For a brief moment, even her heart seemed to forget how to beat.
Slowly, she resumed the massage, though the rhythm had changed—less natural now, more forced.
"I… I don't understand what Your Highness means," she said, choosing her words carefully.
The Old Queen let out a quiet, almost amused hum.
"Do not insult me with ignorance," she said calmly. "You reacted too quickly."
Dydra's grip tightened unconsciously.
"I have lived long enough to recognize what stands behind me," the Old Queen continued. "Darkness… restrained. Guided. That is not the work of one who walks alone."
Silence followed.
Dydra's mind raced.
She knows.
Not everything… but enough.
Carefully, she swallowed.
"…And if I were not alone, Your Highness?" she asked softly, testing the waters.
The Old Queen's lips curved faintly—not quite a smile.
"Then," she said, "you are not yet lost."
A pause.
