Chapter 460: The Edge of War
The Belgrade Summit had come to an end, and the final touches had already been made.
At this point, it could be said that Frey and his companions were standing at the edge of the point of no return.
Toward the close of the summit, a strange moment unfolded between Uriel Platini and Frey Starlight.
The Saintess candidate appeared to open her heart to him, making a mysterious and personal request.
She wanted him to save her.
But from what, exactly?
Frey didn’t know the answer.
Even so, he promised to grant her wish .. adding yet another burden to the many he already carried.
Not that it bothered Lord Starlight much.
Those shoulders of his had long grown used to such weight.
Their conversation had been smooth...
But what followed at the end was undeniably odd.
Without warning, Uriel suddenly stepped away, her hands trembling without her even realizing it.
Under Frey’s confused gaze, she struggled to find the words.
’What did I just see?’
Was it a vision? A hallucination?
Or as that masked figure had said... a nightmare?
It had come the moment she touched Frey .. something had clearly triggered between them. And the experience felt far too real, like something she had actually lived through.
That masked man... was it truly Frey?
Could it be... what he might become?
Uriel questioned the future of the boy standing before her.
But she quickly rejected the thought.
’That couldn’t have been Frey... it’s impossible.’
She tried to convince herself .. just as Frey approached her once again.
"Are you alright?"
Her reaction earlier had left him full of questions.
He stepped closer and reached out his hand .. A simple gesture, meant with only good intentions.
Uriel knew that.
But she couldn’t help but recoil from that handn.. the same one where she had seen his shadow...
The shadow of a blood-soaked monster.
"I’m sorry..."
She apologized, though Frey had no idea why.
"It’s fine."
He replied gently, then instinctively activated the Affection System to read her thoughts ..
Only to be met with confusion... and fear.
What exactly had happened?
He didn’t get the chance to find out—because, as expected, they were interrupted.
Sansa had arrived.
"Well, well... Uriel Platini," she said with a teasing smile.
"I thought you knew how to seize an opportunity when I saw you alone with him. But look at you now, throwing it all away."
She chuckled and casually took her place at Frey’s side.
She had been watching from the beginning .. Choosing not to step in, as though she had known this would happen.
"See you later, Frey."
Uriel didn’t bother responding.
Even though she hated leaving things like this with Frey, walking away now was the best decision she could make...
At least until she could process what she had seen.
"What happened to her?"
Frey asked, turning toward Sansa.
"She simply couldn’t handle your darkness."
"Handle what?"
Frey didn’t understand what she meant.
What he didn’t know .. was that Sansa, too, had seen a different side of him for a brief moment.
She had seen that same masked monster, wreathed in flames.
But unlike Uriel, it didn’t shake her.
’Even if you turn into a beast who lives off the blood of your victims... nothing will change.’
Where Uriel was pure and gentle, Sansa was the opposite ..
A creature who carried enough darkness inside her to walk that path alongside him... all the way to the end.
"Forget it. Let’s just get out of here."
And with that, she pulled him along ..
Frey left the royal hall behind, and the curtain fell on the summit for good.
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– Frey Starlight’s Pov –
Time passed quickly after the summit ended.
I spent the past few days split between intense training... and occasional moments with my sister Ada, or with Sansa .. whose face I’d been seeing more and more lately.
In the last few days, the first fleet set to cross the Demonic Sea toward enemy territory had officially been formed.
For the past few months, scattered skirmishes had erupted between the Empire and the Ultras...
But the battle about to begin now was something entirely different.
Ten thousand warriors from the great noble families, The Empire’s finest fighters..
Led by the suicide squad I was now a part of.
Our departure point had been set: the western port of Winterfell.
It was there that I saw my sister Ada rushing around in every direction.
Although Aegon held the title of Supreme Commander of the war council,
It was Ada who had taken on most of the work as his deputy.
Preparing the army, managing its structure and logistics .. All of it had fallen to her.
And this was exactly where she shined.
In record time, Ada had managed to organize an army of ten thousand soldiers ... Perfectly, without a single mistake.
Her hair was tied back in a ponytail as she moved tirelessly from one facility to the next, checking on various units without rest, while I followed behind her alongside Carmen.
Carmen had been glued to her side around the clock—at my request.
As for me, I only stopped by from time to time.
But when I saw my sister shouting in the face of a man over two meters tall, built like a tank, and radiating S-rank aura pressure...
I finally understood why Sir Alon had appointed her as the Supreme Commander’s deputy.
Despite the fact that man was a veteran warrior and one of the noble family leaders,
He did nothing but bow his head to Ada, apologizing for his mistakes ..
And in his eyes, I saw genuine respect.
It was the same respect I saw from most of the soldiers gathered here at the Winterfell harbor.
"She’s truly incredible."
Standing beside Carmen, the two of us watched her from afar as she worked.
Carmen, who had observed my sister longer than I had, had already come to appreciate her brilliance long ago.
"At first, I had to step in myself just to get the soldiers to follow her. Ada Starlight, a D-rank girl who appeared out of nowhere, barking orders at them..."
"But somehow, she turned things around in no time .. Now they follow her without question."
She possessed a unique kind of charm.
A charisma that drew people in effortlessly.
"I suppose she was born to lead. Unlike me .. I was born to crawl through the dirt of enemy lands."
I chuckled softly, and Carmen did the same.
"Each of you is special in your own way."
"Sounds like you’ve started favoring her over me. Wasn’t I the one who caught your attention back then?"
I smiled, recalling the early days in the Starlight family ..
Back when Carmen had saved me from death.
We had come a long way since then.