He placed it carefully between them. Morning sunlight touched the pale shell. Atheline had wiped the ash and dust off while in the forest.

The egg still had a small life signature but it seems to have grown stronger after staying in the storage space.

Lilith set her tea cup down slowly.

"Where did you get that?"

"At the ruins in the forest centre behind the forest lord’s corpse."

"It’s quite interesting."

She carefully reached forward, fingers brushing lightly against the shell. Unlike its unresponsive reaction towards Atheline, it did with Lilith.

Frost bloomed faintly across her fingertips. Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"It’s absorbing raw Aether."

"Is that normal?"

"No."

"Okay, that sounds concerning."

"It means the creature inside is alive and developing well," she tilted the egg slightly beneath the sunlight." High-grade magical beasts consume raw Aether before hatching."

He leaned back slightly on his chair.

"So it really is valuable."

Lilith gave him a flat look.

"You brought an unidentified magical beast egg from a hidden temple inside the Spitting harrows," she paused and glanced at it," of course its valuable."

"In my defence, I picked it up on the floor but when you say it like that, it sounds irresponsible."

"Because it was."

He considered arguing but decided against it. Lilith continued to study the egg. Atheline leaned forward slightly his gaze on the egg.

"What do you think?"

"I’m not sure but what I can say for sure is that it will be an ice beast. You can try and narrow down the species."

"This is proving to be more troublesome."

She traced the patterns of the egg carefully.

"There are ancient beast species capable of manipulating cold naturally from birth. They are born intelligent, fast, and are extremely difficult to tame."

"Tame?"

Lilith glanced towards him.

"... You were planning to hatch it without bonding it?"

He blinked once. He had picked it up because it looked out of place and a little unique.

"... I may not have thought that far ahead."

"You truly won the competition through sheer violence alone."

"That feels insulting."

"It was meant to be."

A quiet laugh escaped him despite himself. Lilith’s gaze softened slightly seeing it. Then she returned her attention to the egg.

"If this is truly an ancient beast, it may eventually evolve into something more dangerous," she glanced outside," winter is around the corner, the cold and natural element will be good for it."

"I suppose we won’t be resting then."

She ignored him gracefully.

For several moments they simply sat there together drinking tea while morning wind drifted across the balcony.

A comfortable silence settled between them. It was the kind that most couples did not achieve. This was the kind of silence where there was no need to fill the air with mindless conversation. Their presence was enough.

Eventually, he rested his chin against one hand while staring at the egg thoughtfully.

"Do you think it likes tea?" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Lilith looked downright horrified.

"You are not giving tea to an unborn magical beast."

"You don’t know if it might dislike it."

"I know enough."

"It’s cruel. This is a basic right for any child. A chance to taste anything and everything."

"You’re impossible."

He smiled lazily.

DING!

At that moment, the familiar translucent screen appeared before his eyes.

[Competition Victory Confirmed.]

[Storyline Deviation Increased.]

[Political Authority Rising.]

[Calculating Finalized Rewards...]

His expression shifted slightly.

Lilith noticed his change immediately.

"Is something wrong?" He worriedly asked.

Atheline shook his head then nodded. " I’m not sure how to say it."

Lilith observed his movements and expression then her eyes narrowed slightly.

"The system again?"

She hit the point in the mark on the first guess. His eyes widened slightly.

"How did you know?"

She smiled." Your eyes, they become slightly unfocused."

He set his tea down slowly while the notifications continued appearing one after another.

[Reward Obtained: Sovereign powers Information.]

[Reward Obtained: Power pill.]

[Reward Obtained: Opportunity - View the Original Timeline.]

[Warning: Future Instability Increasing.]

While the rewards were good, he couldn’t take his eyes off the warning statement. This was the first time he had gotten a warning from the system and it didn’t sit well with him.

It felt like the knife hanging over his head was moving lower and lower. The fact that he knew how the future might go had placed more burden on him than he wanted to admit.

He felt as though he was in an endless cycle trying to change a future he himself couldn’t understand with only a small glimpse of the catastrophe that would follow.

Seeing the notification just amplified how burdened he had been feeling. The fact that his own wife would die in the foreseeable future was not something anyone would be able to stomach.

He was a husband first and foremost before anything else.

Lilith observed him silently for several moments before speaking more quietly.

"What happened?" She asked," You know you can talk to me."

He hesitated briefly. How was he even supposed to start? Tell her she was inside a book and destined to die. Tell her she was to be wed to another not him. Tell her the world was nothing but a form of entertainment for random people in another world. The fact that she would be hated and betrayed by the whole world.

It would have been better if she had gone down in history as a tyrant rather than a psychotic murderer.

He himself didn’t even know where he belonged. From this world or the world beyond, the one he had supposedly been from. What if it’s his own delusions?

He leaned back into his chair with a slow exhale.

"... The system gave me information about the sovereigns."

Lilith’s eyes sharpened instantly.

"Really? Isn’t that good news?"

He shrugged.

"I’m not really sure anymore." A mirthless laugh left him.

Lilith studied him carefully.

"What of the other rewards?"

He hesitated again. His fingers tightened slightly around the teacup.

Lilith noticed his hesitation instantly.

"Bad memories?"