Chapter 34: Astera Sylvaris
The sea of corpses stretched endlessly beneath a sky the color of old bruises.
Elysia Sylvaris moved across the landscape without allowing her feet to touch the ground. An invisible force pushed the blood, debris, and fragments of corpses away from her path, leaving her untouched by the carnage surrounding her. Human bodies lay among beasts and monsters, while dragons so enormous that their wings could have blotted out the sun were scattered across the landscape.
Their blood had soaked into the earth until the ground itself had become a swamp of crimson and decay, while limbs and shattered bones disappeared beneath the filth.
Even after traveling across it for hours, Elysia still couldn’t see where the graveyard ended. The silence was oppressive, broken only by the occasional shift of a massive corpse settling deeper into the mud.
At the center of it all, a mountain of corpses rose toward the sky.
Atop it sat a bare-chested man in a lotus position, completely undisturbed by the carnage beneath him.
White hair fell around his shoulders, stark against the darkness below. His purple eyes remained closed as mana twisted around his body, warping the air and distorting the space through which it flowed.
Astera Sylvaris, patriarch of the Sylvaris family.
Elysia approached and bowed deeply. She maintained her composure, but the tension in her shoulders betrayed what she refused to show on her face. Even now, standing before her father made her feel younger than she wanted to be.
"I greet the patriarch, Astera Sylvaris."
"What are you doing here, child?" His voice was almost disinterested. "Shouldn’t you be with the Vespera boy right now? Or did he die fighting the Hero?"
"And call me Father. There is no need for formalities when no one else is around."
Elysia straightened slightly. "He did not die."
One of Astera’s eyebrows lifted. "Then he was crippled?"
"No. He won."
The air around him seemed to still.
"That’s not possible."
"He convinced the Hero to fight without using his affinity."
Astera stared at her.
"And?"
"Despite being a D-rank potential, Caelus nearly killed him."
Astera’s attention sharpened.
"Nearly?"
"The Church intervened before he could finish the fight. They declared it a draw."
Astera’s expression shifted, the change in his posture betrayed genuine interest. He had been aware of the Vespera boy’s existence, of course. The engagement had been arranged for political reasons, not personal ones. But this was different.
His mother had died with Caelus’s name on her lips. Then, shortly afterward, the boy had defeated the Goddess’s Chosen and nearly killed him. Either event could be dismissed on its own. Together, they suggested something else entirely.
"Your role has become more important," he said.
Elysia waited.
"What did you personally observe?"
Elysia considered the question.
"He moved strangely."
"How?"
"As though he already knew what the Hero was going to do."
"The Church doesn’t teach the Hero’s fighting style."
Elysia nodded.
The Hero’s combat methods were among the Church’s most closely guarded secrets. Even powerful families rarely had access to them.
The Church only revealed those methods to outsiders under extreme circumstances.
Usually when those outsiders were about to die.
Even Elysia had never been familiar with the Hero’s style.
Neither had Caelus.
At least, he shouldn’t have been.
"Then there are two possibilities," Astera said.
Elysia waited.
"Either that child possesses an ability we don’t understand..."
His eyes settled on her.
"...or someone gave him information about the Hero."
Elysia’s expression tightened.
"Those were my conclusions as well."
"The Vesperas could have obtained information about the Hero," Astera said. "But I know Aldric. He wouldn’t hand something that valuable to anyone, not even his own children, without receiving something worthwhile in return."
He turned his gaze toward her. "Where is that child right now?"
"I purchased information. He’s currently in the territory of Viscount Malver, at the mansion of the mayor of the Balerius district."
"When did you get this information?"
"Recently. MIST approved the purchase."
Astera nodded in approval. If they had approved the transaction, it meant the information was trustworthy.
Astera was about to respond when a shadow swept across the corpse field.
Elysia looked up.
A silver dragon descended from the clouds, its body larger than the mountain beneath Astera. Its roar shook the battlefield as it accelerated toward them, silver scales flashing through the blood-red sky.
Astera didn’t open his eyes.
Space folded.
The dragon’s enormous body collapsed inward as though an invisible hand had seized the entire creature and crushed it into a single point. Its roar twisted into a distorted shriek before vanishing completely.
"Stay close to him."
Astera finally opened his eyes.
"Find out what he knows. Find out what he can do. Most importantly, find out why."
"Your grandmother doesn’t say someone’s name without a reason."
Elysia lowered her gaze and nodded.
---
The mansion was quiet when Caelus entered the room.
Elysia sat waiting for him, perfectly composed, as though she had been invited rather than having arrived unannounced. Her pink lips curved into a faint smile as she looked up at him.
"Nice to see you again, fiancé."
Caelus didn’t return the smile.
"Why are you here?"
She rose gracefully from her seat and walked toward him. "Do I need a reason to see the face of my beloved fiancé?"
"We already discussed the engagement."
His tone remained flat.
"I have no intention of entering a relationship that’s not meaningful. So why waste either of our time?"
Elysia studied him with renewed interest. There was something about his lack of interest in her status that intrigued her.
Most men reacted to the Sylvaris name before they reacted to her. Some became nervous, while others became excessively polite. A few tried so desperately to impress her that their intentions became obvious within minutes.
Caelus seemed almost irritated by it.
He had rejected the engagement as though she had offered him an inconvenient business arrangement.
That should have annoyed her.
Instead, it made her curious.
"It is good that you know what you want," she said. She tilted her head slightly. "I’ll be honest with you. I don’t particularly want to marry a D-rank potential either."
Caelus’s expression didn’t change.
Elysia stepped closer, leaving barely enough distance for the conversation to remain formal.
"But unfortunately for both of us, our families have already decided we’re meant for each other."
"Don’t play with me, Lady Elysia." His voice remained calm. "You can ask your father to cancel it, and he would."
Elysia didn’t argue. "I can."
Then: "But I don’t want to."
She continued, her voice carrying a playful edge. "You can keep rejecting me if you want."
Her eyes held his.
"I’ll make you fall for me eventually. Then you’ll have no excuse left."
Caelus looked down at her. He hadn’t noticed the difference in their height when she had been sitting.
She caught his collar and pulled him down enough to bring their eyes level. Her gaze met his directly, unflinching.
"And from now on," she said, "you’ll call me El."
She released his collar and straightened his coat as though nothing unusual had happened.
"I’m planning to stay here," she said, looking around the room casually. "Could you show me a room?"
Caelus stared at her.
"You’re staying here?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Her smile returned.
"Because I’m your fiancé."
He exhaled slowly through his nose. "Fine."
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A/N: Minor issues - Viscount -> Mayor(edited it in the prev chaps)