Three Weeks Later – Aerthrial's Capital
The uneasy peace didn't last.
News spread like wildfire:
A secret Eastern Coalition Summit had formed behind closed doors.
Five noble houses, long thought neutral, pledged loyalty to the Eastern Council—undermining both the Valeburnes and Aurelians.
The Eastern Plan
At the summit, Evelyne Greymoor stood at the head of a crimson-draped table.
Her emerald eyes glittered.
"Selene and Lucien survived the shattering spell," she said coldly.
"But they're still vulnerable."
She placed a crimson veil of silk onto the table.
It wasn't ordinary cloth.
It was a binding relic, woven with threads of fate magic from the Era of Collapse.
Evelyne's Goal
"Tonight," Evelyne whispered, "we begin the Severance Ritual."
"If this works, Selene and Lucien's souls will be chained to opposing sides for eternity."
No more reincarnation.No more finding each other again.
Only endless war.
Back at the Valeburne Estate
Selene practiced sword forms alone in her private training hall.
Each movement was sharper than the last.
Her crimson eyes no longer trembled with confusion.
Selene's Resolve
If I'm going to love him, I have to be strong enough to lose him again.
But not this time. Not like before.
Lira's Warning
Lira entered quietly, scrolls in her arms.
"Selene," she whispered, "spies say Evelyne's moving. Tonight."
Selene's gaze narrowed.
"Then so am I."
At the Aurelian Estate
Lucien sat in his war room, a crimson-gold map of Aerthrial spread before him.
Alaric stood beside him, silent.
"We're being cornered," Lucien murmured.
Alaric nodded.
"You can still back out of this."
Lucien's golden eyes flashed.
"No."
The Crimson Veil Ceremony Begins
Midnight approached.
In the Eastern Temple, Evelyne drew blood with a silver dagger.
Around her, twelve robed nobles chanted.
The Crimson Veil rose from the altar, floating in midair.
Evelyne whispered the final spell:
"Bind the crimson soul to tragedy.""Bind the golden soul to loss.""Let love rot. Let memory fade. Let eternity fracture."
A Violent Reaction
Across the city, Selene and Lucien both dropped to their knees at the same moment.
Their hearts seized.
Their bond—the fragile one they'd rebuilt—twisted violently.
Selene gasped, blood trailing from the corner of her lips.
Lucien's eyes blurred with golden light, veins glowing beneath his skin.
A Forbidden Counterspell
In desperation, Lucien activated a spell his ancestors had sealed away centuries ago.
Golden Chains of Aurelian Memory.
It would protect the bond—but at a cost.
If he failed, it would shatter his own mind.
Selene, sensing his move through the bond, whispered her own forbidden rite.
Crimson Veil Reversal.
Her ancestors had died trying to cast it.
Two Opposing Spells Collide
Golden chains. Crimson veils.
Love. War. Memory. Death.
Magic collided in the center of Aerthrial that night, visible even to ordinary citizens as a crimson-gold spiral lit the sky.
In the Aftermath
When the light faded, Selene and Lucien collapsed, unconscious.
But the bond?
It survived.
Fractured.Scarred.But still intact.
Evelyne's Reaction
Evelyne stumbled back, her reflection in the blood mirror cracking.
Impossible.
Her lips pressed into a thin line.
"So… they chose to bind themselves even tighter."
Her eyes narrowed.
Then I'll just have to break them another way.
With the Crimson Veil ceremony failed, Aerthrial stands on the brink of open war.
Selene and Lucien are now bound more dangerously than before.
Their love is no longer just forbidden.
It's a political threat to the entire kingdom.
And the Eastern Council?
They've just declared blood feud.