Kaden and Aurora were finally ready to set foot outside the forlorn house. Kaden never thought he would feel so elated just to be going out.

How humbling life was.

Before leaving, Aurora dyed her hair black and wore dark glasses meant to hide the stars that shimmered in her eyes.

She barely managed.

Even the black lenses couldn't bear to conceal something so beautiful. It felt like a crime.

She wore a simple white robe that reached her ankles, flowers etched in gold along its fabric, long-sleeved, paired with unseen white ballerinas.

As for Kaden, he had intended to go out wearing the traditional golden armor of Asterion, the same one he'd worn since the start of his quest, but Aurora complained that it was too flashy. So, she made him change into black pants and a long-sleeved shirt, coupled with dark boots.

His black hair was tied back with a golden ribbon given by Aurora, making his crimson eyes stand out even more and so more striking.

At that moment, Aurora looked at him intently before a smile curved across her lips.

"Old lady was right," she said. "You are handsome, Fraud." Then her expression turned smug, almost childishly proud. "And yet, my prince is still more handsome than you," she added with great confidence.

Kaden shrugged dismissively. "He can keep it. I doubt being handsome will save him from following the footsteps of his ancestors."

Aurora's eyes curved further, her gaze growing sharper and more deliberate. "You do not hold the prince in high regard, do you?"

"That's a dangerous thing to say, my lady," Kaden replied evenly. "I might lose my life if the walls decided to speak."

"You'll only die if I allow it, Fraud," Aurora said with a smirk. "Your task is not to fancy the prince, I'm enough for that. Your job is to protect me and tend to my needs."

Her smirk deepened. "And until now, you haven't failed me."

Then, she added, "But let's watch, shall we?"

She started to walk away.

Watching her back, Kaden wondered how a single person could hold so many facets, so many masks upon one face. At one moment, Aurora was childish…at another, she was insufferable and loud…and at another still, she was calm, wise, and focused.

Aside from asking for her chocolate bars, milk, tea, and painting tools, Aurora never requested anything else from him. She liked to do everything else on her own.

She loved using her hands, he had noticed.

She loved to paint, to wander around the house with chocolate between her lips, to feed the smaller beasts. She also enjoyed sewing, proof of which was the black long-sleeved shirt he wore, crafted by her own hands.

Kaden wondered if it was loneliness that drove her to learn and master so many things. After all, loneliness could push people to do everything and anything just to fill the void threatening to consume them.

Was it the same for Aurora? But wasn't she the lover of Solaris?

How could she be alone?

And how could he feel, just by watching her walk, that strange quiet pain and loneliness veiled beneath so many layers of masks?

Kaden sighed softly, then followed behind her as the beautiful Lady led him toward the place where she bought her painting tools.

It didn't seem to be her first time walking outside in her disguise.

As they moved among the people beneath the bright midday sun of Asterion, Kaden noticed how the townsfolk smiled at Aurora, greeting her warmly and asking after her well-being every now and then.

They called her the Lady of Smile, honoring her habit of always wearing one, and of always greeting everyone who crossed her path.

Kaden was overwhelmed.

Aurora receiving that much affection meant he received it too, though not in the same way. Not that he wasn't used to attention, but this kind felt strange, almost uncomfortable.

The people looked at him as if he were a stain marring Aurora's radiance.

His lips twitched. He wasn't used to this. He was used to adoration, to respect and even to fear.

Once again, for the second time, Kaden felt that life was humbling.

So they continued.

Aurora was buying without a care in the world, paying far more than she should, earning the merchant's wide, golden-toothed grin and an overly elegant kiss upon her hand.

After the painting tools came the chocolate shop.

Kaden, at that moment, cursed aloud, for Aurora bought so much that both bags were overflowing.

When one bar dared to fall, Aurora snarled at him, scolding him to be careful. Annoyed, he asked why she wasn't using a space ring instead.

That woman had the audacity to answer, "Because I don't want any ring on my finger except the one my prince will give me."

Kaden, for the nth time, cursed. This time, directly at her face.

The lady only laughed and continued, utterly unbothered by his irritation.

And yet, it wasn't over.

As Aurora passed through a dark alley drenched in slum water and shadow, the stench of rot, piss, and rusted fences filled the air so heavily one could almost taste it.

There, numerous people sat on the ground — old and young, men and women alike — their ragged clothes clinging to bony frames, their faces weary and strained, some lying down, others staring blankly at nothing.

But the moment Aurora and Kaden appeared, all of them turned their heads toward them…or rather, to her.

Their cracked lips stretched into wide smiles, showing yellowed, broken teeth, their eyes gleaming with sudden joy.

"Lady Chocolate!" they cried in unison, stumbling to their feet and rushing toward her and yet stopping at a respectful distance.

Aurora's smile widened, her joy matching theirs effortlessly.

"I've brought plenty of chocolate for you all today! And milk for the children!" she announced, then chuckled softly, "Maybe for the elders too?"

"Lady Chocolate is the best!" one little girl shouted. In a burst of happiness, she broke away from the crowd and ran straight into Aurora's arms, hugging her tightly.

Kaden's eyes narrowed instantly at the sight. A faint pressure bloated the air, before vanishing like it had never been there.

Yet the beggars sensed it. One of the elders quickly grabbed the little girl, trying to pull her back from Aurora.

"Don't touch the—!"

"It's fine," Aurora interrupted gently. She handed the girl a chocolate bar, returned the hug, and even ruffled her hair crawling with thin slithering worms, without a hint of disgust.

"Here, this is for you," she said softly.

The girl began to cry from joy.

The scene continued until all the chocolates inside Kaden's bags were gone. Aurora bid them farewell, promising she would return in the coming days, before moving on her way with Kaden following behind, still silent.

But it seemed he couldn't stop himself. When they passed through the heart of Asterion City, where the statue of Vesper Asterion stood tall and proud, he took the chance, as Aurora sat on the edge of the golden water pond, to finally speak.

"Your safety is in danger, my lady," Kaden said. "It's not very wise of you to allow anyone to touch you."

The moment he said it, his eyebrow twitched. He subtly looked around, his gaze brushing over the plebeians walking leisurely nearby.

"What could these people, who can barely afford to walk, possibly do to me?" Aurora said, pulling his attention back to her. "They are common, ordinary folk."

"Your body is unnaturally weak for someone walking the path of power," Kaden retorted. "You bleed easily. You tire easily. And sometimes your sleep is so deep I think your soul has left your body."

"For more reasons than I could bother naming, you look more like an ordinary person than they do. I have no doubt that a single, well-placed punch could kill you," he said plainly, hiding nothing.

His quest was to protect this woman, but the more time passed, the more he realized how daunting that task truly was.

Aurora was like glass. If one wasn't careful, she could shatter into pieces before anyone even noticed.

Aurora didn't respond immediately. She only smiled faintly and gazed at a small patch of earth near the pond's edge.

"They won't kill me," she said at last. "I believe my death would be far more dazzling than being struck down in the streets."

Kaden raised an eyebrow at that, parting his lips to speak, but Aurora spoke first.

"Isn't it beautiful?" she murmured in wonder, her gaze fixed below her, where a small flower had managed to creep out from the earth near the stone wall of the pond.

Its bark was black, its petals a deep red shaped like a disc.

"It's weathered," Kaden noted with his keen eyes. "It'll soon die."

"Isn't that exactly why it's beautiful?" Aurora said softly, her eyes still bright, and Kaden frowned.

Ah…

There was another thing Kaden had come to notice in the time he'd spent with Aurora, and that was her unnerving love for anything flawed.

He was not one to judge another's inclinations, but he couldn't help wondering… what was so beautiful about imperfection?

So he said simply, "I do not understand."

Aurora continued to gaze at the flower with a gentle smile, poking it playfully.

"What's beautiful about perfect things?" she asked. "What's interesting about watching or being something without flaws?"

She shook her head lightly. "It's tasteless, Fraud."

"At least, in imperfection, there's something to be learned. There's a story, a feeling, a certain pull that draws you in."

"In my eyes, a dog with a scar on its face has more to tell me, more to teach me, than one without."

"A person with teeth that can't stop falling is more likely to stir my curiosity, to make me want to know more, than someone flawless and plain."

"A flower about to die is more likely to earn my compassion and love than one standing tall and unblemished."

She turned then, her lips curving upward as her starlit gaze met his.

"And a Fraud Knight who can't keep his mouth shut or his expressions hidden is far more likely to catch my attention than anything else."

Kaden's eyes widened slightly. His heart beat harder, more than it should have.

"So, now… do you understand me, Fraud?" Aurora chuckled, then rose slowly to her feet, standing tall under the Asterion sun.

"Life is filled with flaws," she said softly. "That's exactly what makes it interesting."

Her eyes glimmered faintly.

"So tell me, Fraud… why do humans always seek perfection? Why do they crave transcendence in all things?"

Kaden's soul trembled. There was something in Aurora's voice that reached deep within him, something that touched a place no blade or will ever could.

His Seed of Transcendence stirred, shivering and revolting against Aurora's words.

"Are you saying that seeking perfection and transcendence is bad?" Kaden asked, his crimson eyes glowing with an intense, simmering red light.

Aurora shrugged lightly. "Surely, it's a fancy goal," she said. "But a tasteless one, nonetheless."

"Then what's the ideal goal?" he pressed. "No…" he shook his head slowly, his gaze sharpening, "what's your goal?"

She turned her back to him, her voice soft but clear.

"Ah… mine?" She chuckled faintly. "My goal is simple…to live. To be useful to the one who found me when I had lost everything. To exist as I am, and to be loved for it. To paint things that others find beautiful because they are imperfect."

Her smile lingered, faint and wistful.

"Because if you can see beauty in imperfection…" she whispered,

"…then you can see the beauty of life precisely because of the ugliness of death."

Without turning her body, she shifted her head just enough to glance back at Kaden over her shoulder.

"Now, maybe you understand me a little bit more, Fraud," she said with a mischievous smile, then laughed, bright and unrestrained, her voice ringing like drumbeat on a quiet night.

"Now please, do your job. I've rambled enough."

"Oh, and yes… don't kill them."

Kaden's expression remained focused, his mind replaying Aurora's words again and again.

'You'll see the beauty of life because of the ugliness of death…'

He whispered the words inwardly, then slowly, very slowly, his lips curved into a quiet smile.

"Ah. You too, my lady," Kaden murmured, his crimson eyes narrowing until their glow took the shape of swords. "You intrigue me."

He raised his right hand, shrouded in intense crimson light, then brushed it softly through the air around him.

His motion tore open reality itself, ripping through the veil and unraveling the illusions they had been trapped in since the beginning.

The walking folk vanished like smoke and in their place, figures in black robes appeared, faces swallowed by the thick, writhing darkness of their hoods.

They surrounded them in silence, weapons drawn, blades glimmering with black luster under the sudden night sky of Asterion.

Aurora remained calm, her starry eyes lifted toward the heavens. Then, softly…

"How much time?" she asked.

Kaden smiled faintly. His crimson, sword-shaped eyes gleamed so brightly that the faint illusion of a crimson blade seemed to form around him, piercing the folds of reality itself.

The hooded figures shifted their stances, then lunged with blistering speed, wordless. Darkness surged from sky and soil alike, shrouding the space in a forest of black blades.

"How much time?" Kaden echoed, his voice calm amidst the chaos. "How much time do you wish?"

"Instantaneous," Aurora replied, laughter dancing in her voice.

Kaden smirked.

The blades of darkness were an inch from his neck, his heart, his skull, but he did not move. His face did not twitch. His eyes did not waver.

He parted his lips slowly, voice steady as the crimson light of his eyes grew fierce enough to make the world tremble.

"I heard…"he said, raising one finger toward the sky.

"I obey, my lady."

A blade grazed his skin, blood trickled down. He grinned madly. Behind him, Aurora's laughter rang sharp and clear, cutting through the tension like glass breaking against silence.

Then…

"Ethereal Crimson Sword."

A flash of crimson ripped reality apart.

The world wept in horror.

—End of Chapter 308—

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