The Verdict of Zenith

Three days after the fight, Nie finally opened her eyes.

For a while, she didn't move.

She stared at the ceiling, trying to understand why her body felt so heavy. Even breathing seemed to require more effort than it should. When she finally tried to sit up, pain spread through her body, forcing a sharp breath from her lips.

"Don't."

A nurse hurried to her side and gently pushed her back against the bed.

Nie frowned.

"What happened?"

The nurse hesitated.

That hesitation bothered Nie more than the question itself. There was something in the woman's expression that suggested she was choosing her words carefully.

"You were brought here after your father punished you."

Nie went still.

Then the memories returned.

Her father's fists.

The forest.

Lulu.

The humiliation.

She remembered enough to know that the pain in her body wasn't some unfortunate accident. Someone had done this to her. Someone who was supposed to be her father.

Her fingers tightened around the bedsheet.

"He beat his own daughter."

The words came out quietly.

There was no question in them, no request for an explanation. She was simply saying aloud something that still seemed impossible to accept.

The nurse said nothing.

Nie wanted her to answer. To tell her there had been a reason, perhaps, or that something about the situation had been misunderstood.

But what could the woman possibly say?

Nie's father had beaten her, and no explanation would change that.

She turned toward the window.

The world outside continued as though nothing had happened. The light was there, the day had gone on, and three days had passed while she lay helpless in a bed.

She hated that thought.

She hated the weakness in her body. She hated needing someone to stop her from sitting up. Most of all, she hated remembering the moment when her own strength had meant nothing.

"How long?" she asked.

"Three days."

Nie closed her eyes.

Three days.

She had been unconscious for three days, and she couldn't get a single one of them back.

For a while, she remained silent. Her anger hadn't disappeared, but it had settled into something heavier. She didn't want to talk about her father. She didn't want to remember the forest.

She wanted to be left alone with her thoughts.

Then the nurse cleared her throat.

"There is something else."

Nie opened one eye.

"What?"

"You've been summoned."

Her expression changed.

"By who?"

The nurse swallowed.

"The First Family."

Nie's gaze sharpened.

"Zenith."

"Yes."

Of course.

Even now, she couldn't be allowed a moment of peace.

Nie looked toward the window again. She had barely opened her eyes after three days of unconsciousness, and already someone wanted her to appear before the most powerful family in Aethelgard.

She didn't know what they wanted.

But she knew she wasn't going to like it.

---

The following day, Lulu and Nie stood before House Zenith.

Their fathers stood behind them.

At the front of the chamber sat the Zenith patriarch, his presence making it difficult to forget who held authority in the room.

Dark sat farther back.

Watching.

Lulu's eyes briefly settled on him before returning to the patriarch. Nie stood beside him, her expression closed off.

Neither wanted to be there.

They were ordered to kneel.

Lulu lowered himself just enough for his knee to barely touch the floor.

It was a small gesture of compliance, if it could even be called that. His posture made his feelings clear enough.

Nie's expression was equally hostile.

She had no intention of pretending that she was happy to be there, and the pain she still carried did nothing to improve her mood.

The patriarch looked at them.

"Lulu. Nie."

His voice was calm.

"You both understand that engaging in unauthorized combat between Great Families is forbidden."

Lulu looked up.

"I know."

"Yet you fought."

"Yes."

Nie glanced at him.

That was all he intended to offer? No explanation, no attempt to defend himself?

Then again, she wasn't exactly eager to explain herself either.

The patriarch continued.

"You endangered both families."

Lulu's expression hardened.

A moment later, he stood.

His father immediately stiffened.

"Lulu—"

"I'm going to stop you there."

The interruption silenced the chamber.

Lulu brushed the dust from his clothes.

"I don't kneel for anyone."

The words were arrogant, defiant, and entirely in character.

But beneath them was something more than a desire to provoke the patriarch. Lulu refused to let someone else's authority dictate what he should think of himself. Even when he was clearly at a disadvantage, he would rather risk the consequences than pretend to submit willingly.

Nie watched him for a moment.

Then she slowly rose to her feet.

"I may have knelt because I was forced to."

She looked directly at the patriarch.

"But I'm finished."

Her voice was steady, but the anger behind it was unmistakable.

She had already been humiliated enough. She had been hurt by her own father, left unconscious for three days, and summoned before the First Family before she had properly recovered.

Now she was expected to stand there and accept another person's judgment without protest.

No.

She might not be able to change the outcome, but she could at least refuse to hide how she felt about it.

Behind them, her father lowered his head.

"Please forgive them."

Lulu's father followed.

"Please."

Their pleas changed nothing.

The Zenith patriarch didn't even look at them.

"There is nothing to forgive."

His attention remained on the children.

"There are consequences."

Lulu crossed his arms.

"What?"

"You will serve House Zenith for one year."

For a moment, neither child spoke.

Nie stared at the patriarch.

She had expected a punishment. Perhaps a severe one. But a year?

An entire year?

The thought was so absurd that she almost wondered whether this was some kind of test.

Then she looked at Lulu.

He was staring at the patriarch too.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"For a year?"

"Yes."

Lulu turned toward Nie.

Nie looked back at him.

Their disbelief met in perfect agreement.

"What?!"

They spoke at exactly the same time.

Under different circumstances, the synchronization might have been amusing. Here, it only made their shared misfortune more obvious.

Neither had wanted to come to Zenith.

Now they were being told they would remain under its authority for an entire year.

The patriarch didn't react to their outburst.

"You will work under Zenith supervision. You will follow instructions. You will serve as repentance for your actions."

Lulu's disbelief hardened into anger.

"This is ridiculous."

The patriarch looked at him.

"No."

His voice grew colder.

"It is law."

The word settled over the chamber.

Lulu's arms remained crossed, but he had no immediate answer.

He could argue. He could protest. He could make his displeasure known to everyone present.

None of that would change the decision.

Nie understood the same thing.

She looked at the patriarch, trying to find some indication that he might reconsider. There was none.

Her father had already shown her how little her protests mattered when someone stronger decided otherwise. Now the First Family was making that lesson even harder to ignore.

One year.

She couldn't yet imagine what that year would look like.

She only knew that she hadn't agreed to it, and nobody in the room intended to ask her permission.

The children were dismissed.

Their fathers left.

Lulu and Nie remained behind.

For a moment, neither spoke. The decision had left them with little to say, and neither was inclined to share their frustration with the other.

Then Dark rose and approached.

"From now on..."

His smile widened slightly.

"...you work for me."

Lulu stared at him.

Of all the people who could have said those words, Dark seemed particularly pleased to be the one delivering them.

"Why should I call you anything?"

Dark's smile sharpened.

"Because I am your master."

Lulu scoffed.

"Make me."

Nie glanced at him.

She was beginning to suspect that Lulu could find something to argue about even if the world itself came to an end.

The thought almost amused her.

Almost.

Her own situation was hardly better, and Dark's expression suggested that neither of them had any reason to feel comfortable.

Dark's smile remained, but something in his eyes changed.

"You really don't understand your position."

"I understand it perfectly."

Lulu held his gaze.

He knew they had been punished. He knew they were standing in House Zenith, surrounded by people who held far more authority than they did.

What he refused to accept was that any of this entitled Dark to his respect.

Dark studied him.

Then he turned away.

"Good."

He glanced over his shoulder.

"Then perhaps you'll understand it after tomorrow."

Lulu's expression tightened.

"Tomorrow?"

Dark offered no further explanation.

He simply walked away, leaving the words behind.

Lulu watched him go, his earlier defiance now mixed with suspicion.

Nie said nothing.

She didn't need to ask whether Lulu was worried. His expression was enough.

Whatever Dark meant, neither of them knew what to expect.

And for once, knowing that they would probably hate whatever came next did nothing to make the uncertainty easier to bear.

---

That night, Lulu lay in the servant quarters, staring at the ceiling.

He couldn't sleep.

Every time he closed his eyes, the day's events returned.

The Zenith patriarch's decision.

His father's lowered head.

Dark's smile.

And that irritating promise about tomorrow.

Lulu clenched his fists.

He had been forced into a punishment he hadn't wanted, under the authority of a family he had no intention of serving willingly. Worse, the decision had been delivered as though his feelings were irrelevant.

Perhaps, to them, they were.

He turned his head, still staring into the darkness.

He remembered the way the Zenith patriarch had spoken. There had been no shouting, no need for threats. The man had simply announced his decision, and everyone in the chamber had understood that it would stand.

That was what unsettled Lulu.

He had grown up knowing that powerful people existed. His father was powerful. The Great Families held enormous authority.

But Zenith was different.

The First Family did not need to prove anything.

They simply commanded.

And everyone moved.

Lulu hated that he understood it.

He hated even more that, for all his defiance, he had been unable to do anything about it.

His fists tightened.

"I'll get out of this."

The words came quietly, but he meant them.

He would find a way. He refused to believe that a year under House Zenith could decide his entire future.

Then he remembered Dark.

Then perhaps you'll understand it after tomorrow.

Lulu frowned at the ceiling.

He had no idea what Dark was planning, and that uncertainty bothered him more than he wanted to admit.

For a moment, he said nothing.

Then he let out a slow breath.

"I'll survive this."

The words were different from his first promise.

Getting out of the situation was what he wanted. Surviving it was what he knew he might have to do first.

Outside his room, footsteps passed.

Lulu remained awake, watching the darkness above him.

He had entered House Zenith determined not to bow to anyone.

Now he had a year ahead of him, a master he refused to acknowledge, and no idea what tomorrow would bring.

The year had begun.

And neither Lulu nor Nie had any idea how much the Zenith household was about to change them.

She tried to sit up.

"Don't."

A nurse gently pushed her back.

Nie frowned.

"What happened?"

The nurse hesitated.

"You were brought here after your father punished you."

Nie remembered.

Her father's fists.

The forest.

Lulu.

The humiliation.

Her jaw tightened.

"He beat his own daughter."

The nurse said nothing.

Nie looked toward the window.

"How long?"

"Three days."

Nie closed her eyes.

Three days.

Then the nurse cleared her throat.

"There is something else."

Nie opened one eye.

"What?"

"You've been summoned."

"By who?"

The nurse swallowed.

"The First Family."

Nie's expression darkened.

"Zenith."

"Yes."

---

The following day, Lulu and Nie stood before House Zenith.

Their fathers stood behind them.

The Zenith patriarch sat at the front of the chamber.

Dark sat farther back.

Watching.

The two children were ordered to kneel.

Neither liked the idea.

Lulu's knee barely touched the floor.

Nie's expression was equally hostile.

The Zenith patriarch began.

"Lulu. Nie."

His voice was calm.

"You both understand that engaging in unauthorized combat between Great Families is forbidden."

Lulu looked up.

"I know."

"Yet you fought."

"Yes."

Nie glanced at him.

The patriarch continued.

"You endangered both families."

Lulu stood.

His father immediately stiffened.

"Lulu—"

"I'm going to stop you there."

The room went silent.

Lulu brushed dust from his clothes.

"I don't kneel for anyone."

Nie slowly stood too.

"I may have knelt because I was forced to."

She looked at the patriarch.

"But I'm finished."

Her father lowered his head.

"Please forgive them."

Lulu's father followed.

"Please."

The patriarch didn't even look at them.

"There is nothing to forgive."

His eyes settled on the children.

"There are consequences."

Lulu crossed his arms.

"What?"

"You will serve House Zenith for one year."

Silence.

Nie stared.

Lulu blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"For a year?"

"Yes."

Lulu looked at Nie.

Nie looked at Lulu.

Both spoke simultaneously.

"What?!"

Dark smiled from the back.

The patriarch continued.

"You will work under Zenith supervision. You will follow instructions. You will serve as repentance for your actions."

Lulu's expression darkened.

"This is ridiculous."

The patriarch looked at him.

"No."

His voice became colder.

"It is law."

The children were dismissed.

Their fathers left.

They remained.

Dark approached.

"From now on..."

He smiled.

"...you work for me."

Lulu stared.

"Why should I call you anything?"

Dark's smile sharpened.

"Because I am your master."

Lulu scoffed.

"Make me."

Dark's expression barely changed.

But something in his eyes did.

"You really don't understand your position."

"I understand it perfectly."

Dark turned away.

"Good."

He glanced over his shoulder.

"Then perhaps you'll understand it after tomorrow."

---

That night, Lulu lay in the servant quarters.

He stared at the ceiling.

He remembered the Zenith patriarch.

The way the man had spoken.

The way everyone obeyed.

Lulu hated it.

But beneath his anger was something else.

Caution.

He had seen powerful people.

His father was powerful.

The Great Families were powerful.

But Zenith was different.

The First Family did not need to prove anything.

They simply commanded.

And everyone moved.

Lulu clenched his fists.

"I'll get out of this."

He paused.

Then corrected himself.

"I'll survive this."

Outside his room, footsteps passed.

The year had begun.

And neither Lulu nor Nie had any idea how much the Zenith household was about to change them.