The road was long and unforgiving, but Lily didn't stop. Each step was powered by pain, guilt, and the hope of seeing her daughter one last time.
She avoided guards and nobles, slipping through the outer towns like a shadow. Though years had changed her face, the memories of the palace still burned in her mind—the betrayal, the fire in Raelynn's eyes, and the tiny hand she had to leave behind.
In her heart, she repeated the name she never got to speak aloud:
Alina.
---
In the palace, Alina sat in the royal library, flipping through old scrolls. Her curiosity had grown ever since she started hearing strange things from the palace staff. Whispers.
"She doesn't look like Raelynn at all."
"Maybe she's not really her daughter."
"She has the old queen's eyes…"
One night, unable to sleep, Alina sneaked into the old royal storage chamber. Dust choked the air, and the doors creaked like ghosts whispering secrets.
Among forgotten books and torn banners, she found a locked chest. Rusted. Ancient. But her instincts told her—this wasn't just a box.
Inside it, she found a single torn letter, never delivered. Written in a careful, shaking hand.
> "If my daughter ever finds this... know that I did not leave you by choice. I am Lily. I was once queen. And I loved you with all I had."
Alina's hands trembled.
Lily.
A name that never once crossed Raelynn's lips.
She stumbled backward, breath caught in her chest. Tears stung her eyes—not from sadness, but confusion, betrayal.
"Who am I?" she whispered.
Elric, hearing her cry, rushed in. When he saw her holding the letter, he quietly knelt beside her.
"I don't know who Lily is," Alina said, "but why does this feel like the truth?"
Elric looked at the handwriting, then into her eyes.
"Because some truths don't need proof. They live in our blood."
—
Meanwhile, Raelynn stood at the cliff's edge with Varek, looking down at the distant kingdom below.
"She's starting to remember," Varek said.
Raelynn's jaw tightened. "Then we strike now—before Lily returns… before Alina chooses the wrong side."
And just like that, the war of blood and truth had begun.