After addressing the court, Lucius finally turned his attention to Nova's former owner, Lord Darius, still held firmly by Valerian's iron grip. The noble trembled uncontrolbly as Lucius approached, his terror palpable to everyone present.

  "Lord Darius." Lucius's voice was quiet, almost conversational, yet it carried effortlessly through the silent chamber. "You have owned Nova for approximately two centuries, correct?"

  "Y-yes, Your Majesty," Lord Darius stammered, his aristocratic composure completely shattered.

  "During these two centuries, you attempted to... train him." Lucius's inflection made the word sound like a curse. "Describe these methods."

  Lord Darius hesitated, his eyes darting frantically around the room as if seeking escape. Finding none, he swallowed hard.

  "Standard methods, Your Majesty. Nothing unusual. Merely attempting to establish proper behavior for a—"

  "Specifics," Lucius interrupted, his voice unchanged yet somehow more terrible in its quietness.

  As Lord Darius recounted his "training attempts" in halting detail—the isotion, the physical punishments, the deliberate psychological maniputions—Lucius's expression darkened incrementally. He asked occasional crifying questions, each delivered with the same measured calm that somehow made them more devastating than shouted accusations.

  "And these methods continued for the full two hundred years?" Lucius asked when Lord Darius finally fell silent.

  "He was... particurly resistant to proper training, Your Majesty." Lord Darius attempted to regain some dignity with a dismissive gesture that was undermined by the visible tremor in his hands. "He refused to accept his pce as just a pet."

  The words hung in the air for a moment before Lucius's careful restraint slipped. No visible change occurred in his posture or expression, yet suddenly everyone in the room felt an overwhelming pressure bearing down on them. Nobles gasped for unnecessary breath, some falling to their knees as the weight of Lucius's unleashed power crushed against them.

  Lord Darius colpsed completely, only Valerian's grip keeping him from crumpling to the floor.

  Then, as quickly as it had manifested, the pressure vanished. Lucius stood precisely as before, his expression perfectly composed once more.

  "Just a pet," he repeated softly. "Two hundred years of captivity, and you still fail to comprehend the fundamental error in your understanding."

  Lucius stepped closer, and despite the absence of visible power, Lord Darius flinched as if struck.

  "I have considered your case carefully," Lucius continued, his voice taking on the formal cadence of royal judgment. "And I find a perfect symmetry in the appropriate response."

  Lord Darius's eyes widened with dawning horror.

  "I sentence you to exactly what you inflicted," Lucius decred, his voice carrying the weight of both king and progenitor. "Two centuries as a resource in Valerian's blood farms. You will retain full awareness throughout this experience. You will not be permitted to die, nor will you be permitted to forget a single moment."

  A strangled sound escaped Lord Darius's throat—not quite a word, not quite a sob.

  "Valerian will ensure that your treatment precisely mirrors what you provided Nova," Lucius continued. "The symmetry is... appropriate, is it not?"

  Valerian's face showed grim satisfaction as he tightened his grip on Lord Darius's colr. "Most appropriate, brother."

  "Take him away," Lucius commanded, already turning his attention elsewhere as if Lord Darius had ceased to exist the moment judgment was pronounced.

  As Valerian dragged the sobbing noble from the chamber, Nova watched with an expression that reflected neither satisfaction nor pity—merely quiet recognition that a chapter of his life had finally closed. The calcuted justice in Lucius's sentence hadn't escaped his notice: not cruelty for cruelty's sake, but a precisely measured response designed to create understanding through direct experience.

  When the doors closed behind Valerian and his prisoner, a subtle shift in the atmosphere suggested that something significant had changed beyond the fate of a single noble. Lucius had demonstrated his approach to justice—measured, proportional, and unavoidable—without excessive dispy or emotional indulgence.

  Nova caught Lucius's eye across the room, and a moment of silent understanding passed between them. In that brief connection, Nova recognized that Lucius's judgment of Lord Darius wasn't merely punishment for past wrongs—it was also a promise about the future, a decration that such abuses would never again be permitted as long as he ruled.