Chapter 99: VOL 2 Chapter 44: Liberation.
A couple of weeks later, Sigrún's beautiful ship emerged from warp travel, appearing not far from a magnificent planet surrounded by an energy shield made of hexagons similar to the one around the university planet. It glowed in blue and golden hues, with enormous rivers and mountains visible from space.
Orbiting the planet was a gigantic space station that looked like a floating palace, with towers, domes, and bulwarks extending into outer space. Its entire surface was covered with beautifully carved runes emitting a soft light, making it seem like a jewelry box beautifully decorated with stars.
Soon, Sigrún's cruiser docked at the space station, and shortly after, Erik disembarked, closely accompanied by Eleonora, Sigrún, and Seraphina. A little behind them followed Liliana, who was the last to leave the ship, wearing a complicated expression on her face as she watched the group of masters, disciple, and maid ahead of her.
The reason behind Liliana's expression was very simple: these days on the ship had been too revealing for her, to the point where they had her doubting reality itself. Not only was Erik different from how she had imagined him, but it also became obvious to her that the relationship between her master and the star-haired boy was very different from what she thought.
Since Erik had intruded into her life-almost twenty years ago now-Liliana could easily count the times she had interacted with him. The longest of those interactions did not exceed a couple of hours, something that had never bothered her and even pleased her. After all, the mere presence of the star-haired boy irritated her; besides, she believed she knew who he was and what he thought of her and Desmond, so she never showed any further interest. He was just an arrogant thief who had come to steal her master's attention.
But during the journey, that perception was forcibly changed. It all started with how evident it became to her that her master, the great Empress of Lightning, Eleonora Silverwood, always dignified and elegant, seemed like a different person when she was with Erik—always smiling, talkative, and even playful—something inconceivable. After all, the entire galaxy knew that Master Silverwood was practically synonymous with elegance and poise.
Furthermore, there was the way she treated the annoying Erik; she treated him with too much care, paid him too much attention, and it almost seemed like she wanted to be by his side all day, which at first greatly angered her. But she only needed to pay a little more attention to realize that the way her respected master looked at the star-haired boy was not the gaze of a master to her disciple.
That gaze went beyond; in it, there was love, attraction, and devotion—basically the way her mother looked at her father, a realization that almost blew her mind. After all, it was too irrational, too absurd; no one could even begin to imagine that one of the most powerful and prestigious Master-level individuals in the entire galaxy would take notice of a mere Ascended-level. No matter how handsome or talented he was, since they were almost like two different species.
Although that realization was extremely shocking, at the same time it was incredibly liberating; she was not fighting with the monstrous and unattainable star-haired boy for her master's love and attention. He was something different, on a different track in her master's heart, which meant she didn't have to keep killing herself day and night looking for ways to improve just to at least match someone so monstrous.