[ Reputation System v1.0 ] User: Ravenna Solarius / Joy Cha Kim Reputation Level: 78 — (250,001 / 380,400 EXP)↑ Current Reputation Points: 1,833,090 RP↑ Titles Unlocked: Raven of the Sun Palace, Unruly Princess, Beast Slayer { View Reputation Log } { Spend Reputation Points }

Ravenna glanced at the floating panel and allowed herself a sharp, satisfied smile. "News of my victory against the imperial forces must be spreading across the continent now," she muttered, the glint in her eye betraying both pride and calculation.

She stood in the castle's courtyard, the cool morning wind brushing against her gown as the bustle of preparation surrounded her. Workers hurried back and forth, loading supplies into a waiting carriage: crates of preserved rations, barrels of water, and the sturdy iron-bound chests that held everything from coin to weaponry.

"Make sure to look after the city properly while I'm gone," Ravenna said without looking up from her list, her pen scratching another item into completion.

"Of course, I will," Alice replied crisply, pushing her glasses up her nose with one hand while holding her own checklist in the other. Her eyes softened, however, when she turned to Hughes, who was helping to haul a heavy chest onto the carriage with two soldiers.

"Make sure she's safe," she said with a smile that was both gentle and firm.

Hughes returned the look with quiet strength, wiping his brow before striding closer to her. He clasped her hand briefly, his grip warm, steady. "Always. I'll see to it that no harm even brushes her highness's shadow."

Alice's lips curved, a rare show of vulnerability slipping past her professional mask. "Take care of yourself too. Mina and I… we'll be waiting."

Ravenna sighed dramatically, tapping her pen against her palm. "Enough already. If you're quite done with your lovebird display, perhaps we can get back to work? Move your hands, both of you. Marie will be here any moment, and the last thing I intend is to be delayed by sentiment."

Her words cut like whips, but there was a hidden softness in the way her gaze lingered on them before flicking away.

Grand Reception Hall, Lord's Castle, Kim City, Kim Dukedom, Ancorna Empire

Marie fidgeted, her fingers twisting in her lap as her cheeks flushed with nervous color. She shifted slightly in her seat, the edge of the sofa suddenly feeling too vast for her small frame. Finally, she nodded, her voice quiet but sincere, fragile as glass. "P-pleasure to meet you too… Ser Eugene."

Her voice trembled, fragile as glass. But then she inhaled deeply, and her whole posture shifted. Her back straightened, her expression steadied, her tone dropped into something more firm. She was imitating Ravenna: the mentor she idolized, the master whose presence filled every shadow of her life.

"Master said you had something you wished to discuss with me?" Marie asked, her voice striving for authority, though a thread of innocence still betrayed her.

Eugene studied her carefully. He could see the effort, the way she molded herself into Ravenna's image. She carried herself with admirable seriousness, her imitation not without promise but to his seasoned eye, her naivety showed in every detail, from the fidget of her hands to the faint hesitation at the end of her words.

And yet, it moved him.

In his past life, he had met Marie much later. By then, the wonder had been stripped from her face, her eyes hardened by grief and bloodshed, her innocence long burned away in the crucible of war. That Marie had been a warrior saint: commanding, stern, untouchable.

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But the girl sitting before him now… she was a different soul. Nervous. Pure. Untouched by the horrors yet to come.

He had come here with a purpose: to recruit her, to convince her to stand against the Witch of the West and the Cult of Absolution, as was the divine duty of every Saintess. But faced with this version of her, so young, so untested, still clinging to the warmth of Ravenna's wing, something inside him faltered.

A faint smile curved his lips, rare and fleeting, as he finally spoke.

"You may not know me, Your Divinity Marie," he began, his voice steady yet softened by something almost like reverence, "but I am Eugene Holloway. A knight sworn to His Majesty's army… and an apostle of the Goddess Solious."

He shifted slightly, bowing his head just enough to honor her station without abandoning his own pride. "I have dedicated my life to one pursuit: to rise to the title of Hero, just as the great Hero Luminous once did."

Then, lifting his gaze, he let the words fall with the weight of sincerity. "So if ever there is a burden you cannot carry alone, if ever you should find yourself in need… know that I am willing. More than willing, to be of service to you, Your Divinity."

His declaration hung in the air, solemn and heavy, like the unsheathing of a blade before battle.

Marie held an expression of confusion to this, this was it? Ravenna had warned her, prepared her for things he might say to try to convince her to do any favors or join him but that doesn't seemed to be the case here at all.

Marie blinked, her lips parting slightly. Confusion clouded her expression. This was it? This was all? Ravenna had warned her, even prepared her, drilling into her head all the possible things this man might say: manipulative promises, cunning bargains, or veiled threats meant to lure her into his camp. Yet none of those came. Instead, Eugene's words carried no hooks, no conditions. They were stripped of guile: simply a vow.

She fidgeted, unsure whether to trust the simplicity of it or to wait for the snare to spring.

Eugene caught the flicker of bewilderment in her face and understood it instantly, as if her thoughts were laid bare to him like an open book. A faint smile tugged at his lips, not mocking, but oddly gentle. Rising to his feet, he inclined his head slightly in respect.

"It seems her highness is quite fond of you," he said softly. "And I see why. As her disciple, you've done well. Your Divinity Marie."

Marie's cheeks colored faintly at the praise, her hands tightening in her lap.

Eugene's eyes lingered on her for a moment, contemplative. He had come here intending to wield his knowledge like a weapon. His plan had been clear: reveal to her the name of her father's killer, stoke her pain, and offer vengeance as a path to power. It was a tactic that would have worked on countless others. But the instant he laid eyes on her, fragile yet luminous, he discarded the idea.

Something had changed in him since arriving in Kim City.

He turned slightly, his gaze drifting toward the high windows of the hall where the morning light spilled through. The city outside was alive: streets thriving, children laughing, venders bustling, and the once-barren desert blooming under innovations Ravenna had forced into existence. Kim City was not the ruin of tyranny he had expected to find under her hand. It was something else entirely: a miracle carved from sand and steel.

A realization began to dawn in his mind, slow but inexorable.

He had always believed the Empire's downfall in his past life had been Ravenna's fault. That her ruthless, indulgent, self-centered ways had poisoned its strength and shattered its unity. That was the narrative he had carried in his heart as an orphan raised in the borderlands, where Solious priests whispered that indulgence was sin and every failing of the Empire was laid at the feet of "Leadership of the Imperial Family."

It was bias. Prejudice born of ignorance.

Even in his previous life, when he finally met Ravenna, he had condemned her without question. But now, seeing the city she ruled, seeing the loyalty she inspired, seeing how her vision had turned a desert into a jewel of innovation and culture, he realized how blind he had been.

If Ravenna had lived longer in that timeline… if she had not been killed by the Witch of the West before the great war truly began… perhaps the Empire would not have been fractured by Chaos. Perhaps the command chain would not have collapsed. Perhaps his comrades would not have died, and the world itself would not have been lost to ruin.

It was not her leadership that had doomed them. It was the blind hatred the world had for each other when the enemy was right in front of them.

Eugene's jaw tightened, guilt pressing heavy on his chest.

"This is for the best," he muttered under his breath, his voice a low growl of self-reproach. He turned on his heel, his footsteps echoing against the marble floor as he strode toward the exit of the castle hall.

"I was wrong," he whispered to himself. "I was the one who tried to drag chaos back into the Empire. When what we need… what the world needs… is unity."

And with that, he walked away, the conviction settling deeper in his heart with every step.

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