The lingering scent of jasmine tea still danced in the air, soft and fragrant, as the final droplets cooled at the bottom of porcelain cups. Naoko had quietly excused herself from the room moments ago, vanishing into the shadows of her private study. Her departure, like everything she did, was elegant, silent, calculated.
Only three remained in the vast obsidian dining hall: Amelia Amberheart, her daughter Rina, and the ever-curious Leona Lionheart.
The quiet didn't last long.
"I need to use the restroom," Leona suddenly announced, her voice casual, but there was an undertone—perhaps guilt or embarrassment after Naoko's heavy questions. She rose, adjusting her white uniform jacket and slipping out through the side hallway, her silver hair catching a glimmer of sunlight before disappearing from sight.
Now alone with her daughter, Amelia turned her golden gaze onto Rina with a mischievous glint, as though she had been waiting for this very moment.
"Rina," she said softly, her voice deceptively sweet, "you mentioned earlier that you met Jin last night."
Rina stiffened slightly. "...Yes."
Amelia tilted her head, lips curling into something between a smirk and a knowing smile. "Tell me then," she continued, leaning forward with her elbows on the table, "how was your first meeting with your fiancé? What did you talk about? Why did you avoid looking at him today? Your cheeks were flushed red the moment he walked in. Did he enchant you? Or was it... something else? Did your mouth water at the sight of him, or—?"
"Mother!" Rina's voice cracked like glass under pressure, her cheeks burning brighter than ever. "Please!"
Amelia chuckled softly, folding her hands under her chin. "My dear, you're no longer the heir of the House of Burning Heart. But you are the future bride of Jin Roche. That means you are now bound to a darker, colder flame."
There was something unreadable in her voice, a murky combination of humor and solemnity. Then she leaned forward even more, and her tone shifted to a whisper that barely reached Rina's ears.
"In your wedding night," she said, her golden eyes gleaming with the weight of knowledge only a mother could possess, "don't forget to use birth control. You wouldn't want to end up pregnant at your age, especially with your studies still ahead of you."
Rina's mouth fell open in shock, her hands instinctively clutching the fabric of her dress. "M-Mother!"
But Amelia simply sipped the remaining tea in her cup as if she had said nothing out of the ordinary. "I am your mother, Rina. I know exactly how thirsty you are."
Rina's face turned a deeper shade of red, the flush spreading from her cheeks down her neck. Her golden eyes widened in horror, her lips parting and closing again as she tried—and failed—to form a proper response.
Before she could even attempt to defend herself, the door creaked open.
A silent shift occurred in the atmosphere.
Heavy footsteps approached from the corridor beyond, each one deliberate and slow, accompanied by the distant echo of a metal blade brushing against the floor.
. Jin Rochey entered the room.
His presence was like a sudden eclipse. The world dimmed around him, shadows bending toward his form as if pulled by some invisible gravity. His body bore the signs of recent, violent training. His black shirt was torn open across the chest, revealing lean muscle carved in marble precision, pale and glistening with a sheen of sweat. His abdomen—defined and unforgiving—rose and fell with quiet, controlled breaths. Strands of black hair clung to his forehead, wet from exertion, and his crimson eyes burned like a dying star. In his right hand, he held his spirit weapon: a long, obsidian-black blade, humming faintly with mana.
He paused a few steps into the hall and surveyed the room. His gaze passed over Amelia, lingered momentarily on Rina's crimson cheeks, then stopped briefly at the empty chair Leona had left behind.
"Is my mother in her study?" he asked, voice low and gravelly from recent combat.
"Yes," Amelia answered smoothly, not missing a beat. "She left not long ago."
"Good," Jin murmured.
Rina dared not move. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched him—no, studied him. He was a different person now from the quiet, almost gentle boy she'd argued with in the kitchen the night before. Now, he radiated intensity. Power. Restraint. He looked like a man carved from divine fire, and for a terrifying moment, she couldn't look away.
He turned his eyes to her. And to Leona's empty seat. "You two attend the Academy together, right?" he asked. "Are there strong fighters there? Anyone stronger than the two of you?"
Amelia leaned back, amused by the unexpected question.
"The strongest is Ethan Hartley," she replied easily. "He's ranked first."
Jin nodded once.
"The second strongest," she added, placing a hand gently on Rina's shoulder, "is your fiancée."
Rina froze under the pressure of that title.
"Third," Amelia continued, her voice hardening slightly, "is Seraphina Frost."
There was a slight edge of disapproval in her tone. The name came out like ice. Rina noticed it immediately.
"And fourth is..." Amelia trailed off, then spoke again as if tasting bitterness. "Shin Blackthorn."
The moment the name fell from her mother's lips, Rina flinched ever so slightly. A movement so subtle, it would've gone unnoticed—if not for Amelia, who missed nothing. Her hand on Rina's shoulder tightened by a fraction, but she said nothing.
She knew. She always knew.
But she didn't expose it. Not yet.
"Fifth is Lilia Crown," Amelia finished, her voice calm once more.
Jin listened without reaction. Only the barest nod followed, a simple acknowledgment.
As he shifted his weight and placed his blade carefully by the wall, the two women couldn't help but notice something fluttering from his wrist—a thin strip of red silk tied around his hand.
A girl's ribbon.
No one said a word about it.
But all three of them knew. They didn't need to ask. That ribbon had once belonged to Estelle Roche, Jin's older sister.
And Jin still wore it.
.....
Note: I wrote "three women" instead of "two women 😂