Lin says "How do you feel?"

"Like someone ran over my head with a truck, repeatedly. Seronia, why do you look surprised?"

Seronia says "I've never taught our language to a mortal, I was worried about side effects. It doesn't look like anything happened other than the pain though."

"Are you saying you are surprised that I lived? What kind of side effects? Why didn't you warn me?"

Seronia says "No, I knew you would live. I've given up on underestimating you. Would me telling you the side effects have made you change your mind? Of course not, so why waste time explaining?"

"Fair enough."

Lin says "She knows you too well, honey."

Seronia says "It is a good thing I do, otherwise I wouldn't trust your word enough to take this risk."

"Don't worry, I get how important it is. Even more now that I have the language itself. I can already tell just how powerful the language itself is."

Seronia says "It is. For the next while I will be keeping a much closer eye on you, just in case your curiosity gets away from you."

Lin says "Don't worry, Seronia, I will be watching him as well."

"Seronia, will a gathering formation be able to collect divine energy or do I have to fuel all the spells manually?"

Seronia says "There are very few places in this world that have divine energy that could be gathered."

"Before I go trying anything, is it possible to convert mana into divine energy? Or create divine energy some other way?"

Seronia says "No! Divine energy can only be created by deities or from the faith generated by those with souls."

"Okay, just wanted to check."

Lin says "Ash, stop asking her questions just to make her doubt her choice. That's not nice and you know it."

"Alright. Fine."

Seronia gives me a glare after Lin ques her in on what I am doing and leaves soon after. However, even though she is gone, I can still feel her watching, looks like she wasn't kidding. Despite a pounding headache, I still open a soulscape and send out invitations.

Brightfire shows up this time and has tons to tell us about Sheraf and her interactions with Stillwater. Her description of Sheraf meeting Silverstream has us all laughing. Sheraf has already started planning their wedding even though both of them are protesting.

Brightfire says "The best part is Silverleaf, I can't even count how many times she has told people 'I told you so.'"

"I'm guessing she is on Sheraf's side?"

Brightfire says "Oh, absolutely. She jumped right into helping to plan the wedding."

Lin says "Hm, maybe I should talk to them."

"Hey!"

Myria laughs and says "You don't need to worry about it. Planning is already underway."

"What?! Who is planning what?!"

Myria smiles and says "Sarah and Annya."

"And how do they know anything about it?"

Myria says "It is my job to keep everyone informed, isn't it?"

"Well, tell them to stop. Lin still has time to change her mind and realize that I am not worth what she will have to deal with."

*Smack!*

Lin says "That isn't going to happen!"

Myria says "I don't care what you say. If you want those two to stop then you have to tell them yourself. Besides, I am on Lin's side, stop with your nonsense, you are definitely worth anything we have to go through!"

Lin says "That's right. The only one who needs time is you. The answer will be yes whenever you get around to asking."

"Um. Uh."

Brightfire laughs and says "I think you broke him!"

Myria says "Yeah, she did. I've seen this before. It will take a few minutes for his brain to reboot."

The three girls all laugh and walk away to continue talking amongst themselves. I am sure that there is a stupid look on my face, but luckily I can't see it. Lin totally surprised me, I really thought that she needed time to think about things.

Then again, she did say she had loved me for a while before I said anything. It seems that she is just waiting on me to wrap my head around things again. Although, this time I think I can surprise her for a change, all I need to do is make a ring.

In all honesty, telling her I love her was hard for me, but asking her to marry me is easy. We already plan to spend the rest of my life together, marriage is just a formality. Although, I'm sure that no one is going to let me get away with a small, simple ceremony.

However, since Sarah and Annya are already planning it, I plan to just let them handle everything. Lin can get involved with the planning or not, that's her choice. It isn't like it is urgent, there are going to be other things I need to deal with before an actual wedding.

Brightfire says "Hey, Ash. Are we watching anime or not?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

As usual, Lin and Myria sit on either side of me and cuddle up against my sides. Luckily, I manage to lose myself in watching the anime and not get trapped in a thought spiral. When it comes to Lin, I have managed to silence the doubting voice in my head, well mostly.

Luckily, when I end the soulscape and open my eyes I find that my headache is gone. Although, I am still lying on the floor since I didn't bother to get up before creating the soulscape.

Lin says "You know that I wasn't trying to pressure you or anything, right?"

"I know. I just honestly thought that you would need some time to think things through. Maybe not so much because of me, but because of all the other things that come with marrying me."

Lin says "I did, about an hour or so. That's all it took for me to decide that you are worth whatever else I have to deal with."

"You could still be with me without having to deal with the other stuff though. Marrying me just doesn't seem worth it when it brings no real benefits. Being the human queen of the beastmen won't be easy, especially after I die."

Lin says "Ash, only you could think that there are no benefits to being your wife."

"There really aren't though. You are already a part of my life. There isn't anything that marrying me will change between us."

Lin says "Ash, I love you, but you are an idiot sometimes."

"I won't argue that. I just don't see what you mean, but I won't try to talk you out of it. I will ask you once I have made a proper ring."

Lin says "Alright. It's still early, do you want to take a bath before bed? Or lay in front of the fire and read together?"

"Oh, let's read together!"