CHAPTER 259: CHAPTER 259: THE LITTLE LIAR RETURNS (02)

Silence hung in the room like a glitch in the air system.

Lord Rohen didn’t move.

He just stared at Eli with wide, unblinking eyes, as if trying to process whether the boy had just spoken nonsense or unveiled a truth too heavy for morning hours.

Then, without a word, the mighty and composed Lord of the Spire slowly sat down on the edge of the bed. His hands rested on his knees, but his back hunched slightly, like something unseen had just struck him in the chest.

"You... found Aeris?" he asked again, his voice barely above a whisper.

"WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU SAYING?" Atlas’s shout tore through the room like an enraged man.

Eli flinched so hard he almost fell backward off the bed. His big blue eyes went round with innocence and confusion, like he had no idea what he’d done wrong.

"W-Why are you yelling?" He asked, blinking up at his father with trembling lashes. "Are we not allowed to tell Grandpa that Aunt Aeris is alive and well?"

Atlas’s jaw tightened. "You—!"

But before he could finish, Lord Rohen snapped out of his daze and stood abruptly. His glare landed on Atlas like a laser beam.

"What are you shouting for?" the old man snapped, his voice regaining its sharpness. "Is that something to scream about? You nearly made my grandson cry again."

Eli sniffed on cue, eyes glistening.

Rohen softened immediately and turned back to Eli, kneeling in front of him with trembling hands. "Is it true?" he asked, gently cupping the boy’s small cheeks. "Is my Aeris... is she alive? You really found her?"

Eli nodded quickly, dramatically, like he had just completed the most important quest in the universe. "Yes! This baby found her! I worked super hard for Grandpa’s sake!"

Lord Rohen let out a shaky breath, his shoulders sagging as emotion clouded his sharp eyes. "Where? How? Why was she... Why was she gone so long? Why didn’t she contact us?"

He looked so stunned, so raw, that even Atlas couldn’t hold back any longer.

Though his posture remained stiff, Atlas stepped forward and answered with quiet finality. "It’s true. We found her."

Rohen’s head snapped toward his son. "Where?"

Atlas looked down, voice rough. "Far. Beyond the regulated zones. A planet outside Spire’s reach. We had to fly all the way to reach there. It wasn’t easy."

"And she’s well?" Rohen whispered.

"Yeah!" Atlas confirmed.

Then—

"I’m the one who found her first!" Eli chirped suddenly, puffing up with pride. "I spotted her when Daddy couldn’t. It was me! If I hadn’t sensed carefully, we’d never have found her! Right, Daddy?"

Atlas stared at him, unimpressed. "You almost got eaten by a metal-rooted swamp crawler."

"Still counts," Eli mumbled, hugging himself with smug satisfaction. "The swamp monster didn’t eat me."

Lord Rohen couldn’t hold back anymore. A shaky breath escaped his lips, and the tears that had been building finally slipped down his cheeks. His trembling fingers wiped at them, but they kept falling. His usually commanding voice broke.

"Aeris... that child... after all these years..."

He covered his face briefly, trying to regain control, but emotion weighed him down. The high-ranking systems lord of Spire—a man known for his sharp judgments and iron will—now looked like a heartbroken father, undone by a miracle he’d never dared hope for.

"I want to see her," he whispered, standing up suddenly. "Take me there. Now. I want to see her with my own eyes."

But Atlas moved fast.

He gently placed a hand on his father’s shoulder and eased him back down onto the bed. "Not now. You need to calm down first. Your body is still stabilizing from last week’s battle. A hyperspace jump could overload your body."

"I don’t care—!"

"She’s safe," Atlas cut in firmly. "She’s being taken care of."

Atlas’s jaw tightened as he held his father’s trembling shoulders, grounding the old man before the storm of emotions swept him away.

"You can’t meet her now," he said quietly, but the weight behind his words made Rohen freeze. "She doesn’t remember anyone."

The silence that followed felt like a vacuum—sharp and deafening.

Rohen slowly turned his head, disbelief widening his reddened eyes. "What... do you mean she doesn’t remember?"

Atlas met his gaze with steady grief. "Whatever happened two years ago—it shattered more than her body. It wiped everything. Her mind, her memories, her sense of who she is... It’s all gone."

Eli’s little hand tugged at the blanket beside him, eyes downcast.

"She didn’t even know her own name," Atlas added, his voice softer now.

Rohen looked gutted. As if the truth had punched a hole through the fragile hope he’d just dared to hold.

"But she’s alive," the old man murmured, almost as if trying to remind himself.

"She is. But if we all go there—especially with the current state of Spire’s political climate—if word gets out that Aeris is alive... we’ll attract every enemy we’ve made in the past decade. We still don’t know what happened two years ago, Father. We never found the ones responsible. Her sudden disappearance wasn’t a random accident. You know that. I know that. And they might still be watching."

Rohen’s hands clenched into fists on his knees, knuckles pale. "So what are you suggesting? That I sit here while my daughter breathes but doesn’t even know I exist?"

"I’m saying let her recover," Atlas said, firm but not unkind. "Let her regain her memories naturally. Let her body strengthen before we even think of moving her."

Rohen covered his mouth with his hand, blinking back the next wave of tears that threatened. "And you... you’re sure she doesn’t recognize even you?"

Atlas hesitated for a moment. Then his voice dropped, quiet and raw. "She looked at me like I was a stranger."

The silence after that stretched painfully.

At last, Rohen nodded, slow and stiff. "Then we wait. But not too long. I want to see her again. I need to see her again, Atlas."

"And you will," Atlas promised, voice like stone. "When it’s safe—for her and for us all."

Rohen sat back, eyes distant but alive with the flicker of hope. "I’ll prepare what I can here. Quietly. We’ll need allies, won’t we?"

Atlas gave a single nod. "We will. Because if they took her once... they’ll try again."