Lukas still didn't get why Helena looked like the world was collapsing.

"A general? So what, even if he's powerful," he muttered, "the Human Empress-"

"Dummy!- Boss... Your real boss! My mother's man!" Helena hissed.

That finally did it.

Lukas's blood ran cold.

Helena clenched her fists.

He knew her background. He knew everything.

How could he still not understand?

Helena Berg wasn't her real name.

She was born Helena Astrid, first Princess of Norhaven.

And she had burned that identity to the ground.

Years ago, her mother, Ericka, had left her father.

Left the kingdom.

Left everything.

For the Eighth Prince.

Helena had snapped.

She knew her mother was… casual about life. Free. Unrestrained, but leaving her father like that?

Unforgivable.

The breaking point came when Helena brought Lukas home.

Ericka saw him.

And instead of approval, she said, "Ask the Eighth Prince for approval first."

Helena left that night.

Left the palace.

Left her title.

When her father died in an "accident" two years ago, Helena suspected the truth.

But suspicion was useless when your enemy was a god.

So she ran, crying.

Love over royalty.

A princess choosing a soldier.

A fairytale, until reality caught up.

Lukas was the second son of the French Prime Minister. His grandfather was a war hero. He wanted the legacy of his grandfather, not politics of his father.

Aether awakened in him like a second language.

Wind answered him feelings.

Strength came easily.

Heroism felt right!

That was why Helena loved him.

Strong on the battlefield.

Clueless everywhere else.

Far away, Wang Xiao tilted his head slightly, he glanced at Yuriko, a smile touched his lips.

"Did you do this?"

Yuriko blinked. "Do what?"

"All this," he said lazily. "Fate tangled like cheap silk."

She shook her head. "Not this time."

He narrowed his eyes.

"You did set up Luo Yang though. The X-ray vision guy."

She sighed.

"…That one was mine doing, but I never planned him to walk straight to you, it was a coincidence."

Wang Xiao chuckled softly.

Xin Hanqin flashed through his memory, Supreme Court judge, another mask she wore in Earth. Her niece, Xin Ruoling, her boyfriend Luo Yang.

His sudden rise to power.... Ridiculous luck.

"So this is coincidence?" he asked.

Yuriko's gaze drifted toward Helena.

"Coincidence," she said softly, "or destiny enjoying its cruelty. That girl is born to suffer."

Wang Xiao hummed in acknowledgment.

Lukas finally broke free from his daze, he wiped his palms against his uniform.

The Guardian of Europe was Fiona.

Everyone knew she was the Eighth Prince's daughter.

Which meant... Every road led to him.

He remembered that night, standing before Queen Ericka, being told to seek the Prince's permission.

He had been terrified.

But now?

Now he was a Major.

Now he had power.

Now he had value.

If he could stand here, face to face, and not kneel... maybe this wasn't an end.

Maybe this was an opportunity!

Helena watched in horror as Lukas stepped out from the shadows.

"Don't," she whispered.

He didn't listen.

He walked straight toward Wang Xiao.

Lukas stopped three steps in front of Wang Xiao, not close enough to be disrespectful, not far enough to be a coward, his back felt heavier, like the world itself was pressing against it by Wang Xiao's mere gaze.

Helena's breath froze behind him.

"Lukas!"

He raised a hand slightly, without looking back.

"Let me speak."

Then he faced Wang Xiao fully, straightened his spine, and did something that surprised everyone.

He bowed.

Not deep, not submissive.

Just… honest.

"I know who you are," Lukas said quietly. "Or at least… I know enough. I apologise for not recognising you earlier. But Helena isn't something I can give up."

He swallowed.

"When I first saw her, she wasn't a princess. She wasn't royalty. She wasn't someone I was supposed to kneel to."

He lifted his eyes.

"She was a girl standing alone at the edge of a training field, fists clenched so tight they were shaking."

Helena froze remember the past, Lukas's voice steadied as he spoke, like recalling muscle memory.

"Everyone else was celebrating aptitude results. Laughing, showing off."

"She looked like she wanted to punch the world."

A faint, self-deprecating smile tugged at his lips.

"I thought she was arrogant."

A soft breath escaped him.

"So I challenged her."

Behind him, Helena shut her eyes.

"I lost," Lukas admitted calmly. "Badly."

"She broke my stance in three moves. Didn't gloat. Didn't smile."

"She just said, 'Don't fight angry. It makes you predictable.'" He exhaled slowly. "That was the first time someone corrected me without wanting anything from me."

His gaze softened.

"Over time, I learned why she fought like that. Why she trained harder than anyone. Why she never talked about home."

"I learned she didn't want crowns. Didn't want inheritance. Didn't want to belong to anyone."

He clenched his fist.

"And I loved her for it."

The words landed heavy.

"I didn't care who her mother was. I didn't care what blood ran in her veins."

"I loved the woman who bled beside me. Who dragged wounded soldiers back even when her own ribs were cracked. Who hated politics more than pain."

His voice dropped.

"I knew… from the moment I understood her family… that this day would come."

His eyes lifted to Wang Xiao, unwavering now.

"That I would eventually stand in front of you."

Silence.

"I won't pretend I don't fear you," Lukas said honestly. "That would be a lie."

"I won't pretend I deserve her by lineage or power."

"I only know this-"

He turned his head slightly, just enough to look at Helena.

"She chose me."

Helena's eyes were wet.

"She chose a man who can't play politics. Who can't scheme. Who can only stand on a battlefield and protect what's behind him."

He faced Wang Xiao again.

"We're set to marry in a month."

No hesitation.

"No matter what happens today," Lukas said firmly, "that hasn't changed for me."

Then, slowly, deliberately, he went down on one knee.

Not as a soldier.

Not as a subordinate.

As a man.

"I'm not asking for power. I'm not asking for favor."

"I'm asking… for your blessing."

Helena sucked in a sharp breath, her face turning pale.

"For me to take responsibility for her life," Lukas continued. "For her safety. For her happiness."

"I swear on my life, on heavens, on everything I've built, that I will never use her name, her blood, or you, for my ambition."

He bowed his head.

"I only want to love her openly. And die before I ever betray that."

"..."

"..."

The chamber fell into a silence so deep it felt like the chamber itself was digging it's grave, waiting to see whether it would still be allowed to exist in the next moment.

Every eye drifted toward Wang Xiao, not out of reverence, not even fear, but the same instinct that made animals look at the sky when thunder rolled, because whatever came next would not be decided by them.

Some of them already sensed the ending. They didn't understand the situation, but experience whispered a simple truth into their bones: this kneeling man had mistaken Wang Xiao for someone who needed convincing.

That alone was enough to put his neck on the chopping block.

It wasn't entirely Lukas's fault. Helena had never told him the real reason her mother demanded the Eighth Prince's approval.

How could she?

How do you explain that Ericka's refusal wasn't maternal concern, but calculation? That it had nothing to do with protection and everything to do with ownership?

Freya served Wang Xiao.

Ericka served Wang Xiao.

Then Josephine... Then Seraphina.

Names stacked in Helena's mind like corpses laid neatly side by side, each one a reminder of how her mother's world worked. Ericka had never intended to stop the marriage.

She intended to redirect it, bend it until Helena herself became another offering laid neatly at Wang Xiao's feet.

Lukas never saw that far. Politics slid off him like rain off steel. He thought Ericka's demand meant he wasn't worthy enough, that his blood, his rank, his strength all fell short.

So now Helena watched him kneel in front of Wang Xiao, her face pale, heart pounding so violently it hurt. He looked upright even on his knees, stupidly honest, the kind of man who believed sincerity alone could hold back the world.

Most people expected what came next.

Only Evan didn't.

The young researcher stared at Lukas with something close to awe, eyes stinging as emotion welled up in his chest.

For a brief, foolish moment, Lukas looked majestic to him, like a hero ripped straight out of a story where courage was rewarded instead of punished.

Evan felt a bitter ache twist in his gut, 'If only I'd had that kind of balls... '

A fool recognizes a fool.

Then Wang Xiao finally moved.

He didn't spare Lukas a glance.

His eyes slid to Helena instead.

A lazy smile tugged at his lips, casual and cruel, the kind that made Helena's feet turn to ice.

"Do you like this guy?" he asked, tone light, as if asking about the weather.