[POV Liselotte]

  The rhythmic ctter of the royal carriage’s wheels against the capital’s cobblestones was the only sound filling the cabin, a constant echo marking our transition from the sheltered bubble of knowledge at the Academy to the political reality of Whirikal Castle. Through the gss of the window, I watched the city’s buildings pass by in a blur of gray stone and ste roofs.

  Three years have passed. Three years that, in the silence of my nightly reflections, feel like an entire lifetime.

  I looked down at my hands, resting on my p over my uniform. They are no longer the hands of the confused girl who woke up in a strange world after the fire in Terra. The time of peace—or at least retive calm—within the Academy’s walls has given me something I never thought possible: the integration of my two existences. I am no longer Edward Celium pretending to be Liselotte; I am Liselotte, a woman who treasures the memories of a past life, but whose heart now beats in rhythm with Lyre.

  I have matured. I can feel it in the way Tiara’s ocean of energy no longer crashes violently against my magical channels like a storm, but instead flows like the controlled tide of a harbor. I have learned to breathe with my power, to understand that ice is not merely a weapon, but an extension of my will—one that does not need anger to manifest. My shoulders, once tense with fear of the unknown, now bear the weight of my destiny with ease.

  And yet, beside me, the atmosphere was very different.

  Leah sat with her back rigidly straight. Her fingers nervously toyed with the edge of her blue cloak, and her fire-colored eyes—those eyes that fascinate me so much—jumped from corner to corner of the carriage without finding rest. Her father’s letter, King William’s summons, still y inside her bag: an invisible yet heavy presence reminding us that the time of books and school fencing lessons had come to an end.

  “Leah,” I called softly.

  She gave a small start, as if my voice had pulled her back from an abyss of worries. She turned toward me, and I could see the shadow of anxiety clouding her beauty.

  “Lotte? Sorry… I was just thinking about what could have happened for my father to call us back so urgently. The Church, the movements on the frontier… it feels like the ground beneath us is starting to crack.”

  I leaned slightly closer, shortening the distance between us in the carriage. I looked straight into her eyes, letting all the confidence I had forged over these three years flow through my expression. I offered her a small smile, the kind born from the deepest conviction.

  “Don’t let fear win before you even reach the battlefield, Leah,” I said, my voice firm but warm. “I know things are becoming complicated, and that the Church of Gaia has found a kind of confidence they didn’t have before. But look at me. No matter what awaits us in the castle, or what pns those priests might have, I won’t let them touch you. I’ll protect you from anything that happens—human, demonic, or… divine. I promised you once, and today I am far more capable of keeping that promise than I was back then.”

  Our gazes locked. For a moment, the outside world disappeared. Reflected in the blue of her pupils, I saw my own image: a woman with green hair and eyes of ice, unafraid of tomorrow.

  Leah was left speechless for an instant. A deep blush rose from her neck to color her cheeks a vivid pink. She quickly looked away, hiding her face behind a lock of her blonde hair, while her fingers clenched the fabric of her dress.

  “Idiot… you shouldn’t say things like that so directly,” she murmured in a whisper so soft I barely caught the words. She continued saying something else, an indistinct murmur lost beneath the rumble of another carriage passing by us, but the light in her eyes told me that, at the very least, her heart was no longer trembling with political fear.

  “Well, well! Such a sickeningly sweet atmosphere in here!” Chloé excimed from the seat across from us, bursting into ughter and shattering the tension in an instant.

  The wolf-girl stretched with the zy grace of a cat, her white tail lightly tapping the seat. She had grown taller, her presence now far more imposing, yet she still retained that spark of wild mischief that defined her.

  “Though I have to agree with Lotte,” Chloé continued, looking at the princess with a grin that revealed her white fangs. “After the way she’s trained us these past three years, Leah, I’m not surprised she’s so confident. I still remember st week’s session in the forest… my ribs are still sore.”

  Chloé turned toward me, assessing me with her golden eyes—eyes that could see through illusions.

  “Lotte’s become a monster, Leah. And I mean that as a compliment. The way she now controls that power… it’s terrifying. Before, when she used her ice, it felt like she was fighting a high-pressure water leak. Now, it feels like she is winter itself. I honestly think that if she wanted to, she could defeat me even if I went all out and unleashed my full ancestral transformation.”

  Leah looked at Chloé, startled. “That much?”

  “Even more,” Chloé nodded, crossing her arms. “Right now, I’d say Lotte could take down five of those giant elementals we fought years ago—and she’d do it before I even finished yawning. Her magic doesn’t ‘come out’ of her anymore; it’s like the world itself bends to her will.”

  I ughed softly, warmth blooming in my chest at my friend’s recognition. “You exaggerate, Chloé. I’ve just learned not to waste energy.”

  “It’s not exaggeration—it’s instinct,” the wolf replied. “You smell like ancient power, Lotte. Like something that shouldn’t fit inside a space as small as this carriage.”

  Leah seemed to fully rex after Chloé’s intervention. The conversation then flowed more lightly. We talked about the exams we had left unfinished, about rumors of the Academy’s new uniforms—which Chloé absolutely hated—and about Maya and Elina’s small mischiefs during the st semester. For a moment, we were no longer a future queen and her guardians heading toward a potential war crisis; we were simply three friends sharing a journey.

  The tension and nerves that had dominated the beginning of the ride dissolved. Leah ughed again, a clear sound that always reminded me why every exhausting hour of training was worth it. I gnced at her, appreciating the way sunlight pyed across her features. She is my anchor in this world, the reason Liselotte exists with purpose.

  Finally, the carriage began to slow. The ctter of cobblestones gave way to the duller sound of polished stone in the castle’s main courtyard. The towering walls of Whirikal Fortress rose before us, imposing and somber, decorated with lion banners that fluttered proudly in the cold northern wind.

  “We’ve arrived,” I said, feeling my mind automatically shift into combat mode, my senses sharpening.

  Leah took a deep breath and nodded. She smoothed her dress and regained the composure of a princess of royal blood. The blush was gone; in its pce was the determination of someone ready to face her destiny, supported by the security I had given her.

  “We’re ready,” Leah said, looking at both of us.

  “Go get them, princess. I’ll watch the shadows,” Chloé added, her cws preparing themselves almost imperceptibly.

  I stepped out of the carriage first, offering my hand to Leah to help her down. When she took it, I felt a small squeeze—a silent message of gratitude and mutual trust.

  The butler Barnaby was already waiting at the foot of the grand marble staircase, his expression impeccable but his eyes revealing that the King’s matter was indeed of a magnitude that would change the course of our lives.

  “Welcome home, dies,” Barnaby said with a bow. “His Majesty awaits you in the Throne Hall. We are not alone. The emissaries of the Church of Orestia arrived an hour ago.”

  A cold pulse of energy ran down my spine. The Church. Gaia’s pawns were here.

  We walked steadily into the castle. The corridors felt longer, heavier with history. But as long as Leah walked at my side and Chloé guarded our backs, I knew it didn’t matter how many ‘divine gifts’ the Church possessed. I was Liselotte, bearer of the will of the Earth, and there was no power in Lyre that would break my promise.

  The game of the goddesses was about to enter its most critical phase—and we had just stepped into the main hall.