Celestia’s anger, for a moment, was clouded by confusion as Rune led her into the library.

The room was already occupied. Every man from the dinner table was present, seated around the large conference table as though this gathering had been arranged long before the evening began. The only one missing was Alys. The moment Celestia stepped inside, the quiet murmur of voices ceased, and all attention shifted toward her.

"What are you all doing here?" She asked, unable to keep the tension from slipping into her voice.

Rune hesitated, his gaze instinctively drifting toward Reina, as though waiting for her to take the lead.

"Come, have a seat first," Reina said.

Her tone was calm, too calm for the storm that had been building inside Celestia.

Kai rose immediately, pushing his chair back without a second thought and offering it to her. Then, just as naturally, he moved to stand beside Reina, settling there as if it were his rightful place. The ease of that movement did not go unnoticed.

Celestia walked forward, each step measured, her thoughts tightening with every passing second. She took the offered seat, but her eyes did not settle. They moved across the room- over Rune, over Duke Aurelius, over Silas, over Marquis Fairisles- before returning to Reina.

They were all watching her with a quiet, knowing patience that only deepened the unease curling in her chest.

"We were having a meeting regarding an important matter," Reina answered.

Celestia’s gaze flickered briefly toward Rune. He had remained standing beside her chair, shifting his weight slightly, as though uncertain whether to sit or remain where he was.

Before Celestia could press further, Reina spoke again.

"Before I explain everything, I’d like to apologise to you."

Celestia blinked, caught off guard. "...For what?"

"For making you feel betrayed."

The words were simple, but they landed with unsettling precision.

For a moment, Celestia simply stared at her, the confusion thinning as something sharper rose in its place. The heat returned to her face, her fingers tightening faintly over her lap as the emotion she had been holding back pushed forward again.

Reina did not look away. She tilted her head slightly, meeting Celestia’s gaze with a steadiness that neither challenged nor avoided.

"But I want you to understand," she continued, her voice even, "that this secret is capable of turning this kingdom upside down. Only the most trusted people know of it."

The room fell into silence.

Celestia held her gaze, her fingers curling more firmly into the fabric of her gown. For a brief moment, she said nothing, as though weighing her words carefully choosing not just what to say, but how much of herself to reveal.

"You’re right," she said at last, her voice steady, though the softness one might expect was absent. "I do feel betrayed."

Her eyes shifted, almost unconsciously, toward Kai.

The youngest in the room, someone from a different family altogether.

Even he knew.

Something in her expression tightened before her gaze returned to Reina.

"Not because there’s a secret..." she continued, her tone drawing slightly taut, "but because everyone here seems to know it except me."

Her fingers pressed more firmly into her lap, the fabric creasing beneath them.

"I don’t mind secrets," she said more quietly, and yet there was no fragility in her voice. "I grew up around them."

For the briefest moment, something older surfaced in her expression, something shaped long before this night, before this room, before any of them.

It passed quickly.

Her gaze steadied once more.

"But I do mind being the only one left outside the door... again."

Reina did not respond immediately.

For a brief moment, she simply watched Celestia, as though weighing something far beyond the words that had just been spoken. Then, quietly, she lifted her hand and gave Kai’s shoulder a gentle pat, a silent gesture asking him to sit. Kai obeyed without question, returning to his chair, though his attention remained fixed on Reina.

"We’re sorry to have hurt your feelings," Reina said at last, her voice softer now.

The shift in her tone made something in Celestia loosen, just slightly. The tightness in her chest wavered, and before she could stop it, she sniffled, her composure faltering for a fleeting second.

She steadied herself quickly.

"What is it?" She asked, her gaze lifting back to Reina. "This secret... that can turn the kingdom upside down."

Reina’s eyes softened further, but there was something else there too- something deeper, more distant. For a moment, it seemed as though she was still deciding, even now, whether to cross that line.

Around the table, no one spoke.

The same thought passed silently through every mind present.

They all knew what this secret meant. They knew what it could do if it spread beyond these walls. And while Celestia was soon to become part of this family... she was still the daughter of Duchess Konstantinos.

If she spoke, it would not remain contained.

Reina exhaled slowly, as though coming to a decision.

"I will show you what this secret is," she said, her voice steady once more, "but you will have to vow never to tell anyone."

Celestia’s gaze shifted, almost instinctively, toward Kai.

The pieces that had been scattered in her mind- Ocean, Reina, Kai- their resemblance, their closeness, the unspoken understanding between them began to settle into something more solid, though she could not yet name it.

Her throat felt dry.

She swallowed.

"I promise."

Reina held her gaze for a second longer, as if confirming the weight of that promise, then gave a small nod.

Her attention shifted to Kai, and she extended her hand toward him, palm open.

Kai reached into his vest without hesitation and pulled something out before placing it carefully into her hand.

Celestia leaned forward slightly, unable to stop herself.

Reina’s fingers closed around the object for only a moment before she lifted it toward her ear.

"Try not to be shocked, Celestia," she said.

Celestia nodded, her eyes fixed on her.

Reina raised her hand and placed the small piece against her right earlobe.

Her gaze never left Celestia’s.

Celestia held Reina’s gaze, her attention fixed so completely that she did not even think to look away.

When the change began, it was not abrupt or blinding. A soft glow gathered around Reina’s form, gentle and steady, like light passing through clear water. It spread gradually, enveloping her without force, blurring the edges of her figure rather than consuming it. Celestia felt her breath catch all the same, her body tensing as instinct urged her to move, yet she remained rooted in place, her eyes wide as she watched.

The glow lingered only for a moment before it began to recede, drawing inward as though folding back into itself.

And when it was gone, Reina was no longer there.

In her place stood Marquis Ocean Ryujin.

Celestia did not move. For a second, perhaps longer, her mind refused to process what she was seeing, as if the world in front of her had shifted without asking her permission to follow.

"Ma... Marquis?" She managed, her voice uncertain, almost fragile.

Ocean smiled at her, composed as ever, his expression carrying a quiet familiarity that only made the confusion worse.

"Yes and no, Celestia."

Her gaze flickered around the room, searching without direction, as though Reina might still be somewhere nearby, just out of sight, just beyond her understanding.

"Where is Reina?" She asked, the question coming out more urgently than she intended.

"Right here."

The answer only deepened the crease in her brows. She turned from Ocean to the others, her eyes moving from face to face, silently asking for something- clarification, contradiction, anything that would ground her.

But there was nothing.

No one looked surprised.

No one questioned it.

They simply watched her, as though waiting for her to arrive at the answer herself.

Celestia shook her head, her thoughts tangling instead of settling. "I... I don’t understand."

It was Duke Arthur Aurelius who spoke, his tone steady and unambiguous, leaving no space for misinterpretation.

"Celestia, Ocean is Reina."

The words did not fit.

Not at first.

They hovered in her mind, disconnected, before suddenly colliding with everything she had seen, everything she had noticed but failed to piece together.

Her gaze snapped back to Ocean, then shifted again to Duke Aurelius, and finally to Rune. When Rune gave her a small, confirming nod, something inside her stilled completely.

"H-How is that possible?" She asked, her voice faltering despite her effort to steady it.

Ocean lifted his hand and lightly touched the sapphire-blue ear stud at his right ear, drawing her attention to it.

"By this device," he said.

Celestia’s eyes fixed on the small piece as though it held all the answers she had been denied.

"This is actually my old device," Ocean continued, his voice even, measured. "I gave it to Kai for situations where I might be needed but not present."

She listened, but her thoughts were still catching up, racing in uneven directions, trying to align everything she had assumed with what she now knew.

And then, another realization slipped in.

"S-So you... you and Reina aren’t secretly married," she said rapidly, the words forming before she could stop them, "and Kai isn’t your son?"

For a moment, no one spoke, the room held its breath, and then Ocean laughed.

The sound broke through the tension, warm and unrestrained, so unexpectedly natural that it only made Celestia blink in further confusion. Around the table, the others shifted- some turning away slightly, others clearing their throats in quiet attempts to suppress their amusement.

Kai, however, made no effort to hide it. He sat there with a small, knowing smile, as though this outcome had been entirely predictable.

And Celestia, still seated at the center of it all, could only stare- caught somewhere between embarrassment, disbelief, and the overwhelming realization that the world she thought she understood had just changed completely.

"I am Master’s son," Kai said, a little more firmly this time, as if correcting something important.

Celestia’s jaw dropped.

Ocean reached out almost instinctively, resting his hand over Kai’s head in a gesture that was both familiar and reassuring. "He’s my adopted son."

"Lies!" Celestia blurted out before she could stop herself, her composure slipping as she pointed straight at Kai. "He looks exactly like you!"

Ocean and Kai exchanged a brief glance, something unspoken passing between them, before Ocean’s lips curved into a faint smile.

"That’s because he is of my kin."

The answer only deepened her confusion.

Celestia turned sharply toward Duke Aurelius, her expression openly demanding an explanation, as if he might translate what that even meant. But before he could speak.

"Celestia."

Ocean’s voice drew her attention back.

She looked at him again, her thoughts still struggling to settle into anything coherent.

"So..." she began slowly, trying to piece it together, "you are Ocean Ryujin... but then... all this time...?"

Ocean let out a quiet breath and lifted his hand to his ear once more.

The same soft glow gathered around him again, gentle and fluid, wrapping around his form like a veil rather than consuming it. Celestia didn’t move this time, but her eyes followed every shift, every subtle change as his figure blurred and reshaped within the light.

When it faded, Reina stood there again.

Celestia could only stare.

Her mind felt suspended somewhere between disbelief and realization, as though she was still waiting for someone to tell her this was an illusion, a trick, anything but the truth.

Reina stepped forward without hurry and placed the ear stud down on the table in front of Celestia.

"Ocean Ryujin is not a real man," she said calmly. "He’s an identity I created for myself."

The words settled heavily.

Celestia looked at the small device resting before her, then back at Reina, her thoughts racing all over again- faster this time, sharper, colliding into questions she didn’t even know how to begin asking.

There were too many things that no longer made sense.

Too many that suddenly did.

She opened her mouth, then closed it again, her gaze lingering on Reina as if trying to understand where one ended and the other began.

And somewhere in that silence, it became clear, Reina would not answer everything. But she would answer enough.

"Grandfather, Father- you should get some rest," Reina said, her tone returning to its usual calm as if the revelation from moments ago had not shifted the ground beneath Celestia’s feet. Her gaze moved briefly before settling on Silas and Kai. "You two should head back as well."

Marquis Fairisles did not move. "We still haven’t come to a conclusion."

Reina blinked, the words seeming to pull her back to something she had momentarily set aside. "Right," she murmured, almost to herself, as though she had simply misplaced the thought rather than forgotten it.

Celestia’s gaze moved between her and the others. No one spoke. They were all watching Reina now, waiting.

The pause stretched just long enough to feel deliberate.

Then Reina spoke.

"I’ve already dispatched Alyssa- the Oasis town guard leader- to Valmest. She’ll assess the situation and report back. If he attempts anything further..." she paused only briefly, "...I’ve ordered her to eliminate him immediately."

The shift in tone was subtle, but unmistakable.

Celestia felt it before she fully registered the words.

Around the table, there was a visible reaction- small, restrained, but there. Shoulders tensed, expressions tightened, the ease from earlier gone in an instant.

"Take him out?" Rune asked, leaning forward slightly. "Who- Carlos?"

Reina gave a small, indifferent shrug. "He’s made his choice."

"What about the repercussions?" Duke Aurelius spoke next, his voice firm now. "The Golden Serpent won’t sit still."

"And the Esmertia clan," Marquis Fairisles added, his gaze steady on her. "They’ll use this to come after you. You’ve already taken full responsibility for the Princes’ safety."

"It’s reckless," Silas said flatly.

Reina hummed lightly, as if acknowledging the point without truly conceding to it.

"It is," she agreed, her voice even. "But it cuts both ways. The Golden Serpent risks just as much. I’ll expose what she’s done and bring her- and her entire clan- down with it."

She spoke of it as though it were already decided.

As though the outcome was not a possibility, but an inevitability.

"It’s still reckless," Rune said again, sharper this time, the restraint in his voice thinning.

But Reina did not argue.

She didn’t need to.

Celestia sat there in silence, her hands resting stiffly in her lap, her thoughts struggling to keep pace with what she was hearing. The conversation had shifted so seamlessly back into something else- something far more dangerous- that it felt as though her presence no longer mattered.

Or perhaps they had simply forgotten she was there.

Her eyes moved from one speaker to another, trying to make sense of it.

They were discussing elimination of a Prince.

Political retaliation.

Entire clans being dragged down.

And they spoke of it so calmly.

So... naturally.

A faint unease crept up her spine as her gaze returned to Reina.

Only moments ago, she had been trying to understand who Reina was.

Now she wasn’t sure she wanted to.

Because the woman standing there was no longer just the composed, elegant figure from the dinner table.

There was something else beneath that surface, something colder and sharper and far more dangerous than Celestia had first believed.

"Don’t worry," Reina said, as though the concerns raised were no more than expected resistance, "they won’t have time to act. Eric will be declared Crown Prince by then, and I already have a plan in place if things go south."

"Azurlite?" Marquis Fairisles asked, his gaze sharpening slightly.

Reina nodded without hesitation. "If not Ocean, then someone has to take up the responsibility."

Silas let out a quiet, weary breath, rubbing his temple. "All of this is giving me a headache."

"Reina, think carefully about what you’re about to do," Duke Aurelius said, his tone carrying both caution and concern.

Reina smiled at him, not dismissively, but with a calm assurance that didn’t quite ease the weight of his words. "Yes, Father."

Her gaze then moved across the room, settling briefly on each of them in turn, the softness from moments ago replaced once again by that composed clarity.

"As for the other issue. Search the old records," she instructed. "Filter them according to the name and the traits."

There was no hesitation.

The men nodded, the decision accepted without further argument, and the meeting dissolved as swiftly as it had formed.

Silas was the first to leave. He paused only long enough to say, "I’ll check with Master Vonstein and inform you of what we find," before teleporting away without waiting for a response.

Kai rose next, though unlike the others, he lingered for a moment, looking at Reina as though waiting for something more.

Reina’s expression softened again. She reached out and ruffled his hair lightly. "Get some rest. I’ll be back in the morning."

Kai nodded, satisfied before placing the earstud back in its place, and touched the brooch at his chest. A soft glow enveloped him, similar to the one Celestia had witnessed before, and in the next moment, he was gone.

Marquis Fairisles stood, his movements unhurried, his expression unreadable as always. Duke Aurelius followed, though with a faint hesitation, his eyes resting on Reina just a second longer than necessary.

"Reina..." he began.

She met his gaze and smiled, the same quiet reassurance returning. "Don’t worry. Go and get some rest."

Neither of them argued further.

They left together, the door closing behind them with a soft finality that seemed to echo louder than it should have.

And just like that, the room grew quieter.

Now only three remained.

Reina.

Celestia.

And Rune.

The air felt different again- no longer filled with layered discussions and unspoken agreements, but something far more direct. More personal and Celestia became acutely aware of it.