Ayaka Rin
They underestimated how much I could learn in silence.
That night, in the still air of my tent, I watched the shadows on the wall dance behind the hanging lanterns. One of the guards shifted outside, heavy footfalls, slow. Deliberate.
I knew that rhythm.
Kaleid stepped inside. His jaw was tight. "They've taken the bait."
"Which one?" I asked, still studying the map.
"The burned village. Thorne sent investigators. No accusations yet, but they're tense."
I tapped the parchment.
"Good. Let them struggle with doubt. The more they talk among themselves, the less they talk to us."
Kaleid hesitated. "There's a report… Holy Alliance scouts were seen meeting with someone near the neutral riverbank. Not ours."
"Mercenaries?" I guessed.
"Could be."
I smirked. "Or one of their own getting creative."
If the Holy Alliance was starting to question itself… I had already won the opening moves.
General Caelum Thorne
We gathered around the fire that night like ghosts.
Seraphina had her arms crossed, jaw tight, while Lysandre flipped a small dagger through his fingers with casual frustration. Across from me, Father Malric read from a book, lips barely moving.
"Tell me we're not just waiting to be stabbed", Seraphina muttered.
"We're not", I said.
"You're sure?"
"No", I replied. "But we're not just sitting either."
She barked a laugh.
"You're learning from her", Lysandre added, pointing the dagger at me. "That smile of yours? That's a Rin smile."
"I'm learning because of her", I corrected.
Because what other choice did I have?
She wasn't a brute.
She was a mirror.
And I hated how much of myself I saw in her moves.
Ayaka Rin
The letters came in silence. Folded paper with no names.
I read them by candlelight:
* One of my generals wanted to abandon the truce.
* Another had found a sympathetic noble inside the Holy Alliance.
* A third had quietly rerouted supplies toward a secret outpost I hadn't authorized.
Treachery comes dressed in allegiance. Always.
I summoned them, one by one, to the edge of the cliff outside the camp, where the wind drowned screams and loyalties alike.
I asked simple questions. Nothing more.
Sometimes they walked back.
Sometimes they didn't.
When Kaleid returned, I handed him one of the folded letters.
"Have this handwriting traced", I said. "And burn what's left."
He nodded, glancing at the blood on the rocks below.
"You think the Alliance suspects?"
I nodded.
"They will".
And that was part of the design.
General Caelum Thorne
It was Father Malric who voiced it first.
"Something's wrong. Too quiet."
The river had remained undisturbed. No attacks. No messages. Not even the usual demon birds.
"Maybe they're truly honoring the truce", Lysandre offered, skeptical.
"No", I said, standing from the war table. "They're planning something."
Seraphina rolled her eyes. "Then let's act first."
But I paused, eyes on the horizon.
"No", I said again. "That's what she wants."
Because the most dangerous thing about Ayaka Rin, was that she made us want to strike first.
Ayaka Rin
I left the tent in the early dawn and climbed the hill near the western overlook.
The Holy Alliance camp glimmered in the distance, silver banners shining beneath the first rays of sunlight.
I wondered what General Thorne was doing.
Sleeping? Planning?
Doubting?
"Truce", I whispered to the wind. "Such a gentle word."
But even gentle things could choke.