The next morning…

  Sharon, Benica, and Mop excitedly run to the rail.

  “Isnd! Isnd! Isnd!” Mop hops and yells. “Mommy, we get isnd!”

  I smile and sign to her: Yes.

  She smiles. She is starting to get the signs, too.

  “Finally, we can sleep somewhere better again.” Sharon stretches her body and yawns.

  “I can see the bar there!” Benica smirks.

  “Don’t tell me you are going to get drunk at such a solemn pce.”

  “Ahh! I’ve been holding back since the escape. Just twenty rounds. Please.”

  “You’re unbelievable.” Sharon sighs.

  Benica smirks. “You know I can out-drink Gao and Grant, right?”

  “Yeah, I saw it once. You guys are so stupid.”

  Benica suddenly shifts her tone, “This is where things settle, right? Grant doesn’t have to run anymore. Uxiospea is going to take us in, right?”

  Baz shows up from behind, “Let’s hope for the best. There’s actually a peace convention happening this weekend. That’s why my master reluctantly agrees. He wants me to help prepare it, too.”

  Sharon interjects, “Is that going to be serious?”

  “Yes, and don’t tell Grant this yet, because Luna is coming.”

  The words settle in the air, thick and suffocating.

  For a second, no one speaks. Then—

  “What?” Sharon and Benica yell at the same time.

  My eyes are open. My hands grip the railing tighter. My breath slows.

  Luna?

  I’ll see her again…

  At the convention?

  Am I ready to face her yet?

  “Sorry to interrupt.” A voice breaks the air.

  Ellina.

  “Princess of Emerald. Your Brightness.” Baz greets her formally.

  “I just… wanted to say… Thank you for letting me join you for this time period. I’m gd I can meet you all.”

  She flips to Sharon and Benica, “I’m sorry for shoveling my emotions to you. I sincerely apologize.”

  Then she bows.

  It’s not every day to see royalty bow down to people.

  Sharon and Benica exchange a look—stunned, unsure how to respond.

  Then, almost instinctively, they bow back.

  “I’m sorry for being so mean to you, Your Brightness.” Sharon bows back with Benica.

  “I want you to know. I’m gd we talk. And…”

  She suddenly stops. A bit embarrassed.

  Sharon and Benica exchange a look.

  They murmur, “Your Brightness?”

  Ellina takes a slow breath. Her fingers tighten slightly at her side—then rex.

  “I know this is a big ask but…” She hesitates, something uncertain in her voice.

  No turning back now.

  “Can we be… friends, too?”

  A moment of shock spread through the team.

  Ellina mutters, “I would love to have you guys around…”

  “Really?” Benica is surprised at the request but excited.

  Sharon blinks, studying Ellina carefully. Then, slowly, she smiles. “You know, Princess Ellina, for someone so high and mighty, you’re a bit awkward.”

  Ellina huffs, crossing her arms. “Well, forgive me for not being well-versed in… this kind of thing.”

  Mop holds on to her from the side. “Friends.”

  Ellina blinks. Then—ever so slightly—her lips curve into something softer.

  “Friends.”

  Benica slides closer, grinning and leaning on her shoulder. “So… do you drink?”

  Oh, my Goddess. This warden really has no boundary.

  Ellina finally smiles, “First five rounds on me.”

  Baz sps his forehead softly, “We got another alcoholic…”

  Before Benica can get too excited, Dominic walks out from the lower deck, arms crossed.

  “We’re arriving soon. Start packing.”

  “Yes, Dominic,” almost everyone replies in unison, half-heartedly.

  As we turn away, Sharon leans into me, muttering under her breath.

  “Your boyfriend’s got the personality of a stone. Such a mood killer.”

  I shrug.

  I’m not ciming him as my boyfriend. Not now. Not ever.

  As we make our way below deck, my eyes catch a familiar figure lingering by the railing.

  Ellina.

  She’s staring up—not at the sea, not at the horizon, but at the upper deck.

  My gaze follows hers.

  Grant.

  He’s running. Book in hand, lips moving slightly, lost in his own world.

  Ellina shifts, her weight carefully banced on her crutch.

  Then, she moves.

  Toward him.

  I pause.

  Maybe I should keep walking. Maybe I should leave them alone.

  But I don’t.

  Instead, I follow—just far enough to watch, just close enough…

  In case something happens.

  “Grant.” His name cuts through the crisp morning air.

  Grant stops mid-stride, feet skidding slightly against the deck. His gaze nds on the girl in front of him—crutch in hand, standing firm.

  Ellina.

  I stay hidden behind the stairs. Watching.

  He lowers the book— History of Sea Trading.

  Ellina hesitates.

  She’s here. She came to him. But now… she doesn’t know what to say.

  Grant steps in first.

  “How have you been?”

  “Better,” she answers, shifting slightly on her crutch. Then—softer—

  “Thanks to your friends. They’re good people.”

  “They are,” Grant nods. A small pause.

  “I just wanted to say—”

  Ellina blocks his mouth with her hand.

  Before he can finish, Ellina presses a hand against his mouth.

  “Let me go first.”

  She grins. “In case you ruin the mood.”

  Grant smiles—awkward, fond.

  Ellina exhales. Then—she says it.

  “You’re a good man.”

  Then, softer—

  “Maybe not the smartest.”

  Grant muffles a protest against her palm.

  “You don’t—need to—backhandedly—praise me.”

  Ellina chuckles. She’s teasing him. But there’s more beneath it.

  “Alright, alright. I’ll stop. …I miss talking to you.”

  Then—her expression shifts. Lighter. But raw.

  “When I was lost… you were always there.”

  A pause.

  Then, she exhales—almost a ugh, almost a sigh.

  “And I just… slowly let myself treat you like my dumpster.”

  Then— she smiles at him. Whole-heartedly.

  Grant blinks. A bit stunned.

  Then, before he can even think of a response—

  Ellina exhales. A ugh—not bitter, not forced. Something real.

  “You’re right. I am the one who treated myself like a flower.”

  Grant frowns. “When did I say…”

  “No, no, no.” Ellina waves a hand, cutting him off.

  “I’m not finished.”

  Ellina exhales sharply. Then—she meets his eyes. This time, without wavering.

  “Asking you to always cater to my feelings is irresponsible.”

  Grant’s posture stiffens.

  “Ellina—”

  She shakes her head. Cuts him off.

  “You can pity me if you want. You can treat me like a flower if you want.”

  Her voice doesn’t break. Not this time.

  “I’m done being the one acting out. I am a princess of Uxiospea. I might not be able to be a warrior anymore, but I won’t let it stop me from fighting.”

  Grant doesn’t hesitate.

  “But you are still a warrior.”

  Ellina’s breath catches.

  Then—her lips part, just slightly. A smile—genuine, but stunned.

  “…Thank you.”

  She exhales. Something steadier now.

  “You proved to me that I’m more than that. Even at my lowest point, you let me be your teacher. You stand by me when I’m disgusted and horrified. You respected me.”

  Her breath shudders—just for a moment. Then, she steadies herself.

  “But… I pushed you away.”

  Her hands tighten slightly at her sides. Her gaze flickers

  “I don’t want to do that anymore.”

  A pause.

  Then—

  “I’m sorry. I won’t let my emotions treat others unfairly anymore.”

  Silence.

  “I’m sorry, too.”

  “For what?”

  “You know, thinking about… that once. I’m older than you but I’m way too ignorant than you. I know nothing about you. And it hurts me that I don’t know how to stand next to you.”

  “Do you want to try?”

  Ellina sticks her arm to him.

  “Here, fresh Undinian meat.”

  “Stop doing that. I’m serious, Ellina.”

  She pulls her arms back. She is smiling.

  “I just want to say. You can trash me all you want. But until you stop seeing me as a loser, I won’t stop.”

  “You don’t have to stop afterward, you know.”

  “No, that’s not what I mean.”

  “You’re not a loser.”

  Grant gasps.

  “A loser won’t train themselves when their teacher abandoned them.”

  Silence.

  Grant hesitates, scratching his head.

  “May I ask you a question? If you don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to?”

  “Sure.”

  “When Oh-Ker is talking about… that, I don’t know. I just feel like… there’s more to that than what you told me before.”

  “More what?”

  “Do you… see yourself as… an Undinian when you’re actually born a Half-Celesus?”

  Ellina’smile is gone.

  What did you do, Grant? That’s a really bad move. Right?

  “You don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to. I’m not that smart, after all.”

  Ellina chuckles at his st word.

  “Good self-awareness.”

  “Don’t push on that.”

  “Of course, my prince.”

  He stuns and looks at her. Blushed.

  “You never call me that.”

  “Do you want to know the answer or not?”

  She wobbles her way to the rail as the ship approaches the port.

  She continues, “I do. I lied to you before. I was born an Undinian and lived underwater for six years, I want to stay like that. But…”

  She turns to him again.

  “When Mother finally brought me to nd. Nobles see me as a freak. A sea-dweller. A princess who wants to live in the sea. Wants to be a dish for demons. But I just feel that’s what I am.”

  Ellina holds his hand.

  “As a princess, I’m like a prize waiting to be earned by other princes and nobles. As an Undinian, I feel that even more.”

  She looks deep into the sky, dropping his hand.

  “I was born to be crowned as the crown princess of Undinian, but when Grandfather finally decided to do that, I shed out. Because I want to be like Mother, traveling across the world. Be the empress. Be the heroine that helps the world. That’s my dream. I want to be on the Uxiospean throne, not the Undinian throne.”

  Grant nods. “I know how that feels.”

  Ellina turns to him, her gaze piercing. “You say you understand… but have you ever given up something you are just to make others accept you?”

  Grant stills. He has no answer.

  Ellina exhales, a bitter chuckle escaping her lips. “I am more Undinian than I should be, so I stopped going into the sea when I was fifteen. Pretended it didn’t matter to me. I told everyone I was over it so the nobles would rally behind me. I needed them—to beat my sister in the throne race.” Her fingers tighten around the rail. “I wanted to change the world. I wanted people to respect Undinian. To know we’re not just treasures to be owned, not prizes to be hunted, not bodies to be consumed.”

  She shakes her head, her voice quieter. “But that was just a dream, right? I spent six months learning to walk on nd. Now, I’ve lost that too. I’m not a warrior anymore. The nobles will rally behind someone else now. And recently…” She exhales sharply. She smirks in the end. “Recently, I feel like I’m destined to be someone’s prize.” She forces a ugh, but it’s empty. “Maybe I always was.”

  Grant’s jaw clenches. “No.”

  She gnces at him, tilting her head. “No?”

  “No,” he repeats. “You are not a prize.” His voice is steady, and firm—like it’s something he’s absolutely sure of.

  “You’re not something for them to cim.”

  His fists clench. His breath comes sharper.

  “I won’t let them take you. And if you stop here yourself, I’ll never forgive myself.”

  Ellina scoffs. “It’s not your fault, Grant. I was the one who chose to save you.”

  “Because you’re a good person.” His fists tighten. “And that’s exactly why you should be the empress. You don’t belong to anyone.” He swallows, then admits, “I don’t even know what your sister is like, but I know this—you’re better than letting them take this from you.”

  Grant continues, “When I get back to my throne, I’ll change the world with you. With Omenmia and Uxiospea, the world has to bow down before us.”

  “You really talk big, don’t you?” She chuckles. “Deal, an empress to an emperor.”

  She sticks out her hand to him without hesitation.

  They shake, firmly.

  “If you break this deal, Emperor Grant, I’ll make you regret it,” Ellina smirks, lips curling.

  “You’ll have to catch me first. I’m really good at running away by now.”

  They stand together, watching the docking of the ship.

  City of Serenity. We have arrived.