The wooden sliding door opened slowly, creaking slightly in its tracks, and a dense cloud of hot steam suddenly poured out toward Toki. The heat hit him in the face like a heavy caress, thick with moisture. He felt his pores open instantly, and the weariness in his bones began to melt away, dissolving into the saturated air. He stepped inside, then another step, letting the door close behind him with a quiet chime.
The indoor bath was a spacious room, with a dark wooden floor and smooth, slightly damp stone walls. A soft, golden light filtered through oil lamps and steam, bathing the room in an ethereal glow. In the center of the chamber was a round pool, filled with thermal water that seemed to rise from the earth's core—gently bubbling, wrapped in a veil of mist.
Toki undressed slowly, almost with an involuntary reverence, sensing that the place demanded a certain respect. He folded his clothes neatly and placed them on a nearby wooden bench. On his sweaty, slightly bruised skin, the marks of recent events could still be read — and those of a much older life, full of long-forgotten battles.
He stepped into the water. Then another step.
The liquid warmth embraced his ankles, then his knees. He bent down slowly, sinking until the water touched his chest. He sighed deeply. The weight in his chest began to melt, like ice giving way to spring.
He leaned back, resting his arms on the edge of the pool. He closed his eyes. Just for a moment.
And then a deep, calm, slightly amused voice echoed through the veil of steam:
— "You must be Toki… right?"
Toki flinched, opening his eyes abruptly. He lifted his head slightly and peered through the curtain of mist. He couldn't see anything clearly, only shadows, diluted outlines.
— "Who's there?" he asked, his voice betraying a slight tremor of surprise.
From the fog, a calm movement — like a hand cutting through air — caused a portion of the steam to disperse.
Beyond the dissipating curtain appeared a man — submerged up to his neck in the water, but with a posture that radiated confidence, control, and… something almost regal.
— "My name is Leonard Maho," he said with a calm, musical, yet authoritative voice. "I'm the master of this manor."
Toki looked at him carefully. He had expected an old man with a long beard, hunched back, and eyes deep with wisdom. But before him was a man who didn't seem older than thirty-five. He was well-built, with broad shoulders and a strong chest, muscular arms covered with old scars — marks of a life that had seen far more than palaces.
His hair was long and black as ebony, though a few silver strands hung across his face, hinting that time had touched him — at least a little. His eyes were a metallic blue, piercing but not cold. He belonged to that rare category of people who could smile just with their eyes.
Toki swallowed hard. The atmosphere was… strange. Not necessarily awkward, but certainly unusual. Two men, both naked, introducing themselves in a steam-filled bath. Anything formal or polite felt absurd in that setting.
Leonard broke the silence again, with a slight smile at the corner of his lips:
— "Have you already met my five nieces? They're… adorable, aren't they?"
Toki relaxed a little, recognizing the playful tone.
— "Yes…" he said, leaning his head back. "Haru, Natsu, Aki, Yuki, and Suzume. They're all… wonderful, each in her own way."
Leonard chuckled softly, a short, warm laugh that filled the space.
— "I'm proud of them. They're growing up in a world that isn't easy, yet they still carry light inside them. And you… you seem to have touched that light."
Toki tilted his head slightly.
— "I don't know if I did anything special. They treated me with a kindness I didn't deserve."
— "You saved my apprentice. Utsuki," Leonard said, locking eyes with him. "I don't know how… but for that, no reward will ever be enough. My grandfather used to say that the one who saves your family is already part of it."
Toki felt a tightness in his chest.
— "I only did what was right," he whispered. "She saved me in return. If she hadn't been there, I wouldn't be alive now. Maybe… maybe we saved each other."
Leonard closed his eyes for a moment. He seemed deep in thought.
— "There's something in you… different. It's not just courage. You have the silence of someone who has lived too long… and the look of someone who has lost far more than they let on."
— "...you have the eyes of an old soul."
Toki didn't answer right away. He only gave a faint smile.
— "Maybe I am older than I look," he murmured, not joking.
A quiet silence settled between them, but it wasn't heavy. It was a kind of unspoken understanding. Two weary souls, sharing the same space of peace.
— "Utsuki loves you," Leonard said suddenly.
Toki raised his head abruptly, surprised.
— "What?"
— "She doesn't say it. She hasn't told you either, not yet. But it's clear. Her eyes… when she looks at you… they change. I was young and foolish once too, and I know what love looks like when it begins to bloom. It's there. But… I don't know if you're ready to receive it."
Toki remained silent. He could feel the blood pulsing in his temples, but not from embarrassment. From a strange recognition.
— "I'm afraid of what I am," he finally said. "Of my past. Of what the future could mean if I stay. But… I'm also afraid to leave."
— "That means you're exactly the right person to stay," Leonard replied calmly. "Good people are the ones who fear doing harm — because they know how much harm they can cause, even in love."
The steam gathered around them once more. The world seemed suspended in a dream of warm water, wrapped in a silence that asked for no explanations.
Toki stirred in the warm, mist-veiled water, his thoughts weighed down by Leonard's sudden declaration about Utsuki. He let the silence breathe for a while, allowing his heartbeat to settle.
Then he raised his head slightly, his voice tentative, uncertain.
"Leonard... there's something I need to ask you."
The older man turned to him, his metallic blue eyes steady.
"Go on."
"What is the significance of Utsuki's ring?" Toki asked. "Why was she alone in that market? Why would someone go so far as to try and kill her over a piece of jewelry?"
Leonard's gaze lingered on Toki for a long moment, the mist swirling between them.
Then he sighed.
"It shows," he said, voice slow, deliberate, "that you truly have no idea how things work in the capital."
Toki frowned. "Enlighten me."
Leonard leaned back, the steam curling around his face, giving him the air of some ancient oracle called forth from the mists.
"Most of the royal family," he began, "has died."
Toki blinked. "What?"
"A plague. Strange, quick, and cruel. It swept through the palace like a curse in the night. Princes, dukes, distant cousins, advisors, concubines, even young heirs... gone. Only the old king remains. He's clinging to life, but barely. And he's well past the age to father another child."
Toki felt the heat of the bath fade slightly beneath the chill that settled in his chest.
Leonard continued, his voice now edged with gravity. "That means there's no clear successor. No heir. And when the line of succession vanishes in a kingdom like Lumirelth, chaos follows."
He turned fully toward Toki, his muscular arms resting against the smooth stone edge of the bath.
"So the Council made a decision. All surviving members of the royal bloodline, no matter how distant or forgotten, were to be summoned. Candidates for the crown. They would be judged, scrutinized, and ultimately, one would be chosen to rule."
"And Utsuki... is one of them?"
Leonard nodded solemnly. "Her father was the younger brother of King Dareth—the twenty-sixth ruler of Lumirelth. A quiet man. Noble, but without ambition. When the king ascended the throne, his brother left court life entirely. Settled in a remote province. Married a healer. Lived simply."
He looked at the surface of the water, as if searching in it for echoes of the past.
"When Utsuki was born, she was given the ring. A sign of her father's lineage. It's the only artifact proving her direct connection to the royal bloodline."
Toki exhaled slowly. "So it's not just a ring. It's her identity."
"It's her key to the throne," Leonard said. "And more."
Toki's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
Leonard's voice dropped, lower now, almost reverent.
"Beneath the Citadel lies the crypt of the First King—Rindal. The founder of our kingdom. When he slew the last great dragon four hundred and forty years ago, he preserved its bones in the deepest chamber of the catacombs."
Toki was still, the words chilling in their implication.
"Dragon bones?"
Leonard nodded. "Not just any dragon. The Dragon King. And dragons—what few still remain in the deepest corners of the world—can sense those bones. They obey the bloodline of the one who wields them."
Toki felt as though the mist had thinned just for a moment, the hidden machinery of a kingdom now exposed.
"So whoever becomes monarch… also becomes the Dragonkeeper."
"Exactly. That's why the council must choose carefully. And that's why the bloodline matters. No imposter can command the bones. Only those with true blood."
Leonard looked directly at Toki again.
"I'm training Utsuki. Preparing her for the Trials. The tests that will decide who sits the throne. She doesn't know everything yet. But I need her to be ready. Losing her… would have been a catastrophic blow."
Toki's eyes darkened. His voice was low.
"So that's why she was attacked."
Leonard gave a single nod. "Assassins are already moving. Some factions support other candidates. Others want the throne for themselves. Some fear a queen. Others want to destroy the legacy entirely. Utsuki, walking alone in that market with her father's ring on her finger? She may as well have worn a crown."
The bath was silent for a time, the water bubbling gently between them.
Toki stared into the rising steam, his mind a storm.
He saw again the fire in Utsuki's eyes when she trained, the way she had thrown herself in front of him during the ambush, and the quiet strength she wore like armor.
He had seen courage before. He had seen love. But Utsuki carried something rarer: a burning desire to heal a broken world, even if she didn't know yet that she could.
And now… she might become queen
The water stirred gently as Toki shifted his weight in the bath, the mist curling around his bare shoulders. Leonard's words still echoed in his ears — Utsuki, a rightful heir to the throne, the bearer of a dragon's legacy, and a girl whose fate had already begun to unfold like a celestial script written in hidden stars.
Toki turned toward the older man, his brows drawn in thought. The heat from the bath no longer soothed; it weighed on him like prophecy.
"Leonard," Toki said quietly, his voice steadier than he expected. "Is there… anything I can do to help?"
Leonard didn't answer immediately. His metallic blue eyes watched the dance of steam above the water, as if seeking the future in the ever-shifting wisps.
"Yes," he finally said, his voice low but clear. "There is."
Toki leaned forward slightly, attentive.
Leonard turned his head to meet Toki's gaze, and something unspoken passed between them — the weight of destiny, of decisions not easily reversed.
"One of the conditions set forth by the Council of Elders," Leonard began, "for any candidate to be considered for succession... is that they must have a knight. A personal champion. One who fights not just with steel, but with heart. Loyalty. Spirit."
Toki blinked. "A knight? But I'm—"
"I know," Leonard interrupted gently. "You're not of noble blood. You hold no title. You wander. You're not bound to any house or creed. But Utsuki listens to you. She trusts you. She trains harder when you're near. She smiles more. She... hopes more."
He paused, then added:
"That's worth more than a hundred golden crests."
Toki stared at the surface of the bath, the water now quieting, as if listening.
"You want me to be her knight," he said, not a question but a dawning realization.
Leonard nodded. "Her Guardian. Her sword and shield. Her voice when she cannot speak. Her strength when hers runs thin."
Toki closed his eyes for a moment. A quiet storm rose in his chest. He remembered the way Utsuki had looked at him, how she'd fought beside him, bled for him, smiled for him. He remembered her laugh in the gardens, her fury in training, the way her eyes searched his when she was scared.
"Why me?" he asked softly. "What do you gain if she becomes queen?"
Leonard did not bristle at the question. Instead, he nodded, as if he had been waiting for it.
"I gain the future," he said. "Not just mine. Everyone's."
He leaned back, folding his arms on the edge of the bath, looking into the thick mist with a distant gaze.
"I've spent my life studying mana. Its structure, its flow, its potential. I've come close to breakthroughs that could revolutionize how we live, how we heal, how we feed the hungry. But to reach further, I need support. Freedom. Resources. And not from merchants or petty lords — I need the crown."
He turned back to Toki, his voice gaining a quiet intensity.
"If Utsuki becomes queen, she will not forget the people at the edges of the kingdom. The forgotten villages. The starving orphans. The sick who cannot afford remedies. She's lived that life. She's been judged from the moment she was born. Not because she did anything wrong — but because she resembles the wich
Leonard nodded. "Even now, nobles whisper that she bears cursed blood. That she'll bring magic back into the world, unshackled, untamed. They fear her. But I don't. Because I see her heart. And with you beside her, I believe she can prove them wrong."
Toki's jaw tightened. He looked away, toward the glowing lamps behind the mist.
"I will protect her," he said finally. "But I'm not a knight. I'm just a man. A traveler. A sword for hire."
Leonard smiled faintly. "Then let your sword find purpose. Titles are born of deeds, not bloodlines. You've already begun walking the path. Don't turn away now."
Toki rose slowly from the water, droplets cascading down his scarred frame. He walked over to the wooden bench and began dressing in silence. The steam wrapped around him like a second skin.
As he reached for his belt, Leonard's voice stopped him.
"One more thing, Toki."
Toki turned.
Leonard had not moved, but his expression had shifted — more serious now, and touched with something gentler.
"You are not alone in this. Whatever your past holds, however far you've wandered, the stars have started to align. I don't pretend to know why the world chooses certain people at certain times... but I know this: something old stirs again. And you, whether you like it or not, are part of it."
Toki's hand rested on the hilt of his sword for a moment, fingers tightening, then loosening.
"Then let it stir," he said quietly. "And let it find me ready."
"If you want to stay, Toki, then stay. You'll have a place here. Not as a guest. As part of the family. But… if you choose to leave… no one will stop you. This manor is just a house. A house becomes a home only if you choose to make it one."
He gave Leonard a final nod, and stepped out into the cool corridor beyond the bathhouse, the mist parting like a curtain.
Behind him, Leonard whispered to the air:
"She'll need you more than she knows. And when the time comes… I hope you'll still be by her side."
A thought surfaced in his mind — simple, yet powerful:
Maybe... I really can belong somewhere again.