The music of the Solstice Festival felt distant. The deep resonance of drums and the bright melody of stringed instruments filtered through the small window of the healing chamber, drifting in from the streets of Heliodor. People were still laughing, singing, dancing out there. Dressed in white, offering prayers to Solvarna, the sun god. Aria sat against the wall, listening to that music. She could hear it. But it didn't reach her. There was a hole in her chest. Or rather—a void. Nothing. Anger, sadness, even fear—when she reached for them, they dissolved beyond a mist. She tried calling Kale's name in her mind. Blonde hair, golden eyes, the sun-shield earrings. The memories were all there. And yet her chest said nothing. Zephyr was the same. Crimson eyes, black hair with red streaks, the cold, heavy sensation of his touch. She possessed all of it as memory. But—that was all it was. She tried to cry. No tears came. *(What do I do?)* Only the habit of that phrase repeated itself, hollow and empty. Outside the window, fireworks sounded. A low boom. The festival's climax. The sky was shifting from orange to purple. Night was coming. Then the air changed. Warmth withdrew, slipping away. In its place, something cold seeped in—through the gaps in the walls, along the window frame's edge, from the corners of the room. Smooth. Silent. The dark vein. The power of the underworld. Aria stood. Even though her emotions had dulled, her body remembered. This presence. The same deep, cold aura she'd felt in the chapel. Shadows gathered along the wall. The metal of the lock made a faint sound—*click*. And the door opened quietly. Zephyr Lunaris entered. A black coat. Black hair with red streaks dissolving into the night air. Deep crimson vertical-slit eyes caught Aria in the healing chamber's dim light. The dark magical mark on his left hand glowed faintly, a pale blue. Zephyr looked at Aria's face. One second. Two seconds. His eyes narrowed slightly. "[serious]What was done to you?" A low, quiet question. "[sad]...Nothing." "[serious]Your eyes have no light. Your voice has no emotion." "[sad]I know. But I can't feel anything. Even when I try to...it's like fog. I can't grasp anything." Her voice was flat. She could hear it herself. The voice of someone crying without tears. Zephyr's expression hardened for the first time. That quiet face that had never wavered at anything—now it twisted slightly. Zephyr approached Aria. Two steps. Three steps. He stopped before her and slowly extended both hands. He enfolded her hands. Cold. Zephyr's hands were always cold. But beneath that coldness, there was something heavy. Zephyr closed his eyes. The magical mark on his left hand intensified its pale blue glow. The dark vein—the power of darkness welling up from the depths—flowed from his fingertips into Aria's hands. "[serious]You've overused holy healing. Your emotional energy is depleted." Zephyr spoke in a quiet voice. "[serious]The power of the light vein burns on emotion as fuel. Burn it continuously, and eventually it runs dry. ...The light vein and dark vein were meant to complement each other. To fill what is empty." The cold darkness flowed into the depths of Aria's body. Into the hollow of her chest, it slowly filled. Like ice melting, gradually— Something thawed. Something that had been frozen in the center of her chest. Her eyes grew hot. *(Ah)* The next moment, tears spilled over. Not just one. Like a dam breaking, they wouldn't stop. She'd been afraid—alone in that confined room, with no one coming, the festival music piercing her, unable to cry. She'd been lonely—Kale hadn't come. The person who'd promised to protect her hadn't come. She'd loved—loved Kale. Loved Zephyr too. The forms were completely different, but both were real, and she'd been terrified of those real feelings disappearing, so she'd tried to confirm them, used holy healing again and again, and each time something was worn away— It all came crashing down at once. Aria buried her face in Zephyr's chest. "[crying]...I was scared...the whole time, I couldn't feel anything...I thought I'd disappear...!" Zephyr's hand moved to her back. Quiet. Slow. His arms wrapped around her completely. "[whispers]I will catch your tears." Low, barely audible—and trembling. Aria felt like she was hearing Zephyr express emotion for the first time. This tremor in his voice wasn't calculated. This person had been carrying something all along too. Even through her tears, she understood that. The door burst open. A loud *bang* against the wall. "[serious]Aria!!" It was Kale who rushed in. Brilliant blonde hair, burning golden eyes. Still wearing the uniform of Graos Fortress, breathing hard. The moment the scene before him registered—Kale's face froze. Aria crying in Zephyr's arms. The pale blue light of the dark vein still lingering in the healing chamber's air. In Kale's golden eyes, jealousy and anger and regret surfaced all at once. "[serious]...I left the fortress and ran. The guards tried to stop me, but I came anyway. When I found the door locked—" Kale's hand went to the holy sword at his waist. *Shaaaa*—the blade drew from its sheath. The golden-gleaming edge, condensed with light vein power, illuminated the healing chamber brilliantly. "[angry]What did you do to her?" The sword point aimed at Zephyr trembled. Not from anger—regret made his hand shake. Zephyr released Aria and stepped back quietly. His deep crimson eyes looked straight at Kale. There was no sign of fleeing. But no sign of fighting either. Kale opened his mouth to speak— "[crying]I love you both!!" Her voice echoed through the healing chamber. Aria stood between them, her face wet with tears. Her arms weren't spread wide. She simply—stood straight. "[crying]I can't choose between you...! I love Kale, I love Zephyr, both are real, but—" Her voice shook. But she continued. "[serious]But I will never be anyone's tool again. Not to obey Morgus's orders, not to end a war, not to protect someone else's precious things. I stand here by my own will." For the first time in her life, she screamed the truth. She understood that now. Not from fear. Not from calculation. Simply—because it was true, she said it. Kale's hand stopped. The strength drained from his fingers holding the holy sword. Kale furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes. It was as if Aria's words were piercing something deep in his chest. *(It was my fault.)* Kale understood. That night when he'd shouted that she was his. Today when he couldn't come to help. All this time saying "I'll protect you," and what lay behind those words—he could finally see clearly now how he'd been trying to bind her. Kale slowly lowered the holy sword. He drove the blade into the floor. He released both hands from the hilt. "[sad]...It was my fault." His voice was low, slightly broken. That was when it happened. The blade of the holy sword Brizante began to emit a pale golden light. Quietly, but unmistakably—it shone. At the same time, purple dark vein light overflowed from the magical mark on Zephyr's left hand. Gold and purple light wavered across the healing chamber's white walls. Alternating. Overlapping. None of the three moved. These two powers had been enemies for 200 years. The light vein and dark vein—the fundamental forces that divided East and West, Soltia and Nocvel. And now, in this narrow room, they resonated as if—something that had always been one was trembling. No one knew what it meant. No one held the answer. The light simply wavered, and wavered, and gradually grew still. Silence fell. Zephyr spoke first. "[serious]When is the sacred marriage ceremony?" "[sad]...Tonight. In the grand hall of the Great Temple." Zephyr's gaze turned to Kale. Kale looked at Zephyr. There was hostility between them. Distrust. That hadn't disappeared. But in this moment, both were facing the same direction. Kale opened his mouth. "[serious]...There's a report I saw on the front lines. A document sealed with Elderath's seal four months ago. Regarding the peace envoy from Nocvel—the response was marked unnecessary, with Morgus's seal." Zephyr's expression moved slightly. Something wavered in the depths of his crimson eyes. Something close to pain. "[serious]...An envoy I sent five years ago." His voice was quiet. But beneath that quietness lay something heavy. "[serious]Since I ascended at nineteen, I sent many. All of them vanished." Aria looked at both of them. The information Kale had held and the memories Zephyr carried—now, in this moment, they connected in a single line. The reason Morgus had prolonged the war. To monopolize the Saint's power. To bind Aria through the sacred marriage ceremony. He'd crushed the peace envoys, kept the war going—all along. "[serious]I'm going." Both turned. Aria still had tear marks on her cheeks, standing straight. Kale nodded. Zephyr nodded quietly too. The childhood friend hero and the enemy nation's demon lord—for the first time, they moved toward the same purpose. Morgus Thane was waiting in the grand hall of the Great Temple. And Commander Valna Zeelen, leading the elite 800 of the Ordina Holy Knights—Soltia Kingdom's finest—was positioned to forcibly carry out the sacred marriage ceremony. Behind the three as they left the healing chamber, the last fireworks of the Solstice Festival scattered across the sky.