The Duchess kept her word.
The investigation was swift and relentless. Cities were locked down, soldiers flooded the streets, and no stone was left unturned. Amid the chaos, Lady Virelle stepped forward and confessed everything—who approached her, the role of the mercenaries, and the pain she had buried deep within her ever since the war stole everything from her.
That night was a storm of rage, grief, and tension. But when the storm passed, Selene made a decision that surprised even herself.
She let Lady Virelle go.
It wasn't the Duchess who made that choice—it was the mother. Something in Aria's words, her eyes, made Selene want to believe. Maybe for once, it was alright to listen to the child who always seemed wiser than her years.
Kaelen didn't approve, but he didn't fight it.
Lady Virelle stood at the palace gates, hands trembling, eyes red from weeping. "Thank you for saving me… my young lady," she whispered, bowing her head to Aria, who stood with her tiny hands clasped behind her back.
Then came the unexpected.
"Can you write me letters?" Aria asked, her voice soft and filled with innocent warmth. A small, bright smile lit her face—too gentle for the woman who had kidnapped her days ago.
Virelle could only nod, tears slipping freely down her cheeks.
Aria walked closer and gently placed a few small gold coins in her palm. "I'll call you back when I need you. So please wait for me."
With that, she turned and skipped back toward her mother, her long white dress brushing the grass. Virelle watched her until she disappeared inside, her fingers clenching the coins as if they were something sacred.
As she walked away from the palace gates, her heart ached with something new: hope.
Inside the palace, Kaelen knelt in front of his daughter, gently cupping her small face. "Why did you let her go, Aria?"
Aria tilted her head, those thoughtful eyes meeting his. "Don't you think everyone deserves a second chance?"
Kaelen sighed. The weight of a warrior, of a father, of a man who almost lost the light of his life, all pressed against his chest. "Yes… but nothing is more important than your life, my angel." He kissed her forehead.
But that kiss stirred something in Aria.
A memory—sharp and sudden—flickered behind her eyes.
A kiss from another life.
A voice filled with pain.
A man who held her close while the world around them burned.
Her small hand clenched the fabric of her dress.
"Aria?" Kaelen's voice brought her back. She smiled again, but something behind that smile was distant.
Flash back The Broken Prisoner @life 56
She had been dragged before the tyrant king, bloodied and chained, accused of treason she hadn't committed. The people she'd tried to help had turned down on her out of fear. Her heart had been filled with nothing but bitterness, her spirit broken from betrayal after betrayal.
"I should have you executed," the king said, rising from his throne, cold fury in his eyes. "You defied me."
"I didn't defy you," she said softly, her voice cracking. "I tried to save them. Even if they hate me."
He stood over her, sword in hand, the blade catching the firelight.
But then, something changed in his expression. Perhaps he saw how hollow her eyes were. How tired she looked. How she didn't even resist. Maybe, just maybe, he saw himself in her.
He lowered the sword.
"You're not the enemy , you just being stupid." he said.
She didn't understand.
"Why are you letting me go?"
He turned away. "Because someone once spared me when I didn't deserve it. You do."
That was the first time she ever tasted mercy. Not justice. Not revenge. Mercy. It stayed with her.
And when she died a few years later—protecting that same kingdom from another war—she died with peace in her heart.
Back to Present:
As Kaelen's arms wrapped around her, as his kiss lingered on her forehead, Aria's small fingers tightened around his sleeve.
"Everyone deserves… one more chance," she whispered to herself. "Because once, someone gave me mine."
The days passed.
Lady Virelle kept her promise. She wrote letters regularly letting Aria know she was safe, and that she was helping the Duchess uncover who had hired the mercenaries for the kidnapping. Virelle asked for nothing in return. For that child—her light in the darkness—she would do anything.
The Duchy's mansion, once peaceful, now buzzed with frantic energy.
Royal family members had arrived in full force.
Empress Alexandra herself cloaked Aria with protective spells and divine aura, while Caisson, punished every guard who failed to protect the child.
Both uncles—Duke Theodore of the North and Crown Prince Liam—were combing every corner of the Duchy. Suspicion lingered in the air like smoke. Maids jumped at shadows. Guards barely blinked. The mansion was in chaos.
Aria, meanwhile, received a tracking necklace and enchanted rings—precautionary tools to locate her in case of danger. But whether she would ever use them… that was a different matter entirely.
Dinner that night was far from peaceful.
"What you need are better guards, Selene," Crown Prince Liam said between bites, tone tight with frustration.
Selene's eyes flickered. "What's wrong with the ones we have?"
"They couldn't even stop someone from taking Aria," Liam replied bluntly.
"The sleeping scent used was laced with extremely advanced magic," Selene shot back. "A Level 5 mage would barely stay awake under that dose. Unless you're offering me your White Knights?"
Liam went silent. The White Knights were his personal guard—loyal to the Emperor and Crown Prince alone. Sharing them would be a political disaster.
Then, unexpectedly, Duke Theodore spoke. "I'll send a few of our Black Knights."
Liam dropped his spoon. Kaelen choked on his drink.
Everyone froze.
The Duchess and the Duke—estranged siblings who hadn't looked each other in the eye for years—were finally speaking. And now he was offering his elite warriors to protect her child?
"It's only to protect my niece," Theodore added calmly, though something unreadable glinted in his eyes.
Breaking the silence, Kaelen cleared his throat. "I'll send a detachment of our Red Knights to assist with monster hunting in the outer regions."
A quiet agreement fell over the table. Politics could wait. Aria's safety had united them in a way nothing else could.
As the conversation drifted, Aria looked at the faces around her.
Everyone was trying to keep her alive.
In a hundred lives… no one ever fought this hard for her.
No one ever stayed.