Chapter 49: The Woman Who Waited

The guards’ voices rang clearly through the high corridors of the Silverheart Palace.

"Her Majesty Queen Morwenna and Her Highness Princess Zephyra have arrived!"

Every elf in the hall straightened at once. Conversations died mid-sentence. Servants stepped aside and lowered their heads with practiced grace.

Even the soft light filtering through the crystal panels seemed to grow still, as if the palace itself was holding its breath.

Daemon turned toward the entrance.

Queen Morwenna stepped into the hall first.

She was tall and elegant, with long silver-white hair that fell past her waist like liquid moonlight. Her features were refined and timeless, the kind of beauty that did not belong to any ordinary age.

She wore a flowing gown of deep emerald and silver, embroidered with living patterns that shifted faintly like leaves stirred by a gentle breeze.

A delicate circlet of woven silver rested on her brow. Her presence alone was enough to silence the entire corridor.

Beside her walked Princess Zephyra.

Zephyra carried the same graceful bearing, yet her aura was sharper, more focused. Her long pale-blonde hair was tied loosely behind her, and her eyes held a calm, assessing light.

She wore lighter armor layered over soft white and green fabric, a longbow strapped across her back.

Where Morwenna felt like an ancient, unshakable forest, Zephyra felt like the wind that moved freely through its branches.

As mother and daughter advanced, every person in the hall bowed deeply.

Sana and Roxanna lowered their heads at once. Daemon, however, remained standing. His eyes were fixed on Morwenna and did not blink even once.

Something inside his chest tightened the moment he saw her face.

Morwenna stopped a few steps in front of him. Her gaze was steady, almost gentle, as though she had been waiting for this meeting far longer than anyone else in the room could understand.

"So," she said, her voice calm and clear, "you have finally woken from unconsciousness. How are you feeling now?"

Daemon opened his mouth, but no immediate answer came.

He could not understand the reaction of his own body. His heart was beating too fast, too heavily.

A deep and unfamiliar longing pressed against his ribs — the painful kind that came from missing someone for a very long time. He wanted to step forward.

He wanted to hold her. He wanted to breathe in her scent as if his soul already knew it by heart.

None of it made any logical sense.

Morwenna’s eyes shifted briefly toward Sana and Roxanna, who still stood quietly nearby.

"Your companions were very worried about you," she continued. "Do not do reckless things again. Consider their feelings as well." Her voice softened almost imperceptibly on the final words. "You always do reckless things."

The last sentence struck something deep inside Daemon’s mind.

"You always do reckless things."

He had heard those exact words before. The memory hovered just beyond his reach, like a name he could almost remember but could not quite grasp. A faint ache spread through his chest.

Morwenna smiled faintly, the expression carrying both warmth and quiet sorrow.

"You are very fortunate to have them. Take care of them."

Daemon finally found his voice.

"Yes. I was lucky to have them in my life. I will protect them."

Sana and Roxanna, still standing close by, both turned slightly red when they heard him say it so openly in front of the Queen and Princess.

Daemon then turned fully toward Morwenna and Zephyra and gave a proper, respectful bow.

"Thank you for saving me that day. If you had not come, I would have died in that forest. And thank you for helping my wives during these six months. I owe you both a great debt."

Zephyra regarded him with cool composure.

"I was only following my mother’s order to save you that day."

"Even so," Daemon said firmly, "thank you."

He looked at Morwenna again, his brow slightly furrowed.

"Why did you protect me?"

Morwenna’s smile carried a quiet, unreadable emotion — something old and carefully hidden.

"Who knows? Perhaps I was doing it for my own selfish reasons." Her eyes lingered on him a moment longer. "You will understand soon enough why I helped you that day."

Daemon did not understand her words, but he understood the weight behind them. Saving a stranger from another world, then protecting and supporting the people connected to him for half a year, that was not something ordinary people did.

It was not something done without reason.

Morwenna continued, her tone thoughtful.

"I heard from Sana and Roxanna that you come from another world. That surprised even me.

I have lived in this land for six hundred years, and I have never witnessed anything like it."

Daemon’s eyes widened slightly.

"Six hundred years...?"

She looked no older than her early thirties. Her skin was smooth, her posture straight, her eyes clear and bright. Nothing about her appearance suggested such a vast stretch of time.

Morwenna noticed his reaction and gave a soft, knowing laugh.

"I see your expression. In your world, people live at most a hundred years. Here, once we awaken our bloodline and advance through the higher stages, we can preserve our youth and live far longer than ordinary mortals."

She gestured gracefully toward the inner halls of the palace.

"Come. Eat with us. We can talk more while sharing a meal."

Daemon hesitated. For a brief moment he considered accepting. Then he spoke carefully, choosing his words with care.

"I truly appreciate the invitation... but I need to return to my world right now."

The moment the words left his mouth, something in Morwenna’s expression broke.

Her shoulders trembled once. Tears welled up in her silver eyes and began to fall before she could stop them.

She turned her face slightly away, trying desperately to hold them back, but it was already too late. The tears slipped down her cheeks in silence.

Zephyra’s eyes widened in pure, undisguised shock.

In all the years she had known her mother — through wars, political storms, and centuries of rule — she had never once seen Queen Morwenna cry.

The entire hall fell into stunned silence. Sana and Roxanna stared, unable to hide their disbelief.

Even the nearby guards and servants froze in place, as if they had just witnessed something that should not have been possible.

Daemon felt the strange pain in his chest sharpen into something almost unbearable.

He did not fully understand why she was crying.

He only knew that standing there and doing nothing felt wrong on a level deeper than logic or memory.

Without thinking further, he stepped forward and gently pulled Morwenna into his arms.

She stiffened for half a second then her hands clutched the back of his clothes tightly, as if she had been waiting for that single gesture for a very long time.