Amyra's POV:
Amyra Celestia hated waiting.
She stood at the top of the grand marble staircase, the heat of the sun beating down on her crimson dress. Her golden eyes were fixed on the palace courtyard below.
She had read the intelligence reports dozens of times.
Rias von Leonhart. The illegitimate son. A boy with broken mana veins and a fragile body. He was the laughingstock of the Solaria Empire, a pathetic mistake that Duke Reinhard kept hidden in the dark corners of his estate.
When her father, the Emperor, demanded a hostage to ensure the peace treaty, Amyra had expected the Duke to send one of his prized lions. Caspian, perhaps. Or the cunning Lucien.
Instead, the Duke sent his garbage.
'It is an insult,' Amyra thought, her perfectly manicured nails digging into the palms of her hands.
'Sending a cripple to marry me. He thinks my value is equal to his trash.'
She wanted to kill the boy the moment he stepped out of his carriage. She wanted to send his head back to Solaria in a simple wooden box.
But she couldn't. Her father needed the hostage alive.
So, she settled for the next best thing. She was going to break him. She was going to humiliate him in front of the entire palace guard.
She pushed her mana outward. She let her intense, burning aura roll down the white marble steps. It was a heavy, suffocating heat. A normal, unawakened human would drop to their knees the second they hit the first step. Their lungs would burn, and they would be forced to crawl up to her feet like a beaten dog.
Finally, a plain wooden wagon rolled into the courtyard.
Amyra sneered. He didn't even arrive in a noble carriage.
Lord Vane stepped out first. The official looked pale, nervous, and completely terrified.
Then, the boy stepped out.
Amyra's golden eyes locked onto him.
He wore a dark blue overcoat. His blonde hair was messy. He didn't look like a pampered, shivering noble. He looked like someone who had just walked out of a slaughterhouse.
But the most unsettling thing about him was his eyes.
Crimson red. Exactly like his monsterous father.
Rias looked up at the top of the stairs. He looked right at her.
'Crawl,' Amyra commanded in her mind, increasing the heat of her aura.
'Fall to your knees and beg.'
Rias placed his boot on the first step.
He didn't fall. He didn't gasp for air. He didn't even sweat.
He walked up the grand staircase with perfect, casual grace. He moved right through her oppressive heat as if it were nothing but a warm summer breeze.
Amyra's flawless smile froze. A sharp jolt of confusion hit her chest.
This wasn't right. The reports said his mana veins were crippled. He shouldn't be able to withstand her pressure.
When he reached the top, he bowed. It was a perfect, elegant gesture. Not too low, not too high.
He spoke with a smooth, calm voice. He casually admitted to slaughtering a group of assassins on the road. He smiled while he said it.
'He is lying,' Amyra thought quickly.
'He has to be lying. His guards probably killed the assassins, and he is just taking the credit to look strong.'
Yes. That made sense. He was putting up a brave front.
"How fascinating," Amyra said, forcing her sweet smile back into place.
She turned and led him into the palace. She watched him closely out of the corner of her eye. She expected him to look around the glowing crystal halls with awe or fear. Solaria was a dark, ugly place compared to Velmer.
But Rias just looked bored.
They reached the throne room. This was the real test.
Her father, Emperor Valerius, was a monster in his own right. His magical pressure could crush boulders into dust. When he spoke, the very air in the room vibrated.
Amyra stood beside Rias, waiting for him to finally crack. The Velmer nobles were whispering, laughing at him. The Emperor looked down at the boy with absolute disdain.
"I fully expected him to send a severed head," the Emperor rumbled.
Amyra watched Rias's face. She looked for the twitch of his jaw. She looked for a bead of sweat.
There was nothing.
Rias looked directly into the Emperor's eyes and lied with absolute perfection. He didn't just defend himself; he turned the Emperor's logic completely upside down.
'If I were truly a worthless cripple, do you really believe a man as proud as Duke Reinhard would allow me to carry the Leonhart name into your grand court?'
The throne room went completely silent.
Amyra felt a chill run down her spine.
It was brilliant. It was a masterclass in manipulation. Rias was using her father's paranoia against him. Duke Reinhard was a perfectionist. He would never send a useless pawn to his greatest enemy. Therefore, the intelligence reports had to be a trick.
The Emperor actually backed down. He allowed the boy to join the banquet.
Amyra followed them to the dining hall, her mind racing.
Who was this boy?
He didn't fit the profile at all. He wasn't a coward. He wasn't weak. He spoke to the Emperor of the greatest nation on the continent without a single hint of fear.
At the banquet, Amyra stood with her peers. Young nobles tried to impress her with jokes and flattery, but she barely heard them.
Her golden eyes kept darting across the room.
Rias stood alone by a massive window. He held a glass of water. He didn't eat. He didn't try to make friends. He didn't look intimidated by the hostile stares of the Velmer nobles.
He just watched the city.
'He is wearing a mask,' Amyra finally decided.
'He has to be. No fifteen-year-old boy can face this much hatred and stay that calm. He is holding his breath, trying to play the part of the strong envoy.'
She decided to rip the mask off.
She couldn't do it in public. He was too good at wordplay. She needed him alone. She needed to corner him, strip away his audience, and break his mind in the dark.
She walked across the hall. The young nobles quickly parted ways for her.
She approached him from behind and grabbed his hand.
She didn't hold back. She squeezed his hand with her burning grip, intending to make him wince.
Rias didn't flinch.
He turned around and smiled at her. He agreed to go to her private room.
The walk down the quiet corridors felt tense. Amyra had already dismissed the guards. She wanted complete silence. She led him into her bedroom and locked the heavy door.
The trap was set.
Before he could even look around, Amyra moved.
She slammed her hands against his chest and pushed him hard. Rias fell backward onto the massive silk bed. She instantly climbed on top of him, pinning his legs down. She placed her hands on either side of his head, trapping him completely.
She leaned down, her face inches from his. Her red hair fell around them, cutting off his vision.
She had him. He couldn't run. He couldn't fight back.
She started to speak. She poured every ounce of venom she possessed into her words.
She told him he was nothing.
She called him a mistake. Garbage. A disposable pawn that his father threw away.
She told him she would make his life a living nightmare. She promised to break him down until he was begging on his knees for death.
She stared right into his crimson eyes, waiting for the mask to finally shatter. She waited for the tears. She waited for the panic.
She waited.
And waited...
Rias just looked at her. His breathing was completely steady.
And then, the impossible happened.
Rias smiled.
It wasn't a fake smile. It was a gentle, terrifyingly calm smile.
Amyra's fingers froze against his cheek.
'Why is he smiling?' she thought, a sudden spike of alarm hitting her chest.
Rias slowly lifted his hand. Amyra tensed, ready to dodge a desperate strike.
But he didn't hit her. He gently tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear. The touch was so casual, so fearless, it made her skin crawl.
"You have a very beautiful voice, Princess," he said softly.
Amyra felt her control slipping. She demanded to know what was wrong with him. She reminded him that he was completely at her mercy.
Rias didn't argue. He agreed with her.
He calmly admitted that he was trash. He admitted that his family hated him and wanted him dead. He agreed that no one would care if she killed him right now.
And then, he delivered the killing blow.
'If I have absolutely nothing to lose... then what makes you think I am afraid of you?'
The words struck Amyra like a physical slap across the face.
She stared down at the boy pinned beneath her.
He was right.
How do you torture a man who has nothing to lose? How do you threaten someone who doesn't value his own life?
"You are trying to threaten a dead man," Rias chuckled.
Amyra felt genuine panic rising in her throat. The power dynamic in the room had completely flipped. She was straddling him. She had him pinned. Yet, looking into his deep, empty crimson eyes, she felt like she was the prey.
"You talk a good game," she sneered, desperately trying to regain the upper hand. She pressed her weight down harder.
"But you are still mine to play with."
"Am I?" Rias asked.
He grabbed her left wrist.
Amyra tried to pull away.
She couldn't.
His grip was like solid iron. It was absolute. She pulled harder, using her own mana to enhance her strength. His hand didn't move a single inch.
The reports were completely, fatally wrong.
This boy wasn't a cripple. The physical strength hiding beneath his slender frame was more than hers.
He pulled her wrist closer to his face.
"If I am just your plaything... then why is your pulse racing?" Rias whispered.
Amyra stopped breathing.
He could feel her fear. He could feel her heart hammering against her ribs. She was totally exposed.
Rias let go of her wrist and sat up.
He smoothed his dark blue coat and stood up from the bed. He didn't look angry. He didn't look triumphant. He just looked bored.
He turned his head and gave her one final warning.
'If you poke a rabid dog long enough, it won't just bite your hand. It will tear out your throat.'
Amyra sat frozen on the edge of the bed. She couldn't speak. She couldn't move.
Rias walked to the door, unlocked it, and thanked her for the conversation.
The heavy door shut with a loud click.
Amyra was left alone in the dark bedroom.
She looked down at her left wrist. The faint imprint of his fingers was still there.
Her heart was beating so fast it actually hurt her chest. She took a ragged, shaky breath, trying to calm her racing mind.
The Velmer intelligence network had failed. Her father, the Emperor, had been fooled.
Duke Reinhard hadn't sent a helpless hostage to ensure peace.
He had sent a predator directly into their home.
And Amyra realized, with a deep, sickening sense of dread, that she had just locked herself in the cage with him.