Rexir’s recovery didn’t take too long, but it was still quite a while before he was able to get out of bed on his own.

Leresa had been crushed that her husband-to-be would lose the calming, reassuring voice that he had possessed since adolescence. It calmed her heart and settled her feelings on many occasions.

Even now, she felt lost while sitting at his bedside. Why the long face, Less? I would have thought you’d be happy not to hear my voice any more.

She sat up straight, forgetting for the nth time that Rexir could still communicate, it was just only with her that he could do so.

Her fists clenched as she replied, “Never! I would never ever think something so horrid!” Tears began to form in her eyes again.

She had been powerless! As if it weren’t bad enough that she went with Rexir’s selfishness and allowed him to get injured, she hadn’t even been strong enough to reign him in herself.

No, she had to rely on the very foreigners who had done this to her beloved in the first place. She flinched as she felt something encase her fist.

I’m sorry, my love. I forget that everyone takes things differently. While I am used to rolling with the punches, you are a much more empathetic person than I. He held her hand within his own.

“I- I don’t want to lose you.” She leaned into his shoulder, and he started stroking her hair. She looked up with wet eyes and leaned in to kiss him, but a flinch stopped her short.

She backed off immediately, terrified, but a silent smile stopped her freak out mid-action. Sorry, Less. My body is still recovering from the effects of the ‘photon particles,’ as Leo called them. I’ll be able to walk in a few days, but I fear any more strenuous physical activity will be a little more difficult. I fear that we’ll have to put off any honeymoon activities for later.

She looked at his face, incredulously. How could a person who had just lost something he’d lived his entire life with smile like that? She couldn’t understand. But maybe, she didn’t need to.

Maybe, it was one of those things she should just accept and move on. Like Rexir had done. She smiled, as if Rexir’s energy had infected her. I’m sorry, Less. It was a joke to make the mood lighter. Please don’t-

She kissed him then and there, not caring that the rest of his ‘harem’ may have had eyes on her. She decided to believe in Rexir, and in the man who she was inexorably tied to now. She pulled back, and giggled at the look of pure confusion on the man’s face.

“You’d better work on getting better.” She said, a hint of desire in her voice as she traced his chest and abdomen with one of her delicate fingers. “I don’t want to hurt you when we finally decide to seal our marriage. I hope you’ll be well in three months.” She planted one more kiss on him, and made for the door.

She pushed aside the two maids who were looking at her dumbfounded, and opened the door, where she found her love rivals. Well, former love rivals. She’d never let anyone near Rexir again, for she would become his shield.

---

“It seems as though things are getting into a more stabilized position. Wouldn’t you agree?” I looked down at the bundle of blankets that housed Vanessa. I had used my photon awareness to sense the presences of the two people, and I had to say, Leresa was a far more aggressive person than I originally thought.

After things had gone sideways during Rexir’s awakening, Vanessa had locked herself in her room and would only move in order to eat or use the restroom. She seemed very despondent, and today was my fifth day in a row trying to rouse the former-warrior from her mattress.

I sighed at her lack of response, and sat down on the bed next to her. I could see her roll over under the sheets to turn her back to me, and smiled. Even after she lost her memories, she’s still the same Vanessa I fell in love with. Just a bit more prickly.

We sat there in silence for a while, listening to the various wildlife that was present in the Scarlet Palace’s courtyard. As morning turned into noon, Vanessa finally spoke up.

“You’re an idiot. Shouldn’t you be watching over Hazeel while she trains? What happens if you aren’t there and something goes wrong?”

I placed a hand on her head over the covers and patted it gently. She let out a small cry, probably not expecting the contact. “I believe in her.” I said softly. I could hear Vanessa let out a deep sigh.

“Believe it or not, she’s a lot like you were back when I first met you.” Vanessa tore off her covers and sat upright, nearly smacking my face with her forehead as she rose.

“What the hell are you talking about! How are we similar in any way!” Vanessa was yelling at me, tears in her eyes. “Hazeel is a god damned elf who, without even having photons occur in her world naturally, picked up the black hole manipulation skill in a month!” She was on a roll now, and increasing in fervor with each new word.

“That’s not even counting Leresa and Rexir, each of whom only met you a handful of times and still managed to get through the ceremony! They’re both incredible talents! And what did I do with that talent!?”

She stopped her rant, and was breathing heavily while avoiding eye contact. “I ruined it.” She said softly. “I trampled all over it because I wanted to prove that I could still be useful even when I’d lost most of what made me special to you.”

My eyes widened at her words. My heart started to beat faster, and a look at her flushed cheeks made me ask, “Why do you want to be useful to me? Did you regain any of your memories?”

She looked back at me and wiped the tears from her eyes. “No, no I didn’t. I didn’t regain my memories, but I regained the emotions, I think.”

I must have looked confused, because she elaborated, “I don’t know what memories they stem from, but when I speak to you, when I look at you, when you touch me, I always get an influx of emotions.”

She frowned and grabbed my hand. “It feels so foreign to me to have these feelings about someone you don’t remember meeting, or even existing before a week ago. It’s unsettling, but I feel so happy when I’m with you sometimes.”

I could have played it cool. I could have just given her the same reassuring smile I’d given her the last time we had a similar conversation, but I didn’t. I took her hands in mine, and leaned in to her face.

Her eyes went wide before being squeezed closed, and I rested my forehead on hers. “Don’t worry about who you’re supposed to be right now. Just live. Just live, and live in a way that makes you happy. Because if you’re enjoying yourself, I’ll be happy too.”

I separated from her, and I had to suppress my growing smile at the stupefied look on her face. Despite my mind telling me I shouldn’t I planted a light kiss on her forehead and stood up from the bed.

“Come on, let’s get you into a shower. We need to be inside the palace’s throne room in a couple hours. Rexir is making a speech, and we’re a core part of what’s about to happen.”

---

Rexir Lu Minami sat on his scarlet throne, overseeing his court. It hadn’t been the first time he had needed to act using his father’s name, but it was the first time since the accident. He gazed upon his court, a variety of aristocrats who’d done little more than move as zombies following the political flow of his father.

He smiled to himself, mostly because he would finally be able to escape the never-ending cycle of being under his father, the Golden Emperor’s thumb.

Rexir liked being part of the nobility, of course, but there was a part of him that had longed to be free. That part of him screamed violently every time he was ordered to do something, or told by his family to consider adding another concubine to his already out of hand harem.

He also didn’t expect to be fast tracked towards freedom the way that he was. He had fully expected to need to fight his father to the death, only gaining freedom by becoming the emperor, and even then, it was just imprisonment by another name.

Now, thanks to the efforts of Leo, Vanessa, and Hazeel, he would be able to escape this world, in due time. Should he choose to go slay the dragon with Leo, he would also be granted an audience with Tirania, and perhaps, she would allow one of her followers to escape the mortal plane that he’d always known.

Besides… he’d always be content as long as Leresa was by his side. He gazed fondly over the Silver Continent Princess standing in front of him.

Unfortunately, the trumpet heralding the beginning of his speech resounded through the courtroom, and all the aristocrats knelt in fealty.

Leresa was among one of four people still on their feet, with the other three being the wood elf, and two otherworlders standing on a balcony overseeing the whole scene.

Rexir shot them a smile, one which Leo reciprocated, and waved his hand at Hazeel, who waved back. He still wasn’t sure what he thought about Vanessa, but he knew she felt responsible for what had happened, so he tried not to make any gesture that could be seen as hostile.

Looking back down at the court, he sent a clear message for Leresa to speak. “Attention, nobles of the court!” Leresa shouted, causing several faces to look up in shock.

They weren’t used to being addressed by anyone other than Rexir at these meetings, so a few looked at Leresa with contempt for a supposed breach of protocol and etiquette.

“Hear my words as those of the prince! His Imperial Highness Rexir Lu Minami wishes to inform his court of some changes that are being made.”

He heard a few grunts, and waited for the noise to die down before sending more information to Leresa. “First, the reason that his Imperial Highness is not speaking. Unfortunately…” Leresa’s voice became shaky, “There was an accident a few days ago, and Lord Minami has lost the ability of his voice.”

That set the room ablaze with conversation, and it was only when Leresa knocked her staff on the ground three times that silence returned to the area. “However, the Lord has learned a new form of magic, one which allows him to communicate with me mentally. That is the mode for which I now deliver his will.”

“The lord is abandoning his family name in favor of taking on a quest given to him by Shar, newly ascended God of the Forge! He will accompany myself, and three other elite warriors to slay the ancient dragon, Bolzard! We will reclaim the hero’s weapon, and claim a great boon in the process!”

More chatter, and yet again, Leresa pounded her staff on the floor to restore order. “As such, there will be a change in who owns the territory. The territory has now been annexed as one of the Azure Continents, under the very capable command of their General Conrad Morrow.”

Rexir smiled to himself as the room exploded in a flurry of emotions. Leresa looked back at him to check if he wanted to say more, but he just shook his head and took in the sounds of discord. If this was what freedom felt like, then he wouldn’t take back the throne for anything.