The room stayed quiet after that, warm, but none of them felt it was bad as all of them were too tired and fulfilled to care.

For a while, none of them spoke much.

Katsura lay against Aurelian, tired enough that she barely moved, while Yelena and Mirei settled on either side of him with the kind of comfort that only came from being around someone they trusted completely.

Aurelian kept one hand in Katsura’s hair, brushing through it slowly, not really thinking about anything important for once.

That lasted longer than usual.

Then Yelena spoke.

"So," she said, her voice lazy but still sharp enough to be dangerous, "are we going to talk about her?"

Aurelian’s hand paused.

Mirei smiled faintly. "That reaction means yes."

Katsura opened one eye. "Who?"

Yelena turned her head slightly. "The guest."

Aurelian sighed.

"There it is," Mirei said. "The sigh of a man who was hoping the topic would die by itself."

"It was a peaceful hope," Aurelian replied.

"It was a stupid hope," Yelena said.

Katsura shifted a little against him, finally more awake. "Wait. The important guest who came looking for you?"

"Yes," Aurelian said.

"And you didn’t tell us?"

"I only confirmed who she was today."

Yelena looked at him. "You suspected."

"I suspected several things."

"That means you knew who she was."

"No," he admitted. "It is not."

Mirei propped herself up slightly, her expression growing more curious now. "Then say it. Who is she?"

Aurelian was quiet for a moment before answering.

"Seraphine Veyr," he said. "Of the Veyr family."

The name landed so heavily that even Katsura went still.

The Veyr family was not a small name.

Among the high houses of the Human Alliance, the Veyr family stood close to the very top.

They were not famous because they were loud, or because they threw their fleets around carelessly, but because they had spent generations producing governors, strategists, judges, and commanders who could hold entire regions together without letting them collapse into private ambition.

Their territory was old, rich, and stable.

Their fleet was powerful.

Their internal discipline was famous.

And their political weight was the kind that made other families lower their voices when they were against them.

Yelena stared at him for a long moment.

"Seraphine Veyr," she repeated.

"Yes."

Mirei blinked once. "As in the Seraphine Veyr, who was shortlisted for reserve elder candidacy?"

"Yes."

Katsura slowly raised her head. "You sure?"

Aurelian looked at the ceiling. "Apparently, yes."

Yelena sat up a little more. "Aurelian."

"I know."

"No, I do not think you do. That woman is not just some noble daughter."

"I know that too."

"She is younger than some academy seniors and is already being considered for a reserve elder seat. That does not happen."

"I am aware."

Mirei looked between them and sighed, saying in an exasperated tone, "He is back to repeating the same answers because he does not know what else to say."

"No, I am not," Aurelian said.

Hearing this, the girls smiled but did not continue the topic, waiting for Aurelian to tell them about her.

Then Aurelian continued, more seriously.

"The connection goes back further than us. My great-great-grandfather, Alaric Arcturus, and Seraphine’s ancestor, High Commander Celian Veyr, made the original agreement. They were close. Very close. Battle comrades first, then political allies. Their idea was simple. If their families ever produced a fitting pair in later generations, the alliance would be sealed through marriage."

"But it never happened," Mirei said.

"No," Aurelian replied. "The next generation failed because the candidates were the same gender. The one after that grew up too closely together and became more like siblings than partners. After that, the agreement remained, but no one forced it."

Yelena nodded slowly. "Until now."

"Until now."

Katsura was quiet for a moment. "And they chose you."

Aurelian gave a small, dry smile. "Lucky me."

Mirei poked his side lightly. "That is not the face of a lucky man; instead, it is the face of a man who knows this is a major thing but does not know what to do."

Yelena gave him a flat look.

He paused.

"Not literally."

Katsura laughed softly into his chest.

Mirei smiled at this.

Aurelian shook his head, but the corner of his mouth moved slightly. "Seraphine and I are the right age, the right standing, and apparently, the right kind of inconvenient."

"Inconvenient?" Katsura asked.

"She was trained for governance, law, regional administration, crisis command, and long-term civil planning. I went in the opposite direction and started building a frontier command in unknown space. On paper, we fit too well."

Yelena understood first. "Sword and scale."

"Something like that."

Mirei’s expression softened a little. "What is she like?"

Aurelian did not answer right away, not because he did not know, but because he wanted to be fair. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"I have only met her a few times properly," he said. "She is calm. Polite. Hard to read. Not cold exactly, but careful, perfect as an elder as she is able to not bring in personal feelings when dealing with situations, but, because of that, she is in a state where her entire focus is on the alliance, which might not be a good thing for me."

Yelena nodded. "Maybe, or maybe she has not found the right one yet."

"True, but that is still hard to prove."

Katsura frowned slightly. "Do you like her?"

That question was simpler and harder than the others.

Aurelian looked down at her, then at Yelena and Mirei.

"I respect her," he said. "That much is easy. As for more than that, I do not know yet."

Katsura studied him, then nodded slowly.

That answer seemed to satisfy her more than a lie would have.

Yelena leaned back against the pillows. "If she is truly being considered for reserve elder candidacy, then she is more than just talented."

"She is," Aurelian said. "Reserve elders are not decorative positions. They are not given to just anyone because their families are powerful."

"No," Mirei agreed. "They have to prove they can put humanity first."

That was the true weight behind the title.

The Alliance had many noble houses, commanders, and regional rulers, but elders and reserve elders stood above ordinary family politics.

They were not supposed to act in the best interests of their own bloodline first. They were meant to judge what kept human civilization stable as a whole.

That did not make them saints.

No one who managed power at that level could afford to be soft all the time.

But they had to be upright enough to be trusted, skilled enough to manage vast territories, and strong enough that others could not simply ignore them.

A reserve elder candidate had to be more than clever.

They needed results.

They needed strength.