[: 3rd POV :]

At their sudden revelation, both Maiya and Luke froze in place.

The words they had just spoken—slave merchants—hung in the air like a curse.

Their expressions shifted from shock to panic, brows furrowed as the chilling possibility rooted itself in their thoughts.

Luke was the first to speak, though his voice was low and strained.

"I… I didn't want to even think it, but… if that's the case, Maiya…"

He clenched his fists, the leather of his gloves creaking.

"Then his childhood… it might've been—"

"Don't," Maiya cut him off sharply, though her voice trembled.

She shook her head, strands of hair clinging to her damp cheeks from the mist in the air.

"Don't say it, Luke. Don't even dare put it into words."

Luke stared at her, his own jaw tightening.

"Maiya, I don't want to believe it either. But if someone took him, if they didn't know who he was, and if that insignia wasn't recognised…"

"No… no, no, no…" Maiya's voice cracked, her breath growing uneven.

She took a step back as though physically rejecting the thought.

"Her Majesty's child… as a slave? That's… that's impossible. He's—"

"He's the Empress's son," Luke finished for her, his tone grim.

"And yet, how many noble children have vanished before?''

''You know as well as I do—there are monsters in this world that don't care about bloodlines."

Maiya pressed her hand against her chest, feeling her heart pound painfully.

"But why? Even if they didn't know, the necklace—"

Luke interrupted, voice low.

"What if they never looked closely enough to see? Or… what if it was stolen from him the moment he was taken?"

Her eyes widened at the thought, and the colour drained from her face.

She had imagined countless scenarios for his disappearance over the years, but never this one.

And now that the possibility stood before her, it was like staring into an abyss.

"If he was taken by slave merchants…", Luke continued hesitantly, "then we're not just talking about danger. We're talking about—"

"Stop!" Maiya snapped, louder this time.

She turned away, gripping her own arms tightly, as if holding herself together.

Her voice softened, almost breaking.

"If this is true, Luke… then everything he's gone through… every day without us…without his mother...''

The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the wind that whispered through the barren wasteland around them.

Both of them knew the truth—whether they wanted to admit it or not, this possibility explained too much.

And if it was true… then finding Daniel was no longer just a rescue.

It was a race against the horrors of the past that might already have marked him forever.

Luke's voice came low and heavy, like a weight pressing on the air.

"...Maiya," he began, his brows furrowing as if the words themselves were hard to drag out, "back then… when Her Majesty was pregnant… the movements of slave merchants were… unusually frequent."

Maiya froze.

Her lips parted, but no sound came.

The weight of his statement settled in her chest like a stone.

She wanted to dismiss it outright—laugh in disbelief—but the look in Luke's eyes told her it was no jest.

Her hands trembled, and without realising it, the faint drizzle that had been falling slowed… then stopped.

The raindrops hung in the air, suspended in delicate, glistening beads.

A faint shimmer danced around them as her power tugged at the flow of time itself.

She swallowed hard.

"Luke… if that's true…" her voice cracked, the words trembling between disbelief and dread, "…then you know what would happen later on."

Luke's jaw tightened.

His voice deepened, tinged with a slow, simmering anger that burned beneath the calm.

"I know."

They didn't need to speak the rest aloud.

The image was already in both of their minds: Her Majesty's fury, the destruction that would follow, and the inevitable reckoning.

Maiya's gaze hardened, and for a brief moment, the suspended raindrops quivered as if feeling the tension in her heart.

Slowly, they began to reverse, returning to the heavens.

Luke exhaled through his nose, forcing the rage down.

"But before we speak a word of this…" he continued, his tone firm, "…we confirm it. Every detail. No mistakes."

Maiya nodded, though her grip on her own composure was visibly cracking.

"Agreed''

The two stood in heavy silence, the air thick with unspoken fear, as the last of the raindrops vanished into the clouds.

At some point, Maiya and Luke stood in the dimly lit strategy chamber, the air heavy with unspoken fears.

The lights along the walls flickered, casting uneven shadows that danced over their troubled faces.

Luke broke the silence first, his voice low but edged with urgency.

"Maiya… we can't do this alone. If there's even a chance that our suspicion is true, we'll need the others."

Maiya's eyes narrowed, her jaw tightening.

"I know. But if this is true… it means we've been blind for years." She exhaled sharply, trying to steady the tremor in her voice.

"Let's call them."

Moments later, the other captains arrived: Victor, Caesar, Ragnar, Darius, Isolde, Kaelen, and Selindra.

They stood around the long oak table, eyes flicking between Luke and Maiya, sensing the tension in the room.

Victor was the first to speak. "What's so urgent that you've summoned all of us at this hour?"

Luke exchanged a glance with Maiya before stepping forward.

"We need everything—every shred of information—about slave merchant movements from the time the Empress was pregnant with Daniel to the weeks after his birth."

Selindra frowned, suspicion in her eyes. "Slave merchants? Why? That's… not our usual concern unless they threaten the empire directly. Plus, we're currently busy investigating the whereabouts of her majesty's child''

Maiya's voice faltered for the briefest moment before hardening with resolve. "Because there's a high chance… that her majesty's long-lost child..." she swallowed the lump in her throat, "—was taken by them."

The room fell into stunned silence.

Caesar's fingers curled into fists. "You… can't be serious. That's—"

"We are serious," Luke cut in, his voice like iron.

"And we're not making this claim lightly. We have reasons—movements we've noticed, gaps in the record, patterns that don't make sense."

Ragnar's usually calm demeanour cracked, his brow furrowing deeply.

"If what you're saying is true…"

He didn't finish the sentence, his lips pressing into a thin line.

For a long moment, the only sound was the faint crackle of the torches.

Then Isolde let out a slow breath. "We'll find out. No matter how far we have to dig."

The captains dispersed without another word, each carrying the weight of the unspoken: what would happen if Melira learned this truth.

The investigation took days.

They hunted through forgotten ledgers, bribed informants, and interrogated shadows in back alleys.

The deeper they dug, the more the threads began to weave together into something dark—too dark to be a coincidence.

On the fourth night, they reconvened in the same chamber.

The air felt colder, heavier.

None of them could look at each other without seeing the same horror reflected.

Selindra placed a weathered map on the table, her hand trembling slightly.

"We traced their movements. The day her majesty's child vanished… slave caravans passed near the forest. Not one, but several. And… they didn't just pass through."

Victor's voice was a whisper. "They took something. Or someone."

Luke's fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white. "So it's true…"

Maiya closed her eyes, her powers stirring unconsciously—the faint shimmer of raindrops outside reversing in midair, a subtle sign of her emotional storm.

Her voice was barely above a whisper. "If the Empress learns this… the continent will bleed."

They discovered that along the river winding through the dense forest, there had been recorded movements from a notorious slave merchant group known as the Black Pirates.

These were no ordinary slavers—they specialised in kidnapping and enslaving individuals with noble lineage, selling them for astronomical prices in underground markets.

Every piece of information they gathered matched disturbingly well with the exact timing and circumstances of Daniel's disappearance.

The location, the period, and even the rumoured victims… all the coincidences lined up too perfectly to dismiss.

When Luke and Maiya were left alone, Maiya began breaking down.

Maiya's hands trembled as she held the report. Her vision blurred, not from the rain outside, but from the pressure in her chest.

"It's… my fault," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I was the one who—who sent him away that day. I… I sent Daniel straight into their hands."

Her breathing quickened, and her mana fluctuated wildly. She nearly collapsed to her knees, clutching the parchment as if she could crush the truth out of it.

Before she could spiral further, Luke stepped forward and gripped her shoulders firmly.

"Maiya, stop."

His tone was sharp but steady, a lifeline amidst her guilt.

"This is not your fault. You couldn't have known."

She shook her head violently. "But if I had—"

"No!" Luke's voice rose, heavy with a mixture of anger and conviction.

"If you break now, we'll lose precious time. Daniel might still be out there, and if he is… we're going to find him. But I need you strong, not blaming yourself."

Maiya bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, her eyes red but her resolve slowly returning. She nodded weakly, clutching the report to her chest.

"You're right…" she murmured, her voice steadier. "We find him. No matter what."

Luke's gaze hardened, the same determination burning in his eyes.

"No matter what."