Chapter 43: Twin Banners
Outside the cave, Eliza had spent the better part of the afternoon fighting a losing argument with herself.
The instructions had been clear enough. Watch the entrance. No one interrupts. Simple. She’d followed simpler orders under far worse circumstances without a second thought.
But the mana pulsing from inside the cave kept shifting — thickening, then thinning, then thickening again into something denser and stranger than anything she’d sensed in this forest, this Duchy, possibly this entire kingdom. Every fresh surge sent her hand back to her sword hilt out of pure reflex, and every time, she had to consciously force herself to stay exactly where she’d been told to stay.
Go in. Just to check. Just to make sure he’s alive.
He told you not to.
She paced the cave mouth a dozen times over, caught in the same argument with herself each pass. This wasn’t the first time her Young Master had asked for space to do something he clearly didn’t want observed. It wouldn’t be the last, either, if last night was any indication of the pattern his life had apparently decided to take.
If he wanted me to know, he’d tell me. Until then, my job hasn’t changed.
She settled on trust, mostly because trust was the only option that let her keep standing here instead of storming in and possibly ruining whatever delicate, dangerous thing was happening on the other side of that stone.
Then the pressure spiked again — sharper this time, unmistakably demonic, unmistakably familiar.
Lilith.
She remembered that presence from the first time it had cracked its way into the world, the wrongness of it settling under her skin before her eyes had even confirmed what she was sensing. This felt like that. Except considerably stronger. Considerably worse, in the specific way that made her fingers tighten around her hilt without any conscious decision on her part.
Whatever you’re doing in there, she thought, staring at the cave mouth with an intensity that would have embarrassed her if anyone had been around to see it, I hope you know exactly what you’re doing.
Some time later, Malrik finally emerged.
Behind him walked a girl.
Eliza’s first read on her was simple enough — young, roughly Malrik’s own age, radiant in a way that made the cave’s grime and dried venom look almost offensive by comparison. Silken purple hair. Violet eyes. Skin without a single visible flaw, set off by a dress entirely, comically unsuited to the cave they were currently walking out of. Her posture alone marked her as nobility, or something that wanted very badly to be mistaken for it — confident, unhurried, entirely unbothered by the environment.
Eliza looked closer.
Wait.
The same girl. The same one who’d stepped through that crack in the world last night, wreathed in demonic mana thick enough to make Eliza’s instincts scream. Except smaller now — no, not smaller,
younger, finer, every feature sharpened toward something closer to perfection. And the demonic presence that had been so unmistakable before had all but vanished, buried so deep beneath her skin that if Eliza hadn’t already known to look for it, she might have missed it entirely.
A different person, almost. Or the same person wearing a better version of herself.
She stepped forward and bowed at the cave entrance, keeping her voice level despite the questions crowding behind it.
"Young Master." A small pause. "I trust you accomplished what you came here for."
Malrik smiled.
"I did."
He gestured toward the girl beside him, who offered Eliza a small, polished smile of her own — genuinely warm, though something about the precision of it suggested practice rather than pure spontaneity.
"This is Lily," Malrik said as though the name had always belonged to her. "She’ll be staying with me from now on. My personal attendant."
Eliza blinked once.
Lily.
Lilith was hardly a name one could use among humans without drawing attention. Since she would be living at his side, Malrik had simply given her the closest human name. Familiar enough for her, ordinary enough for everyone else.
"...Young Master." She kept her tone even, though something in her chest had gone tight without her permission. "Have I done something wrong? Displeased you in some way?"
"No." He said it immediately, firmly enough to leave no room for doubt. "No one’s taking your place, Eliza. Lily will simply be another attendant. I believe you’ve already met her, in a manner of speaking."
Eliza looked at the girl again.
Lilith — Lily, apparently — offered her another smile, warmer this time, gentler, something almost affectionate hidden in it.
So it really is her. The one from the demonic mana. But whatever happened to her in there... I don’t understand it. I assumed she was simply another summoned soul, though I’m still not entirely sure how any of that works.
She didn’t ask. She’d learned that lesson well enough over the past two days.
She simply inclined her head toward Lili, then toward Malrik, and said nothing further as they turned back toward the carriage.
The three of them drew attention the moment they reached the estate grounds — though, predictably, most of it settled on the girl walking a step behind Malrik rather than on Malrik himself. Servants along the courtyard bowed low and said absolutely nothing, the way servants at House Vesperion had learned, generation after generation, to say absolutely nothing about anything.
Walking the corridor toward his wing, Malrik found himself reconsidering — not for the first time in the last hour — whether letting Lili accompany him back to the palace had actually been a reasonable decision.
Too late now.
That thought had barely finished forming when two figures rounded the corner ahead, walking toward them.
A boy and a girl.
Twins, unmistakably. The resemblance between them was uncanny—same black hair, same height, the same effortless synchronization that only came from sharing a lifetime together.
The Twin Banners.
Darian and Daria Vesperion.
The Fifth and Sixth Banner Bearers.
Only two years older than Malrik, they were the siblings closest to him in age.
Like every child of House Vesperion, both had inherited the family’s raven-black hair. Their eyes, however, were another matter. Each possessed one emerald-green eye and one sapphire-blue eye, their heterochromia perfectly mirrored between them. Had they been the same sex, even members of the family might have struggled to tell them apart.
The moment they noticed Malrik, both raised a hand in greeting.
Then they froze.
Their eyes drifted past him, settling on Lily.
Daria’s mismatched gaze narrowed with obvious delight, a grin spreading across her face.
"Who’s this?" She looked between Malrik and Lily before her smile widened. "Does your whore—" She stopped herself with exaggerated innocence. "I mean, your fiancée’’
"I don’t think she’s going to be very happy hearing you’ve been spending your afternoons with another girl."
Malrik’s mind went completely blank.
...My what?
He stared at her, convinced he’d misheard.
Fiancée?
Since when did I have a fiancée?
"...Wait." He frowned. "I have a fiancée?"
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