Later that day, the vehicle that bore the crest of House BloodHaven cut through the evening mist as it slid through the inner districts of Nocturna as it moved towards the Estate.

In the back seat, Lilian sat in stillness crimson eyes fixed on the window as black spires blurred past. The air inside was perfumed faintly with lavender and crushed roses—her mother's taste, not hers.

Yet Lilian's thoughts were elsewhere, replaying the day's chaos. From her initially just planning to use Albedo as a shield to everything spiraling out of control.

With Valerian being thoroughly crushed, Albedo's hug and that brazen kiss, her cheeks burned anew at the memory. The whispers would not die quickly. She knew that much. In fact, she doubted the whispers would ever die.

The vehicle finally pulled through the outer courtyard of the BloodHaven Estate. The Estate was absolutely humungous, multiple extremely massive and luxurious buildings all enchanted with spacial formations.

Crimson light illuminated the surrounding area. One could spot towering gargoyle statues, bat-winged and fanged, crouched above the gates. Torches of soul-flame guttered in sconces, casting pale light across the marble walk.

When Lilian stepped down from the vehicle, the various servants bowed low. She swept past them without a word, her stride sharp, her scarlet dress whispering across the black stone.

The estate was as familiar to her as her own heartbeat: the endless staircases, the portraits of ancestors with eyes that seemed to follow, the chill of corridors designed to impress and intimidate.

At the heart of it all awaited her. As soon as Lilian entered, she could sense her, the Duchess & her mother, Raven, sitting carefully on a luxurious seat, her figure draped in silken shadows of black and burgundy. Her beauty was suffocating, like a rose with thorns sharpened on centuries of blood. When she lifted her head, the gleam of her fangs caught the candlelight.

"Lilian."

The name was spoken softly, yet it arrested the girl's steps at once.

"Mother." Lilian inclined her head, forcing composure as they stared off at each-other.

The silence between them stretched like a thread drawn taut, the glow of soul-flame dancing across the high-arched chamber.

Raven's lips curved into the faintest smile, neither stern nor indulgent, simply present. "You've grown bolder since this morning," she murmured, her voice flowing like silk over steel, "So bold, in fact, that everyone's talking about you,"

Lilian's hands balled into fists at her sides,"I didn't" She bit down, catching herself, crimson eyes flashing before she looked away, "I wasn't planning for it to… happen like that."

Her mother tilted her head slightly, studying her daughter's posture the way an artist might study a canvas, "Yet it did. You embraced him openly, before demons, humans, elves. And he…" A faint gleam lit Raven's crimson eyes. "…he kissed you. I never thought a human would claim my daughter's first kiss,"

"Don't remind me!" Lilian snapped, her pale cheeks burning. She turned her head sharply, her long lucious hair spilling like a curtain to hide her face, "It wasn't supposed to go that far, I just… I wanted to make Valerian overreact, put them him and his annoying gang off balance. I thought using him as a shield for appearances would be enough."

Raven rose with slow, unhurried grace. The sound of her silken gown whispering across the marble filled the room as she crossed to her daughter. She reached out and brushed a lock of hair from Lilian's face, her touch cool and steady.

"My darling girl," she said softly, "you need not hide your blushes from me. I am not the court, nor your rivals. I am your mother. And I would know the truth of this boy, this human, before the tale gets twisted out of our control,"

Lilian's throat tightened. She tried to look away again, but Raven's gaze was inexorable, a velvet trap she could not wriggle free of.

With a sharp exhale, she broke.

"…Fine. I met him months ago while exploring,"

Raven's brow arched faintly.

"Celeste dragged me out there, as she always does," Lilian continued, arms folding across her chest. Her voice was quick, defensive, as if each word cost her pride.

"We found him riding a Beast, it was the most beautiful horse we'd ever seen so we initially wanted to take it,"

Her mother's lips curved, faintly intrigued as she could immediately sense where this was going, putting 2 & 2 together as to why Celeste was training so vigorously since returning.

"He fought like… like nothing I'd ever seen," Lilian admitted, voice quieter. "Each shot precise, each spell strange. He wasn't afraid, Mother. He laughed in our faces and defeated us."

The silence after her words was heavier than stone.

Raven reached out again, gently tilting her daughter's chin upward until their gazes locked. "And since then?"

"We eventually cut a deal and became decently friendly, and when I realized he would be attending the Exchange, that's when I hatched the plan,"

Her mother's smile deepened by a hair, elegant and knowing, "Seems like your planning needs work. I thought I raised you a tad bit smarter to be honest,"

The blush surged again across Lilian's pale skin. She stepped back, flustered, angry at herself more than anything, "He stole that kiss, Mother! Right there, in front of everyone. I never gave him permission. I never, " She faltered, crimson eyes darting away. "I never expected my heart to race like that."

Raven's hand lowered back to her side. Her gaze softened, but her words held weight.

"You are the Heiress of BloodHaven. The court will watch your every move, and they will turn this into weapon or chain if you let them. But…" Her voice gentled, velvet wrapping steel. "…you are also my daughter. And if this Albedo has touched your spirit enough to shake you so, then he is not a boy to dismiss lightly."

Lilian swallowed hard. "Mother…"

"Do not mistake me," Raven continued. "I do not tell you to surrender. I tell you to know him. For your sake. For ours. For what may come."

For a long moment, Lilian stood frozen, torn between pride and the faintest spark of relief. At last she huffed, crossing her arms again. "He's insufferable. Teases me every chance he gets."

"And yet…" Raven's smile returned, curved like the edge of a blade. "…you are still here, defending him to me."

Lilian's cheeks burned scarlet. "Tch. Don't twist my words, Mother."

But Raven only laughed softly, drawing her daughter into a brief embrace that smelled faintly of roses and blood.

"My little flame," she whispered, "the world will twist regardless. But I will stand with you."

***

The BloodHaven estate dimmed into silence, the torches of soul-flame guttering like watchful eyes. Somewhere high above, a crimson moon slid behind drifting clouds, casting the manor in deeper shadow.

But beyond its walls, the city of Nocturna pulsed with its own rhythm.

Albedo walked its streets alone, exploring Nocturna in its entirety. He didn't go with his classmates, recognizing how awkward it would be and deciding to roll lone wolf for a bit.

His hands were tucked into the pockets of his coat, his long stride carried him past obsidian spires and twisted bridges that arched over canals of dark water. The air here was thick with the scent of smoke and incense, the constant hum of wards and enchantments whispering at the edge of his senses.

He ignored the stares he drew, the wary glances, the outright glares, the hushed whispers that rippled through the demons who recognized him as the human who humiliated Valerian Duskveil.

News had travelled extremely fast, and by know, Albedo would be more surprised to meet a Demon who hadn't known what he had done to Valerian, it was that extreme.

Still, he ran into some issues.

He was halfway across one of the bridges when it happened. The air grew still. Too still. The ambient hum of mana vanished as though sucked from the world. A pulse thrummed beneath his feet, the stone glowing faintly with crimson veins before the light raced outward in a circle.

"Tch."

Albedo's eyes narrowed, Havoc and Ruin materializing in his hands in a burst of violet flame and gravitic distortion. His instincts screamed at him, Perfect Adaptation flooding his senses with alarm.

Then the world shattered.

The bridge, the city, the dark waterways, all of it crumbled like glass before his eyes, peeling away piece by piece until only a crimson void remained.

When his vision cleared, he was no longer in Nocturna.

The sky was blood. Thick and churning, clouds like torn flesh seething with crimson lightning. The ground beneath him cracked and blackened, veins of molten fire pulsing through a barren wasteland. The air itself reeked of death—old, clinging, suffocating, like the breath of corpses that had never rotted.

A thousand whispers clawed at the edge of his hearing, voices layered over one another in languages half-forgotten and wrong.

Albedo's smirk vanished, replaced with a razor's edge focus as his eyes glowed faintly violet, Source Code flickering open.

"...Well." His voice cut through the oppressive silence, low and steady, "Looks like someone wants to play."

Havoc's barrel flared with infernal fire. Ruin hummed with crushing gravitic force.

Albedo pivoted slowly, scanning the horizon of bleeding sky and broken stone.

And then he felt it.

A presence. Immense. Ancient. Watching him from just beyond the veil of sight.

The whispers grew louder. The air tightened. The blood-sky split with a jagged tear.

And something began to step through.

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