Chapter 54: Stay Away
The corridor remained silent long after Ezekiel’s final words settled heavily between them.
Truthfully, neither man moved.
The cold wind drifting through the estate gardens barely disturbed the suffocating stillness surrounding the archway, while distant servants quietly disappeared from sight the mont they sensed the oppressive atmosphere lingering there.
Sebastian remained standing motionless beneath the marble pillars.
But sothing inside him had shifted.
’Aria took her own life.’
The words continued echoing inside his mind with unbearable weight no matter how desperately he attempted to suppress it.
Because it did not make sense.
It truly did not.
The Aria he rembered had always been loud.
Persistent.
Emotional.
She used to force herself into every space surrounding him with exhausting determination, smiling brightly even after being ignored repeatedly.
She argued with him.
Followed him.
Looked at him like he mattered more than anyone else in her world.
And sohow...
Sebastian had beco so accustod to her constant presence that he never once imagined a reality where she simply...
Stopped.
His jaw tightened faintly.
When Ezekiel noticed Sebastian’s silence, he turned back and watched him for several monts before finally speaking again.
"You look disturbed."
Sebastian’s gaze sharpened imdiately.
"Should I not be?"
The archmage tilted his head slightly.
"I expected denial atleast."
Sebastian let out a humorless laugh beneath his breath.
"You seem remarkably certain of your understanding of today."
Ezekiel’s expression did not change.
"No," he answered calmly. "I am simply certain of one thing."
His golden eyes lowered briefly.
"That neither of us understood her at all."
Silence followed again.
Then Ezekiel exhaled slowly before looking toward the gardens beyond the corridor.
"I spent years believing Lady Aria rely admired out of shallow infatuation," he admitted quietly. "At the academy, she followed constantly. Spoke to endlessly. Brought gifts I never asked for."
A faint crease appeared between his brows afterward.
"And because she smiled so brightly while doing it, I assud she was incapable of suffering seriously."
Sebastian remained silent.
Ezekiel laughed faintly afterward, though there was no amusent within it.
"How arrogant that sounds now."
The archmage slowly folded his arms.
"I convinced myself she was simply spoiled. Attention-seeking."
His voice lowered slightly.
"So whenever she looked at like I was soone important to her..."
He paused briefly.
"I treated it carelessly."
Sothing cold settled inside Sebastian’s chest listening to those words.
Because he realized he had done the exact sa thing.
Ezekiel glanced sideways toward him.
"And you?" he asked quietly. "Tell honestly, Sebastian."
His gaze sharpened.
"When was the last ti you truly looked at her?"
The question struck harder than expected.
Sebastian frowned faintly.
"What is that supposed to an?"
"It ans," Ezekiel answered evenly, "that for years, you only saw the version of Aria that inconvenienced you."
The corridor felt colder sohow.
"You saw the noblewoman obsessed with you," Ezekiel continued. "The fiancée who demanded your attention. The woman constantly chased you for a tiny bit of acknowledgnt."
His golden eyes narrowed slightly.
"But did you ever once stop to wonder why she beca that desperate in the first place?"
Sebastian’s silence answered enough.
Ezekiel looked away again afterward.
"I did not realize it either," he admitted quietly. "Not until Libracia."
Sebastian’s gaze flickered.
Ezekiel’s expression darkened faintly.
"When I saw her there..." he murmured slowly, "she looked at like a stranger."
A strange bitterness entered his voice afterward.
"No admiration. No attachnt. Nothing."
He laughed softly beneath his breath.
"It unsettled more than I expected."
Sebastian looked at him sharply.
"And that is why you suddenly beca obsessed with her?"
Ezekiel’s gaze shifted back toward him imdiately.
"Obsessed?"
The archmage smiled faintly.
"No."
Then his expression slowly turned serious again.
"I beca aware."
The words lingered heavily.
Ezekiel continued quietly, "I realized Lady Aria was never truly chasing either of us because she loved us."
Sebastian visibly stiffened.
The archmage lowered his gaze briefly afterward, his expression turning strangely distant.
"Truthfully..." he murmured, "I now believe that at any mont, she could leave us behind entirely."
"And the mont I beca conscious of that possibility..."
His fingers curled faintly at his side.
"...I realized she had already connected herself to long ago."
Sebastian’s brows furrowed faintly.
Ezekiel laughed softly beneath his breath afterward, though the sound carried disbelief more than amusent.
"It is absurd," he admitted quietly while shaking his head once. "For years, I viewed her clinginess as troubleso. Her stubbornness as exhausting. Her constant attention as little more than childish infatuation."
His golden eyes darkened slightly.
"And yet the mont she disappeared..."
A pause followed.
"...I realized she had already rooted herself into my life without my permission."
The silence between them deepened.
Ezekiel exhaled slowly.
"When I attempted to revive her several weeks ago," he continued more quietly, "I felt fear for the first ti in years."
Sebastian’s expression sharpened faintly.
Because fear was not an emotion associated with Ezekiel Rowe.
"I rember looking at her lifeless body," Ezekiel murmured, "and suddenly becoming aware of sothing deeply unpleasant."
His gaze lifted slowly.
"That if she truly died..."
A faint bitter smile crossed his lips.
"...then sothing inside would die alongside her."
Sebastian’s chest tightened hearing those words.
Ezekiel looked away again afterward.
"So before I left this estate that night," he admitted calmly, "I placed a mark on her."
Sebastian’s expression darkened imdiately.
"A tracking spell?"
"No."
Ezekiel’s voice lowered.
"Sothing far more personal."
The atmosphere shifted subtly colder.
"I tied a fragnt of my mana directly to her life force," he explained quietly. "Not enough to control her nor to restrain her."
His gaze sharpened faintly.
"Only enough so that if she ever attempted to cross the boundary between life and death again..."
He paused briefly.
"...I would know."
Sebastian stared at him silently.
For several long monts, neither man spoke.
Then Sebastian’s voice lowered dangerously.
"You marked my fiancée without her permission."
Ezekiel t his gaze evenly.
"Yes."
The directness of the answer only worsened the tension.
Sebastian stepped forward imdiately.
The pressure surrounding him sharpened violently now.
"You had no right."
"And yet if I had not done it," Ezekiel answered coldly, "Lady Aria would currently be dead."
The words landed like a blade.
Sebastian froze.
Ezekiel’s expression darkened completely afterward.
"Yesterday," he said quietly, "the mark suddenly disappeared."
A strange heaviness entered his voice now.
"For one mont..."
His jaw tightened faintly.
"...her mana vanished entirely."
Ezekiel’s gaze lowered slightly as though recalling the mory itself unsettled him.
"As though her existence itself had been erased."
The pressure surrounding the archmage beca suffocatingly sharp.
"And in that exact mont," he continued quietly, "I understood what terror truly feels like."
Sebastian’s jaw tightened.
"I imdiately traced the remaining residue of her mana," Ezekiel said. "And by the ti I reached her..."
His voice lowered further.
"...she had already stopped breathing."
Sebastian’s eyes widened faintly.
Ezekiel laughed once beneath his breath again, but this ti the sound felt almost unstable.
"So tell honestly, Sebastian..."
His gaze sharpened dangerously now.
"Between the two of us..." he paused.
"Who exactly should be told to stay away from her?"
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