Chapter 33 : Beneath the Same Sky
Lukas sat in the palace garden beneath the open night sky.
A wooden table and two chairs stood beneath the quiet branches of an old tree. From the distant halls of the palace came faint echoes of laughter and music, but here the air was calm.
After a short while, Rudravaan arrived.
He carried a flask of liquor in one hand. Without ceremony, he set it upon the wooden table and sat opposite Lukas.
Lukas watched him for a moment.
"You never answered my question."
Rudravaan opened the flask and glanced at him.
"What question?"
"How life has been for you," Lukas said.
Rudravaan took a slow drink before replying.
"It moves smoothly enough."
Lukas nodded.
"And Morvyn?"
"He is doing well."
Lukas poured himself a drink and took a small sip.
"That is good to hear."
Rudravaan lowered the flask and looked at him.
"And you?"
Lukas exhaled softly.
"Ah… barely holding things together."
Rudravaan's gaze sharpened.
"Why? What happened?"
Lukas rested his arms on the wooden table.
"Everything was stable… until the matter of the Sovereign Bone Citadel Sect."
He paused before continuing.
"You know that the sect leader and I tried to stop what they were doing."
Rudravaan remained silent.
"But their influence among the nobles had grown too strong," Lukas said. "At one point, they even managed to have the sect leader imprisoned."
Rudravaan's voice turned colder.
"So you simply turned a blind eye to their crimes."
Lukas shook his head.
"No."
He leaned forward slightly.
"When the sect leader was released, we formed a hidden agency to investigate them. We cannot move openly yet—too many noble houses protect them."
His eyes hardened.
"But even so… we have managed to save some of the people they intended to sell."
For a moment, neither emperor spoke.
Only the quiet night and the distant celebration filled the silence between them.
Rudravaan leaned back in the wooden chair, the flask still in his hand.
"Ah," he said quietly, "when I first heard of it… I thought perhaps you had simply turned a blind eye."
Lukas looked at him at once.
"I could never do that."
Rudravaan took another drink, then gave a faint nod.
"I know."
For a moment the two sat in silence, the distant sounds of the palace feast drifting faintly through the night.
Then Lukas spoke again.
"So what will you do now?"
Rudravaan turned the flask slowly in his hand.
"For now… I wait," he said. "Sooner or later, the one behind all this will reveal himself."
Lukas studied him for a moment before speaking carefully.
"If you do not mind… will you help me deal with the sect?"
Rudravaan glanced at him, a faint smile touching his lips.
"It seems you are still the same brat."
Lukas exhaled with a tired laugh.
"At this point… I have little choice but to rely on you."
Rudravaan lifted the flask again.
"Ah… we will see about that."
Morvyn lay upon the cool grass, a flask resting loosely in his hand as he drank beneath the quiet night sky.
Fenlor noticed him from a distance and approached, stopping beside him.
"What are you doing here?" Fenlor asked.
Morvyn did not rise.
"Nothing," he replied lazily. "Just lying here."
Fenlor glanced at the flask in his hand.
"I did not know you drank."
He sat down beside him.
Morvyn gave a faint chuckle.
"Ah… an old habit of mine."
Fenlor studied him for a moment.
"Then why drink tonight?"
Morvyn was silent for a while, his gaze fixed upon the dark sky above.
"Ah… I do not know," he said at last. "Perhaps I simply remembered the old days."
"The old days?" Fenlor asked.
"Back when it was the three of us," Morvyn replied quietly. "Me… Lukas… and Rudravaan."
Fenlor turned his head slightly.
"By Lukas, you mean the Emperor of Northshield?"
Morvyn let out a soft laugh.
"Ah… to think he truly became an emperor."
Fenlor raised an eyebrow.
"You knew each other?"
Morvyn took another drink before answering.
"That was a long time ago," he said calmly. "Now everyone carries their own burden… and their own duty."
The night grew quiet again as the two sat beneath the open sky.
Lukas rose from his seat and glanced toward the palace where the music and voices of the celebration still carried through the night.
"It seems I must return," he said. "They will be waiting."
Rudravaan waved a hand lightly.
"I will remain here."
Lukas studied him for a brief moment, then gave a small nod.
"Take care of yourself."
Rudravaan inclined his head in return.
Lukas turned and walked back toward the palace lights, leaving the garden in silence.
Rudravaan lifted the bottle in his hand and drank deeply, finishing it in a single motion. When it was empty, he set it aside and leaned back, his gaze drifting toward the night sky above.
Far away, beneath another quiet stretch of sky, Morvyn lifted his own bottle and emptied it as well.
The night air was calm.
Two old companions, separated by distance, lay beneath the same sky.
Neither spoke.
Both simply stared upward as sleep slowly claimed them.