The expedition team came back. Its news spread. People talked. Some judged, some felt sad. But that's it. Nothing much changed. Like servants' morning routine, and their bickering as they do. Three such servant, Tensil, Jen, and Vret, as usual, went on their chores with cleaning equipment.

Jen cut through the clanking sound and with a teasing tone she said, "By the way Tensil, do you know what happened yesterday?"

"What?" Tensil asked.

"That guy." Jen smirked as she continued, "He was looking at you again."

Tensil's fists clenched. "Ughh...that guy! I'm gonna kill him someday!"

Cutting into the fun, Vret said, "Oh, really? You might end up in prison, you know?" Though her question seemed concerning, the overly innocent tone couldn't hide her intention any better. "I heard some of the cells underground even have skeletons."

Tensil's eyes flickered and she left out a short burst of air from her nostrils. "So?! At least I can kick those skeletons to stop them from looking at me!!" Jen and Vret chortled at Tensil's which made her blast. "What?! Do you know how creepy it feels? Having a guy looking at you all the time?"

But her lashing out only sparked guffaws between Jen and Vret.

Jen put her hand on her stomach, trying to control her laugh as she said, "Now, now. It's okay. We were just joking around. To ease up... You know right? How it's been since yesterday after the expedition team came back?"

"Don't do this again. I'm already pretty annoyed."

After Tensil's warning a long awkward silence followed which Vret couldn't stand. To break the silence, she asked, "How are you feeling now, Jen?"

Jen flinched from the sudden question. "Hmm...I'm good now."

"Weren't two weeks too long for a seasonal fever?"

"No. Doctor said it's because of mana depletion. Replenishing mana took time."

"Hmm, what caused it?" She chuckled as she asked, "Were you trying to get in as a combat mage?"

Jen gave a dry laugh and rolled her eyes. "Haha, as if."

"Jokes aside," Vret said. Her face was more concerned than before. "Isn't it happening too much recently?"

"...What?"

"Mana depletion." Her eyes looked disdainful, like thinking something. "There was Lady Ivene, Lady Ceres, you, and then there are few more I've heard of..."

Hearing Vret's observation, Tensil couldn't stay silent any longer. Shaking off her hesitation, she said, "Isn't it because of him?"

Jen's ears pricked up. "Who?"

"Lady-" Tensil was about to answer but her words were cut-off.

They were just a few steps away from Lady Ivene's room. With the room's door left open, the wailing of Lady Ivene wasn't confined within her room. It echoed through the corridor.

Hearing her cry, which seemed more like howling, Jen expressed her concern, "I feel sorry for Lady Ivene..."

Hearing Jen's concern, Tensil decided to remain silent. She realised voicing her thoughts would only fracture the friendship between Jen, who was concerned for Lady Ivene, and herself.

As they passed Lady Ivene's room, Jen mumbled, "I can't understand His highness. Why is he not sending another party to look for Sir Anthor. He just announced him dead...tsk"

But Jen didn't know that her innocent question, asked out of concern, would unintentionally crumble the fragile sense of closure that the people around Ivene were trying to build.

As they walked past the room, cutting through those wailing, a sharp voice came, "Wait!" Though the voice was sharp, it felt forced, like a voice dragged up from a dry, cracked earth.

It was Ivene. Amidst her wailing, she shouldn't have heard the mundane chatter of the servants passing her room—as Ceres hoped—but she did. The words Jen said out of her worry, shattered Ivene. She wrestled herself free from Ceres' embrace and exclaimed with her husky voice, "Call them!"

Ceres insisted, "What happened?"

"W-what were they talking about...? Looking for Anthor?" Ivene's breath ran rapidly, and her eyes bulged as she asked, "B-but you said he's dead."

Ceres' lips trembled, but could not utter a single word. The thought her lie would be exposed so soon never crossed her mind.

With narrowed eyes, Crof looked at Greta. "Can't you do a single thing correctly? Why did you leave the doors opened?!"

"S-sorry..."

"What sorry?!"

Ceres clasped Ivene's hand. "L-look Ivene...I'll. I'll explain."

"No!" Ivene shook Ceres' grasp. "Venet, call them. I'll only listen to them."

Venet hesitated, she wanted to refuse, to have things cleared up withing the room. But she couldn't and went out to call them. "Come here."

The command froze them in place. Lips sealed, they whispered to themselves.
"Tensil," Vret asked. "Did you again said something that you shouldn't have?"

"Why?! I've been silent!"

Grumbling to each other, they couldn't presume their fault and reluctantly entered the room. The cold sweat on their body clashed with the morning breeze, sending shivers through them.

On the order, Greta helped Lady Ivene get in a reclined position. Trails of dried tears were apparent on her face, and strands of hair were nestled together. A look that Ivene was never seen in.

The silence that pursued after her wailing was filled by her child's cry.

Between the tense environment of the room, no one, but Greta went to hush the baby. But it was also because she felt suffocated from the tense look on everyone's faces.

"What do you...mean by sending another party to search Anthor?" Ivene asked them. With her voice quivering, her words were barely understandable.

"What?" Jen asked in confusion. She looked at everyone in the room, but none could say anything.

Ivene forced herself to repeat, "What...happened to Anthor?"

"Wasn't sir Anthor..." Before completing her words, she paused in hesitation. From the gaze of everyone that fell over her, her mind told her she shouldn't continue. But looking at Lady Ivene's eyes waiting for her answer, she did. "Sir Anthor...he wasn't able to get in the portal."

Jen's answer made Ivene's dried eyes glitter once again. The tears that had dried up now flowed anew. She glared at Ceres. Short bursts of breaths left her nose. "Why?...Why did you say he is dead?!"

"I-I didn't want to give you...false hope."

"WHY?!"

"Because. Because he is stuck there. N-no one is ready to go there again, and. And everyone is saying he might be dead by now."

"No! He can't...yes, I'll ask...I'll ask them myself...to go for Anthor..." Ivene looked at Jen and her eyes protruded as she frantically asked, "Go. Send someone who was with him."

"Y-yes."

Jen, with Vret and Tensil, couldn't wait to look at each other's faces and left the room in hurry.

The room reverberated with sniffles. Ceres bent over to comfort her friend, but Ivene threw Ceres' hands away. "Stay away...!" she said in a sharp but low voice.

Ceres couldn't reply. She could only curse herself. Yet again, like she had once done, used lie to get what she thought was right. And this time it back fired, crushing the relationship with her only friend. She asked herself. What if she had told the truth from the start? Would her friend have still been well? No. She realised even if she had told the truth, their friendship might have remained, but her friend would've still crumbled. Yet she felt that might've been the correct thing she should have done from the start.