Chapter 457 --457
Chapter 457: Chapter-457
"The morning assembly is canceled," Elara said without stopping or looking back. "I am going to the breakfast pavilion. If any of you attempt to follow me with a ledger, I will personally assist Commander Ken with the kinetic calibration."### The Breakfast Pavilion
The royal breakfast pavilion was a glass-enclosed structure overlooking the imperial gardens. Normally, Elara used this space to interrogate foreign diplomats while they ate. Today, however, there was only one person sitting at the grand marble table.
Julian.
He was already dressed in his crisp, Northern-style formal wear—a dark blue tunic with silver embroidery—but his posture was incredibly relaxed. He was leaning back in his chair, peeling an apple with a small silver knife, bathed in the morning sunlight.
When he heard her footsteps, he looked up. A brilliant, knowing smile spread across his face.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," Julian greeted, tossing a slice of apple into his mouth. "I hear you threatened to throw the treasury department out a window."
"That is factually incorrect," Elara replied, taking her seat at the head of the table. "Commander Ken issued the threat. I simply verified the physics of the execution."
Julian let out a loud laugh, setting his knife down. He leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand, looking at her with an intensity that made the newly discovered warmth in her chest flutter. "How do you feel, Elara? And I want a real answer, not a percentage."
Elara looked at the array of perfectly cut fruits and warm pastries laid out before her. She did not reach for her usual cup of plain hot water. Instead, she looked back at Julian.
"I feel... uncalibrated," Elara admitted, her voice dropping into a quieter, slightly uncertain cadence. "My mind is clear, but my internal diagnostics are returning anomalous results. Whenever I establish visual contact with you, my heart rate accelerates. I am experiencing a persistent thermal sensation in my chest cavity. It is completely illogical."
Julian’s smile softened into something deeply tender. He reached across the table, offering his hand, palm up, resting it near her plate.
"It’s not a glitch, Elara," Julian said softly.
Elara stared at his hand. "The system stated that what I am experiencing is categorized by poets as ’love’. It also stated that my previous behavior was a defense mechanism to avoid psychological damage."
Julian’s brow furrowed at the mention of the ’system’, assuming she was referring to her own internal logic or perhaps an obscure philosophical text she had read. He didn’t care about the source. He only cared about the conclusion.