Chapter 18

The heavy doors of the Universal Guard’s central meeting hall open. Marble pillars shimmer under mana lamplight. The captains—all present—turn their heads.

Shizuku adjusts his glasses.
Alto is seated beside him, arms crossed.
Berwick leans against the wall, silent.
Eris is halfway through a cup of gravity-stabilized tea.
Asche looks up from a radiant sigil map, expression unreadable.

Astera walks in with his cape fluttering behind him.
Following him, hood low and steps hesitant, is Kalt XVIII.

Astera
(slowly)
This… is Kalt the Eighteenth.
Prince of Raureif.
Sole heir to the northern district’s old monarchy.
He’s been alive. Hiding.

Shizuku
(deadpan)
I can see that.

Eris
(sipping)
We assumed Givre killed him along with his father.

Berwick
(quietly)
So why now?

Astera pushes Kalt forward.

Astera
Tell them what you told me.

Kalt hesitates. He looks around at the captains—their power pressing into him like ocean depth.

Kalt XVIII:
(softly)
...King Givre didn’t appear until just over a year ago.
I don’t know where he came from. He just… showed up.
But the day he arrived, the northern mana stream froze over.
And my father vanished. Assumed dead.

Asche:
(frowning)
And you? You survived?

Kalt XVIII:
My father sent me away through an ancient sigil tunnel beneath the palace.
Only my mentor and I knew of it.
He died last winter. Since then, I’ve been surviving in Central Minamo.

Alto:
(sternly)
Then why hide?

Kalt looks to the floor.

Kalt XVIII
Because I was afraid.
Afraid that if I returned, Givre would find me.
Afraid that I wasn’t worthy of my bloodline.
And afraid that you all would look at me like…

Shizuku
(interrupting)
Like a coward?

Kalt flinches.

Shizuku
(sharply)
You are a coward. But that doesn’t mean you’re useless.
You’re not the first royal to watch their kingdom burn.
And you won’t be the last.

Eris
(sighing)
Shizu…

Alto
(glancing at Shizuku)
What my husband is trying to say is—
Whether or not you ran doesn’t matter anymore.
What matters is whether or not you’ll stand now.

Astera
He will.
Because he knows what Givre’s doing.
Because he lived through it.
And because he’s the key to rallying what’s left of Raureif.

Berwick steps forward.

Berwick
(grave)
Then we get ready.
The northern district’s central kingdom may still have loyalists.
If we’re going to reclaim Raureif…we’ll need a symbol

He looks at Kalt.

Berwick
You still have a crown?

Kalt XVIII
(pausing)
I still have my name.

Astera
That’s enough—for now.

Shizuku (smiling faintly)
Then let’s prepare a coronation. Or a war.