Cornelia stretched her arms above her head with a contented sigh, the motion pulling her spine straight after hours bent over maps and ledgers. She rolled her shoulders once, twice, and let the tension drain from her neck with a soft exhale.
"This should be enough," she said.
She turned to Ashen, who had been standing by the window for the better part of an hour, watching the afternoon light shift across the bastion's outer walls. His back was to her, but she knew he was listening.
He was a man who always listened, even when he gave no sign of it.
"Ashen." She waited until he glanced over his shoulder. "Lucia and I can handle the next phase. Your presence would do more harm than good at this point. They could use you and your title as an excuse to stabilize the situation, to point at you and say the Wrath Domain has everything under control. Your absence makes the inner domains fret. That fretfulness is useful. It keeps them off-balance."
She smiled, and the expression softened the hard lines that two centuries at the Bloodwall had carved into her face. It was a smile that appeared rarely nowadays.
"Go back to Esperra. See your family." She said it simply, without the weight of command she usually layered into her words. "If our plans work as intended, you won't be able to take a break even if you want to. So use this time. Take care of your parents. Rest. You've earned it, whether you believe it or not."
She folded her arms and leaned against the edge of the table, the maps rustling faintly beneath her hip. "I'll keep an eye on your territory. And I'll arrange the meeting between the Sin Lords in Esperra. Consider it handled."
Ashen looked at her for a long moment, then he looked at Lucia. They did not need words between them. He understood from how she eyed him alone what she wanted to convey.
They will meet in Esperra.
"Alright," he said. "...Thank you."
As the words of thanks slipped, he moved toward the door, but Cornelia called him again just before he reached for the door handle.
"Ashen."
He stopped, but did not turn.
"There's a surprise waiting for you. You should check the front gate of the Ashbastion."
He looked over his shoulder at her, one eyebrow raised. She only smiled, the same soft expression as before, and gave him a small push between the shoulder blades.
"Go."
Ashen did not understand, but he did not need to. Sometimes, intuition understood what the mind could not; and more often than not, that was exactly how it worked for him.
The hallway passed in a blur of stone and torchlight. He was walking at a pace just short of running; he barely caught himself from actually running.
The main gate of the Ashbastion eventually rose before him, its iron bars thick with the grime of Seravelle's perpetual despair. Beyond them, a column of soldiers stood in formation, their armor dulled by travel but their bearing sharp. They held themselves like men who had marched through hell and found the other side not much better, yet still squared their shoulders as if the act of standing straight were its own defiance.
The sigil on their banners was not the Bloodwall's mark. Ashen recognized it: the Bloodhounds, but his mind did not linger on the details.
His attention had fixed on the figure at the column's head.
Long white hair, flowing down to her lower back. Vivid pink eyes that scanned the courtyard with restless energy, missing nothing. She sat astride a dark horse, with one hand resting on her thigh with loose confidence. Her posture was straight but carefree.
It was his sister.
Lapis.
The unseen weight that had been pressing against his shoulders since he knew that she was in Seravelle, the constant low-grade tension he had learned to carry without noticing, lifted so suddenly that he felt lightheaded. He drew a breath that tasted of dust and iron. But if relief had a taste, he could swear that this was it.
"...Lapis. Thank god."
The words came out low, barely audible, but they were enough. Lapis's head turned as if pulled by a string only she could feel. Her eyes widened. A grin split her face, bright and reckless and so painfully familiar that Ashen felt something in his chest clench.
She said something to the soldiers beside her, too quickly for him to catch. Then she kicked her horse forward, leaning into the gallop with the ease of long practice, and the animal surged toward the gate.
The hoofbeats grew louder as the soldiers behind her shifted and murmured, and the gate guards scrambled to make way.
Her path led unmistakably straight toward him. Ashen neither dodged nor stepped forward to meet her. He simply stood there like a statue, slowly becoming overwhelmed by a different kind of emotion as the relief and happiness of seeing her alive and well began to recede.
The horse stopped barely two meters from him. Lapis swung one leg over and dropped, hitting the ground in a crouch that showed off more athleticism than grace. She straightened, and then she was on him, her arms locking around his ribs with enough force to drive the air from his lungs.
"Bro Bro!" The hug tightened, relentless. "I missed you!"
Ashen stood rigid for a heartbeat. Then his arms came up, slow, and returned the pressure with equal strength. "Yeah," he said, his voice rough. "I missed you too."
The hug did not last long before he pushed her back, just enough to get his hands on her shoulders, and looked at her.
"Follow me."
She did not ask where. She simply nodded, her grin fading a degree, and let him guide her away from the gate, past the staring soldiers, into the narrow streets of the Ashbastion.
"You don't look surprised," she said, falling into step beside him. Her boots struck the cobblestones with sharp, eager sounds. "Did that woman spoil the surprise? What a bummer!"
"Not surprised," Ashen said evenly. "Lucia knew you were coming long before you decided to. I've had time to mentally prepare myself."
Lapis's eyebrows rose. "Huh? Was I that easy to see through?" She laughed carelessly. "Well, whatever."
As long as she got what she wanted, who cared if her intentions were seen through? Well, that was how Lapis operated anyhow, hence the dismissive shrug.
Ashen said nothing. The silence between them stretched as they walked, growing thicker with each turning, until it sat in the space between them like a third companion. Lapis's chatter dried up. She glanced at him sidelong, her smile faltering, then firming again with deliberate cheer.
They reached a narrow apartment wedged between a tannery and a boarded-up chandler's shop. The door stuck slightly; Ashen shouldered it open and pulled Lapis inside after him. The interior was bare, stripped of most furnishings, but it was surprisingly clean. A single table, two chairs, and a narrow bed pressed against the far wall made up the entirety of the room. Lucia had kept the place for reasons Ashen had never fully understood, and now he was grateful for it.
The door clicked shut.
Ashen turned. His hand found Lapis's shoulder, and he shoved her against the wall with enough force to make the frame shudder.
Thud.
"Why are you here?"
Lapis blinked. She did not try to push back or raise her hands in defense. She only tilted her head, confusion flickering across her face. "Isn't it obvious, bro? To see you."
"To see me, huh…" The words came out flat. "Do you think this is a joke?"
Slap—!
The sound cracked through the small room like a gunshot. Lapis's head snapped to the side, her cheek blooming red, her eyes wide and unblinking. She stared at the far wall for a long moment, as if trying to process what had happened. When she turned back, her expression was blank, stunned into neutrality.
Ashen's hand hung at his side, palm stinging. He had not planned to hit her. He had not decided to. The action had simply happened without his conscious input.
"Is this some sort of game for you, Lapis?" His voice was terrifyingly even, each word spaced precisely. "Did I not tell you not to come? Did I not warn you about that dead man?"
Lapis said nothing. Her eyes had found the floor.
"Do you not care for our parents' feelings?" Ashen stepped closer. His shadow fell across her, and she shrank against the wall without seeming to realize she was doing it. "How do you think they felt when you threw a tantrum and ran away from home? How do you think they would feel if you ended up dead?"
He leaned in until his face was level with hers. His eyes were cold, his posture stiff, every line of him radiating a fury so controlled it felt like ice.
"I've told you countless times. This land is deadly. This domain is hell upon earth." The last words came out rougher as the veneer of control cracked. "So why? Why are you HERE!?"
"....."
'Huh…'
It took a moment for Lapis' mind to piece together what had just happened, though the stinging pain on her cheek certainly helped speed things along.
Honestly, if it had been anyone else who laid a hand on her, she would have probably cut it off without hesitation. Seravelle's brutality had baptized her thoroughly, and the cruelty necessary to survive in this place had long since taken root inside her.
But this was her brother they were talking about.
So naturally, he was allowed to hit her.
More importantly, though… Lapis simply could not bring herself to feel angry for an entirely different reason.
Her new path skill, Dread Perception, which could allow her to sense the fear of others, had been screaming in her mind for some time.
At first, she could not understand where such overwhelming terror was coming from.
Now, however, it was painfully obvious.
It was coming from her brother.
Of course, he was not afraid of her. The suffocating dread she sensed was something else entirely.
It was the fear of losing her.
So instead of feeling hurt, she smiled… soft and almost loving.
"Why are you smiling…?"
Lapis immediately felt like another slap was coming, so she hurriedly straightened her expression.
"I understand."
"What do you understand?" Ashen asked in a defeated voice. The milk had already been spilled. What was the point of understanding anything now?
"I understand the reason behind your anger… and your fear." Lapis tilted her head slightly. "It all comes down to my safety being threatened, right?"
"Then the solution is simple. I just need to become stronger. Strong enough that no one can threaten me. Stronger than anyone else… stronger than even you." A small smile tugged at her lips. "Then you won't have to worry anymore, right?"
Ashen looked at her with utter exasperation.
"Is it really that easy?"
"For me, it is." Lapis nodded without the slightest hesitation. "And dear brother… I wanted to remind you of something."
She stepped closer, lowering her voice into something almost soothing.
"What you said to me… doesn't it apply to you too? Or do you really think Dad, Mom, and I are made of stone? That we feel nothing when you disappear for an entire year?"
Her pink eyes locked onto him, glimmering with faint amusement.
"Haah~ I never knew my brother was such a hypocrite. My eyes were truly opened today~"
Ashen's expression stiffened, and his lips sealed shut.
He could have thrown out a thousand excuses, how he was forced into it, how he had no choice, all that nonsense, but none of it actually mattered.
Because at the core of it all… she was right.
The pain he accused her of causing was the exact same pain he had inflicted on them. The fear, the helplessness, the constant anxiety whenever he vanished without a trace… all of it had been painfully real.
And because of that, he had no right to argue.
So he silently accepted every accusation directed at him.
But Lapis still wasn't finished.
Slowly, she lifted a hand to her cheek and gently caressed the reddened mark left there.
"Also…" she whispered softly, "if you hit me again… I will punish you~"
"Ah…"
Ashen's eyes widened.
Only then did he truly notice the bruise staining her cheek.
His gaze slowly lowered toward his own palm, realization crashing into him a second too late.
'Did I… actually hit her…?'
Before he even realized what he was doing, he suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace.
"Little sis… I'm sorry…"
Lapis immediately hugged him back, a content smile spreading across her face.
"Hmm… forgiven~"