A hushed silence followed the name.
Northern panicked in that brief silence, dread swirling in his chest like a gathering storm. What if he'd unknowingly inherited Shin's questionable naming sense? They weren't bound by blood, but inheritance didn't always need blood. Influence alone could carve its mark.
Then, as if sunlight had parted the gloom, Lirae's face bloomed with a radiant smile.
"Nureya. Born from ashes. I love it."
He hadn't meant to slight Burning Storm, but—stars—his heart nearly skipped. That smile... that was the first real one she'd given in the last few minutes. It wasn't polite, or forced, or weighed down by expectation. It was pure.
For that moment, she was lit from within—no titles, no burden of duty, just a woman touched by something soft. But it passed.
