Lira collapsed onto her bed, arms sprawled, her body heavy as if she'd just run a marathon.
"Phew…!" she exhaled with a long sigh, staring at the ceiling of her room.
For some reason, she felt like she was forgetting something important. But after cleaning up the mess left from her fight with Rian, she was too exhausted to dwell on it.
She hadn't asked her maids for help because she hated anyone touching her things.
'That bastard… he'd better win those two fights,' she thought, shifting to get comfortable.
It wasn't just the physical strain. Her argument with her father, Kraus Cole, had drained every ounce of her mental energy.
'What a stubborn man…' she thought, recalling how she'd had to beg him to delay the fights and spotlight Rian.
His words still echoed:
"You sure you want to risk your honor for that useless kid?"
Lira pressed her lips together, a spark of irritation flaring.
It wasn't just about Rian—it was about her too. She'd staked her reputation, and if this went south, there'd be no undoing it.
'Why did I do that…?' she wondered, reaching for the remote on her bedside table.
'Should I turn it on…?' Lira hesitated, eyeing the dark TV screen mounted on the wall.
Part of her wanted to check the news—maybe catch a report on the outside world to plan what food to buy—while dozing off.
'No… I'm done working,' she thought, though her eyelids were already heavy. 'It'd be a nice way to unplug, but…'
'Just five minutes of rest…'
Lira closed her eyes, letting the room's silence wrap around her.
Knock knock knock!
A sharp rap at the door jolted her upright.
"Argh!" she groaned, covering her face with her hands. "Who is it now?" she muttered, dragging herself off the bed.
Lira yanked the door open, expecting a maid with some petty complaint or a message from her father.
Instead, she found a young servant, face flushed and sweaty, panting like she'd sprinted across the clan.
"Miss Lira!" the girl gasped, bowing clumsily. "It's… it's about Rian!"
Lira frowned, crossing her arms.
"What about him?" she asked, a knot forming in her stomach.
'What's that idiot done now…?'
The servant straightened, still catching her breath.
"He's saying you made him a fighter!" she blurted, eyes wide. "In the dining hall, he said you gave him the tunic and that he's fighting tonight. But… nobody believes him, and now he's in trouble with Joren Tael, the fighters' supervisor."
Lira blinked, processing the words.
"But… that's true," she said slowly, her voice calm but firm. "I gave him the tunic. Rian's fighting today."
The servant, too frazzled to catch Lira's meaning, assumed she was denying it and kept rambling.
"That's what I thought—there's no way!" she said, waving her hands. "Everyone in the dining hall laughed when he said it. They said Rian's gone nuts. Joren even pulled out the fighter list and confirmed Rian's name isn't on it! Now they're arguing, and I think they're gonna punish him for lying and stealing the tunic."
'What?!'
Lira's world screeched to a halt.
Her mind flipped, a cold chill racing down her spine.
'I didn't finish registering Rian…'
The realization hit like a bucket of ice water.
While the servant kept talking, chuckling about Rian's mess, Lira cut her off.
"Wait!" she snapped, raising a hand to silence her. "Where's Rian right now?"
The girl swallowed hard, clearly intimidated by Lira's sudden intensity.
"When I ran to tell you, he was in the dining hall, arguing with Joren," she replied. "I don't know if he's still there, but it looked… bad. Joren was furious, and the guard seemed ready to haul him off."
Lira didn't wait another second.
"Move!" she barked, shoving the servant aside as she bolted from her room.
'No, no, no!' she thought, heart racing.
She knew what happened when someone defied a supervisor like Joren.
First, the guards would rough them up—fists or worse, whatever they felt like.
Then, they'd lock them in an isolation cell for days. If Rian got hurt before tonight's fights…
Lira wouldn't let that happen—not with her honor on the line!
She tore through the clan's halls, dodging servants who scrambled out of her way with hasty bows.
'I've gotta move faster!' she thought, sweat beading on her forehead.
The dining hall wasn't far, but every second felt like forever.
When she reached it, she skidded to a stop.
'What a mess…'
Tables were flipped, broken plates littered the floor, and spilled stew dripped from chairs.
Servants cleaned frantically, some grumbling as they swept up shards of pottery.
Crack!
A broom hit a large chunk of stone, and Lira's eyes narrowed.
'Stones?'
She glanced around, spotting more fragments embedded in the walls.
Several servants noticed her and froze.
"It's Lira Cole…" a girl whispered, dropping her rag.
"What's she doing here?" another muttered, bowing awkwardly.
The murmurs grew, and Lira caught snippets.
"Maybe it's about Rian," someone said.
"She really backed him?" another asked, skeptical.
Lira ignored them, marching to the guard at the entrance.
"Where's Rian?" she demanded, her voice sharp as a blade.
The guard blinked, startled by her intensity. He pointed down the hall with a vague gesture.
"That way," he said, scratching his beard. "They headed to the fountain. Joren chased him after the idiot ran off. And… uh, just a bit ago, Kain Cole went through that gap too."
He nodded at a stone wall blocking the hallway, a jagged hole punched through one side like someone had smashed it by force.
Lira clicked her tongue.
'Great, now Kain's mixed up in this…' she thought, a pang of panic hitting her.
Her cousin wasn't known for patience, and if he was involved, things could get much worse.
'Damn it, Rian! Can't you go five minutes without picking a fight?' she thought, sprinting toward the wall, ignoring the servants' curious stares.