"Juna," Hajin croaked, his voice sounding like he had swallowed a handful of dry gravel.

She jumped so hard her feet actually left the floor for a second, the damp cloth flying from her hand and landing somewhere near the door while she spun around to face him.

Her ears were pressed flat against her head and her tail was fluffed up to twice its normal size, twitching violently with the shock of hearing him speak.

"Master!" She scrambled across the small space between the chair and the bed, her knees hitting the floor with a thud as she leaned over him.

"You’re awake, you’re finally awake, I thought you were going to... I thought you were..." She didn’t finish the sentence, her hands hovering over his chest like she wanted to touch him but was afraid he might break if she did.

"I’m fine," he muttered, trying to push himself up, but his arms felt like they were made of lead.

"No you are not fine!" She snapped, her voice cracking as she finally reached out and grabbed his shoulders to keep him pinned to the mattress.

"You lied to me! You said you could handle it, you said you were okay, and then you just fell over and didn’t move! I had to spend hours wiping blood off your body while you just stayed like that! Do you have any idea how long you’ve been out?"

"I don’t know, a few hours?" He asked, his brows pulling together as he tried to remember anything after the white light of the Spirit Ring world.

"Three days!" She yelled, her hands tightening on his shoulders until he winced. "You’ve been out for three whole days, Hajin! I didn’t even know if you were ever going to wake up!"

He went completely still, the shock hitting him a second later. ’Three days?’ he thought, his heart skipping a beat as he looked around the room. He had never been out for more than a few hours at most, even after the worst fights.

She was going off now, her words coming out in a frantic rush while her eyes stayed wide and glassy.

He could see the way her hands were trembling against his shoulders, her claws digging slightly into the fabric of his shirt without her even realizing it.

’She’s must have been really terrified,’ he thought, looking up at her and feeling a strange, heavy warmth in his chest. He had spent so much of his life being the one people ignored or pushed away that seeing someone this genuinely upset over his condition still felt a little unreal.

He waited for her to take a breath, and when she did, he reached up with his right hand and lightly pinched her cheek, pulling it outward just enough to interrupt the next set of words.

"Ouch!" She yelped, her head tilting with the pull as her tirade died instantly.

"I won, Juna," he said, letting go of her cheek and giving her a small, tired smile. "I handled it, just like I said I would."

"Then why did you collapse?" She asked, rubbing her face where he had pinched her, though the panic in her eyes was starting to be replaced by her usual stubborn glare. "Winning doesn’t mean much if you look like you’re about to die the whole time."

"Evolution," he said, the word feeling heavy in the air. "The only reason I went down was because my body was busy restructuring itself. It took a lot more out of me than the actual fight did."

She stared at him for a second, her ears twitching with confusion. "Evolution? But you’re a human, you don’t evolve like we do."

"I told you I was different," he said, gritting his teeth as he finally forced himself into a sitting position against the headboard.

He lifted both arms and rested them on his knees, then channeled a tiny flicker of mana into his wrists.

A second later, the golden rings materialized, but instead of the single ring she was used to seeing, there were now two of them on each arm, orbiting his wrists in a tight, overlapping pattern that hummed with a much deeper, more concentrated power than before.

"Two rings," she whispered, her eyes locking onto the light while her tail slowly settled back down to its normal size.

"Proof enough?" He asked, watching the gold light reflect in her eyes. "I didn’t just survive, Juna. I’ve gotten stronger."

She reached out and lightly brushed her fingers against one of the rings, the golden light making her face look softer than usual. A small, genuine smile pulled at her lips, and for a moment the room was actually quiet.

"Good," she whispered, her tail giving a single, happy flick behind her. "You should keep doing that. Getting stronger suits you much better than dying."

He was about to say something back, maybe a joke to keep the mood light, but she suddenly went still. Her smile vanished, replaced by a slight furrow in her brow as her ears twitched toward the door.

"Wait," she said, her voice dropping into a flatter, more annoyed tone. "I almost forgot because of all the shouting."

"Forgot what?" He asked, leaning back against the pillows.

"The princess came by," she said, and he didn’t need to see her face to know she was already irritated just by the way she said the word ’princess.’

"She was here yesterday and the day before that too, always asking when you were going to wake up."

He brows pulled together, "Didi? Why was she looking for me? I thought we were done with the palace stuff for a while."

"Because of the banquet," she muttered, standing up and heading toward the bedside table to grab the water pitcher. "There is some big formal dinner tonight to celebrate the ’hero’ who saved her, and she wants you to attend."

"Me?" He asked, the confusion hitting him immediately. "Why would I go to a royal banquet? I’m basically a commoner to them since I don’t have a family name anymore. I’d just be standing there like a sore thumb while everyone stares."

Juna let out a short, sharp huff while she poured the water, "I told her that. I told her you’d hate it and that you wouldn’t fit in with all those people."

She turned back toward him, handing him the cup with a look that said she was definitely not happy about the message she was about to deliver.

"But she just told me not to worry about any of that and just make sure you come," she said. "She said it didn’t matter if you had a name or not, as long as you showed up."

He stared at the ceiling for a long moment, his mind trying to figure out what exactly was going through the princess’s head.

Sure, he had saved her life back in the forest, and he had even helped her deal with some of the fallout afterward, but an invitation to a royal banquet was a completely different level of involvement.

That kind of event wasn’t just about food and music, it was a political minefield. Every noble in the capital would be there, and a nameless adventurer being paraded around as the hero would be like throwing a piece of meat into a pit of hungry wolves.

’I’m not interested in being her trophy hero,’ he thought, the mere idea of wearing formal clothes and making small talk with people who looked down on him making his head hurt more than the evolution did.

He let out a long, heavy sigh and shook his head.

"We’re not going," he said, handing the empty cup back to Juna. "I’m not dealing with that kind of drama today, it’s just too annoying."