Running in hurried steps and anxious about Castle Caesar, Stephany searched Theo's room one last time, looking for anything he might have left behind. Meanwhile, the young master sat calmly in the castle's reception, accompanied by Luanne.
They were just waiting for time to pass and for Ethan to arrive.
Then, after coming down the main staircase, Stephany rummaged through Theo's backpack.
"Am I forgetting something?" she muttered, brows tense.
Theo sighed.
"Theo, do you remember if I got my clean clothes from the maids?"
"Yes," Theo replied, swinging his legs.
"And the books your grandmother Cinzia sent, did I put them here? Did I pack the northern coffee beans? Your notebooks? Oh! I know! Are you bringing something to eat for the trip?"
"Auntie…"
"Luanne, I'm sending a cleaning kit to take care of the cast on his arm. It's good to avoid fungus…"
"Aunt Stephany…"
"Your notebooks are here… the books… I'll get you some fruit…"
"Stephany, is he your son?" Elijah asked, leaning against a pillar inside the castle.
Looking at her husband for a moment, she sank into deep discouragement. Displeased, Stephany answered:
"No."
"And even so, you take care of him like a son. Isn't she an incredible woman, Theo?" he commented with a loaded, cynical smile that always bothered the young Master Lawrence.
Casting a calm look toward Elijah, the boy replied out of politeness.
"Yes. She's an incredible woman."
'That you don't value…' Luanne thought, keeping her eyes on the main door.
Whenever Elijah stood on one side, the priestess would look the other way. A silent message of disdain he always noticed.
"You know, Priestess… I always feel like you have something against me. I believe you want to tell me," he said, eyes closed, arms crossed behind his back.
"Maybe another day… or perhaps never," she muttered, wishing never to see him again.
"No. I insist. Go on, tell me," he said, taking a step forward…
One he immediately regretted.
Elijah's ego was crushed by the presence that appeared at the main door. Calm as the sky behind him, Ethan slowly swept his gaze over his brother.
"What do you say, Elijah? Aren't you standing a bit too close to my son?"
Eyes widening from the brief shock, Elijah sighed inwardly and muttered as he stepped away from the pillar.
"The lion has come to hunt a poor rabbit…"
"It's more like… a bird of prey has come for a snake," Ethan replied, crouching in front of Theo. "Are you alright, son? How's your arm?"
"It hurts less, but it's bothering me a bit now. It itches a lot…"
"It's the cast… soon enough, you'll take it off. Trust me."
Running his hand through his youngest son's hair, Ethan felt genuine fear. Luanne had informed him about the studies over the past few days and the practice the boy had done—almost in secret. The Duke expected to see his son a bit more optimistic and confident, at least somewhat alive, after coming into contact with mana.
However…
Theo's results went beyond expectations.
'He's already formed his vibration…' he thought, startled, though he hid it. An uncontrolled amount of green energy surrounded Theo like a spiritual aura.
The boy's gaze felt like that of a different child.
"Theo!" Chloe shouted, breaking Ethan's evaluation.
The girl rushed down the stairs, holding an orange notebook with a flower drawn on it, a pencil tucked behind her ear. Her eyes, behind round glasses, were tired and worn out.
"You… are leaving already?" she asked, her voice fading as she saw the packed bags. "Why?"
"Because he has to go to the doctor, dear. And he also needs to see his mother," Luanne replied sweetly. "But you'll see each other again soon. Maybe you'll study together… who knows?"
"You probably will," Ethan said. "And you're also invited to visit our home… once things are settled."
"Was that an invitation for me, brother?" Elijah asked, arms crossed, a smug smile showing.
"No. Just for them," he replied, adjusting his white suit while waiting for Theo to stand. "Shall we go? The trip will be long."
As a quick farewell, Chloe hugged her cousin carefully to avoid hurting his fractured arm. Even so, when Theo returned the gesture, he felt an almost infernal pain in his ribs.
Pulling away, she looked at him with a deep breath.
"Thank you so much, Tê!" she said, her face lighting up with a wide smile.
"It was nothing. See you, Chloe!"
Turning to follow his father, he was already going down the stairs when he heard Stephany wishing him a safe trip home.
☽✪☾
Ethan managed to follow the schedule. They were fast enough to watch the sunset on the train, enjoying the greatest comfort of their lives—though they had already experienced it, they could enjoy it more on the return trip due to the exhaustion from their journey to Capital Athenian.
The only exception was Theo, who fell asleep the moment he sat down. He only woke up when they reached the Duchy of Lawrence.
The boy lay on his godmother's lap, while the Duke sat in front, leaning against the window, watching the sunset with a mind flooded by assumptions. He carried Dr. Harbor's words from two days prior.
'Nonexistence…' he thought, imagining its physical form. A black substance behaving like magical energy…
Flashes of memory came back from when Ethan searched for Theo in the village of Midian. Black Lightning ran through the wheat fields, fleeing from the machines on display.
Flowing through his own energy channels, he saw red energy, corrupted by dark particles, pulsing like blood.
He clutched his chest in sorrow, biting his lips. For what Ethan carried, not even his mystical family, the Phoenix, could heal him in the long term.
'Forgive me…' he pleaded, imagining the faces of his wife, children, and younger brother. 'I'm being weak…'
He gritted his teeth in frustration.
"No. You're not," Luanne said, stroking Theo's hair.
"Damn it," he muttered, clicking his tongue. "I forgot you read minds… I still want to learn that."
"Impossible," she replied confidently. "If you dominate the Crown Disk with the intent of subduing others, you will never understand your equals or those beneath you…"
Settling into his seat, he sighed distressed.
"So. What was the diagnosis the doctor gave in those consultations you had hidden from me?"
For a moment, Ethan was forced to look at Luanne in surprise.
But then he remembered—she was a long-time friend. There was no hiding anything from her. She didn't need to read minds to understand what was wrong.
Leaning forward, elbows on his knees, Ethan looked at his sleeping son.
"Theo only had a few fractures… one in his arm, four in his ribs. No major head damage, aside from psychological. Dr. Harbor suggested exposing him to a high concentration of mana, maybe in the forest of the Lawrence Residence, which is still part of the Forest of Nymphs…"
"Since he's a Deviant, mana will help him heal… that's what I thought," Luanne said.
"Yeah…" he breathed deeply.
Returning to a comfortable position, the Duke looked back at the distant landscape. The sun was disappearing behind the mountains, leaving traces of its divinity behind. The world became illuminated only by the pale face of the moon.
"As for me…" he hesitated, clutching his chest. "I was infected by nonexistence. They don't know what to do about it… I'm not the only one infected, but my symptoms seem weaker compared to other patients."
"What is it?" she asked, worried.
"Cancer."
Luanne's lips trembled; for a moment, she felt her heart falter.
Deviants were almost immune to viral diseases, except those affecting the energy system. Tumors were usually neutralized by their advanced regeneration.
But when affected… it was just as fatal as for a normal human.
"Nonexistence is corroding the mana particles in my core, creating a tumor in my Spark of Phanes… and preventing my core from generating energy involuntarily."
"But that's not all," Luanne pressed, though afraid of the answer.
"Of course not. If it were…" he said with bitter irony.
Tears gathered in his eyes.
"Nonexistence is spreading through my energy channels, blocking mana like clogged veins. Dr. Harbor asked me not to use energy in large amounts, as it could accelerate the contamination. But…"
He sniffed, gripping his shirt over his heart.
"Even if I don't die young, I'll grow weaker over time… like a normal human. I… won't have the strength to protect my family anymore," he said in panic, ears burning with shame.
"That's nonsense," Luanne replied, replacing worry with disappointment. "When you were seventeen, you didn't care about dying in battle… about defying the strongest…"
"That's because I didn't have them…" he said, looking at Theo. "I had no reason… I was just a boy trained to wield a sword and control fire… nothing special beyond strength. Now… I can't even use the one good thing about my life…"
"That's not true…" she said, adjusting Theo. "You achieved much because of your power… but you're not a genius who depends only on it. You grew from it. Everything you achieved is still your merit. No one handed it to you, even if you could have had the world."
An owl flew past the train, landing above their carriage. Moments later, the train entered a dim tunnel, lit by lanterns every few meters.
"Selfish actions disguised as false altruism… that's how I lived my whole life," he muttered. "But not you. You're the opposite. The only man I trust. You're a light, Ethan. Not a shadow hiding behind one trait."
Covering his mouth, Ethan gasped, eyes filled with tears.
"Losing your power is not the end of your life. Before being a Deviant, you are a man… a father, husband, leader who knows what to do."
An awkward silence filled the carriage.
Ethan couldn't respond, drowning in his own doubts.
Ashamed…
Desperate. Helpless. A depressive tone of life.
A mind too turbulent to hear the guidance of the maternal moon.
"I'm scared, Luanne…" he whispered weakly. "I'm scared I won't see what kind of man Theo becomes… what path Thays will take… afraid of leaving Camille alone…"
"And are you fine living without her? Even with your limited core, you'll live for centuries. Ethan… you lost your power, yes. But did you really lose everything?"
Theo stirred slightly.
"Two children, a perfect wife, a wonderful brother… you lost nothing. Your time to fight has passed. No one fights forever. Look at me—I'm over two hundred years old, and I haven't needed my strength for nearly a century. The problem isn't losing your power… it's losing what you built with it…"
She guided Ethan's gaze toward Theo. The boy slept like a hibernating angel.
"You saved Camille. Protected Edward. Gave life to Theo and Thays…" she paused, swallowing. "You saved me. For someone only thirty years old in a world of millennia-old beings… you're still a child. Yet you've saved as many lives as I've taken. Your strength means nothing… there's still time to begin again."
Ethan wiped his eyes.
"Do you know what he'll inherit from you?"
She looked at Theo.
"You always sought to grow… to protect those you love. You were a cure for many people, Ethan. A cure for loneliness. This boy inherited that. He will be a light in the lives of those he meets. From you, he'll inherit the will to overcome."
Leaning back, Ethan sighed deeply, trying to understand if his fear was real—or just despair.
But before he could sink into it, Luanne rested her legs on his seat and complained:
"Stop overthinking and go to sleep! That villager was right—you're not a hero. Simple as that. Now sleep. Tomorrow is a new day. I don't want to see children crying!"
Surprised by her sudden boldness, Ethan smiled awkwardly and stood.
For the first time that night, the moon dominated the sky… watching over her children. Protecting even those who did not follow her.
And to her mother, the owl flew as a messenger…
Not a messenger of peace.
But one who would proclaim the absolute change of that world.