance.
"Rio?"
The Commander's voice was the first to cut through the silence.
Only 'Rio'.
Not "Prince Rio," not "Your Highness." Just the name, spat out with a mixture of surprise and the casual disregard one might have for a piece of furniture that had been moved. He had called her 'Princess Elena' with every breath, yet for me, the honorifics didn't even exist. It was a stark reminder of just how much 'infamous' I was in this palace.
Hearing the name, Elena's head snapped up. She halted so abruptly her boots skidded on the slag.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
Her hand gripped the hilt of her sword with such sudden, violent pressure that the hilt groaned and snapped.
But her face... it wasn't twisted in the fiery anger from before. Instead, her expression was distant, haunted—a look of profound sadness that felt like it was miles away from the training ground.
[WARNING: POSITIVE FEEDBACK DETECTED (MELANCHOLY/CARE)]
[RESONANCE STABILITY: 5.1% ... 5.3% ... 5.7%]
'Looks like the negative emotions side was already higher than the positive side.'
"Calm down," I said, my voice intentionally cold and dismissive. "I didn't come here for you."
I walked past her without a second glance, and stepped into the heat of the arena. I stopped directly in front of the Commander, who was currently wiping his blade.
"I just wanted to have a small talk with the Commander," I said, half-turning my head back toward Elena, my eyes devoid of any warmth. "Can't I do that? Or do I need 'permission' to breathe the same air as the Family Guard now?"
Elena flinched as if I'd struck her, her eyes narrowing as the sadness flickered into a spark of annoyance.
The Commander chuckled, a deep, rumbling sound that carried no real mirth. He sheathed his sword, looking me up and down like a merchant inspecting spoiled meat.
"A 'small talk' with me?" the Commander asked, crossing his massive arms. "Usually, the only time you seek me out, Rio, is to complain about the quality of the wine or to ask for more guards to hide behind. What could someone like you possibly have to say."
I didn't blink. I leaned in just a fraction and met his grizzled stare with a sudden, sharp intensity that seemed to catch him off guard.
Then, I winked.
My lips moved—a slow, deliberate articulation of words that carried no sound, a silent phantom of a sentence that looked like a deep, dark secret meant only for his ears. I leaned back just as quickly, a faint, mocking shadow of a smile playing on my face.
Behind me, I heard Elena's sharp intake of breath. From her angle, it looked like I had just shared a piece of forbidden information, a hidden conspiracy whispered directly to the head of the family's military power.
She stood frozen, her eyes wide, her mind clearly racing to fill in the blanks of a conversation that hadn't actually happened. Then suddenly, she slammed her foot on the ground and began walking away.
The Commander, however, just stared at me, his brow furrowing into a map of deep confusion. The air of superiority he'd been wearing like a cloak faltered.
"What in the hell are you doing, boy?" the Commander barked, his voice echoing in the hollow arena. "Why did you just move your lips when you weren't actually going to talk?"
I let the silence hang for a beat too long, watching Elena's retreating back until she vanished around the stone corner of the arena. Only when her heavy, confused presence was completely gone did I relax my posture, the tension in my chest easing just a fraction.
"Nothing," I said, my voice returning to its usual thin, rasping tone. "I just wanted to play with someone's head for a bit."
The Commander's eyes narrowed, his hand instinctively twitching toward the hilt of his sword. The confusion on his face was rapidly being replaced by a dark, simmering irritation. "Play with whom? What kind of game are you running, Rio? Don't try to spark fires you can't put out."
I didn't answer him. I didn't have to. Without a word of goodbye, I turned around and began to run away.
"Where are you running off to?" the Commander roared behind me, his voice booming like distant thunder. "Get back here, you brat! We aren't finished!"
I didn't look back. I didn't care.
'Well, the first thing is done,'
Now let's move on to the 2nd step.