Lire

  Negotiation is a waltz, a wise man once said.

  Well, Reivan didn't actually know if the man was truly wise. Maybe they just liked waltzing.

  But in any case, he left most negotiation matters to other people if he could get away with it. He was fine with undergoing infiltration missions and other dangerous undertakings, but tasks that required subtlety and finesse weren't his strong suit. Better to leave it to the experts.

  Like Jiji, who had an inherently disarming charm when she wanted to. Or the ministers he’d brought over from Aizen, who had been bureaucrats for longer than he’d been alive.

  Meanwhile, he and Hector were dropping rge rocks down a cliff northeast of Lageton. Reason? There wasn't anything of the sort. It was just satisfying to idle around and watch the rocks make big spshes of water.

  Was it childish? Yes, and neither of them would deny it.

  They used to do it a lot when they were kids too, though at the time they had frequently done it at a decorative pond within pace grounds and the stones had only been as rge as their heads. Over time, they evolved into doing it on beaches, together with strangers who join in when passing by—not knowing that one of the boys was a prince.

  Now, with Reivan and Hector's strength, they could do bigger things.

  "Hey, found another one." Hector calmly strolled up to him, all while lifting a house-sized boulder like it weighed nothing at all. He stopped just before the edge of the cliff. "Ready?"

  "I'm ready." Reivan nodded, bearing his own house-sized rock. His was a bit ftter shaped, though. It would likely make a much better spsh if dropped correctly. "You go first."

  One after another, they let their rocks tip off the cliff and fall down to the sea below. They were careful not to exert any of their force on it, letting gravity do all the work for the sake of fairness. It only took a few moments of anticipation before their rocks collided with the surface of the water and penetrated its depths.

  Once both stones were finished, Reivan and Hector spent a moment of silence to appreciate the satisfaction they felt before deliberating on who found the better rock.

  "Mine was better." Reivan crossed his arms.

  Hector sighed but reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, even I'll have to admit it. Did you hear the sound it made? Pp! Man, that was a good rock."

  "Yep. I'm telling you, the ftter ones are winners. You just gotta get the drop right so they fall on their wide side."

  With that out of the way, Reivan maniputed the snow all around them to form what appeared to be half an igloo. Snow was technically ice, so it fell into his sphere of influence. Both of them ducked into the alcove and took a seat. Reivan procured a bottle of rum and two cups, handing one to Hector before filling it up for his friend.

  They had to stop pying around at some point, after all. Plus, they had run out of rger boulders in the area. Maybe there were still some left under the snow and even further beneath the ground. But it’d take much time and effort to dig them up. Both of them had come here to enjoy themselves, not to do manual bor.

  "You think we'll ever get to do stupid stuff like this again?" Hector asked musingly. He took a sip from his cup and then gestured at the sunset. "Not just dropping rocks and stuff. Just… you know. Stupid stuff in general."

  Reivan shrugged. "I don't see why not. Why wouldn't we?"

  "I mean... I'm a father now. And you're going to be one soon."

  "Ah. Right... I can see where you're going with this." Reivan nodded to himself, taking a long pull from his own cup.

  It was easy to forget because of all the things they'd accomplished and all the things they could accomplish, but both of them were merely nineteen years old. Back in his old world, people wouldn't even be real adults at that age. They would be old enough in the eyes of the w, sure. But most nineteen-year-olds wouldn't have gone through enough or even be mature enough to deserve being called one.

  'Do I deserve to be called one, I wonder...?'

  He'd killed men and freed himself from the shackles of virginity. But was he truly an adult? Was that enough? Would a kid look at Reivan and actually see an adult dependable enough to trust their life with?

  It was a terrifying thought.

  That one day, many years ter, his children would look at him and find him cking—that he wasn’t enough. And the pain would cut deeper because he wanted to be. What else could he do but keep on trying though? Was there any other way? He would try and try. And he wouldn’t stop until someone stopped him. But that didn’t mean he had to kill who he truly was in the attempt.

  After all, it didn’t seem healthy to sacrifice a part of him for another. That felt like a recipe for future resentment. Or maybe he was talking—thinking, rather—out of his ass. Perhaps the best answer to his internal questions would come to him in time and he was currently overthinking everything.

  ‘There's no rush. Let’s just enjoy life when we can.’

  “Then let’s agree to do this from time to time.” Reivan chuckled. “You know. Just get together and clear our heads. Just a few hours where we’ll forget that we’re not supposed to be the children that we are. That we’re not just big babies trying to raise other babies. Because we’re never as mature as we think we are.”

  Hector’s brows shot up and he ughed. “Sounds good. And also oddly poetic.”

  “It’s from a book I just read. Arkhanian.”

  “So that’s why. I’m gd it’s not because you’ve gotten more clever than me.”

  Reivan grimaced. “I’ve always been more clever than you.”

  “Uh, no you haven’t.”

  “Uh, yes I have.”

  “Who’s the moron who took so many years trying to deny my sister, then ended up marrying her anyway?”

  Reivan opened his mouth to reply, but found that he didn’t actually have a good retort to that. In his defense, he did have very good reasons for it back then. But in hindsight, it just looked like he was in denial.

  “You’re never going to let that go, aren’t you…” Reivan finally sighed in surrender.

  “You got that right.” Hector grinned, holding his cup toward him. “Cheers.”

  “Fucker… Cheers.”

  Their cups clinked together, and they both downed the contents in one go.

  ‘This is good stuff.’

  Reivan realized that he’d been drinking a lot more often since Hector’s return. Mostly because his friend liked alcohol quite a lot. It was a very clear example of how the company that one keeps influenced people.

  That said, he didn’t think it was bad. At the very least, he wasn’t going around making a fool of himself, saying stupid shit, or beating his wife after he had a few bottles. Getting totally drunk was harder for his and Hector’s current constitutions too, so they could enjoy the taste and the light buzz without much issue.

  And to be honest, Aizenian brews were so good that it wasn’t strange how he’d developed a taste for them. Maybe he didn’t even need Hector to be around for it to happen. Also, it shouldn't be forgotten how he'd already seen the appeal of alcohol while he was running around in Clover Salwyn's form. Booze somehow tasted better when he was in that form.

  “So,” Hector set the cup down on the snowy floor they sat on. He wiped the traces of rum on his lips with the back of his hand before gncing at Reivan. “I heard you’re thinking of making a deal with Argonia.”

  Reivan nodded. “That is indeed the case.”

  “And you sincerely believe it's a good idea?”

  “Meh... It has its merits. And demerits, of course. But what do you think?”

  “Well…” Hector hummed in thought and hesitation before answering. “Are you going to tell the public?”

  Reivan raised a brow. “It’s not going to be something to hide. At least a million people per sin imperial prince or princess will be liberated and returned to us. Depending on Jiji’s haggling skills, we could get even more. And if we sy more princes, then we get even more. Not even Aizen can hide that from the popuce. What, we're supposed to say they just appeared on our doorsteps one day? Even if we took that route, our stories wouldn't line up with the liberated Arkhanians.”

  “That’s true…”

  “You got a problem with that, though? I’m up for feedback. Every perspective I can get on this matters.”

  Hector scratched his head for a moment, humming in contemption. “Doesn’t everyone hate the Argonians right now? Everbody from Aizen does. The Arkhanians do too. Everybody and their mother hates them.”

  “Uh-huh, that goes without saying… What’s your point?”

  “I mean, if we make a deal with them, won’t that create a bad image? Like, it’d be different if they grew up with you or trusted you as I do. But making deals with demons won’t look good, even if the results are nice. The common popuce won't like it much.”

  Reivan mused on that thought, because it wasn’t unwarranted. Some people were definitely going to think like that. Because not all people had something decent within their skulls. “If anyone ever says anything, I’ll just ask them how they pnned to rescue millions of incarcerated Arkhanians from the heart of Argonia.”

  Hector chuckled but shook his head. “You know that’s not gonna fly. What kind of leader asks a follower how to be a better leader when told they’re cking? It’s the leader’s job to think of how to be a better leader.”

  Sometimes, Reivan forgot that this friend of his was being groomed for command and leadership as well. But then these tiny tidbits of wisdom in such a youth reminded him every time.

  “True enough.” Reivan grinned, softly jabbing his friend with his left elbow. “But as it currently stands, we can’t not take the deal. Nor can we dey it. Every day those Arkhanians aren’t liberated, they spend a day suffering as sves.”

  “I guess that’s true.”

  “I have considered your concerns, though.” Reivan shrugged. “But this is, unironically, the best option we can take. One can even say it's the only option. All we can really do is let the people think what they wish. Besides, I can tell you one part of the popution that will appreciate this, other than everyone who came from Aizen.”

  Hector raised a brow. “Who?”

  “The people we rescue.”

  “Oh. Right.”

  Reivan chuckled. “They’re definitely not going to have any qualms with how they're saved. As long as they are saved. And if they have families and loved ones who were here from before? Boom. We have those people’s support too.”

  The numerous Arkhanians he’d personally saved were also doing wonders for his reputation. What was neat was how he never even asked it of them. They had simply begun tooting his horn when they could. Because of that, there were wildly embellished stories about him and his greatness, which he felt complicated about.

  One story seemingly went through a few drunken individuals, because by the time it was retold, Reivan was somehow depicted as a man with a giant bck serpent down there. Not as a pet. It got a good ugh out of Hector, sure. But Zouros didn’t like the story one bit and even implored Reivan to find the source.

  “Well, either way.” Hector took the bottle of rum and shamelessly drank from it instead of using the literal cup right next to him like a civilized person would've. “I’m here for you, man. No matter what happens.”

  Eh, well. For those words, Reivan would forgive the uncivilized requisition of a three-hundred-year-old bottle of vintage. But only for today.

  He’d hang this bastard up by the legs if he did it again. Especially when the bottle was still more than half full.

  A couple of days ter, Jiji reported that the negotiations ended in a favorable light and that the Argonians had already been sent off.

  He had volunteered to stand in just as a living lie detection machine, but she said she didn’t need him because Warbeasts recently discovered that humans release some sort of special smell when they lie. And she’d learned how to tell.

  It was interesting how Warbeasts apparently didn’t release such a thing, which was why they were so surprised that humans did. Reivan didn’t either, which may or may not have been because he wasn’t completely human, because he did release the scent when he lied while using [Reality Falsification] to transform into a full human.

  A subject for academics to dig into, but it was just a small curiosity for him. He’d have to remember it when trying to lie to Warbeasts, though.

  Reivan yawned, fresh out of bed, as he put on a tunic. “So?”

  His dearest little sister, with all her wisdom, had seen fit to wake him in the middle of the goddamn night to talk about all this so he assumed she had a good reason.

  Because if she didn’t, then he was going to make her sit through his vast repertoire of profanities. And he would have been angrier too, if his nightly activities had been interrupted. Luckily, Helen still hadn’t returned from her trip back to the kingdom. If he wasn't purposely making himself avaible for his people to contact him personally, he would have gone to Elsa's pce instead. But as, it wasn't meant to be.

  “First of all," Jiji, in a somewhat revealing bck negligee that he really wished she didn’t wear right now, crossed her legs and sighed. "I’m sorry for disturbing your rest.”

  “I forgive you,” Reivan said with drowsy magnanimity. Now that she’d apologized, he didn’t see the need to comment on it anymore. That said, they were in private, so he felt it was okay to needle her about it. “How are you gonna make it up to me though?”

  “Isn’t the view you’re getting enough?” she smiled a little too enticingly as her legs recrossed, almost drawing his eyes to them. “Look all you want in exchange. I don’t mind.”

  “No, I’m good.” Reivan turned his face away from his sister and threw a bnket at her. “Cover up, will you?”

  She caught it deftly, but set it beside her on the sofa instead of obediently concealing her exposed legs. “Covering up means a desire to hide something. I have nothing to hide, however.”

  “You should.”

  “Why?”

  Reivan scratched his head in frustration, feeling as if he was expining something fundamentally obvious. “Because you’re my sister, and you shouldn’t be acting like this.”

  “And as I’ve already said,” Jiji rolled her eyes. “I never considered you my brother. Mother is my mother, yes. And though we never got too close because he was so busy as a king, I also consider Father as my father. And I consider Rond my brother too. But you? Never.”

  “That…”

  “Now, before you get all hurt,” she cut him off with a firm tone. “It’s not because of whatever nonsense you’re thinking.”

  Reivan frowned. “But you kept calling me Yani, and that means older brother…”

  Jiji bit her lip. “That's true, yes. But it’s a bit more nuanced than that… plenty is lost in the transtion. Yani is just what younger female warbeasts call older male warbeasts that they’re close with. That can be family, but that can also be…”

  Reivan watched her cheeks slowly redden, even under the dim light of the moon coming from the window. He decided not to tell her that he’d found out about the nuance a long time ago.

  It had been a mere coincidence, when he heard some warbeast couples talk from time to time. Obviously, those weren’t blood-reted siblings because they were making out in a very atmospheric restaurant. But he heard the women call their husbands “Yani” from time to time and realized that the word meant a bit more than just “older brother”.

  He never told her, of course. Because it might have dug up things he didn’t want to confirm.

  And now they were coming out of the ground anyway.

  Just as he did with all the problems he didn’t know how to solve and couldn’t delegate, Reivan chose to set it aside for now. This time, he forcefully changed the topic. “So, what news do you have for me? And why did you need to wake me up for it instead of waiting for morning?”

  “I have some good news and some very bad news.”

  “...Damnit. There's always bad news.” Reivan’s leg bounced up and down on its heel as he stewed in his annoyance. “Fine. Tell me the good news first.”

  Jiji nodded. “The negotiation went even better than I expected. As I thought, those imperial bastards were trying to undercut us.”

  “Yeah? What’s the deal now?”

  “There’s a separate rate of exchange for food, but that’s not interesting and it was apparently non-negotiable. On the bright side, we have so much food that exchanging them for literal people is always worth it.”

  “Of course. What about the bounty thing?”

  “Ten million for every dead imperial other than Prince Axion. That said, their side has to pce the bounty first. They have fragile alliances with other factions, after all.”

  Reivan’s eyes widened for a second. Ten million? That was ten times what they had initially offered. Those bastards. Really, Argonians couldn’t be trusted.

  Jiji continued, her chest slightly puffed out in pride. “I had some good quality of life concessions as well. Extensive information about the target faction will always be provided. And we get to pick when and who to really attack. If the information he gives is too cking or too inconsistent, the price will be doubled.”

  “Nice…”

  “And I told them that the sves they will relinquish to us must be in good condition. Those who die along the way to Lageton won’t be counted either. Among other things that will prevent them from screwing us over.”

  Reivan couldn’t help but ugh. “Good idea! Damn. My sister's so capable.”

  Jiji shrugged. “Not really. The credit goes to one of the ministers I brought along. She was a contract drafting specialist. I also found a very interesting Arkhanian mage who used to be a scammer, so I consulted with them in exchange for amnesty. We never had any pns to pursue those crimes anyway, though.”

  “You’re actually scaring me now.”

  It was true. For there were things that couldn’t be solved by violence. Well, by their level of violence. He supposed that with enough violence, the threat itself could get them just about anything they wanted. But that's besides the point.

  “Thank you.” Jiji smiled, leaning forward a little in what appeared to be a bow. Which seemed a deliberate move to make him look at her respectably sized peaks. “Don’t I get a reward?”

  Reivan cleared his throat. “You already do. It’s called a sary.”

  “You don't pay me."

  "What...? That can't be right..."

  "And even if you do, that’s not enough…”

  Reivan clicked his tongue and gestured for her to hurry. "Stop fooling around and hit me with the bad news so I can begin my sleepless night of worrying already.”

  “As you wish.” Jiji immediately backed off with that mischievous smile of hers that only came out in private.

  ‘Phew.’

  He internally sighed in relief. Whatever it was that inspired her romantic aggression and caused her to rip off the bandaid over her infatuation, it hadn’t completely sent her over the rails. She never pushed too far. Though the fact that she ever pushed at all troubled him.

  It troubled him because when he ignored the fact that he’d seen this young woman grow up, she was now a devilishly charming beauty who knew how to weaponize her charms. Helen and Elsa were gorgeous, yes. But neither of them were at Jiji’s level of using her looks to get into people’s heads.

  That hadn’t been something he’d seen her do a lot. Only heard about. And it made him realize that maybe he didn’t know as much about her as he thought.

  “A ship full of warbeasts has sailed across the Eastern Depths and made contact with Aizen.”

  Her words immediately shattered all other idle thoughts from his mind. “The east…”

  “The Eastern Continent, yes,” Jiji confirmed with a grim facade. “The one ruled by people who hate my cn. And those who wiped out yours…”

  Reivan’s leg bouncing grew more intense as his frustration rose. “What did they want?”

  “They were apparently looking for the Terracatta Cn.”

  “And what happened to the foreigners?”

  “They were immediately captured and locked up.” Jiji sighed. “But their loss will be a burning wick. It is only a matter of time before their inability to return causes a reaction. We can only hope the other side interprets it in a way favorable to us.”

  Reivan nodded slowly. “It would be good if they simply think that the ship’s people abandoned their duties and ran off.”

  “Indeed, Yani. A more favorable one would be if they think the ship was swallowed by the sea and its horrors. That would give them pause. And hopefully discourage further attempts at a voyage. There were no small number of people on the ship.”

  “Oh, that is better, yeah…” he agreed. “Wait, did they not send any Ascendants?”

  “None were found. The ship’s occupants were brought to nd before they were arrested. Dame Mordred, along with a few other Ascendants specialized in scouting, looked around for any hidden enemies after that. Besides, Sir Rolf would have found them for sure.”

  “Huh.” Reivan scratched his head. “Wonder why. I know Ascendants are a lot rarer for Warbeasts as a whole because they have less mana than humans. But still. Feels a bit dumb to risk people dying to bad weather at sea.”

  Jiji nodded. “The conflict between the two Transcendents over there must be too fierce. This is very good for us.”

  Reivan let the tension release from his body but then he realized something. “Wait, I know this is all pretty important information, but did you really need to wake me up in the middle of the night for it?”

  “No. But how could I have shown you my new nightgown if I didn’t? Don't you think it looks good on me? Besides, you’re probably always awake at this time anyway.”

  She wasn’t wrong about the tter assumption, but Reivan still unceremoniously kicked her out for annoying him.

  He went to sleep alone that night, praying for his wife to return quickly. With his other adopted sister and his adopted niece in tow.

  Helen returned the morning after, so Reivan was visibly eted. So much so that he didn’t mind his toast being a little burnt—which was strange, because he never got served burnt toast ever.

  ‘Must’ve been a new guy in the kitchen, then.’

  He wouldn’t bother compining because the person might get in trouble whether Reivan wanted them to or not. Besides, it wasn’t such a big deal. And it was just one slice. One could even say that he enjoyed the “novel” experience of eating something imperfectly prepared.

  Anyway, back to his wife.

  His wife’s return was significantly more important than toast and its burntness.

  It would have been too cramped to wait for her in the underground teleportation chamber, but he did it anyway. Of course, Hector was with him too because Mimi, his own wife, was coming as well. Along with his newborn, who was apparently the cutest ever. As if there was ever a parent who didn’t say their kid was the cutest thing ever.

  ‘Heh. I’ll probably say it about my kids too, though.’

  And he wouldn’t even be lying because why wouldn’t his kids be the most adorable little bundles in the world?

  Helen came out of the portal first, wearing a loose white and blue dress that reached down to her knees. Her stomach was visibly bulging, but apparently wasn’t as big as it was supposed to be at the current stage of her pregnancy. It was why Reivan sent her off back to Aizen in the first pce, even though plenty of people assured him that these kinds of things normally varied on a case-by-case basis.

  His wife had a lithe but muscur physique, but strip that away and she actually had a rather small frame. So it was perfectly reasonable for her stomach to be smaller than normal. But he hadn’t been satisfied with that reasoning and sent her back to Aizen just to get a second, third, fourth, and fifth opinion on the matter.

  Hell, he would have come too if she hadn’t insisted that he stay.

  “Welcome back.” Reivan beamed excitedly like a golden retriever as he met his wife halfway and shared an embrace, though he was careful about the precious life between them. They had only been apart for a little more than a week, but it felt too long. “My sister is...?”

  “Going to come out soon.” Helen gestured at the portal. Then her gaze nded on her twin brother. “Hector. I hope you haven’t been a bad influence on Van.”

  Hector snorted. “If anything, he’s a bad influence on me. I only have one wife and I’m not pnning on another one.”

  Reivan looked back and mouthed “Shut up, asshole” with a grimace before turning back to Helen with a smile. “Don’t listen to your idiot brother. I’ve been drinking more because of him. I can barely get any work done.”

  Helen shook her head. “As usual, you two should never be left unsupervised. You end up doing useless things too, like throwing rocks into ponds or racing squirrels.”

  As usual, she was unusually sharp.

  Soon, the portal flickered again and a warbeast woman with shoulder-length brown hair and an elegant turquoise dress walked out. Truly, she had somehow blossomed into a woman without him noticing. And to think she had been a bit tomboyish when they were younger.

  Yet, from all the people he knew around his age, Mimi was the first to give birth and become a mother.

  ‘Eh?’

  Speaking of babies, he looked at her arms, expecting to find his newest niece. But the baby was riding on Mimi’s shoulders instead. She was basically the infant version of Mimi in terms of looks, but that wasn’t the part that surprised him.

  “Uh, shouldn’t she be…” Reivan looked at the baby, who was now staring back at him curiously. “Less than three months old?”

  Hector spoke up from the side, taking the baby from his wife and giving her a one-arm hug. “It’s apparently a warbeast thing, Van. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Da!” the baby cheered when she realized who was holding her, licking his chin.

  “Sh-she just talked…” Reivan muttered to himself in shock. “Three months old…”

  “It’s a warbeast thing, Van,” Helen said, nudging his arm. “C’mon. Say hi to your sister.”

  ‘What the fuck, warbeasts. Aren’t you cheating a little too much!?’

  Reivan cleared his throat and grinned at Mimi, walking forward and embracing his adopted sister after a long time apart. “It's good to see you again.”

  Mimi returned the hug tightly. “Since our wedding a few months ago, yes. It’s good to see you too. You should visit home more often.”

  “So I’ve been told.” He chuckled.

  “Oh, and…” Mimi lowered her tone, seemingly careful not to be heard by her husband. Which she shouldn’t be worried about, because Hector seemed too busy pying with his daughter. “Please take care of Hector. In all manner of things.”

  Reivan instantly knew what she meant, so he nodded. “I promise.”

  “Thank you. I’m counting on you.” She whispered with a smile before hugging him even tighter. Only after he returned it did they part.

  “Van, check this out.” Hector walked over while proudly holding his baby aloft. “Isn’t she the cutest?”

  Reivan chuckled as he crossed his arms and “seriously” evaluated the little thing. Then he nodded. “I hate to admit it, but you’re right. She is the cutest. Until mine is born, anyway.”

  The baby reached out to him, straining against her father’s hands just to get as close as possible. Taking the hint, Hector handed the baby over.

  Slightly panicking, Reivan strained to carry the baby properly, but shouldn’t have bothered because her grip was quite strong, and she seemed to have the natural instinct to grab onto the nearest adult she could.

  “Weh?” the baby stared at him with a slightly tilted head, observing his face. From time to time, she even seemed to take little sniffs of him.

  “I don’t know what you just tried to say, but you’re adorable.” Reivan smiled widely and tickled her chubby cheeks, which was how baby cheeks were supposed to feel. The ones he’d recently seen in Lageton these past few months were too gaunt. “What’s her name, by the way? So I can stop calling her the baby in my mind.”

  “Sienna.” Mimi shyly answered. “I wanted to give her a name simir to Mother’s…”

  “It’s a good name.” Reivan brought the baby up to his face and wiggled his eyebrows. “Hello, Sienna. I’m Uncle Van. Say it with me? Van. Vaaaan. Van.”

  “Wanwan?” Sienna repeated, though not very well.

  ‘Guess I repeated it too much…’

  Still, the fact that it was even remotely simir was ridiculous to his knowledge of how fast a baby normally developed.

  Sienna seemed very curious about Reivan’s cheeks, though her attention very quickly switched to his hair. Thankfully, she was surprisingly gentle with it, and it didn't take long for her to become wildly excited for some reason. So much so that Reivan almost dropped her. He would have been quick enough to catch her even if he did, but his heart was left racing.

  Mimi gently took Sienna back, and the baby calmed down in her arms. “Sorry about that, Van. Your hair must have reminded her of Mother. Sienna likes her a lot, though the feeling seems to be mutual. We were almost stopped from coming to Arkhan because Mother can’t be here.”

  Reivan immediately understood. His mother wasn’t a very hard person for a baby to like. She was soft everywhere and she smelled good. Her fur was also pleasant and strangely never got into his eyes or mouth as a child.

  ‘Oh. Wait, what am I gonna do when I have kids…? She obviously can’t be here and I can’t be there too long. Should I leave my children in Aizen? But then I'd have to commute every time I want to see my kids.’

  Thinking about it, such an arrangement wouldn’t even be too bad. He would much rather raise his children in Aizen than in Arkhan. Especially during their early years. Overuse of the teleportation gates made him guilty, but maybe he would have no choice but to swallow that guilt once he had children.

  ‘I suppose I should speed things along here.’

  He had actually been pnning to legitimately hand over his duties here. But before that, there were many things to be done. And even before all that, he had to stabilize the nation first. Otherwise, he couldn’t abdicate properly. It would stain the royal family’s name if he quit now.

  Reivan had to be known as the ruler who birthed Samsara and helped it achieve its namesake.

  Not the ruler who birthed Samsara and ran off while everything was still a mess.

  “What’re you thinking about?”

  Reivan snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his wife, who was waiting for an answer. “I’m thinking of how to sck off.”

  “Typical.”

  “Oh, be quiet, you.” Reivan chuckled before scooping his pregnant wife up into his arms and carrying her up the stairs. These fucking stairs were way too long. He should really have an elevator set up at some point.

  Or a short-range teleportation ptform. The Tower had one, so surely they could make something simir. There was a frame of reference already, waiting to be examined.

  “I can do it myself…” Helen protested, though she wasn’t being insistent.

  Hell, she could fly up the staircase too, if she wanted. Being pregnant didn’t impact her powers as a [Wind] elementalist. Clearly, she didn’t dislike what he was doing.

  Reivan ignored her and kept on trudging up the stairs. He didn’t really do it to be a gentleman. Truth be told, he just did it because he knew it was sweet and that she would like it. And wasn’t that part of what a retionship was? Doing shit that made the other happy. Even if they were a little troublesome and ultimately pointless.

  Behind them, the other couple spoke in hushed tones as if Reivan and Helen didn’t have senses that allowed them to hear.

  “How sweet,” Mimi whispered to her husband. “Remember when you used to do that for me too? Even when it was only, like, ten steps.”

  Hector snickered quietly. “If only I’d known how embarrassing it was, maybe I wouldn’t have done it so much.”

  Reivan wasn’t going to bother asking what made his best friend realize why, exactly, it was embarrassing. Because he knew that he wouldn’t like the answer.

  Helen giggled as she tapped his chest. Then, with a wiggle of her finger, a bubble of still air was formed around them. He recognized this one as an elemental working that blocked sound.

  It seemed she had something she wanted to say that wasn’t for the ears of the other two—or three, since one couldn’t forget about little Sienna.

  “Van.”

  “Yeah…? What’s with the barrier?”

  “I recently started producing milk.”

  Reivan’s face hardened, a special part of his brain suddenly kicking into high gear. “I see. You have been pregnant for about five months, so it’s about the right time.”

  Helen nodded. “The problem is I’m producing too much. It happens a lot to female knights, apparently, so it’s nothing strange. It leaks out and causes swelling.”

  ‘That’s a good thing. Milk is good. Swelling is a good thing.’

  He almost said it, but that struck him as a very selfish thought. Swelling in the breasts makes them bigger, but they might have hurt too, which was decidedly not good and not worth it.

  That was, apparently, not the point though. Not to Helen.

  “Anyway, the physician said I should regurly squeeze them out from time to time.” Helen looked up at him with those enchanting dark eyes of hers. “It’s been working, so I thought that maybe you should help me every morning if you're avaible. Is that okay?”

  Reivan nodded vigorously. "I'm avaible. I'm very avaible. All the time."

  He would help. Helping sounded like a fantastic use of his time. Everyone would call him Helpful Reivan from now on, yessiree.

  “Thought so.” Helen smiled, clearly amused by his reaction. Then she dispelled the barrier of wind and settled comfortably in his arms.

  Sometimes, it seemed, doing little things for your partner had gigantic payoffs.

  AnnouncementChapter Word Count: 5928Last Edited: March 30, 2025Lire