The next day, Elara was finally allowed to step outside her room.

For the first time since she had been brought here, she crossed the door and felt open air again. The moment she stepped out, she understood something was wrong.

This was not the main palace.

She paused for a second, her eyes slowly moving across the surroundings. The structure... the layout... it felt familiar. After a moment, she understood—it was a separate building. One that stood far away from the main palace, placed almost at the very edge of the imperial grounds.

To reach the main palace from here, it would take at least ten minutes of walking.

And that was not even the strangest part.

This place was... isolated.

It was not near any main road. No officials passed by. No servants hurried around. There were no grand gates, no decorated halls, no noise of daily palace life.

Behind the building stood a stretch of silent mountains, tall and unmoving like watchful giants. In front, there was an open field so wide that calling it a garden felt almost ridiculous. Even on horseback, it would take several minutes to cross it.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Elara dragged a chair outside and sat down without a word. As she settled into it, she finally understood why she had heard nothing all these days. No footsteps. No voices. No metal clashing.

Nothing ever reached this place.

Only the wind.

It moved gently through the open space, carrying a faint chill from the mountains.

Her wrist shifted slightly.

The iron chain was still there.

One end was locked tightly around her wrist, cold and heavy as always. The other end... was now attached to someone else.

A knight stood a few steps away from her, his posture stiff.

He wasn’t Mahir. He wasn’t Kane.

Just another guard.

Another face she didn’t care to remember.

To Elara, he was nothing more than a moving anchor—something she had to drag along wherever she went. She didn’t even bother looking at him again. Her attention returned to the landscape in front of her.

Strangely enough...

It was peaceful.

For the rest of the day, Elara moved slowly across the open field. She walked without hurry, her steps light but steady. When her legs started to ache, she simply stopped.

There was no urgency.

No pressure.

No expectations.

At one point, she found a large, ancient tree standing alone in the field. Its shadow stretched wide, offering a cool place beneath it. Without hesitation, she lay down under it, closing her eyes.

The knight, still chained to her, stood there awkwardly, unsure whether to sit or remain standing.

Elara didn’t care.

For someone who had lived two lives filled with constant tension, decisions, and danger... this forced stillness felt unfamiliar.

And yet—

It felt like rest.

Around the outer area, a few beast knights stood guard. Seven in total.

Only seven.

Elara noticed it immediately.

Too few.

For someone of her status, there should have been dozens—layers of protection, constant movement, tight security.

But here...

It was loose.

Almost careless.

Either they believed this place was impossible to escape from... or they believed she wouldn’t even try.

Elara remained still under the tree, her eyes closed, as if she had fallen asleep.

But her mind was not resting.

She was watching.

Calculating.

Observing every distance, every gap, every weakness.

This place... was not just quiet.

It was a blind spot.

And she was already measuring how long it would take before that became a mistake.

---

Just as she had expected...

The peace did not last.

Three weeks passed.

It had been over a month since she had been brought to the capital.

Then, one day, the news finally spread—

The Emperor had been poisoned.

Elara heard it... and felt nothing.

No surprise.

No shock.

From the beginning, she had already judged this court. A group of fools dressed in power. If they resorted to poison, it only proved her right.

What bothered her was something else.

They were already changing the story.

Twisting it.

Shifting blame.

That afternoon, Elara sat alone in her room. For once, there were no guards nearby. The silence felt different today—thicker.

She leaned back slightly and closed her eyes.

Then, in her mind, she spoke a word she hadn’t used for a long time.

"System."

For a second, nothing happened.

Then—

A small light flickered in the air.

It grew brighter, expanding slowly until a familiar figure appeared beside her.

The System.

It looked at her... and immediately snapped.

"Damn it, I lost you! Remember me?"

Elara opened her eyes and looked at it calmly.

Her gaze moved from head to toe.

"...You look... rounder," she said.

The System froze.

Then frowned.

"It’s like we discussed!" it shot back. "Can’t you at least inform me before getting kidnapped? Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

Elara’s expression didn’t change.

"You don’t look worried."

"What do you want?" the System snapped. "Should I cry all the time to prove it?"

Elara cut it off.

"Enough. Let’s go."

The System let out a small scoff.

"And here I thought you couldn’t stay away from your little pets."

Before she replied—

Light flashed.

In an instant, both of them disappeared.

---

Twenty minutes later, a maid entered the room with a tray of food.

She took two steps inside—

And froze.

The tray slipped from her hands.

It crashed loudly against the floor, food scattering everywhere.

The room was empty.

The chain was still there.

Locked.

Unbroken.

But—

Elara was gone.

Panic spread almost immediately. Guards rushed in, voices overlapping, orders being shouted. Within minutes, the entire area was in chaos.

Search teams were deployed.

Barriers were checked.

Magic circles were inspected again and again.

Everything was intact.

Which made it worse.

Because it meant—

She hadn’t escaped normally.

And no one understood how.

---

Far away from that chaos—

In the Merchant District—

Elara reappeared.

She landed directly on top of a large meeting table, right in the middle of a room full of people.

Papers flew.

Chairs scraped loudly.

Someone actually fell backward with a thud.

Demorti and the others stared at her in complete shock.

For a moment—

No one spoke.

Elara looked down at the System with clear annoyance.

Then she lifted her gaze to the room.

"Well," she said calmly, "welcome me back."

Demorti was the first to recover. Still sitting half on the floor, he looked up at her.

"Your Highness... that is certainly... a unique way to arrive."

Elara stepped down from the table, adjusting her blazer as if nothing unusual had happened.

"Yes," she replied lightly.

"I thought I’d come with a little style."

Elara sat on the edge of the meeting table, one leg folded neatly over the other, her posture relaxed to the point it almost felt deliberate.

There was no tension in her shoulders. No sign of fatigue. No trace of what she had just gone through.

If anything—

She looked more composed than before.

Denerti looked at her and then nodded after a pause .

"Well it does look good".

Like someone who had stepped away from chaos... only to return and find everything exactly as disappointing as expected.

Her fingers tapped once, lightly, against the polished surface of the table.