Once they crossed into Solaria's borders, they struggled. Solaria was vastly different from Ignia. While Ignia valued gold, Solaria valued founds—contracts, resources, and binding agreements. They barely managed to pay their way through from their own pocket money. Anyone could tell Rune, Vane, and Percy came from high-status ranks in their own kingdoms: Vane was a duke's second son, Percy was a count, but Rune was harder to read. She didn't dress like a noble lady, yet the quality of her armor spoke of something far more valuable—the kind that might cost a fortune.

So the trio barely passed the borders without sacrificing belongings or getting entangled in risky contracts.

Not long after entering Solaria, a shadow monster attacked. Thanks to the knowledge they'd gathered, it didn't take long to overpower it—but there was still damage. Rune, Vane, and Percy noticed something: only a few people were being protected by the healers and knights.

"What about the rest of the people?" Rune asked, stopping one fellow knight.

The knight looked at her. He didn't seem to recognize her quartz armor or the shape of her helmet as Silaxen knightly gear—which pointed to how poorly trained he was. Any proper knight should identify foreign armor on sight.

"Everyone knows," the knight scoffed, "if you don't have a contract of founds, you're not worthy of being saved."

"And what must they do to acquire such a thing?" Rune asked between her teeth, her jaw clenched in fury that the knight couldn't see beneath her helmet.

"I don't know. If you have what it takes to fund anything, you can have a contract. If you don't... we can't waste time saving them."

Percy rushed to heal injured commoners and nobles alike.

"Hey! Healer!" the knight called out. "Why are you healing them? They don't have safety contracts! You're wasting your magic!"

"They'll die if I don't heal them right now!" Percy snapped, his hands already glowing with healing light.

Vane started searching for survivors under the rubble, and Rune joined him. Soon, more commoners and even one local knight joined their efforts. The lead knight was forced to call for backup to stop everyone digging for survivors.

In the end, the trio and the local knight who'd helped them were captured and brought before the king and his court.

"What were you thinking, mates!" the local knight grumbled.

"Same question to you," Vane protested. "What did those innocent people do to be left to die, regardless of their status?"

The knight sighed. He had a lean build from years of physical labor disguised as low-ranking knight work—stronger than he appeared. Dark brown hair, short and practical. Deep brown eyes, observant and careful as he looked down at his tied hands. Calloused palms from genuine work, not just training. His armor was noticeably lower quality than the officers'.

"Well, I never had the guts to go against the law, even if I didn't like how things are run here," he admitted. "Even though it's still hard to see people sell their souls just to get contracts when they have no funds."

His last words sent chills through Rune, Vane, and Percy. The knight's eyes looked hopeless, as if he already knew his fate would end in something horrible—if not death.

Meanwhile, pure chaos reigned back in Silax.

A hard iron punch flew at Sir Soren's face. The knights of Silax had started picking fights with anyone who had ever interacted with the former Third Princess, Rune Vesper. They'd had enough of the king's insults and criticisms, and someone had to pay.

Soren was that target.

He wasn't part of the tight-knit group of eleven knights Rune had led to defeat the first shadow attack—the ones who stayed close to Sir Kaelen and Sir Logan. That made him an easier target.

Soren breathed heavily, bleeding as he was cornered in the exact hidden spot where he used to catch Rune training at night when she was still a princess.

"You would've saved us a lot of time and energy," one frustrated knight sneered, "if you'd just made that good-for-nothing Third Princess know her place and stay the mannequin she was born to be."

"She's not even that pretty," another scoffed. "And she thought she could be a knight. I bet the random guy she ran off with was her lover or something."

The other knights laughed in mockery as they continued to beat Soren.

"You know it's foolish to think Knight Vesper would do such a thing," a deep voice came from behind them.

They looked up and saw Sir Logan Matthias Blackwood standing with Sir Callum Garrett Thorn.

"I'd bet my life he is!" one knight said confidently. "Too bad young Callum lost his chance with that sl—"

Before he could finish, both Logan and Callum took down most of the frustrated knights. After all, they were elite Silaxen knights for a reason.

"If you really don't value your life," Callum warned, his light copper hair falling across his forehead as his spear inched toward the fellow knight's eye, "I dare you to say it."

"Whoa, Callum, easy there," Logan said, letting go of the other frozen knights. They ran off like headless chickens. "We just wanted to scare them away from Sir Soren. No need for death threats."

"I can't believe Rune used to be kind to those jerks! And that's how they reward her!" Callum expressed.

"Yeah, well, she can't even murder someone despite how much she talks about the perfect crime, because of that kind heart of hers," Logan dropped casually. "And knowing her, she's probably obsessing over finding a way to save everyone but herself by now."

"Thank you, Sir Blackwood, Sir Thorn," Soren said gratefully.

"Save it," Callum dismissed. "I only saved your sorry hide because that's what Rune would have done."

"And for a favor," Logan added.

Soren held his breath, his face irritated and confused about what they might want.