"I... I did not."
Antanasia lowered her head.
Her voice was soft.
A little shaky.
Just enough to sound obedient.
Just enough to sound harmless.
Inside, however, her thoughts moved very differently.
'Careful. One careless word, and this brat can ruin me.'
The oath had settled inside her soul like a chain wrapped around her heart. She could feel it even when she was not thinking about it.
Temorsth's will.
His authority.
The possibility that one childish command could become something she had no choice but to obey.
So Antanasia chose the safest mask.
Innocent.
Appealing.
Submissive.
Not too much.
Just enough.
"Then why apologize?" Temorsth asked.
"I... thank my young lord for his kindness."
She let out a quiet sigh, as if relieved by his calmness.
'Good. He is not a cheeky brat.'
Temorsth looked at her for a moment.
Then the interest in his eyes faded slightly.
Seeker: 'I don't like liars.'
Somewhere deep inside, Seeker had already noticed the shape of her mask.
Not the details.
The full truth.
That this was not her real face.
"Hm..."
Temorsth turned away.
"Anyway, Dad!"
Xalier looked at him.
"Hm? What is it, son?"
"You left me just like that. How am I supposed to learn anything?"
Temorsth pointed toward the training clearing.
"What did you mean by shadows and slash it?"
Xalier smiled faintly.
"First, I did not say 'slash the shadows.'"
Temorsth frowned.
"You said shadows. Then you said slash it."
"Yes."
"That is almost the same thing."
"No."
Temorsth stared at him.
Xalier's smile became more annoying.
"And second, I will not help you more than that."
"Uhh...? But I—"
"There is no but."
Xalier's voice became firm.
"This is a challenge. Do not forget that."
Temorsth's mouth closed.
For a moment, discomfort flickered through his face.
Xalier was being harsh.
Not because he wanted to hurt him.
Because this kind of ability could not be taught like a sword stance or spell formula.
If Temorsth only copied Xalier's answer, he would never truly learn the beginning of World Crossing.
He had to reach something himself.
He would understand why only after succeeding.
For now, he only heard his father's refusal.
"Ugh..."
Temorsth turned away.
"Fine. I will do it."
His voice was annoyed, but determination burned beneath it.
"I will show you I can do it alone without your help, Dad."
Xalier's lips curved.
"Good."
Temorsth walked toward the empty clearing.
Xalier watched him for a moment, then turned away as well. One arm slid naturally around Elah's waist, and together they walked back toward the blanket beneath the tree.
Antanasia stood where she had been left.
"..."
The three of them had simply moved on.
No command.
No instruction.
No threat.
Nothing.
'Uh...?'
She looked at Temorsth.
Then at Xalier and Elah.
Then back at herself.
'Am I air now...?'
A desperate silence echoed inside her mind.
...
Xalier had not been gone for long.
An hour at most.
The artificial sun above the hidden world was still visible, but only barely. Less than two hours remained before night would settle over the inside of the Small World.
Temorsth stood before the long shadow cast by the trees.
His head was lowered.
His eyes followed the slight movements of darkness across the grass.
'Shadows.'
His fingers tightened around the Heart Wood Spear.
'Slash it.'
The two hints kept circling in his mind.
Over and over.
'But how do I slash a shadow?'
He raised the spear.
White flames spread along the wooden shaft, wrapping around the sharpened tip.
"Let's try this first."
He swung.
Hupp.
The spear passed through the air above the shadow.
Nothing happened.
The white flames touched the dark patch on the grass, but instead of cutting it, they only made the shadow shrink and fade where the light reached.
Temorsth frowned.
'As expected. Light does not slash the shadow. It removes it.'
He lowered the spear.
'Then darkness?'
Black energy slowly stirred inside him.
Temorsth immediately grimaced.
'No. That is stupid. Adding darkness to a shadow is like pouring water into a lake and calling it a cut.'
He stabbed the spear into the ground.
"Ahgh..."
His free hand ruffled his hair.
"I don't know."
A voice came lazily from beneath the tree.
"You are giving up rather fast."
Temorsth's eyebrow twitched.
He turned and glared at Xalier, who was sitting comfortably in the shade beside Elah.
"I am not giving up!"
"Of course."
"I am thinking carefully so I don't scare Dad with how fast I learn it."
Xalier's smile deepened.
"I see."
Temorsth turned away with a huff.
'Calm down. Think.'
He sat on the grass in a lotus position, placed the spear across his knees, and stared at the shadow again.
If light erased it, that was wrong.
If darkness merged with it, that was wrong too.
Then what did "slash it" mean?
Cut the shadow?
Cut the thing making the shadow?
Cut the space between light and dark?
Cut the idea of the path?
His brow tightened.
After several minutes, he stood.
"Maybe..."
White flames gathered at the spear tip again, this time compressed into a thin edge.
He stepped forward and slashed downward.
Hupp.
Nothing.
"Ahg..."
He sighed and sat down again.
"Not that either."
The cycle repeated.
Think.
Try.
Fail.
Think again.
Try again.
Fail again.
Sometimes he used light.
Sometimes darkness.
Sometimes Mana.
Sometimes pure movement.
Once, he tried to stab the exact edge where the shadow met the light.
Nothing happened.
Another time, he tried to step through the shadow while cutting.
He tripped.
Antanasia watched from a distance.
Her arms were crossed, her expression unreadable.
At first, she had thought the training was ridiculous.
A child swinging at shadows.
A divine spear in tiny hands.
A vampire king sitting under a tree, refusing to explain.
An Elf Queen smiling as if this were normal.
But after a while, she stopped mocking it in her head.
Temorsth was not playing.
He failed again and again, but every failure changed something.
His angle.
His breathing.
His timing.
His thoughts.
He was trying to understand.
Not copy.
'Annoying kid...'
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
'He really is serious.'
Hours passed faster than Temorsth noticed.
Then Elah's voice reached him.
"Baby, it is already dark. Come inside."
"Uh...?"
Temorsth looked up.
The clearing had changed.
The artificial sun was gone, and the soft blue-black night of the Small World covered everything.
The clear shadows he had been using had blurred into the general darkness.
He clicked his tongue.
'There are no proper shadows to slash now.'
He picked up the spear.
'I will continue tomorrow.'
As he walked toward the giant tree, he suddenly stopped.
"Huh?"
A faint emotion touched him through the new soul connection.
Uncomfortable.
Lost.
Slightly bitter.
He turned back.
Antanasia was still standing in the clearing.
"Are you not coming in?"
She looked at him.
"Uh... am I allowed?"
Temorsth tilted his head.
"Don't you need to follow me wherever I go?"
"Yes..."
"Then come."
His tone was casual.
Too casual.
He did not seem to care whether she followed two steps behind him or twenty. He did not order her posture, her expression, or her distance.
That somehow made Antanasia more confused.
Still, she moved.
Temorsth reached the door set into the giant tree and opened it.
"This is our house."
He paused.
Then added, "Welcome... I suppose."
Antanasia stepped in behind him.
"Ah..."
Her eyes widened.
The inside was not the inside of a tree.
A large anteroom opened before her, far wider than the trunk should have allowed. Smooth wooden walls curved naturally around the space, but windows showed impossible angles of the outside world, and the ceiling rose too high.
An archway without a door led into an even larger living room.
'Another spatial expansion...'
Her gaze moved across the room.
'No. More than that. The whole interior has been reformed.'
"Are you coming?" Temorsth asked without turning around.
"Ahm... yes."
She followed.
Elah looked over from the living room.
"Sweetie, don't you want to eat?"
Temorsth was already walking toward the hallway.
"No, I'm not hungry, Mom. But thank you."
Then he glanced back at Antanasia.
"Hm. Right. Do you want your own room, Ann?"
Antanasia stopped.
"...Ann?"
Temorsth looked at her.
"Oh. Does that bother you? Should I call you something else?"
For a moment, Antanasia's expression changed.
Only slightly.
A memory touched her face, then disappeared.
"Not... really."
"Great."
Temorsth turned toward Elah again.
"Mom, can Ann have a room?"
Elah blinked once.
Then smiled.
"Of course, sweetie. I will prepare one."
"Thank you."
Antanasia stared.
'Just like that?'
She had expected more.
Questions.
Suspicion.
Rules.
Chains made visible.
Instead, the Elven Queen simply accepted that a captured vampire servant needed a room.
That somehow made the house feel more dangerous.
Temorsth looked back at her.
"Until then, come here for a moment. I want to ask you something."
He led her not into his bedroom, but into a small side room near the hallway.
A quiet sitting room.
There were two chairs, a low table, and one window showing the night sky of the hidden world.
Temorsth entered first, placed the spear beside his chair, and sat down.
Antanasia remained near the door.
Temorsth glanced at her.
"You can sit."
"Can I?"
"Yes."
She sat.
Carefully.
The door remained half-open.
For some reason, that made Antanasia relax a little.
Temorsth watched her for a moment.
Then asked, "Who were you before?"
Antanasia's expression changed.
"What?"
"Before this."
He pointed vaguely between them.
"Before becoming my servant. Before fighting Dad. Before all this."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Why do you ask? Does it matter?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I want to know who is following me."
His answer came too quickly to be a lie.
Antanasia leaned back slightly.
"I came from a continent far to the east."
"And?"
"That is all."
"No, it is not."
Her jaw tightened.
Temorsth's voice became sharper.
"Tell me where you came from."
For a moment, it sounded less like curiosity and more like interrogation.
Antanasia's face twisted.
"Why do you care?"
Her voice rose.
"I am your fucking slave. I have no rights, no place, no choice. It does not matter who I was."
Temorsth's eyes narrowed.
"Don't call yourself that."
"What?"
"Slave."
Antanasia laughed bitterly.
"Why? Does the word make you uncomfortable?"
"Yes."
"Then order me to stop saying it."
The room went quiet.
Temorsth looked at her.
Antanasia glared back.
Anger rose in her eyes, but beneath it something else moved.
Fear.
Humiliation.
A wounded pride trying to bite before it could be stepped on.
Temorsth did not order her.
Instead, he asked, "Is that how you talk when you are angry?"
Antanasia froze.
"What?"
"All the swearing."
"Why the hell should I care how I talk?"
"Because people will misunderstand you."
"I don't care what people think."
"Why?"
"What...?"
"Why don't you care?"
Antanasia opened her mouth.
Then closed it.
The question was too simple.
Too direct.
Too annoying.
"Because most people are bastards."
Temorsth smiled.
Antanasia's anger faltered.
"Why are you smiling?"
"Because now you look real."
"..."
Antanasia's fingers twitched.
Temorsth leaned back in his chair.
"Outside, you were making a face. Soft voice. Lowered head. Innocent servant. All of it was fake."
Antanasia's face stiffened.
"But this..."
He pointed at her.
"Angry. Rude. Defensive. Annoyed. That feels more like you."
For a second, Antanasia did not answer.
Then she turned her head away.
"Tch."
Her ears had turned faintly red.
Temorsth's smile widened.
"That is better."
"Shut up."
"No."
Antanasia slowly looked back at him.
The anger was still there, but weaker now.
Less sharp.
More alive.
Inside Temorsth, Relatio spoke quietly.
Relatio: 'I may have judged her incorrectly.'
'Hm?'
Relatio: 'She is not only a mature beauty.'
Persona blinked.
'Then?'
Relatio: 'She is strangely innocent in some places.'
Persona looked at Antanasia's turned-away face.
Then, at the embarrassment she was trying to hide.
'Hm...'
He understood what Relatio meant.
Her mouth was rough.
Her strength was terrifying.
Her presence was dangerous.
But some reactions were oddly pure.
As if part of her had never been allowed to grow normally.
"Anyway," Temorsth said, returning to the conversation. "I meant what I said. Ann, you should not talk like that all the time."
Antanasia frowned.
"Why are you lecturing me?"
"Because you are bad at hiding what your words mean."
"What does that mean?"
"If you talk like that to everyone, then your anger and curses become normal. People stop noticing what you actually mean."
Antanasia's expression shifted.
Temorsth continued.
"If you speak normally most of the time, then when you curse, people close to you will know you are showing them the real feelings, the real you."
"Hm..."
"And enemies?"
Temorsth smiled.
"For enemies, you can say whatever you want."
Antanasia stared at him.
Then, despite herself, a small laugh escaped her.
"That is a strange rule."
"It is a good rule."
"It sounds like something a child made up."
"I am a child."
"That makes it worse."
Temorsth shrugged.
Antanasia looked toward the window.
The artificial night outside was deep and blue, with stars glowing above the hidden world.
For a moment, her expression became distant.
"You know..."
Her voice softened without her noticing.
"My sister once told me something similar."
Temorsth became quiet.
Antanasia's eyes remained on the window, but her mind was no longer in the room.
...
"Wow, don't talk like that. People will think badly of you."
A young woman sat across from Antanasia, her face softer, younger, and far less sharp.
She looked almost like Antanasia.
But where Antanasia felt like a blade, this girl felt like a candle protected between two hands.
"Nobody likes a lady who talks like that," the girl said.
Antanasia clicked her tongue.
"I don't care. They can screw themselves."
The girl sighed.
"Sis, I don't want you to be alone forever."
"What are you talking about? You're here for me."
The girl's eyes widened.
"What? Ew. You are gross."
"I did not mean it like that!"
"Ahahaha!"
The laugh was bright.
Warm.
Full of a joy Antanasia had not heard in far too long.
...
The memory faded.
Antanasia did not immediately speak.
Her red eyes reflected the window, the night sky, and the stars beyond it.
Then, very quietly, she said, "Since I was little, I only knew my little sister."
Temorsth's expression changed.
He did not interrupt.
He only listened.