Aisha’s hands clenched into tight fists, her knuckles whitening under the strain. The fury she felt was palpable, directed not at me, but at the Empire of Light, at the Divine Knights who had betrayed me, who had pushed me to this point. She wanted to lash out, to do something, anything to make a difference. But the truth was, she couldn’t.
“Yes,” she murmured, her voice low and laced with reluctance.
It was a relief to finally speak with Aisha after all these months of silence. Seeing her again, hearing her voice, it felt like a burden had been lifted from my chest. Honestly, I felt even better after being with her intimately—it gave me a sense of connection I hadn’t realized I was missing. It was selfish, perhaps, but it was the truth.
“But you’re the Hero of Darkness…” Aisha’s voice trembled slightly as she repeated the words that had been drilled into her by the Divine Knights. “Liphiel kept saying you’re the greatest enemy of the Empire, and that your death is the key to us going back to Earth.”
Her words dripped with the hatred she felt toward Liphiel. I could see it in her eyes—the rage, the frustration. Everything Liphiel had told them was designed to paint me as a villain, a threat that needed to be eliminated. It disgusted me how easily the Divine Knights spun their web of lies.
“They’re experts at spreading lies,” I said with a sigh, shaking my head. “Don’t believe a single word that comes out of her mouth. But for now, as much as you might hate it, Liphiel is your greatest ally. In this place, she’s the one who’ll keep you alive.”
Aisha’s lips twisted in distaste, her anger barely contained. I knew how much she despised Liphiel, and for good reason. But I also knew that Liphiel wouldn’t let anything happen to Aisha—not as long as she was one of their precious Heroes.
“I want to kill her,” Aisha said suddenly, her voice cold, the hatred surfacing in her eyes.
I stared at her, my expression serious. “Don’t, Aisha,” I said firmly, my tone leaving no room for argument. “If she even gets a whiff of you being a threat, she’ll kill you without hesitation. They weren’t sure if I was involved with Oscar, and they still tried to kill me.”
Aisha hesitated, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Were you involved?”
I gave her a look—one that told her everything without needing to say the words aloud. I wasn’t some weak Hero with a useless skill, and I wasn’t going to play by the Divine Knights’ rules. She was starting to realize that now, bit by bit.
“He wanted to kill me and he tried to attack teacher Amelia while she was sleeping,” I said, my voice steady, watching her closely. “I killed him.”
Aisha’s eyes widened in shock, but then she nodded quickly, accepting my words without question. I had the distinct feeling that even if I didn’t have a valid reason, Aisha wouldn’t have cared. She was too deep in her love for me, too willing to trust me no matter what I did.
“Poor teacher Amelia,” Aisha said softly after a moment, her voice filled with sadness. “Since your death, she’s been really depressed, you know? But now, she has a daughter. Maybe it’ll help her think about happier things…”
Her words stopped me cold. My heart raced, and my mind spun, but I fought to maintain my composure. I tried to keep my voice steady as I asked, “A daughter?”
Aisha nodded with a warm smile, clearly unaware of the turmoil her words had just caused. “Yes, she was born just before we left. A really cute baby. But we don’t know who the father is. For someone to win over our beautiful teacher, he must be quite amazing. I wonder when it happened.”
“When you trained,” I muttered without thinking.
Aisha blinked, confused. “What?”
“Nothing…” I quickly corrected myself.
I couldn’t bring myself to admit that the “amazing man” she’d fallen for was me, and that the moment she fell in love was during our rigorous training sessions. The child she carried—the one they were all speaking of—had been conceived in secret, during one of those fleeting yet intense moments we shared in the dimly lit corridors of the castle. Every encounter was seared into my memory, the passion and the urgency of it all. I had been fucking her in the corridors while they were training outside that was the true.
I was almost certain now—I had to be the father.
“She said she was pregnant before they left?” I muttered, piecing together the fragments of what Aisha had just told me.
It made sense. If she conceived around that time, it would be nearly nine months now. And the baby… the baby had finally been born.
Yes, it had to be mine.
The more I thought about it, the more everything fell into place. Amelia, with her fierce loyalty, her unwavering obsession with me, would never have lain with someone else so soon after my supposed death. She wouldn’t have. It wasn’t in her nature. The timing was perfect. The dates aligned too well.
But I wasn’t about to tell Aisha—not yet, anyway. First, I needed her to recover, to stabilize before dropping this monumental revelation on her. There was no need to burden her with the complexities of my tangled emotions and the reality of what had happened while I was gone.
But a child…
The very thought of it made something stir inside me. It was hard to describe—perhaps a warmth, a flicker of joy—but it wasn’t overwhelming. Not yet. I still needed to let it sink in, to come to terms with the fact that somewhere, there was a child who carried my blood. A part of me, and a part of Amelia.
“What’s her name?” I asked, trying to keep my voice casual, as if the question didn’t weigh heavily on my chest.
“Sara,” Aisha replied softly.
“Sara…” I repeated, the name rolling off my tongue as if it already belonged to me, to my life. “That’s a good name.” I mumbled, pretending to be indifferent, though deep down, the name resonated within me.
An unexpected longing surged through me—a fierce, almost primal urge to go to the Empire of Light, to see Amelia, and to lay eyes on the child. My child. It gnawed at me, this sense of responsibility and guilt. If I was indeed the father, I should have been there for her, to support her through it all.
Yet, the thought of Sara being born in the Empire of Light left a bitter taste in my mouth. The idea that she had drawn her first breath in a place that now felt like the enemy unsettled me. It gnawed at the part of me that longed for control, for power.
“A lot has changed since your death, Nathan,” Aisha murmured, her voice heavy with a sadness that had settled over her like a shroud. The mere mention of the Empire of Light seemed to bring a shadow over her features.
I wanted to press her, to demand every detail of what had happened, but time was slipping away from us. Sienna would return soon if Aisha wasn’t back, so I had to send Aisha back to her camp before things became too complicated.
“We should stop here for now, Aisha. We’ll have time to talk later—perhaps when things calm down,” I said, rising to my feet, my gaze flicking toward the entrance of the tent.
“I won’t fight if you’re with Troy…” Aisha mumbled, her voice tinged with an almost defeated resignation.
“Not that you could,” I replied with a smirk, eyeing her trembling legs. “You’re still shaking from our hard sex.”
“Shut up,” she shot back, a ghost of a smile tugging at her lips. She reached out to punch me, her fist weak but playful.
I caught her arm before she could land the blow, my grip firm yet gentle. My eyes met hers, and for a moment, I let my guard down. There was something I needed to tell her—something she needed to hear.
“Aisha, listen to me.” My voice dropped, growing serious. “I’m alive. I’m here. You don’t have to feel sad or lost anymore. You don’t have to think your life is meaningless. Because your heart—your body—they belong to me. You don’t have the right to give them to anyone else. Do you understand?” I held her gaze, waiting for her response.
Her eyes, once dulled by grief and confusion, seemed to light up with a familiar intensity. No, it was more than that—this time, the light in her eyes was fierce, almost obsessive, a reflection of the deep devotion she carried for me now.
“Yes~~” she whispered, her voice trembling with emotion.
I kissed her one last time, a lingering kiss filled with all the unspoken words between us, before pulling away and stepping outside the tent.