The elegant woman slowly extended her pale hands toward the child.
On the side, Amaniel squinted briefly. He shifted his peripheral vision toward Caelia and noticed the Mistress remaining completely still. She stood frozen in place, making absolutely zero effort to stop the approaching woman.
Despite seeing that, he maintained his protective hold on the little girl. He kept his posture relaxed and calmly met the supposed grandmother’s ancient, pitch-black gaze.
The pale hands moved closer.
Just as those long fingers were about to brush against the fabric of the little girl, Cathiel moved away on her own. She swiftly turned and buried her face into Amaniel’s chest. She hid her small body behind his arm, only peeking out warily at the stranger.
"!"
The warm, loving smile instantly froze on the woman’s flawless face.
A second later, the smile vanished entirely, replaced by a mask of chilling frost. She slowly lifted her dark, abyssal gaze and locked it onto Amaniel. Pure, concentrated hatred burned within her pitch-black eyes. She stared at him with absolute venom, as if blaming him for the child’s blatant rejection.
The air in the room grew suffocatingly dense with killing intent.
Yet, she refrained from launching an attack. She kept her hands rigidly at her sides. The apocalyptic aura radiating from Caelia’s silent, looming presence nearby clearly served as a massive deterrent, forcing the ancient royal to swallow her immediate wrath.
She reluctantly tore her gaze away from Amaniel, turned her focus back to Caelia, and uttered coldly, "Care to explain?"
"...There is nothing to explain," Caelia replied without a single trace of fear.
"Nothing to explain, you say? Really?" The woman snorted, a cruel edge creeping into her tone. "Alright."
She straightened her posture and coldly announced her judgment, projecting her voice to reach everyone present.
"Listen to my order!"
"Caelia has openly betrayed the former Crown Prince, my son. She has completely defiled our royal bloodline by consorting with this lowly human!" Her pitch-black eyes narrowed viciously. "I hereby declare the immediate seizure of these sinners. Execute the man who sullied our lineage! As for the child... she will be permanently banished here with her mother!"
’E-Execute?’ A heavy chill ran down Amaniel’s spine.
He was certainly thankful she refrained from killing him on the spot. However, receiving a formal death sentence was no different!
He immediately tried to speak whatever he could think of. But he found his throat completely sealed and frozen shut. The Queen Matriarch had clearly used some kind of silencing skill on him.
"Indeed, I agree with the Queen Matriarch!" a voice thundered from the sky above.
"Death to the sinner!"
"Death to the sinner!"
A few more supportive echoes rang out from the hovering figures outside.
Several others stayed completely silent, observing the situation carefully.
A small handful muttered their clear opposition to the sudden, harsh ruling.
Just then, another violent grumble echoed through the realm.
The space directly inside the bedroom was torn apart. A jagged void rift opened, and a small boy stepped out leisurely right into the middle of the tense standoff.
He carried a relaxed, almost lazy posture. The boy coldly gazed through the shattered window at the majestic people hovering outside, causing the murmurs to instantly cease. He then swept his calm gaze across the interior of the room, completely ignoring the furious Queen Matriarch, the stunned Amaniel, and even Caelia.
His eyes landed directly on Cathiel.
Almost immediately, a bright, genuine smile blossomed on the boy’s face.
He suddenly dropped into a deep, flawless bow of absolute respect.
"I welcome the rightful ruler of Nemure," the boy spoke, his voice a mix of reverence and respect. "The boundless ruler of the void, the absolute apex of our bloodline, the True Nightmare Sovereign!"
The words hung in the air, carrying an oppressive weight that instantly snuffed out the lingering killing intent in the room.
The majestic figures hovering outside the shattered window froze. Not a single one dared to utter a sound of protest or agreement. The suffocating silence that followed was absolute, heavy enough to crush the breath out of a normal person’s lungs. Amaniel felt the freezing grip around his throat loosen just a fraction under the boy’s overwhelming presence, though he remained perfectly still, carefully analyzing this drastic shift in the power dynamic.
The Queen Matriarch’s flawless face drained of all color.
Her previous arrogant, commanding facade shattered into a million pieces, replaced instantly by a look of sheer, unadulterated terror. Her hands, which had just been rigidly issuing death sentences, now trembled visibly at her sides. She swallowed hard, the sharp authority in her eyes dissolving into pure panic.
"Y-Your Highness..." she stammered, taking a clumsy, instinctual half-step back. "W-what are you doing here?"
The small boy did not even blink in her direction.
He treated her words with the same indifference one might reserve for a buzzing insect. Completely ignoring the trembling Matriarch, he slowly straightened his posture. His bright, respectful gaze remained locked entirely on the tiny girl peeking out from behind Amaniel’s arm.
Cathiel blinked her slate gray and crimson eyes. She observed the newcomer with obvious curiosity, her tiny hands gripping Amaniel’s shirt tightly.
Seeing her adorable reaction, the boy chuckled softly. The sound carried a strange resonance that immediately smoothed out the violently churning void energy outside the Spire.
He finally shifted his gaze upward and looked directly into Amaniel’s eyes.
Amaniel felt an unimaginable pressure wash over him. It felt completely different from the Queen Matriarch’s sharp killing intent. This was an ancient, bottomless ocean of raw power, heavy enough to crush stars.
"You must be the Guardian," the boy stated calmly. His voice sounded young yet echoed with centuries of absolute authority. His pitch-black eyes narrowed slightly in genuine curiosity. "To stand so close to my aunt and survive... and to hold our Sovereign safely. How absolutely fascinating."
Amaniel kept his expression perfectly neutral and maintained his protective hold on Cathiel.
The boy didn’t mind his silence and turned his attention to Caelia.
"Aunt Caelia," he greeted respectfully. A rare hint of genuine warmth entered his tone. "It has been far too long."
Caelia’s tense posture relaxed a fraction. A complicated emotion flickered in her crimson eyes.
"...You have grown," she replied softly.
The Queen Matriarch stood completely frozen on the side. Her flawless face turned paler by the second. She clearly realized her absolute authority had just been completely overridden by this sudden arrival.
The boy slowly turned his head to look at the Matriarch. His warm smile vanished instantly. His pitch-black eyes turned into cold, merciless voids.
"Did you just issue an execution order on the father of the True Nightmare Sovereign? The Twilight Guardian?" he asked. His voice dropped to a freezing whisper. "Did you dare to declare a banishment upon the absolute apex of our bloodline?"
The Queen Matriarch trembled violently. She opened her mouth to speak, desperately seeking to justify her previous actions.
"I..."
"Kneel."
A single word left the boy’s lips.
The sheer force of the command shattered the remaining tension in the room.
Boom-!
The Queen Matriarch’s knees buckled instantly. She slammed heavily onto the stone floor, entirely unable to resist the overwhelming suppression of his aura.
The solid stone floor cracked in deep spiderweb patterns under the Matriarch’s trembling knees. She kept her head firmly bowed, completely suppressed by the boy’s terrifying gravity.
He stared down at her quivering form with absolute apathy.
"I will uncover the full truth of these events later," the boy declared, his freezing voice commanding absolute obedience. "I will thoroughly investigate this matter and deliver the absolute judgment upon all involved parties."
Leaving the Matriarch shivering on the ground, he slowly turned his gaze toward the shattered window.
The majestic figures hovering in the jagged rifts visibly stiffened.
The boy narrowed his pitch-black eyes. A terrifying, oppressive pressure surged from his small body, sweeping out of the Spire and enveloping the entire sky.
"How dare you stand above the Sovereign!" he commanded, his voice exploding like a thunderclap across the realm. "Get down!"
Boom!
An unfathomable force slammed down from the heavens.
Every single imposing figure hovering in the air plummeted like a broken meteor. The overwhelming gravity stripped their flight capabilities away completely.
They crashed violently into the earth thousands of meters below, carving out massive, dust-filled craters across the dark landscape.
The boy snorted in pure disdain at them. He then casually brushed off his sleeves. The suffocating pressure vanished as quickly as it had appeared, allowing the air in the bedroom to circulate normally once again.
He turned back to face the family of three.
The cold, ancient monarch faded away, and the polite, smiling boy returned. He looked at Caelia, then Amaniel, and finally offered a gentle, welcoming look to little Cathiel.
"Come," he spoke warmly. "Let’s go back home."