Darling….
'What makes you special…?'
…..
Riley Hell.
It was a na that once sounded painfully ordinary to her ears.
The first ti she heard it, it didn't carry the weight of legacy, the grandeur of lineage, or the polish of aristocratic refinent.
Just a simple na—belonging to a boy from a minor noble house nestled in the countryside.
A boy from a world entirely separate from hers.
Their worlds were never ant to intertwine.
From birth, there had always been an unspoken distance between them—a rift carved by prestige, status, and centuries of bloodline distinction.
Riley Hell and Liyana Heavens were nas that practically mocked each other in contrast.
One rooted in the earth, the other destined for the skies.
Liyana Heavens, the only daughter of Duke Luther Heavens, bore a na that quite literally embodied the divine.
She was the "princess" of her own little kingdom, raised under starlight and celestial expectations.
Her every step was watched, her every word asured.
Compared to her, Riley might as well have been invisible—another face in the crowd, another background character in the grand tale of her life.
That's why, when they first t, she treated him as little more than another passing distraction.
Just another one of her "toys" in an otherwise monotonous world.
Sothing to play with. Sothing to maybe use if needed.
But…
Things changed.
Slowly at first—subtly.
Then, all at once.
As ti passed, as their relationship evolved, Liyana's perception of Riley began to shift in ways she couldn't quite explain.
Especially recently, when everything in their lives seed to accelerate at an unnatural pace.
The once-ordinary boy she had dismissed without much thought had beco… peculiar.
Unpredictably interesting.
Riley had always been peculiar in her eyes—but not in the usual way people called soone 'odd.'
No, there was a strange gravity to him, a presence that lingered longer than it should have.
He was entertaining, yes—always finding ways to make her laugh or provoke her curiosity—but he was more than just amusent.
There was depth beneath the sarcasm and wit.
A sincerity she rarely saw in the world she ca from.
He was reliable—surprisingly so.
A constant shield, standing between her and the dull politics of nobility, between her and the suitors she had no intention of accepting.
Whether she asked him to or not, he always found a way to protect her… or at least make her feel protected.
And more than anything…
He was genuine.
No matter how much he tried to act like he wasn't.
No matter how often he wore a mask or played the fool.
Liyana could see through it—however faintly.
Beneath the surface, there was a truth etched deep into his heart, sothing he couldn't hide even if he wanted to.
That truth was what intrigued her most.
Not the strength he had started to show, not his rising reputation, and not the occasional glimpses of brilliance he tried so hard to keep buried.
It was the fact that Riley Hell, of all people, was real in a world full of performances.
And that was why, despite everything… she kept looking at him.
Over and over again.
As ti passed and the seasons quietly shifted, Liyana knew that Riley would begin to change as well.
That much was inevitable.
Humans were creatures of change—evolution was written into their very nature.
No matter how tightly she tried to control her life, no matter how much she tried to freeze monts in place with her will alone, change was the one thing that remained untouchable. Unstoppable.
Of course, there had been… other options.
She could have turned Riley into one of her little puppets.
That would've been easy.
People bowed to her whims all the ti—why not him?
She could've bound him with enchantnts, favors, promises, or worse. Reduced him to yet another obedient piece on her elaborate board.
But where was the fun in that?
No, owning him—truly owning him—had seed like the better solution.
Not as a slave, not as a toy, but as sothing far more binding.
She had tied herself to him, looped a thread of fate around his wrist and hers, and then let him go—free, in a sense—toward that academy where new nas, new connections, and rising powers began to stir.
It was a perfect strategy.
A soft leash made of sentint rather than chains.
A thod to keep him tethered while still allowing him to bloom.
If anyone dared co close, they'd have to pass through the long, unblinking shadow of her presence first.
At one point… she even entertained the thought of his death
Not out of hatred.
Not truly.
More like an idle daydream, sothing wicked whispered by the darker sides of her nature.
The idea of watching him disappear—of seeing the world mourn soone who ant nothing to them but sothing to her—it amused her for a fleeting second.
But that thought never took root. Not fully.
Despite the instincts written in her blood and the legacy she bore, Liyana could never bring herself to imagine his death for long.
It always fizzled out like smoke in the wind.
Liyana knew what she was.
From the mont she opened her eyes in this world, she was never allowed to forget it.
A Primal Disaster, born not to live, but to end.
To devour…
To unravel the strings of fate and silence the heartbeat of the world when the ti ca.
That was her role, her identity—etched into the bones of creation itself.
And yet…
No matter how much she tried to understand it…
No matter how many tis she told herself that her heart didn't beat for him, that it never could, that he didn't matter in the grand sche of her destruction…
She could never answer the one question that gnawed at her, quietly and persistently, every ti she looked at him:
Why did she like him?
Not as a toy.
Not as a distraction.
Not as a shield or tool.
Just him?
And then—last year. Around this sa ti. During a winter vacation much like this one… she t him again.
Not the boy she'd toyed with.
Just Riley.
And sothing within her stirred. A beat—small, delicate, terrifying. A part of her that had been asleep for so long whispered sothing she wasn't ready to hear.
In that single mont, part of her heart confird what she wanted…
And then, just as cruelly, realized it might already be too late.
Because that one beat….
It hurt.
But why did it hurt….?
When Riley made his next visit…
Why did the Riley she once knew change so suddenly upon his return again?
Why had the faint resentnt he once carried for her transford—no, intensified—into sothing colder, sharper, more personal?
Liyana didn't know.
And perhaps, deep down, she didn't want to know.
But… she was also Liyana.
Curiosity had always been her greatest flaw and her most dangerous strength.
That was why she tried—tried so hard—to see through him.
To peel away the layers and understand what had shifted in that boy's heart during the ti they were apart.
What had cracked his gaze into sothing colder?
What had poisoned the warmth she once thought was hers to play with?
She tried.
But there were always limits.
Rules etched into the bones of the world.
Constraints placed upon her by the very heavens whose na she bore.
Even as a Primal Disaster, even as a creature ant to surpass mortal boundaries, there were still things she could not touch.
Not without consequence. Not without breaking the fragile strings holding her existence together.
So, she waited.
She let the pain pass and chose—for the first ti in a long ti—to ignore that one aching beat in her chest.
She believed, foolishly perhaps, that ti would grant her clarity.
That, eventually, the fog would lift and she would once again be able to see her darling clearly.
Just as she always had before.
But then ca his next visit.
And again, he changed.
This ti, it wasn't hatred alone.
It was confusion.
Uncertainty.
A strange and trembling affection twisted with fear—towards her.
Why?
Why did that hatred suddenly feel like it was lting into sothing else—sothing unfamiliar, unstable, dangerous?
What was he afraid of?
What was he feeling?
Riley Hell—he was becoming more than a passing distraction or an entertaining shadow.
He was evolving into a truly curious existence in her life… one she couldn't categorize anymore.
One she couldn't predict.
And when he looked at her that day—his gaze torn between longing and fear—
Her heart beat again.
Harder this ti.
Louder.
And this ti… it really hurt.
Why?
Why would a beating heart be so painful?
And more than that—why did it feel so good at the sa ti?
"…Haa…"
Liyana exhaled softly, her breath fogging in the cold air as she watched Riley vanish, flying off toward the floating ship, leaving only silence in his wake.
Once again, she was unsure.
Once again, she was left behind.
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