Chapter 62: Her Name His Silence

Congratulations rose from every corner of the hall, layering over each other into one continuous wave of sound.

"Congratulations to the Emperor and Princess Helia."

"May Bravenheart’s glory shine brighter still beneath the sun."

Every guest on the first floor spoke as one, a chorus of celebration aimed at Princess Helia and the young Sarnel man now bound to her.

Lucian’s vision blurred and emptied out at once. His tongue felt thick and bitter, like he’d swallowed a mouthful of sand pulled straight from the sea, while his mind kept looping that one familiar name over and over, disbelief stinging sharper each time, even as he fought to keep whatever was tearing through his chest from showing on his face.

Up on the second floor, Cassius and the Elders standing near the throne offered their own congratulations to Princess Helia as well.

Every representative from the Seven Pillar families joined in too, voices layering together in praise for Bravenheart’s coming glory, as though this single engagement alone would be enough to usher in a new age of prosperity for the empire.

Lucian caught something strange in the geometry of it all, an unease he couldn’t quite name at first. The way every single guest offered their congratulations, smooth and immediate and perfectly timed, it felt less like surprise and more like confirmation.

As though every person in this hall had already known this engagement was coming, as though the entire event tonight had been built around this exact moment from the start.

While the crowd remained bowed on one knee, offering their well-wishes in unison, something shifted in Lucian’s own posture. He went still, one hand pressed flat against his chest.

His breathing turned shallow and uneven, catching in his throat as though the shock alone had knotted itself around his lungs.

His legs began to tremble beneath him, hard enough that for a moment it seemed his whole body might simply give out against the cold marble floor.

Alicia noticed first. Her hand shot out, gripping his shoulder, steadying him before he could fall.

"Hey, Lucian, are you all right?"

Worry sharpened every word, watching him crumble under what looked like the weight of something far deeper than simple surprise.

"Why do you look so pale? Weren’t you already aware one of tonight’s purposes was this engagement?" Cecilia asked from beside her sister.

Alicia wasn’t the only one who’d noticed something was wrong. Cecilia’s own comment came from the same observation, though her read on the situation missed the mark entirely, assuming Lucian must have already known this engagement was part of the plan.

Her deduction couldn’t have been further from the truth. Lucian hadn’t known a single thing about the true purpose of tonight, let alone the engagement now cutting through him like a blade.

Alicia shot her sister a sharp look, telling her to be quiet, that the shock written plainly across Lucian’s face should have made it obvious he’d had no idea any of this was coming.

"Huh? You mean nobody from your own household, not the staff, not even your own siblings, told you what tonight’s engagement actually was? Not even once?"

Cecilia sounded genuinely baffled that an entire noble house could keep something this significant from one of its own family members.

Lucian drew in a slow, unsteady breath and offered Cecilia a small gesture, confirming without words that he truly hadn’t known anything about the purpose behind tonight at all.

"What a strange family. No wonder I already found you a little odd. What kind of fool willingly watches his own ex-fiancée get engaged to his own brother—"

Cecilia kept going, needling at Lucian even as he stood there visibly reeling, her tongue sharp enough now to openly mock House Sarnel itself in front of half the room.

Alicia’s fingers flicked on reflex, a thin layer of frost blooming across her sister’s mouth, sealing it shut before she could finish the sentence.

Even from where he stood just behind her, Lucian could feel the chill radiating off that spell, Alicia clearly working to silence her sister before anyone else nearby could catch the rest of what she’d been about to say.

But what Cecilia had already said dragged Lucian’s focus right back to it.

How was it possible that no one had told him about something this important, when every single guest here had apparently known well ahead of time?

Slowly, a memory surfaced. Right before he’d stepped through the estate gates tonight, Kaelyn had been waiting there, blocking his path, claiming he was expecting someone important.

So that’s what he meant. No wonder he let me through so easily. Damn it, here I thought he only backed off because he was afraid of Sister Jeanne.

The pieces clicked together in Lucian’s mind, dragging Kaelyn firmly into whatever plan had produced tonight’s announcement.

But if the whole family already knew about this, why didn’t Sister Jeanne tell me? She’s always been the one closest to me out of all of them.

The thought lingered only a moment before another memory answered it. Jeanne had tried to stop him, back in that room with Lady Sophia, warning him directly not to bother attending the event tonight at all.

Sister Jeanne already warned me not to come. I suppose this is on me too, for insisting anyway. But then why didn’t Rumelia or Sebast say anything either?

It wasn’t only his chest that ached now. A splitting pain had settled behind his eyes as well, the weight of everything crashing down at once.

Because the truth was, Lucian still carried feelings for Helia, feelings he’d never quite managed to let go of.

It made a certain kind of sense, given everything between them.

He’d known her for more than a decade, practically since childhood, and standing here now, watching this unfold, it felt less like reality and more like some cruel plot lifted straight out of a fairy tale, the kind meant to happen to someone else.

What if this engagement wasn’t even something Helia chose herself?

The thought arrived unbidden, an idea that refused to leave him alone once it took root. Both the annulment and this sudden engagement to Kaelyn had come together far too quickly, too neatly, to feel like anything Helia had actually wanted.

While Lucian sat trapped in that spiral, Emperor Varka raised a hand, the gesture alone enough to bring every bowed guest back up to their feet. His voice rolled out across the hall again, deep and commanding as before.

"Thank you, all of you, for your kind words."

"I, Varka Bravenheart, now declare before every soul gathered here, and before the people of Bravenheart at large, that Helia, my third-born daughter, shall be recognized as a contender for the imperial throne."

"With this declaration, my second daughter will now stand alongside First Princess Andromeda and First Prince Retave in the contest for succession."

The celebratory murmur that had followed the engagement announcement died instantly, replaced by a stunned, uncertain silence as the hall struggled to process what the Emperor had just said.

Had they actually heard that correctly? Princess Helia, entered into the succession race?

Andromeda and Retave were names everyone in that room already knew well, the two long-established contenders for the Bravenheart throne, a rivalry that had stood for years as proof of the empire’s own tradition: only a true heir, tested and proven, could ever be fit to lead it.

Adding Helia’s name to that list now, without warning, threatened to upend the entire political balance the empire had settled into.

Both existing contenders already carried their own networks of support, built up over years of careful alliance. Helia’s sudden inclusion alone was enough to send tremors through all of it.

Worse, from certain nobles’ perspective, was the fact that Helia had just become a daughter-in-law of House Sarnel by marriage.

More than a few clearly disapproved of the timing, and Helia’s own bloodline, drawn from a kingdom that wasn’t originally native to Bravenheart at all, only made the declaration harder for some to swallow.

Sure enough, as Lucian’s gaze drifted back toward the Emperor, he caught movement near the throne itself.

A man rose from his seat, dressed in noble robes dominated by a deep leaf green, a sharp, pointed hat completing the look. Whoever he was, his bearing marked him instantly as one of the Seven Pillar Patriarchs.

"Greetings, Emperor Varka."

Varka turned his head toward the voice, acknowledging the man now standing at his side.