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The Vampire Lord's Lost Salvation
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00:00I once risked my life to save Darius, the lord of the night in the Silvermoon Forest.
00:04He remembered my face.
00:06But when he came to propose, he mistook my sister Elise, who looked almost identical
00:10me for the woman he was looking for.
00:12The Duchess forbade me from speaking the truth.
00:15Even if you did speak up, do you honestly think a lord of his standing would ever marry
00:19a lowborn half-elf bastard?
00:20But Elise never got to enjoy her good fortune.
00:23She died of illness before the blood bonding ceremony.
00:25My father, unwilling to let such power slip through his hands, transferred the engagement
00:29to me.
00:30He assumed that since we looked alike, even a stand-in would be enough to please the lord.
00:33He was wrong, that Darius only hated me.
00:35You have the same face, so why was it her who died and not you?
00:38He was cold to me always, and never believed a word of the truth I tried to tell him.
00:42When I was reborn, I came back to the very day Darius had just announced his engagement
00:46to Elise.
00:47I knelt before the Duchess.
00:49To keep things from getting complicated, my lady, it would be best to arrange my marriage
00:52as soon as possible.
00:53Why are you suddenly bringing this up?
00:55The Duchess was caught off guard.
00:57After all, just days ago I had been clenching my teeth, refusing to give an inch.
01:03Only when she threatened my birth mother's life had I been forced to reveal the details
01:08of how I'd saved Darius.
01:10The silver moon forest, a terrestrial downpour.
01:13Darius had been ambushed by demon hunters, struck with holy silver venom, and plunged into
01:19a mindless blood frenzy.
01:20It was I who suppressed my fear with my half-elk in blood, hid him in a cave, and nursed
01:24him
01:25back with my own blood over the course of several days.
01:27But when we parted, his voice was rough.
01:29I'm on a covert mission.
01:31I can't reveal who I am.
01:33Tell me your name.
01:34When this is over, where do I find you?
01:37I told him my name was Arya, and that I'd soon be heading south to the Duke's estate.
01:42My mother was gravely ill at the time, and I was out of options.
01:46My only recourse was to seek out the high and mighty Duke who happened to be my father.
01:51He took it in.
01:54He stayed in the pouring rain and held my gaze for a long moment.
01:59I will remember you.
02:01Except, my highborn sister at Elisa happened to wear the very same face.
02:05It was only when he came in person that I realized the man I'd saved was Darius, Lord
02:10of the Night.
02:11After a few murmured pleasantlys, Elise stripped on a heavy cloud of moongrass perfume to mask
02:15the scent of her demon blood.
02:17I have admired you as well, my lord.
02:20But I don't know what you mean.
02:23Who is Arya?
02:24The Duchess' gaze slid toward me.
02:26She knew that Arya was my elven true name, the one I'd been forced to abandon when I
02:31arrived at the Duke's estate and took a human name instead.
02:34It's you.
02:35From now on, Arya is your true name.
02:38I was forced to give at Elise every detail.
02:41Conveniently, at Elise had a delicate constitution, and had once recovered from an illness near the
02:46edge of the Silvermoon Forest.
02:48Darius heard her account, believed every word, and set the engagement on the spot.
02:53Smart girl.
02:54The Duchess said, recovering herself if with a mild smile.
02:57I'll marry you off somewhere far away with a generous dowry.
03:00The moment the blood bonding ceremony is done, you take that sickly mother of yours and get
03:04out of this estate for good.
03:06I let out a long breath and quietly said yes.
03:10My marriage needed to be arranged without delay.
03:13For one thing, keeping me under the same roof made the Duchess uneasy.
03:16For another, Elise had only a few months left to live.
03:19She had always been frail, anxious by nature, and prone to overthinking.
03:23Later, she gave her heart entirely to Darius.
03:26The kinder Darius was to her, the worse she felt, and the more terrified she became of
03:30being exposed.
03:31Every day she lived on a knife's edge.
03:33A severe bout of fever was all it took.
03:35She never got out of bed again.
03:36After Elise died, Darius spent months in a black mood.
03:39My father, loathed to lose at such a powerful son-in-law, saw that I resembled her and pushed
03:44me forward in her place.
03:45The Lord is devastated by your sister's death.
03:48Go keep him company.
03:49If nothing else, at least be a comfort.
03:51He had miscalculated.
03:52Darius assumed I was deliberately imitating Elise, that I was calculating and manipulative,
03:56that I had injured my way close to him out of naked ambition.
03:59His contempt for me grew with each passing interaction until it had no further to go.
04:03Even when he agreed to marry me, for the sake of my face and nothing else, there was not
04:07a shred of warmth in it.
04:08On the night of the bonding, he lifted my veil.
04:10He studied me for a moment, then gave a contemptuous little laugh.
04:14That night, he blindfolded me.
04:15I was not allowed to look at him.
04:17I was not allowed to make a sound.
04:19What followed was months of cold indifference.
04:21I finally worked up the courage to ask him.
04:23What if I told you, the one who saved you was me?
04:27And Aria really is my true name.
04:29But, the living can speak in their own defense.
04:31But in his mind, the dead Elise would always be perfect.
04:33And it had been three years.
04:35His memory had blurred.
04:36My account was no clearer than the one Elise had fed him.
04:38Aria listened, his brow knotting tight, then swept the spell roller off the table in one
04:42sharp motion.
04:43The crash was deafening.
04:44You used your resemblance to her to grab power.
04:48That was bad enough.
04:49His voice went flat.
04:51Now you want to steal what she did too.
04:54That is beneath contempt.
04:57That day, I was made to kneel on the steps outside the blood cells.
05:01Snow fell in every direction.
05:02People passed.
05:03No one dared look at the Lady of the Night and her humiliation.
05:06No one dared bring an umbrella.
05:07I was frozen through.
05:08I collapsed against the steps, the cold going from my body straight into my bones.
05:12That was when I lost my child.
05:14When I woke, my only company was my bloodthrall.
05:17Her expression was pained as she chose her words carefully.
05:20Even the messenger sent to inform him of my mucurage had been turned away.
05:24His lordship still did not know.
05:26With his first love's memorial day approaching, no one in the entire realm dared risk angering
05:32the lord.
05:33I lay with my back to the window.
05:35Tears ran from my cheeks, down to the collar of my dress.
05:38I was full of regret.
05:40If I could go back years, I never would have saved him.
05:44If only a few months ago, I had not married him.
05:50A few days later, a stack of parchment smelling of age and old ink was tossed onto my table.
05:55A ledger of eligible lords.
05:56For once, the duchess was generous.
05:58Every name on the list was a powerful northern lord who controlled his own territory and answered
06:03to no one.
06:03Not out of sudden kindness.
06:05Of course.
06:06Elise's lies still had gaps, and I was the only one who could fill them.
06:09Exactly what did you do to save him in the forest?
06:11Elise heened back against a velvet chair, her eyes betraying anxiety she couldn't quite
06:15hide.
06:15I kept it vague.
06:16I couldn't afford proper healing potions.
06:18So I packed the wound with some low-grade bloodweed.
06:20He complained it was too slow.
06:22I felt embarrassed, so I snapped back that a badly wounded vampire couldn't handle a strong
06:26dose.
06:27The water wasn't clean, so I collected morning dew from flower petals.
06:31He couldn't stand the taste, and I told him he was being spoiled.
06:34Elise committed every detail to memory.
06:36Good.
06:37If he asks, I'll tell him the steward withheld my supplies.
06:40That's why things were so grim.
06:42Every alibi she built was airtight.
06:44The lies were riddled with holes.
06:45But to a man blinded by love, they were flawless.
06:48In my past life, those same scripts of half-truth had been enough to fool Darius completely.
06:52Once we had finished rehearsing the story, Elise glanced down at the portraits with her
06:57usual air of superiorities.
06:58All these country lords put together aren't fit to polish his lordship's boots.
07:02She raised an eyebrow at me, her tone probing.
07:05Little sister, are you really alright giving up a man like that?
07:08I didn't even look up.
07:09Not a ripple inside me.
07:11Not at all.
07:12The lord of the night is well above my station.
07:14Elise pulled out one of the portraits, tossing it to me.
07:17Go meet this man tomorrow.
07:18If he suits, we can get rid of you while I'm still unbound.
07:22Tidy up two things at once.
07:25The name they settled on was Orion, who ruled the Frozen Waits as the Frost Lord.
07:30When Elise pointed to his name, her lips curved with quiet malice.
07:35Everyone knew the Frozen North was brutal and unforgiving.
07:38And this lord had a reputation for being cold-blooded and ruthless.
07:42Sending me there was exile in everything but name.
07:45I agreed without hesitation.
07:47The Duchess moved quickly, arranging a meeting at a discreet tavern near the border.
07:52In the low flicker of candlelight, I finally laid eyes on the man they called a tyrant.
07:56Orion's features were as striking as something carved from ice in winter,
07:59his deep-set eyes holding a detachment that kept the world at arm's length.
08:02His long fingers lifted a cup of hot tea and pushed it across to me.
08:06He stated his terms without preandle.
08:08I don't like complications.
08:10After the blood-bonding ceremony, all matters inside and outside Winterkeep are yours to manage.
08:16If you're worried about your mother, bring her north to recover.
08:19She's welcome.
08:21His directness caught me off guard.
08:23He had clearly already looked into my situation.
08:26Only, I'll be returning to the front, so the wedding will have to be a simple one.
08:31A straightforward arrangement with no games.
08:33Exactly what I wanted.
08:35I cradled the warm cup and laid out everything the Duchess had concealed.
08:39I told him I only knew basic healing arts, and hadn't the finest grasp of any high magic or dark
08:44spellwork.
08:44Orion listened without interruption.
08:46When I finished, a rare faint smile crossed the hard line of his mouth.
08:50The meeting went surprisingly well.
08:51We agreed to formalize the engagement in three days.
08:54But just as I was pulling my cloak tight to leave, a commotion erupted from the tavern floor below.
09:01Darius stood at the bar in inconspicuous dark clothing, leaning against the counter with an air of bored ease.
09:08My lord, so the Frost Lord is taking a bride.
09:12Darius swirled his glass, his tone casually amused.
09:15The North is so far.
09:16I doubt I'll make it to drink to your health.
09:18The Night Realm keeps me occupied enough.
09:20No need to trouble yourself.
09:22Darius's gaze drifted past Orion and settled idly on me, wrapped in my cloak.
09:26That young woman looks familiar.
09:27Which family is she from?
09:29Orion stepped forward without a flicker of expression, blocking his line of sight completely.
09:33The Southern Duke's estate.
09:35The air went quiet for a beat.
09:38The hand holding Darius's glass stilled slightly, as though he'd been caught by a passing thought.
09:43Two years ago, in the Silvermoon Forest, he had asked me the very same question.
09:50My answer had been the same.
10:01The Duke's estate lay wrapped in a heavy twilight.
10:03The Duchess was waiting in the main hall, but not a single element of the ancient bloodline's highest ceremonial customs
10:08was skipped.
10:09The Frost Lord may be difficult, but he is a ruler in his own right.
10:11You're not unhappy with this match?
10:13This is the best I could hope to reach.
10:15Thank you for your generosities, my lady.
10:16She waved her hand with visible relief, dismissing me.
10:19As I made my way through the estate's corridor, the steward appeared out of nowhere and stopped me.
10:25The young mistress is walking with the lord in the rose garden.
10:31Best not go looking for trouble.
10:33Happy to avoid them, I turned and made my way along the edge of the fountain toward the sidewing.
10:37The night breeze ruffled the water and in its reflection I saw my face close enough to Elise's to pass
10:42for hers in a dim room.
10:43She had been pampered into a delicate beauty by rare elixir.
10:45I had long since learned to grow wild under cold scares and hard use.
10:48He couldn't recognize me at all now.
10:50That felt exactly right.
10:52Just as I passed the low wall of the rose garden, Darius's voice drifted over on the breeze.
10:57You've never once mentioned having a sister close to your age.
11:01I spent my childhood conifacing at a country house.
11:04I've never been close with the family.
11:06There's nothing to tell.
11:07Darius let it go, shifting the subject.
11:09Tonight's healing potion is considerably better than those crude herbs you gave me in the forest.
11:13Elise immediately fell back on the lines I'd prepared for her, her voice soft and a little chai.
11:17I knew so little then and had nothing to work with.
11:20I'm sorry you had to suffer for it.
11:22They smiled at each other, the picture of perfect contentment.
11:26I stood on the other side of that wall and didn't bother with even a contemptuous smile.
11:32I quickened my step toward the side wing that was mine.
11:37Night fell, Darius's carriage rolled out of the estate.
11:41I carried a bowl of broth I'd simmered and gently pushed open my birth mother's door.
11:46She had been ill for years, but her mind was sharp as ever.
11:50The moment she saw me, the tears broke through.
11:52Arya, it's this wrecked body of mine that's dragged you into all of this, isn't it?
11:59You were the one who risked being torn apart to save that Frenry's lord.
12:04Mother, don't talk like that.
12:06None of that matters now.
12:07In my past life, I had genuinely harbored hope that saving his life might earn me a scrip of compassion.
12:13What came instead was unending punishment and the full force of a rage that was never meant for me.
12:19That arrogant, self-important man had no heart.
12:23I've already come to an agreement with the Frost Lord.
12:26He's a man of his word.
12:28He would never treat us the way this family has.
12:31The moment the blood bonding ceremony is finished, we leave this, placed behind forever.
12:39The envoys from the frozen north arrived exactly on time.
12:42Three days later, they knocked at the duke's gate with a handsome bride price.
12:45Orion had sent a pure-blood elder in his standing, which figure of the occasion the dignity it deserved.
12:49The wedding was set for an auspicious day the following week's size.
12:53In haste, the timeline was tight, but not a single element of the ancient bloodline's highest ceremonial customs was skipped.
12:58The estate seamstresses worked around the clock to finish my gown.
13:01I sat by the window and embroidered the totems of the frozen north along the hem of a black cloak,
13:05stitch by stitch.
13:07I was unexpectedly calm inside, none of that past-life dread of clinging to what I was always afraid to
13:12lose.
13:12I remembered how in my past life, every time Aunt Darius came to the estate, he'd fix me with a
13:17stare like a jailer studying a prisoner.
13:19Because he'd mocked me openly at the hunt festival, the duchess had decided I was no longer of use to
13:24her, and planned to marry me off to some down-at-heel minor lord.
13:27Instead, at the evening's banquet, Darius had appeared with a black look on his face and dragged me in front
13:31of everyone into an empty room.
13:33He gripped my jaw and spoke in a voice cold as venom.
13:36I agreed to keep you at my side as a stand-in.
13:39Don't even think about using that face to tempt other men.
13:44In the days of wedding preparation, Orion's messenger arrived nearly every day with a small parcel, none of it appeared
13:51on the official bride price list, all of it was personal.
13:54Sometimes an out-of-print fragment of elven spellwork.
13:57Sometimes a few stems of rare arctic snow lotus.
14:00Everything I'd mentioned in passing at the tavern.
14:02One day, Elise walked in as I was carefully transplanting the snow lotus into a pot.
14:08Her expression curdled instantly.
14:11So this cold-blooded lord of yours really knows how to win a woman over.
14:15His lordship has never once paid me this kind of attention, she muttered, turning the pigeon blood diamond on her
14:20finger.
14:20Not once.
14:21I hate drinking that cloating pure blood he sends it every day.
14:25I can't stand dark colors, and yet he keeps gifting me fabric in black to have gowns made.
14:31But... you've only met him once.
14:34Why does he already care this much?
14:36I watched her face.
14:38That look of someone who has everything and resents it anyway.
14:42And felt only amusement.
14:44In my past life, Darius had forced the entire realm into three months of mourning a tarot in her memory.
14:49I set down the watering can and answered without inflection.
14:52You're about to become Lady of the Night Realm.
14:55Why trouble yourself over details like these?
14:59You're right.
15:01As long as I hold the title, nothing else matters.
15:29As long as I hold the title, nothing else matters.
15:31They'd done so much for my mother over the past two years, that I couldn't bring myself to refuse.
15:36It was held at an open-air tea garden along the city wall.
15:40We drank hot red tea and talked about what lay ahead.
15:43As we were parting ways, one sharp-eyed friend suddenly tugged my sleeve,
15:48and pointed toward a tower not far off.
15:53In the arched window of the tower stood two men.
15:56Both radiating power.
15:58Darius was watching our direction with narrowed, sharp eyes.
16:03Orion, the one in the black cloak down there.
16:06That's your mysterious bride-to-be, isn't it?
16:08You've kept her well hidden.
16:10If not for running into this today, I might never have had a chance to take a look.
16:14Orion stepped forward without changing expression, neatly blocking Darius' view.
16:19She prefers to keep a low profile.
16:22Best not disturb her.
16:24Some loose-tongued noble nearby couldn't resist.
16:27That's the Duke's natural daughter, only recently found.
16:30I've heard she looks remarkably like the future Lady of the Night Realm.
16:34If you put them side by side and couldn't rely on their scent to tell them apart,
16:37most people would mix them up.
16:40Oh? Very alike?
16:42Orion said nothing in return.
16:44He simply reached over and slammed the heavy shutters closed, cutting off every line of sand.
16:50I stood beneath the city wall, gripping the edge of my cloak, my palms slick with cold sweat.
16:59After that gathering, the Duke's estate was suddenly flooded with inexplicable invitations.
17:04Even the noblewomens who used to look down their nobles at me were now competing to pay me a visit.
17:09The Duchess understood the game being played.
17:12Under the pretense of wedding preparations, she turned every one of them away.
17:17At last the day of the blood-bonding ceremony arrived.
17:21Orion, in a sharply cut dark military uniform, came personally to the estate gates to receive me.
17:26Just as I was about to step into the carriage, the crowd fell suddenly for silent.
17:31Darius had appeared in the wedding procession, uninvited, with a full escort of nightguards at his back, bold as anything.
17:38He offered his congratulations with his mouth, while his eyes cut into me like a blade.
17:42Our meeting at the tavern was so rushed, I never got a proper look at the bride.
17:47The north is so far, I won't be able to toast you on the day.
17:50I wonder if the Frost Lord might allow me a glimpse of the bride's face before she goes?
17:54The surrounding vampires foolishly joined in the crowd.
18:00Take off the veil.
18:03Lord Darius, mind your words.
18:05She is my wife, not a spectacle for your entertainment.
18:09Elise came hurrying over, breathless, one hand lifting the hem of her elaborate gown.
18:13She took his arm with a half-playful, half-reproachful air.
18:16My lord, today is my sister's happy day.
18:19Don't get swept up in the crowd.
18:21Stir up trouble and it won't end well for anyone.
18:23Given the outrelease of Arthur, Darius held my gaze for a long moment, then finally reigned himself home.
18:33I overstepped.
18:35Safe travels to you both.
18:38When the ceremonies were done, a long procession of carriages left the south and turned toward the frozen north.
18:47An unexpected beast tide had struck the border defenses, and Orion spent the first two months almost entirely at the
18:55military camp.
18:58Our formal blood-bonding ceremony was put off again and again.
19:02It wasn't until the first snowfall that we finally held our quiet ceremony beside the warm hearth at Winterkeep.
19:08After all that time together, I found that he was nothing like the brutish figure of rumor.
19:12He would join me in the greenhouse to trim the stems.
19:14He would drapel a heavy foxfur robe over my shoulders in the small hours of the night.
19:18Fire cast the room in warmth.
19:19Orion undid the ties of my cloak with gentle hands, a quiet smile in his gray-blue eyes.
19:24Here you're free of the Duke's estate and all its rules.
19:26What should I call you when it's just us?
19:28Paused for half a second.
19:29The name I had carried for twenty years, Arya, had been forbidden in the south.
19:32My mouth moved before I was sure of the words, my voice going slightly rough.
19:35Arya.
19:36Could you call me Arya?
19:38Of course, Arya.
19:39When he said it, there was something in his voice.
19:41A strange and tender familiarity.
19:43The winter wind howled outside the window that night.
19:45Inside it was warm as spring.
19:47His broad chest gave me a sense of safety I had never known before.
19:50It was in the quiet talk that followed that I learned a startling secret.
19:53We had already met, long before.
19:55The day I rescued a snow wolf from a trap out on the snow field, he had been nearby, watching.
20:00And on the night of the storm, when Darius was ambushed and fell into blood frenzy in the forest,
20:04Orion had been on a patrol in the shadows.
20:06He had seen me rush in to calm him.
20:09Every twist and miscap had led me to his side in the end.
20:12That, I thought, must be what fate looks like when it's feeling kind.
20:17Life in the frozen north was monotonous and extraordinarily peaceful.
20:20No scheming, no maneuvering, just winter keeps impenetrable walls and Aryan's steady, attentive care.
20:25Under the realm's chief healer's care, my mother's health recovered to an almost miraculous degree.
20:30Then a letter arrived, bearing an urgent wax seal, and broke the peace.
20:34It had been sent in secret by the Duchess, and the panic between every line was unmistakable.
20:39Darius had finally begun to suspect.
20:40He had deliberately organized a hunting party, and led Elise to the edge of the treacherous dark forest.
20:45When a low-rank beast, one that had been tampered with, came snarling at Elisa, Darius watched with cold eyes.
20:52Elise went white with terror.
20:53She didn't step forward to calm it.
20:56Instead, she shoved her personal main shader hard into its path.
21:00When the guards cut the beast down, Darius looked at Elise, unharmed, trembling, and gave a laugh that made everyone's
21:06blood run cold.
21:08Elise was still trying to talk her way out of it.
21:10My lord, it wasn't that I wouldn't help. My constitution is simply too fragile.
21:15The physician told me I must never suffer any kind of shock.
21:18Darius stripped the pretense from her without mercy.
21:21In that downpour, that frenzied vampire could have snapped your neck at any moment.
21:25And yet you didn't even blink before you stepped in front of me.
21:28You two-faced little parasite.
21:31How long have you been lying to my face?
21:34Elise was broken off with on the spot and driven back to the Duke's estate that same night.
21:39The laughingstock of the entire south.
21:41The Duchess' letter was equal parts regret and fury.
21:44Every word cursing Darius' ruthlessness.
21:46She even admitted she was relieved she'd shipped me.
21:49The troublesome problem I was off to the frozen north when she had.
21:52I fed the letter into the fireplace without expression and watched it turn to ash.
21:56The next day I had barely finished tending to a new growth of snow lorphous in the greenhouse,
22:01when a guard came rushing over.
22:04My lady, the lord of the night has arrived without warning and is asking for you by name.
22:10Darius had come alone, not a single soldier, slipping through the northern wind and snow like a ghost.
22:16He stood at the far end of the frost-covered corridor.
22:18He looked hollowed out, sunken eyes, none of that former arrogance.
22:23When he saw me, his throat moved sharply.
22:26Arya.
22:26His voice was rough as sandpaper, thick with something barely held in.
22:31So you've been at Arya all along?
22:34You were willing to die for me.
22:36So why did you hide?
22:38Why did you stand by and let that woman make a fool of me?
22:41I looked at him, all that passionate sincerity, and felt only revulsion,
22:45because I never wanted to marry you.
22:46I punctured the illusion without a moment's courtesy.
22:49He reeled as if struck, his tall frame swaying, his eyes flooding red.
22:53That's impossible.
22:54The way you looked at me in the silver moon forest.
22:56That was real.
22:57That can't be faked.
22:58I am the lord of the night now.
23:00Whatever you want, I can give it to you.
23:01Say the word, and the title of lady of the night realm is yours immediately.
23:05I let the corner of my mouth twist into something cold.
23:09In my past life, after Elise died, he had offered me the same charity in the same tone.
23:18And kept me at his side.
23:21What had come of it, I became the laughingstock of everyone.
23:26A substitute ground into the dirt.
23:32He was the one who had strangled every hope I'd ever had.
23:37Save it, Lord Darius.
23:39My tone was flat.
23:40The way it would be with a stranger who meant nothing to me.
23:44I have no interest in your wealth or your power.
23:47And I want nothing to do with you.
23:49The light in his eyes went out.
23:51Piece by piece.
23:52Replaced by an anguish that couldn't accept what it heard.
23:54A single tear slipped down his pale cheek.
23:57I...
23:57See him out.
23:59I gave him no chance to continue.
24:01Turned and walked into the inner room.
24:03Leaving the door between us.
24:06That night, for once, I couldn't sleep.
24:09Every time I closed my eyes.
24:11I was back in the blood cells.
24:13That cold that reached the marrow.
24:15That despair that had nowhere to go.
24:17When I startled awake, I was soaked in cold sweat.
24:21Orion was immediately alert.
24:23He sat up and pulled me close.
24:25His broad hand moved slowly across my back, trying to settle me.
24:29Nightmare?
24:30I opened my mouth to say something.
24:32And then rapid knocking came at the door.
24:35My lord!
24:36Something's happened!
24:37There's a powerful energy surge coming from the border forest!
24:40Orion's eyes sharpened immediately.
24:42He threw on his military coat, bent to press a kiss to my forehead.
24:46Don't be afraid.
24:47Guards will be here.
24:48I'll go see what's happening.
24:50I sat through the night in the shifting lamplight.
24:53It was only when pale grey crept into the horizon that definite word reached the key.
25:00After leaving Winter Key, Darius had not gone south.
25:03He had wandered the border forest like a man possessed, drinking an entire bottle of high-proof spirits.
25:10Between the alcohol and some magical stimulant, his blood frenzy had broken loose entirely, and he had stumbled and fallen
25:17into a frozen lake.
25:19A patrol found him and immediately reported to the border commander by the time Orion arrived with his men, Darius
25:27was nearly dead from the cold.
25:28The physician on hand used a considerable store of rare medicinal curials to pull him back from the edge.
25:35He was unconscious for a full two hours.
25:38His first words upon waking chilled everyone present.
25:42He fixed his gaze on Orion, hollow eyes, frightening in their coxation.
25:48Give her back to me.
25:50Orion did it so much as raise an eyebrow.
25:52She is my lawful wife, not something you can simply take.
25:56I suggest you come to your senses.
26:00It was full dark before Orion returned to the bedroom, coated in windblown snow and exhausted.
26:06He shrugged off his frost-covered coat and rested his head on my knee, closing his eyes.
26:12I ran my fingers gently through his hair and asked quietly,
26:15Did he make any unreasonable demands?
26:19Oriadion shook his head, his voice slightly muffled.
26:22No.
26:23He was raving like a man completely out of his mind.
26:27He said you were once his wife.
26:29That he put you in the blood cells himself.
26:32My heart missed a beat.
26:34My breathing stopped.
26:35The near-death experience in that frozen lake, it had restored his memories of his past life too?
26:40What an incomprehensible madman.
26:43Orion gave a cold, short laugh, as though none of it troubled him in the slightest.
26:48He was too exhausted to stay awake long.
26:50He fell asleep against me shortly after, but my thoughts were in turmoil and sleep was gone.
26:56Early the next morning, the border fortress commander's wife arrived in person with an urgent letter.
27:03Darius was refusing to leave the fortress and was on the verge of losing control entirely.
27:09My lady, if you don't go and face him yourself, I fear he really will call up the night army
27:15and start a war up here.
27:17However, that man had always been willing to use any means to get what he wanted.
27:22I let out a long breath and decided to put an end to this once and for all.
27:26Prepare the carriage.
27:27I'll go see him.
27:28Tell the commander.
27:29No unnecessary casualties.
27:33At the frozen lake's edge, the wind and snow raged.
27:37Darius stood with his back to me at the heart of the storm.
27:40His thin shirt was soaked through with snow, and he looked utterly alone.
27:44When he heard my footsteps, he spun around.
27:46He reached toward me, then stopped, his hand going rigid in mid-air and pulling back.
27:51Area.
27:51His rough voice trembled in the wind.
27:53I have lived two lives, and in both of them, you were my undoing.
27:57In my past life, I was deceived by Elise.
28:00I had no idea you were the one I'd been looking for.
28:03When Elise died, I thought showing you any kindness would be a betrayal of her.
28:06I couldn't bring myself to admit I've fallen for you.
28:09I told myself it would be an insult to the woman who saved my life.
28:12I watched him lay himself open without changing expression.
28:15I tried to explain this to you.
28:17Once.
28:17Yes.
28:18You did.
28:19Darius gave a self-mocking laugh that was uglier than crying.
28:23But I was too arrogant.
28:24I refused to believe it.
28:26Elise was dead.
28:27And the dead tell no tales.
28:29All I could do was assume the worst of you.
28:31Tell myself you were a schemer who wanted her place and her power.
28:34He grew more and more agitated as he spoke, his eyes bloodshot, his voice rising to something
28:38close to a shout.
28:39But was all of this really only my fault?
28:41If you had told me the truth sooner, if Elise hadn't interfered, we could have had something
28:45perfect.
28:47You conspired against me together.
28:48She copied your habits, packed my wounds with bloodworm, stole our memories and made them
28:54hers.
28:54This isn't fair to me!
28:56Watching him work himself into hysterics, I didn't even have the energy to be angry.
29:00What choice did I have?
29:01I cut him off, cold and flat.
29:04My mother was dying.
29:05The Duchess had us both where it hurt.
29:07If I hadn't handed over the secret of how I saved you, we would have died.
29:10Both of us.
29:11And every last bit of this tragedy comes back to those blind, worthless eyes of yours.
29:16I curved my mouth into something that was not a smile.
29:19Everyone knows you were devoted to the woman who saved your life.
29:23And yet in the end, even my current husband recognized me at a glance.
29:27While you were fooled by a counterfeit for two entire lifetimes that nailed him to the spot.
29:31All the color left his face.
29:33He took one stubborn step forward, his eyes burning with obsession.
29:37I recognize you now.
29:38It's not too late.
29:39I can still make this right.
29:41In our past life, everyone looked down on your half-Elish blood and I kept you at my side
29:45against all opposition.
29:46Even now that you've completed the bonding with another, I don't care!
29:49I looked at the lake sealed under its thick ice and chose each word to cut.
29:54In your past life, you treated me worse than an animal.
29:56It was in the blood cells, while I was going numb from the cold and bleeding, that I discovered
30:01I was carrying a child.
30:03If I truly mean that much to you as the person who saved your life, then put away your act
30:07of devotion and stop making me sick.
30:10Those words struck him like lightning out of a clear sky and shattered him.
30:15A child?
30:16He staggered back two steps, his legs buckling, catching himself on a dead tree to stay upright.
30:20He raised his head.
30:21Desperate tears mixed with melted snow poured down.
30:24The remorse looked like it would tear him apart.
30:26I laid my hand very gently over my still flat stomach and let the warmth of it show in my
30:30eyes.
30:30But it doesn't matter.
30:31This time she found a father who will truly love her.
30:34She has already come back.
30:38That evening I ate dinner in the fortress command room in perfect silence.
30:43Darius sat at the far end of the long table looking like something had
30:46emptied him out.
30:47Without thinking, he gripped his crystal goblet too hard and it shattered in his hand.
30:51The shards cutting into his palm, blood dripped steadily.
30:54He didn't react at all, as if the pain had gone somewhere else.
30:57The fortress camter was sweating through his uniform, terrified this walking disaster was
31:01about to lose his mind and massacre everyone.
31:03Night fell.
31:04The blizzard intensified.
31:05At the far end of the corridor, a warm glowing magic lantern appeared.
31:09Orion, dusted with snow, had come to take me home himself.
31:13His broad, strong hand settled firmly on my shoulder.
31:18Taking you home.
31:20In the carriage, I leaned against his broad chest without any particular effort.
31:26Orion was unusually quiet.
31:28He carefully unpinned his snowflake dist cloak and wrapped me in it thoroughly.
31:32As he was tying it closed, I noticed the edges of his deep-set eyes were faintly red.
31:36You don't find all of this, my past, too much to deal with?
31:42His voice was very low, carrying a rare note of uncertainty.
31:46What are you thinking?
31:47He isn't worth a single strand of your hair.
31:50The tension went out of his body at once, and he made a low, quiet sound of acknowledgement.
31:58And besides, our child needs her father too.
32:02Orion's whole body went still, a man who had mastered advanced detection magic.
32:06And in this moment, he looked like a complete and helpless fool.
32:09The instant his fingertips touched my pulse, he simply stopped.
32:12Just over a month along.
32:14I felt dizzy in the carriage today, and the physician confirmed it.
32:17He held his breath in disbelief and gathered me into his arms with an impossible gentleness,
32:22as if I were something that could shatter.
32:24A flurry of kisses fell on my forehead, my eyes, my lips.
32:29Aria, this is the best gift I have ever been given.
32:33Back at Winterkeep, I was treated like something fragile and irreplaceable.
32:38Meanwhile, Darius lingered at the frozen border for more than ten days.
32:43At times he sat in the storm like a dead tree.
32:45At times he spent the deep hours of night blasting boulders apart with uncontrolled magic.
32:49And in the most punishing act of self-destruction he could manage,
32:52he stood in a blizzard on the steps through an entire night.
32:54The bloodline reblash finally broke him.
32:56He fell gravely ill.
32:58Just as the border generals were going grey with worry,
33:01urgent news came from the south.
33:04A rebellion had broken out in the Night Realm,
33:07and the Lord was needed immediately to take command.
33:10I only learned afterward that Orion had quietly reached out to the opposition forces in the south,
33:15and arranged it deliberately.
33:18Before he was forced to leave the frozen north,
33:21Darius, barely able to stand,
33:24had a heavy spatial storage pouch delivered to me.
33:27Inside were tens of thousands of top-grade mana crystals,
33:31along with rare treasures and life-extending elixirs from his private stores,
33:35things I hadn't even been allowed to look at in my past life.
33:38He had wasted away to almost nothing.
33:41His pale face held no color whatsoever,
33:43and he pulled his mouth into the ugliest approxiation of a smile.
33:47Consider this a small repayment for saving my life.
33:51There had been a time when I would have given anything for resources like these.
33:55Anything to afford my mother's treatment.
33:58Since he was the one rushing to atone,
34:00I accepted it all without ceremony.
34:02But I didn't give him a single word beyond what was necessary.
34:06Darius left the north in the end,
34:08diminished and without a word.
34:11Not long after,
34:12the Night Realm issued a formal document
34:14acknowledging the frozen north's independent sovereignty.
34:17Together with a century-long peace treaty,
34:19it was clearly a concession made on my account.
34:22Orion looked at the treaty,
34:23and raised an eyebrow,
34:24a single dismissive flick.
34:26It doesn't matter.
34:28He held me close,
34:29his voice easy and certain.
34:31The honor that belongs to you as lady of the frozen north.
34:34I will defend it with my own strength.
34:37I don't need his charity to do that.
34:39I put every piece of Darius' premium medicine to Ewan to use on my mother.
34:45Within a few months,
34:46she had made a full recovery.
34:49My mother returned to what she knew,
34:51and opened a small healing clinic in the Keep,
34:54treating injured Townsfake free of charge.
34:57I would help from time to time.
34:59Whenever the sun began to set,
35:00and Orion finished his rounds of the defenses,
35:03he would always come by on his way back to collect me.
35:07Walking along the snow path lit by magic lanterns,
35:11he would chatter on and on with questions.
35:13Did the little one give you any trouble today?
35:15Not at all.
35:16Very well behaved.
35:18We really need to think seriously about the name.
35:20An elven name, a human name,
35:22and our family name to go with it.
35:24What if your mother chose one too?
35:26I leaned against his shoulder and laughed, yes.
35:28Time moved quickly.
35:30Years later, word came from the south.
35:32An obituary.
35:33Darius had died in a brutal campaign against high-ranked demon hunters.
35:37Since the broken engagement, he had never married.
35:39He had turned himself into a warring machine with no feeling.
35:43Putting down rebellions,
35:44routing out enemies,
35:45stationed always at the most dangerous front.
35:48In the end, in a bloody battle,
35:50an old wound reopened.
35:52He fought until he had nothing left.
35:55The people of the south praised the lord of the night for his fearlessness.
35:59The entire realm mourned.
36:01The frozen north observed a few symbolic days of quiet.
36:04But the shadow of his death was soon swept away entirely by a brilliant aurora.
36:09My daughter had reached the age of maximum mischief.
36:12She wore a white fox-fur cloak, soft as cloud,
36:15and frost roses I had grown myself tucked into her hair.
36:18She ran and laughed across the wide snowfield like a little spirit set free.
36:23She knew nothing of the cruelties of a past life.
36:25She didn't understand the grievances and sorrows adults carry.
36:29Those bright jewel eyes of hers held nothing but pure, unclouded anticipation for everything ahead.
36:34The wild wind carried away the last trace of old grief.
36:37And here, on this frozen expanse that was once thought to be a place of exile,
36:41I had finally found what was mine, a spring that would never end.
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