Azael opened his eyes.

The room was dark. The kind of dark that meant evening had settled properly outside.

Through the window he could see the deep blue of the night sky and the faint glow of lanterns from somewhere below.

It was night. He had been asleep for hours now.

He lay still for a moment, staring at the ceiling. He was satisfied, at the same time worried.

Then he reached to the side. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The bed was empty beside him. Cool to the touch.

She had been gone for a while.

He sat up slowly and looked around the room. His clothes were folded on the chair near the wall. On the small table beside the bed sat a plate of food, covered lightly with a cloth to keep it warm. A candle burned low beside it.

He exhaled quietly.

She had left and brought him food. And left again.

He got up, gathered clean clothes, and went to wash. The cold water helped. It cleared the last of the heaviness from his head and brought him back to himself properly.

He dressed in simple casual clothes. Dark trousers and a loose shirt. Nothing formal. Then he sat at the edge of the bed and pulled the cloth from the plate.

She had put care into it. Not just whatever was quick and easy. An actual proper meal.

He ate slowly, without much appetite but knowing he needed it.

His mind kept drifting to her. Everything that had happened between them this afternoon had moved fast.

Too fast, maybe. She had been sad and overwhelmed and her emotions had been raw and unsteady. He had not planned any of it. It had simply happened, one moment leading into the next before either of them could put distance between themselves and it.

But now the evening had come. The rawness had passed. And somewhere in this house, Isabel was alone with whatever clarity had settled in after all of it.

He didn’t know what she was feeling right now. That was the part that sat uncomfortably in his chest.

She might be confused. She might be embarrassed. She might be pulling everything back behind the careful and composed wall she normally kept between herself and the world.

She might be lying awake in her room right now, staring at the ceiling, trying to organize her feelings into something manageable. Or she might be feeling guilty.

He would need to talk to her tomorrow. Properly and calmly, just two of them. Without the weight of emotion pressing on either of them.

He needed her to know that nothing between them had changed in any way that she didn’t want to change. That whatever she decided she felt, he would not make it difficult for her. He put the empty plate aside and stood.

He drifted to the window.

The night outside was quiet and clear. The garden below was dark except for the soft pools of lamplight along the paths. Beyond the estate walls he could make out the distant glow of the city, faint and warm against the black sky. A cool breeze came through the open pane and touched his face and bare forearms.

"The sky in this world is much clear and beautiful."

It was the kind of night that made thinking easier.

He thought about the days ahead.

’I also need to go there in two days, at imperial palace’

In two days, the family would leave for the imperial capital. The palace. To meet the Empress and her children. A world considerably larger and more formal than the comfortable routine he had built for himself here over the past months.

And one month after that, the Academy.

New buildings. New people. New expectations. An entirely unfamiliar shape to every single day.

He was surprised to find that he felt something close to excitement when he thought about it. The idea of seeing new places.

Of meeting people from completely different backgrounds. Of testing what he had built through all these months of training against something real and unknown.

But underneath the excitement was something quieter.

A reluctance he hadn’t expected. He had grown comfortable here. More than comfortable. He had Arista and her impossible training standards and her quiet warmth.

He had Liana and her stubborn refusal to let him call her little sister while acting exactly like a little sister. He had Aeliana and the slow and careful thing they were building between them. He had Isabel, his gentle and kind maid.

He had a life here. A real one, with not much problems.

Leaving it, even temporarily, even for something worth going to, carried a weight he hadn’t prepared for.

He watched the distant city lights for a while longer.

Then the breeze came through again, cooler than before, and he stepped back from the window.

He crossed to the bed and lay down on top of the covers, one arm folded beneath his head, staring up at the ceiling.

’Two days,’ he thought. ’Then the capital. Then after this month, the Academy.’

He would talk to Isabel in the morning. Handle things carefully and honestly.

Everything else could wait until it arrived.

His eyes grew heavy.

The candle on the table had burned itself down to almost nothing, its small flame trembling in the draft.

He closed his eyes.

And slept.

---

The next day, Azael roamed around his manor, trying to find Isabel.

He asked Ellire about her whereabouts, and fortunately, Isabel hadn’t left yet– she was still at the Ignivar Estate.

He headed toward the kitchen to look for her.

When he arrived, several servants were already at work.

Among them stood Isabel, dressed in her usual maid outfit, which subtly accentuated her graceful figure.

Behind her transparent glasses, her eyes were strict and cold as she carefully observed the other servants, making sure none of them made any mistakes.

Azael walked toward her with steady steps, his expression calm and composed.

As he got closer, she sensed his presence.

Her eyes turned and met his violet gaze.

They widened in shock.

A faint blush spread across her cheeks as panic set in. She looked around nervously, as if searching for a way to escape.

"Isabel," Azael called out.

Her body instantly stiffened.

The servants glanced at them briefly before returning to their work.

It wasn’t an unusual sight, Isabel often took care of Azael like a personal maid.

However, none of them had any idea what had happened between the two of them the previous day.

Now he need to talk with her.