Gwyneth slowly and invisibly made her way back to her room. She didn't think anyone would think to check her room after the scene she had made earlier. She would be safe here for now.

She sighed and unstrapped the sword from her back as she sat down before resigning to the comfortable sheets of her bed. How she had missed sleeping on a bed these past few days.

Thoughts buzzed around in her head. Where had Ares gone? Would he be back? Where would she go? Could she really stay here in the castle? Perhaps she could smooth things over with her parents tomorrow. After all, it wasn't like she completely hated them; she would like to keep her relationship with them if possible. Of course, now that they knew she was the savior, that made things all the more dangerous for her. Should she have lied to them? No, that would have only complicated things. It would be difficult to come up with a lie on the spot for why she had left to begin with, and even more difficult to keep up said lie.

More than anything, she desired sleep. Her body shook and ached the entire walk here, and she collapsed several times.

And so, she slept. She slept, and days passed. Slowly but surely, she began to repair her relationship with the king and queen. While they were hostile towards her at first, it was her mother who saw her for who she truly was: the crown princess of Aeceria, and more importantly, her only child. Eventually, they achieved a civil relationship with each other. The king still struggled to accept everything Gwyneth was saying as the truth, and Gwyneth still felt betrayed by the decisions her parents had made.

But at least it was a start.

Waiting for her friends to arrive, Gwyneth spent most of her time in her father's office digging through historical records.

"Do you think you appear in any of these records?" Gwyneth asked the sword beside her. "Ares does, after all."

"It is unlikely, but you can't completely rule out the possibility," Thea answered.

"Even in Zetheria you were obscured. Tell me, what do you look like?"

"You mean before I transferred my soul to this sword? Not much different from you, I guess. Though, my hair was much lighter than yours."

Gwyneth tried to picture Thea in her mind. Though it may have been easier to picture herself with lighter hair, that would also be creepy. So, she pictured someone similar to herself, but with different facial features and lighter hair. When she was satisfied, she got to work.

On the ground lay a lifeless body exactly as Gwyneth had pictured.

"W-What cruel joke is this?" Thea gawked from within the sword.

"A vessel. Will this do?" Gwyneth asked.

"Hm..." Thea studied the body before her. "This isn't quite what I looked like, but it will do."

Gwyneth nodded her head. She held the sword in one hand and the body's hand in the other. She pictured the two connecting to each other, using her as its catalyst. A few seconds later, the body next to her blinked open her eyes. She slowly sat up as if she hadn't performed that motion in years.

"Aren't you going to help me?" Thea asked weakly, a small smile on her face.

Gwyneth quickly grabbed both of her hands in hers and pulled her up, not onto her feet but into Gwyneth's arms.

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"You're finally free," Gwyneth whispered.

"Yeah..." Thea whispered back. Gwyneth could feel her tears against her shoulders. "Are you sure this is what you wanted? If Ares comes back, I won't be able to help you again. I'm powerless in this body."

"Sounds like you need to learn how to use this sword then." Gwyneth smirked, placing the sword into Thea's hands.

"Leaving me to do all the work, aren't you?"

"We'll do this together." Gwyneth smiled.

---

Night fell and Gwyneth found herself lonely in her room. She had introduced her parents to Thea, and Thea was given a room of her own. She didn't want to bother Thea on her first night, but she had gotten so used to sleeping beside others that she had a difficult time sleeping on her own. Four moons ago and this wouldn't have been a problem. Now, she always had her friends beside her. Even when she was rushing back to the castle, she still had Thea at her side.

How silly. But it was pointless to sleep now. Besides, she wasn't even tired.

She sat at her desk and pulled out her diary. Journaling was something she had always been fond of. She had forgotten her diary when she first set out but was later grateful because she didn't trust Aston not to look. Then again, he probably already had his fair share of snooping without her knowing. She knew the maids wouldn't snoop through her diary, and she had already recounted her adventure to her parents, so there was no worry of someone seeing something they shouldn't. Besides, it wasn't like she had a secret crush on anyone.

"What are you writing?"

Gwyneth nearly jumped a meter in the air off her chair. The last person she expected to see was snooping over her shoulder reading her most recent entry.

"What are you doing here?" Gwyneth asked as she stared wide-eyed at Ares.

"We have a temporary truce on the Earth Spirit, remember? There isn't much else to do."

"Oh, really? I thought you would have started a war by now, burned Aeceria down, or at least killed my friends."

Ares blinked. "Is that the impression Thea gave you of me? I assure you I haven't started any wars and I have no reason to kill your friends. As for burning Aeceria... Been there done that."

"Doesn't sound like you have much regret for it, either." Gwyneth crossed her arms. She couldn't help being spiteful when it was her own kingdom.

"I don't." He shrugged. "The alternative would have been far worse. I made the only choice I could have in that scenario, and I choose to live by that."

Gwyneth paused, reflecting on Ares' words. She didn't know how to feel. Her first instinct was to feel angry. How could someone take thousands of lives and feel no regret? Even if it was the right decision, did he not mourn the loss of lives cut short? On the other hand, he seemed so sure of his decision — to the point where it reminded her that she wasn't there at the time, she didn't know the full story.

But this was Ares; she had no reason to trust him. Especially when it came to doing the right thing.

"So, what is your plan now?" she decided to ask. It was better than starting an argument over something that couldn't be changed.

"To learn more about you." He smirked at her, causing her great frustration. "Unlike Thea, you don't seem eager to end my life. You see the value in everyone's life — a naive and perhaps flawed way to live your life, but it makes you that much more interesting. Perhaps there was a time Thea herself felt this way."

"Do you not find value in human life?" Gwyneth asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

"Life is what you make of it. If you waste your life simply existing or destroying others' lives, then your life holds no value."

"And you believe they should die?"

Ares groaned. "It's not that simple. If someone persistently tried to hurt your friend, would you go out of your way to protect them?"

"So, that's how you see things. You place value on others' lives based on how you see them. If they hold no value to you, why should you care what becomes of them?"

"Then how would you answer the question I posed?"

Gwyneth sighed at the rhetorical question. "No, I would not go out of my way to protect them. But I wouldn't go out of my way to harm them either. If I was going to make a decision that could end up killing others, I would do my best to protect them before taking action."

"And what if you had no other choice but to hurt them to protect your friend? Would you do it? What if you accidentally killed them in the process?"

Gwyneth thought back to when Aston had protected her from Notus and they had assured him there had been no other option. She had been so determined to prove Ares wrong that she had completely gone against common sense and logic.

"Perhaps you're right. The world isn't that simple." Gwyneth sighed.

Ares smiled. "You finally understand that there is more to life than just one outlook. Perhaps we can get somewhere, you and I. Tell me, when was the last time you had fun? Real fun?"