#114

This had all unfolded so differently from what Ella had expected. Her voice trembled as she protested.

“…But you made a contract with the Sapphire of Order. Doesn’t that mean everything should be okay now?”

“So you did know I came to Hebel to get Jonathan. Well, I guess you would—after all, you’ve been to the Treasury before.”

“Lady Cersia, I—”

“Actually, my deal with Jonathan was just a temporary fix. He said I’d still have to either get rid of one of the pheromones or block the awakening.”

“That can’t be…”

Ella hadn’t known this was what it meant to pass on a fate.

In the end, Cersia’s life was now in danger because of the pheromone Ella had discarded.

The problem was that she hadn’t even known Cersia had pheromones to begin with when she let it go.

And a pheromone once passed on couldn’t be taken back. That’s why ‘he’ had warned her to decide carefully.

“How could this happen…”

As Ella collapsed to the ground, her legs giving out, Cersia gently helped her up.

“It’s all right. According to Tabby, there’s still a way. If we can find the Guardian called the Opal of Nothingness or whatever, we’ll be fine.”

“But no one knows where the Opal of Nothingness is. It’s a lost relic.”

“True…”

Cersia scratched her head with an awkward smile. Just as Ella was overwhelmed with emotion, unsure how to process everything—

Zerakiel returned after finishing his meeting with Zakari, and the conversation came to an end.

“Chichi.”

“How did it go?”

In response to Cersia’s gentle question, Zerakiel leaned his forehead against hers and murmured,

“Fine. But I think things are going to get noisy for a while.”

“We were expecting that.”

Cersia shrugged it off like it was no big deal, and Zerakiel turned to Ella.

“You probably won’t be able to go back to Hebel either.”

“What?”

“Starting tomorrow, the Jabis territory will be closed to outsiders. And we’re going to suspend the Hebel Treaty.”

“Suspend it? Are you… planning to start a war?”

Ella’s tone sharpened unusually, as if she were seeing a version of Zerakiel from the future.

But Zerakiel was unmoved, simply continuing as if he hadn’t heard the protest.

“I’m prepared to go to war if that’s what it takes to eliminate the Butterfly faction. They’re not just a threat to Jabis—they’re a threat to all of Amataras.”

“Ah…”

“They deliberately tried to use Jabis’s madness to stir chaos across the continent. If someone dares oppose Jabis after knowing that, there’s nothing we can do.”

Indeed, Jabis’s madness had been one of the main causes of the Great Calamity a hundred years ago.

Trying to force such a being into a frenzy made the Butterfly group enemies of all Amataras.

Ella hesitated.

“But there are more clans tied to the Butterflies than you think. Is Jabis really strong enough to face them all? You might need an alliance…”

“If they were beasts who could form an alliance, Hebel wouldn’t have needed to mediate anything in the first place.”

Zerakiel cut her off coldly, and Ella closed her mouth.

Any unity between beast clans had only been barely maintained thanks to Hebel.

Especially between the southern lion territory and the northern hyena territory, who were practically enemies.

Besides, Jabis had never once used its full strength—not out of mercy, but out of fear that the madness would accelerate.

But since Zakari had fully overcome his frenzy, there was finally hope within Jabis. A hope that they could finally be free from the cursed madness.

What once seemed destined to end in tragedy now shimmered with a sense of possibility. And at the center of that shift was Cersia.

Zerakiel spoke again.

“That’s why, Chichi.”

“Yeah?”

“For now, I want you to stay inside the territory. At least until you reach adulthood.”

Right now, Cersia was the most important person to Zerakiel. As long as she was safe, there was no beastman who could stop him.

“Ah.”

“Once you become an adult, your pheromones will stabilize.”

“Well, yes, that’s true…”

Cersia gave an awkward smile. The truth was, the real danger would begin ‘after’ she reached adulthood. But she couldn’t just come out and say that to Zerakiel.

He was already this protective—how would he react if he knew everything?

Unaware of the truth, Zerakiel only seemed worried that someone might target her before she matured.

Cersia nodded firmly.

“Don’t worry. I’m not stupid enough to go throwing myself into danger.”

“Too smart, actually—that’s the problem.”

Zerakiel chuckled and brushed her hair gently. With a tender gaze, he whispered,

“Even if you resist, I’ll try not to lock you away.”

“Kind of scary that you’re even thinking about locking me up.”

“Is it?”

Zerakiel let out a small laugh. As Cersia quietly watched him, she thought,

‘I just need to find a solution before I come of age.’

It wasn’t like her life had ever offered a clear solution to anything.

She had no choice but to believe in herself.

Already, she had diverged from the original story—saving Zakari, keeping Zerakiel from going mad. That alone felt like enough to say she had done her part.

Which meant… maybe she could do even more.

With a bright smile, Cersia said,

“You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Got it.”

And with those words, Zerakiel gently rested his forehead against hers.

* * *

The next day, boxes containing parts of Victor’s body, along with fragments of the stone slab engraved with the Hebel Treaty, were sent to the leaders of each territory’s ruling clans.

Each package was accompanied by a message stating that the true cause of the recent frenzy was the work of the Butterfly faction, and requesting the cooperation of the territories in eradicating them.

In other words, it was a warning: cooperate—or face military force.

It was the moment the Hebel Treaty, which had lasted for over a hundred years, was shattered in vain.

Following that, factions began to form—those who opposed Jabis for unilaterally breaking the treaty, and those who sided with them. Tension between the two sides quickly escalated.

Jabis did not hesitate to capture individuals suspected of being affiliated with the Butterfly group—even if they were from other territories.

And so, the age of peace came to an end, and a new era of cold war began.

* * *

It had already been three years since the Hebel Treaty was broken, with Jabis leading the charge, and the continent had split into North and South in opposition.

During that time, many individuals suspected of being part of the Butterfly faction had been captured, but the group’s main base remained elusive, with frequent cases of scapegoating and staged escapes.

Since no trace of them could be found in the South despite intense investigation, it was now assumed that their base lay in the North.

However, the lack of cooperation from the North severely hindered the cleansing efforts.

Led by the Page family, the northern clans were firmly resisting, claiming to be trying to curb Jabis’s unchecked dominance.

The North, already tightly united, left little room for infiltration.

At this rate, a full-scale war between the North and South seemed inevitable. Skirmishes had already broken out multiple times along the border.

If either side launched a direct attack on the other’s homeland, it would immediately trigger a full continental war.

At a time when even Hebel’s mediation was proving useless, it was the Page family—unexpectedly—who proposed negotiations first.

Thanks to a dramatic bilateral summit held at the brink of war, the looming threat of battle began to subside.

If all went smoothly, the two great houses would soon meet on the northern snowfields to finalize a treaty.

Meanwhile, Cersia had safely completed her coming-of-age transformation just a few days prior.

Compared to Zerakiel, who had matured two years earlier, her growth had been delayed.

At first, there had been no signs of her reaching adulthood, which had become a major concern for the entire household.

It seemed that her vast reservoir of pheromones had been suppressing her physical development.

Just before the family’s overprotectiveness could spiral out of control, signs of her maturation had finally appeared.

This morning, Cersia stretched with a sense of freshness, as if the air itself felt especially crisp.

Now fully matured, her baby fat had disappeared, and her body’s curves had become notably more defined.

Her flowing long hair shimmered with radiant silver light, and her clear, vivid pink eyes sparkled like a summer sunset.

Ella, now serving as both Cersia’s aide and personal knight, couldn’t contain her joy.

“Congratulations again on your maturation, Lady Cersia. You’ve worked so hard to get here.”
TL/N: TIME SKIP!!!