Shape of an Old Name
The air in the room grew heavier. A faint shimmer began to rise around Sophia, her aura pressing outward like a sudden shift in air pressure. The teacups rattled faintly on the table.
Kain felt the weight immediately, the same suffocating intensity that had once made even trained knights step back. The room itself seemed to hum with it, that unyielding strength that marked the bloodline of the Celestrian royal family.
He did not move or fight it. Instead, he sighed softly.
“Sophy,” he said.
The single word cut through the pressure like light through fog.
Sophia froze as her aura dissipated, leaving behind only silence, and the faint scent of jasmine from the cooling tea.
‘That name.’
No one had called her that in years. Only two people ever had. Kain looked at her steadily, his tone calm and weary.
“It’s me. I’m no double, no fake...think about it...what protection would there be for someone like me? A disgraced noble without standing, hated by all? There is no reason to pretend.”
He exhaled quietly. “This is me, Sophy.”
Sophia’s lips parted slightly, but no words came out. Her heart gave a small, confused flutter as her mind tried to process what she was seeing.
Up close, she noticed what she had missed at first, his hands were wrapped in clean bandages, the faint bruising along his knuckles still visible. His forearms bore fresh wrappings, and a small patch clung to his cheek.
He has clearly been through something.
Her instinct was to mock him for it, to say something sharp, something like ‘what reckless idiocy did you try this time?’ But when she met his eyes, the words died before they reached her tongue.
Because the eyes staring back at her were not the same ones she remembered.
Gone was the anger, the possessiveness, the lust, the burning envy that once clung to every look he gave her.
What she saw instead was clear and most disarming of all, it felt honest. The feeling unsettled her more than any outburst ever had.
For a long moment, she could not bring herself to speak. Kain, sensing the silence was not hostile, continued.
“I want to sincerely apologize for what I said that day,” he said, his voice steady but low. “There’s no excuse for it and I’m not apologizing to win anything back or to make you forgive me.”
He met her gaze fully. “I’m saying it because it’s the right thing to do.”
Sophia stayed quiet, her fingers tightening slightly around her teacup. Something in his voice. the calmness, the lack of self-pity, it unnerved her in ways she did not understand.
Kain went on.
“I have done things, Sophy. Things that don’t deserve forgiveness. I know that...I carry them with me.”
He paused, the faint crackle of the fire filling the gap between his words.
“You were one of the few lights I had…and I was too blind to see it. Too angry to appreciate what I had.”
Sophia’s throat tightened, but she said nothing.
Kain looked down briefly, as if collecting himself. “I know why you are here...its to annul our engagement.”
He smiled faintly, not bitter, not mocking.
“And I agree. It’s for the best.”
He exhaled softly, leaning back slightly in his chair. “Besides, I’ll be gone soon anyway. Exile tends to make such things official.”
The words were calm, but they carried a quiet weight that settled heavily in the room. For the first time in years, Sophia found herself unable to read him.
The man sitting across from her looked like Kain, spoke with his voice and yet, everything about him felt different and that frightened her far more than the old Kain ever had.
For a moment after he finished speaking, the world felt strangely quiet. The fire crackled faintly in the corner, and the soft clink of cooling porcelain was the only other sound.
Sophia could not believe what she was hearing.
His voice did not belong to the man she had known. Every word had weight, but none carried the arrogance or self-pity that once defined him.
She had spent years imagining this moment. The day Kain Valemont would finally face her, and she would end it all. No tears, no shouting, just the clean break she had long deserved.
And yet, here it was but, it was not what she imagined at all.
‘His apology felt genuine.’
Something in her chest tightened with the realization.
He was right, of course. She had come to annul their engagement. She had rehearsed the words countless times in her head on the way here, direct, formal, detached. But now, staring at him, the words felt heavy and clumsy in her throat.
Sophia’s gaze flicked to him again. His bandaged arms, the faint bruises visible even beneath the fabric. The patch on his cheek. The calm way he sat.
The lavender eyes that once burned with envy and anger now looked clear, patient. It made her feel unsteady, as if the ground beneath her had shifted without warning.
And then there was his face, the sharp lines of his jaw, the faint tiredness around his eyes. Kain had always been handsome, that much she had known, ruined by his personality, but now there was something else there. Something that reminded her of the boy she once loved. The boy who promised to protect her and Eira. The boy who smiled without bitterness.
‘Is this who he would have been if not…’, she did not finish that thought as a flicker of warmth rising unbidden before she crushed it down.
‘It was all too confusing.’
Her fingers tightened around her teacup as she tried to steady herself.
‘No...don’t be swayed. He was still Kain Valemont, the man who humiliated her, the man who shattered the memory of that boy with his actions. One apology didn’t erase that.’
She closed her eyes briefly, trying to quiet her thoughts.
When she finally spoke, her voice was calm, though it trembled slightly at the edges.
“Kain…”
His eyes lifted to meet hers, steady and unreadable.
“Yes,” she continued, “I came here to annul our engagement. Your exile is the result of your own choices. And just because you apologized…”
She hesitated. The words caught in her throat, but she forced them out anyway.
“…it doesn’t change a damn thing.”
The silence that followed was sharp enough to cut through the air.
Sophia drew in a quiet breath and looked away, focusing on the faint shimmer of her reflection in the teacup.
‘You are a princess...you can’t be flustered. You can’t let him see that he’s shaken you,’ she reminded herself before continuing. ‘He hasn’t changed. He can’t have changed. Not after everything.’
Her nails dug faintly into her palm beneath the table, hidden from view.
‘I won’t be tricked again. I won’t be hurt… again.’
But despite the conviction in her thoughts, her chest still felt strangely tight, as if some small, foolish part of her didn’t quite believe her own words.
Kain nodded slowly. “Yes… you’re right, Sophy. It doesn’t change anything.”
He kept his voice steady, every word measured.
“I’m only apologizing because its what is right. I’m not asking for forgiveness.”
He paused, letting the sentence settle between them.
“I understand that too much time has passed.”
He rose from the couch and walked over to the fireplace, letting the heat warm his chilled skin as he continued.
“I will be exiled, as you said. But I invoked the Valemont Right of Redemption, the trial. It will take place in a month.”
The cup in Sophia’s hands trembled. Her eyes widened, shock and suspicion emerged across her face.
“The Trial of Redemption?” she repeated, voice tight.
“You think that will save this engagement?! That will restore your standing with the Valemonts?!” The anger flared now, quick and bright. For a heartbeat she looked as she had in the old days, incensed, wounded, convinced she had been played.
Kain met her stare without flinching.
“No.” He shook his head. “Not to save anything. Not to erase my sins.”
He stepped closer, the room narrowing to the space between them. He could feel her aura underlying her words, poised and ready.
He kept his tone low. “I invoke it to prove I can change. To prove I can be something other than what I was.”
He let those words linger, then added plainly, “If you wish to execute me, strip me of everything now, you have my consent. I will accept your judgment.”
Sophia stared. There was nothing confrontational in his acceptance, only a steady, almost disarming honesty. Her jaw clenched as her hands tightened on the porcelain. No rebuttal came or retort as the certainty of his tone unnerved her in a way her fury never had.
She rose, smoothing her skirts. At 162 centimeters she still had to look up to him, the motion made her small in front of him, an awkward reminder of how close they once were. Her gaze was fierce, but something unreadable flickered through it. The warmth of the fire danced behind her, its light tracing along the edge of her golden hair as she turned to face him fully.
When she spoke, her voice carried that cool, regal, and absolute tone Kain was used to hearing.
“I’ve decided,” she said, her blue eyes meeting his lavender ones without wavering. “I will remain here for a month. I will witness this so-called trial myself. We will settle everything once it’s concluded.”
There was no anger this time. The only thing was the controlled, distant tone of a princess passing judgment.
Her aura flared briefly, enough to make the room feel colder, sharper.
“Until then, do as you wish, Kain Valemont. But know this...if this is another ploy, consequences will be severe.”
Kain inclined his head respectfully and nodded. Letting the silence carry the acceptance between them.
Sophia turned, her expression unreadable, and walked toward the door. As it closed behind her, the room fell silent again, leaving only the sound of the fire crackle and Kain’s quiet exhale.
