Between their argument alone, it seemed as if both Aris and Sophia had momentarily forgotten their place and position. They were sitting ducks in a chamber of green jade, the tension between them hanging thick in the air.
"Betting flaws: The son of the greatest Yan and the daughter of the greatest Baron," a voice laughed, gibbing through the slits of her mouth. The words hung in the room like a taunt, dripping with mockery.
"The son chasing behind a foul legacy, crying out for attention." The voice rang with a cold, sneering tone, directly targeting Aris.
"Shut it, Snap…" Aris growled, his irritation boiling over as he clicked his tongue out of the corner of his lips.
The voice ignored his remark, continuing with venomous precision. "And then there's the daughter who abandons all pride in her lineage."
"Who are you?! What do you know about me?" Sophia shot back, her voice baring its fangs, filled with raw indignation. Her eyes flickered with a barely contained fury.
"Someone who knew your father," the voice replied, cold and precise.
"I said, stop it, Snap!" Aris snarled, stepping forward as if his presence alone could command obedience. His hand reached out instinctively, grasping Sophia's.
Sophia's hand trembled, slick with sweat, the sudden motion momentarily stifling her rage. "Aris…" she muttered in a small voice, her fury disappearing as she noticed Aris's hardened expression—veins bulging as though they might burst from the tension coursing through him.
"Oh? Is someone protecting something? That's not something I expected from the Order of the Black Lily," the voice taunted once more, its cruel laughter resonating like a dagger twisting in their pride.
"Are you coming here, or should I break through your Draco again?!" Aris snarled, his hand hovering near his waist as if preparing to draw a sword that only he could see.
"That wouldn't be wise… for either of us," the voice replied, laced with a mocking laugh at the end. "You sure are one who fondles over his dreams."
The tone of the voice shifted, becoming darker, heavier—grave, almost like an omen. A spark crackled between them, and in an instant, the atmosphere shifted. The morning sky outside the Darcos twisted unnaturally, turning from sunrise to sunset in a single blink. The smooth jade walls began to develop cracks, the brilliant green fading to a sinister black. The room itself seemed to blur and shatter, distorting with the cracking sounds that echoed like a death knell.
Suddenly, with a whistle of wind, a black smoke-like body entered through the window, swirling in the air like a dark omen. It moved with grace and malice, dancing between shadows, as black feathers drifted slowly to the ground, carrying the weight of lost souls. From the smog, leather heels clicked forward, a figure emerging in silent petal steps.
A woman stepped into view, her presence chilling. She wore a black gothic dress, tight and regal, embroidered with silver feathers and an eastern dragon across her torso. Her eyes were sharp, rimmed with heavy black eyeliner that seemed to suck the light from the room. Her pupils glowed faintly with a pale white sheen, small but piercing. Her lips, a shade of pale pink, were almost indistinguishable from her deathly white skin, as though her face were carved from marble.
"Snap, are you going to explain or not?" Aris said, his voice tense as he bent forward slightly, releasing Sophia's hand to place his own on his waist, ready to draw his imaginary weapon once more.
The woman's cold gaze remained fixed on him, unreadable yet filled with an air of superiority. The moment lingered, heavy with the unspoken threat between them.
"Is there a reason?" Snap's voice darkened; her tone sharp as ice.
"Answer me!" Aris commanded, a frosty aura forming around his waist, ice particles crystallizing in the air around him.
"As your Guardian, it's my job to keep you in check," Snap responded, her words dripping with disdain. "Your mother wouldn't go around picking up random girls off the streets, dragging them into the mess of your world."
For a brief moment, Sophia felt a strange sense of agreement with Snap's words. Aris had never truly considered her in all this—he was focused solely on his own goals, his own world. But this stranger, Snap, who Sophia barely knew—yet somehow knew Aris—seemed to recognize her worth in a way Aris never had.
Aris's eyes gleamed, taking on a faint, eerie white hue.
"Why do you always have to bash your head in?" Aris growled, his voice dropping into a darker, more primal tone. "Just who do you think you are?"
Sophia, standing on the outskirts of their heated exchange, felt even more alienated. She was the outsider here, trapped in a world she couldn't begin to understand. The tension between Aris and Snap was palpable, like an electric current surging around them. 'Didn't she say she was Aris's Guardian?' Sophia wondered, her mind spinning as she tried to piece together the fractured puzzle.
"Oh yes, I am his Guardian," Snap said, her voice taunting as if reading Sophia's thoughts.
Sophia's heart skipped a beat, her confusion deepening. How had she known what she was thinking? Panic and bewilderment churned within her—everything felt surreal, as though the world had shifted in a direction she couldn't grasp.
"Oh yes, I did," Snap answered again, this time with a twisted grin, confirming Sophia's worst fears.
Horrified, Sophia took a step back, her mind clouded with uncertainty. What was happening? Was her own sense of reality unraveling?
"Stop it!" Aris snarled, lunging forward, his body moving in a swift, aggressive motion as he leaned into a slashing stance. "Glacia Maximus!" he roared, his voice echoing through the room as a massive surge of ice materialized at his side. Without wasting a second, the ice coalesced into a long, slender blade.
"AHH!" Aris screamed, drawing the icy sword from an imaginary scabbard, the sharp edge glinting in the eerie light.
To Snap, it was nothing more than child's play. She didn't flinch, her calm demeanor unshaken. "Children," she muttered, her voice laced with mockery. Her pupils dilated, turning from their icy white to a glowing, blood-red hue.
But Aris was beyond stopping. His rage consuming him as he prepared to strike. Snap, unperturbed, reached into her pocket, withdrawing a quill with unsettling grace. With a quick motion, she swung it through the air leaving a trail of light coated letters, her movements causing towering pillars of Black Raven feathers to erupt from the ground between them.
"Clank--"
In the split second before Aris could strike, the pillars formed an impenetrable barrier feather blocking his sword from even cutting a still stance.