~Chapter 34~
Nocturne waited for Aria’s answer.
Even after he suggested taking Padva down, Aria didn’t look the least bit shaken. It was almost like she’d expected it.
Of course she had. She’d long since figured out that Nocturne was always pushing her into situations where she’d have to save others—hoping that, one day, she’d find a reason to live again.
Aria closed her eyes for a moment and then spoke, her voice quiet and measured.
“Nocturne, everyone has a limit to what they can handle.”
“A limit, huh.”
Nocturne tapped his fingers on the cold stone railing.
“You warned me about that at the Imperial Hospital, too.”
He remembered exactly what she’d said back then:
‘Imagine it. One day, I’ll reach my breaking point.’
‘Then I’ll be so full of jealousy and possessiveness, I’ll start hypnotizing you, telling you to forget that dead woman and see me instead.’
‘Love me.’
She’d warned him, almost casually, that if she ever snapped, she might try to take him over—control him, make him hers. That side of her was… well—
“It was strangely attractive,” he murmured.
“Huh?”
“Nothing. Sorry.”
Aria believed that if she ever crossed that line, the Cambiata side of her would take over and she’d end up hurting people. Nocturne saw that this fear was rooted in something deep—a trauma, a sense of fate.
She was convinced: ‘If I lose control, I’ll become a threat. I should die before I hurt anyone.’
Aria spoke.
“I’m already starting to lose control.”
“…What?”
“Five days ago. The incident at Greymoss.”
Nocturne let out a heavy breath.
He remembered the chaos in Greymoss—sudden darkness, mass panic, the psychological scars left behind. There’d been hundreds of ordinary people in that theater. Even with gag orders and memory erasures, the story spread. The blackout over the theater was visible from miles away. They’d written it off as a freak weather event, but everyone knew something strange had happened.
“That was my fault, wasn’t it?”
Nocturne’s tone grew serious.
“No. An S-class mutant beast showed up while you were unconscious.”
“Right there, at that exact place and time?”
“Unlucky coincidence.”
Aria gave him a crooked smile.
“You don’t need to cover for me. I remember what happened right after I used my empathy on that sacrificial boy, Fion.”
“…You got your memories back?” Nocturne’s eyes widened.
“Not everything in detail, but I remember how it felt to lose control of my powers.”
Nocturne let out a breath, trying to calm himself. He’d worried she’d remember everything from Greymoss and break down—but maybe it was a relief after all.
He remembered her voice from back then:
‘I can’t do this, Nocturne. I’m sorry.’
Back in Greymoss, after she’d regained all her memories, Aria looked exhausted—like she was tired of the world. Maybe it was the setting: the theater, the northern city, full of people tied to Cambiata. Every time Aria used her powers, she’d be flooded with their rotten thoughts, draining her spirit.
That’s why Nocturne rushed her back to the Empire—so she’d be surrounded by people she cared about, and maybe remember what she loved about living.
He’d hoped those northern memories would fade, but it seemed like that was too much to ask.
Reluctantly, Nocturne admitted,
“Yeah. The strange things that happened in Greymoss—that was you.”
“I thought so.”
“But that doesn’t mean you’re broken, Aria.”
He drew a clear line.
“No one was physically hurt by your powers. And honestly, even if someone had been, they were scum to begin with. You actually did Greymoss a favor—maybe we should bill them for the therapy.”
Aria’s face twisted with complicated emotions.
Nocturne had his own reasons for bringing up Padva just now. The morning of the Cambiata Club raid, Dr. Wood had warned them: if Aria pushed herself again, it could be fatal.
Maybe that warning was why Aria didn’t just push herself—she pushed herself beyond all limits. She’d risked everything to break Fion’s brainwashing. She regained all her memories and lost control, and the curse flared up again—blood pouring from every opening in her face until she collapsed. Nocturne nearly lost his mind watching it.
But even after all that, Aria survived.
It bothered her—she knew she shouldn’t be alive.
‘How am I still alive, when I should be dead?’
‘What?’
‘Don’t you think it’s strange?’
Falling from the top of a tower, burned until half her face and body were lost, cardiac arrest, ingesting lethal poison, massive blood loss again and again… Just listing her injuries from the past few months was horrifying.
But every time, she bounced back in just days. At first, Nocturne was grateful. Now, her abnormal healing was impossible to miss.
Dr. Wood had a theory:
‘Maybe something changed in the cloning process, Your Highness. Or maybe… you awakened a new power during the war, just like the Duke did.’
Nocturne’s heart pounded with hope.
‘So if Aria regains her memories, she’ll survive this time?’
‘It’s too soon to be sure. The curse isn’t gone, and we don’t know how she’s still alive. The only way to know for certain is to find the people who ran those experiments and learn exactly what they did.’
Maybe the key to healing Aria completely was hidden in the process of bringing Padva down.
Nocturne clenched his fist.
“We can’t let someone who sided with Cambiata become emperor.”
“…You’re right.”
“But to take down Padva, you have to be the rallying point for the princess’s faction.”
Aria hesitated.
“Nocturne, you said everyone has a limit.”
“…I did.”
Was she about to refuse? He couldn’t let that happen; none of this mattered unless Aria led the way.
But her next words took him off guard.
“Can you handle all of this, Nocturne?”
It was hard to tell exactly what she meant. Was she worried he’d hit his own breaking point?
He nodded anyway. He was the one who’d suggested this; he couldn’t back down now.
But Aria’s eyes were anxious.
“If I start to lose control again, can you stop me?”
“Whatever it takes?”
Nocturne’s face hardened. He understood the gravity of what she was asking.
“…If I lose control again, this time the whole Empire could get dragged in. I can’t start any of this unless there’s a guarantee. If people start getting hurt because of me—or even if that looks possible—you have to stop me. By any means necessary.”
Nocturne stared into her shimmering eyes. Then he took her hand, pressed his lips to it, and whispered,
“I swear it.”
Aria slowly bowed her head.
