Chapter 18

Lena’s POV

I remained by the doorway of the service court, half-hidden behind the tall marble column. No one inside noticed my arrival—not the servants bustling about, not the guards standing at ease, not even the people of Tungsten who had just been ushered in.

That was intentional.

I hadn’t known Miu would take Tungsten into her own hands like this. It hadn’t been discussed, not formally, not with me. And yet… I couldn’t bring myself to be against it. If anything, curiosity rooted me to the spot.

I folded my arms slowly, my gaze fixed on her from afar. She stood among them not as someone seeking approval, nor as someone hiding behind my authority—but as someone who had already decided to shoulder responsibility on her own.

The questions that had been circling my mind since Tungsten still had no answers. Her composure. Her insight. The way she spoke as if she had lived a life that demanded leadership.

I wanted to see it for myself.

Not the version of her that softened under my attention. Not the guarded woman who bristled when I spoke to her in the halls. But this—the Miu who acted when she believed no one important was watching.

So I stayed silent in the shadows, heart steady, eyes sharp.

And I watched.

“There’s no need to worry.”

Her voice carried clearly across the service court, a gentle smile finally softening her features.

“The Queen is aware that the palace has failed to properly care for Tungsten up to this day,” Miu continued. “She knows—very well—that the people there have suffered long enough.”

My fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the doorway.

Those words… they weren’t rehearsed. They weren’t flattery. They were true. Painfully so. And hearing them spoken aloud—spoken for me—sent a strange weight through my chest.

Miu paused, her gaze lowering to the stone floor as if grounding herself. Then she placed a hand over her chest, a gesture so natural it felt instinctive.

“That is precisely why we personally summoned you to the palace,” she said. “It would have been easier to simply distribute supplies through the church. Quieter. Less troublesome.”

Her eyes lifted again, steady, resolute.

“But I believed it was better to show you the palace’s determination directly. To open its doors to you. To let you stand here, see for yourselves, and know—without doubt—that the palace is no longer what it used to be.”

I felt something twist deep inside me.

This wasn’t blind loyalty. This wasn’t someone hiding behind my crown.

“The Queen shall now strictly place the palace’s full attention on what will happen to Tungsten from this day forward.”

Her words rang with quiet certainty. Not loud. Not forceful. But absolute.

Miu continued to smile at them—warm and reassuring.

“So at the very least,” she continued, “do not worry about accepting these supplies, nor about working for the palace. After all…” Her voice softened just slightly. “It is the Queen’s duty to watch over her people.”

I moved away the doorway as I watched the room shift—shoulders easing, tension loosening, doubt wavering.

So… she’s using my authority like this.

Not borrowing it recklessly. Not hiding behind it either. She wielded it with care, with restraint—as though she understood its weight better than most who had been born into it.

And then… those eyes again.

I felt it, the same strange pull tightening in my chest as Miu lifted her gaze to the people before her. There was something unsettling in the way she looked at them—not with pity, not with arrogance, but with a fierce, unwavering resolve.

The determination in her eyes burned like a steady flame.
Like the first light of dawn cresting over the horizon.
Like a star that refuses to dim, even swallowed by the night.

Ferocious… yet calm.

Those eyes… They were almost exactly the same eyes I had known long ago.

A memory stirred—dangerous, familiar, long buried.

Miu… the more I get to know you… the more interesting you become.

—

Miu’s POV

I busied myself helping the royal guards and the people of Tungsten who insisted on lending their hands to lift crates as I guide them toward the waiting trucks.

Then—

“What’s with all this commotion?”

The voice cut cleanly through the service court.

Everything stopped.

The guards straightened and bowed at once. Daliah stiffened beside the ledgers. The people of Tungsten flinched, their hands tightening around the crates they carried.

I didn’t need to turn to know who it was.

I drew a breath and faced her.

“Your Highness,” I said, bowing slightly, careful not to appear abrupt. “My apologies. Were we being too loud?”

Her gaze didn’t answer me right away. Instead, it swept across the court—the relief goods, the trucks, the unfamiliar faces from Tungsten moving hesitantly under the palace walls.

“You are… swift to take action with this matter, Miss Miu,” she said at last.

Her tone was calm. Too calm.

And that look—

I knew that gaze far too well.

She wasn’t merely observing. She was weighing me.

Lena’s suspicious of me!

She’s now inspecting every inch, searching for cracks I might not even realize I’d left behind.

I had expected this.

Just… not so soon.

But what unsettled me more was the ripple it caused around us. I felt it instantly—the way the people of Tungsten grew tense again, shoulders drawing in, eyes lowering. The fragile trust we had just begun to build trembled, frightened by the Queen’s presence.

No.

Not now.

I couldn’t let this moment unravel everything we had worked for.

I straightened, steadying my breath.

I have to mend this—now.

–

Lena’s POV

I blinked at her, caught off guard by the sudden smile aimed directly at me. It was the first time she had ever looked at me like that.

“Yes, Daliah had assisted me well, as per your instructions, I heard,” she said, her voice calm, confident.

“You must be hungry. Breakfast has already been prepared. I’ll handle the matters here—you can go and enjoy your meal,” she continued, as if nothing were amiss.

I furrowed my brow, but it wasn’t Miu’s words that startled me. It was the shift I saw in the people when they heard her speak.

The crowd from Tungsten, anxious and hesitant just yesterday, now moved with purpose. Relief softened their faces; the despair that had consumed them seemed to lift ever so slightly.

They had lived for so long thinking the palace didn’t care, that their suffering was invisible. And yet here they were, following the instructions of a girl who held no official title, no decree from the crown. And still… they trusted her.

Miu had been here less than a week, and yet each day only deepened the mystery she carried.

I want to unravel the woman behind the eyes that seemed far more than she seems.

I finally spoke, my voice breaking the hum of activity. “What are you all doing? Go on and do what Miss Miu has ordered everyone to do.”