He looked up at her concerned gaze. For a moment, their eyes met quietly across the table then his shoulders relaxed.

’What’s there to be afraid of, I’m not alone’

He smiled at her.

"Something like that."

She didn’t push further which was a pleasant surprise to him. Lilith sometimes understood silence better than most people understood words but most of the time she bulldozed through everything without a care.

Instead, she simply refilled his cup of tea calmly.

"Whatever the system shows you," she said quietly," it’s already failed."

He blinked once. He was genuinely perplexed by how perceptive she was. Her words had the effect intended. He relaxed fully.

"How do you know that?"

"Because you’re here."

The answer came so naturally that he stared at her for a full ten seconds.

Atheline linked his hands together lost in thought. He took a deep breath and faced her patient gaze.

"What I’m about to tell you might sound unreal," he quietly said, " I’m not even sure if it’s real but at the moment, it feels incredibly real."

She lowered her cup." What is it?"

He stared at her beautiful face then looked down at the steaming cup of tea. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"I, one day suddenly got memories from another world. My memories, actually. I could feel they belonged to me but I couldn’t remember them very well. It was like a hazy sort of feeling but I knew it was in some way connected to that world, " he tried to explain but it also didn’t make sense to him the more he said it.

"And what do you remember," she quietly asked.

Atheline glanced up at her. She didn’t seem the least bit fazed by his revelation. That somehow made it better.

"A lot of superficial things. I can barely remember faces, names, and places. The one thing I know is that both our worlds are extremely different."

"How?"

"There is no Aether or magic in that world. It’s just humans alone, our species is seen as fantasy creatures that only exist in fantasy books."

"That sounds horrific. A world with only humans. Don’t they go to war a lot like humans here do?"

Atheline chuckled. "How could they not?"

A small silence prevailed between them before Atheline continued.

"The truth is, our world is also part of that collection of fantasy novels," he calmly said breaking through the ice," in my memories, someone had told me about it in passing and I didn’t listen carefully enough. It was the last thing I learnt before my death. I regret that now."

He went quiet since he was starting to dread the rest of the conversation. He had once sworn there wouldn’t be secrets between them but he had managed to keep this from her for so long.

"Are we married in the book?" She quietly asked.

Atheline’s eyes widened in surprise. He had not expected her to ask that. He had expected her to explode on him or make an attack.

He took a deep breath and shook his head.

"You married your supposed betrothal," he said, his voice lowered," I wasn’t an important character in the novel. I was responsible for bringing that coward back to you after he attempted to run away. Whenever I think about it, I feel like strangling that man for the second time."

She didn’t respond immediately. Lilith was clearly lost in thought so Atheline continued.

"In the novel you are deemed the Villainess since that cowered cheated on you with the saintess," he carefully said," you exploded your core after finding out."

She frowned at that.

"I would never do that especially for someone ungrateful," she proudly said. She picked up the teacup and took a sip before setting it down." Is there a villain in this story?"

Atheline shrugged. "I don’t know."

He continued telling her everything he knew and answering her questions whenever certain questions were brought up.

Lilith was now both a little bit annoyed and raging when she learnt about the protagonist and the heroine knowing they were right before her but she didn’t know it.

Atheline hid his smile at that.

When he finished, she remained quiet. The tension in the room was palpable and Atheline could feel his hands start to sweat.

She watched the steam rise from the tea for a while before meeting his gaze.

"It’s surprising, knowing all that, but it doesn’t really change anything," she quietly said then continued her voice calm and certain," the original future or past doesn’t matter. You’ve changed too many things."

He leaned back slightly, listening.

"I married you. We already know some of our enemies. The goddess doesn’t seem angry," she glanced towards him quietly," and I’m certain I was never supposed to have a king this early. Don’t you know what that means... I probably didn’t care for the man I married."

"True."

"So whatever story exists before is irrelevant now. Who cares about destroying the world, it will happen one way or another if someone angers me enough."

He smiled faintly.

"You sound confident."

"I am," she quietly said," fate cannot dictate how I live my life."

A heartfelt laughter left him before he could stop himself. It was probably a mixture of both relief and joy at her reaction. She seemed to completely disregard something that had been eating at him far longer than he wanted to accept.

"I never knew I could feel so relieved," he quietly said, breaking the silence.

She raised her eyebrow in question.

"It must have been burdensome," she quietly said.

He nodded and took a sip of the tea.

"I think I’ll look at the memories the system is supposed to give me," he quietly said.

"Suit yourself."

Atheline nodded. He was desperate to know what went on in the original so that he could plan for the future. While Lilith could fully dismiss it, he couldn’t.

They didn’t speak after that, they simply spent the remaining time together beneath the sunlight, watching the city below and enjoying the tea.

Eventually, the palace ceremonial bells rang loudly through the capital.

Lilith exhaled softly.

"The ceremony begins in three hours."

"So soon."

"You’re saying that as if you expect time to stop."

"I was hoping."

"You’re becoming lazy."

"I blame married life."

She chuckled. " You should blame yourself."

He shrugged since he knew it was probably true. He stood slowly from his chair before walking towards the balcony edge. Below stretched the Court going deeper and deeper with arching staircases connecting each floor.

This was the place he had somehow found himself in and that he was going to rule it. A weird thing to say the least but he could protect her hard work with everything he’s got.

Lilith took another sip of the tea.

"Are you nervous?"

"A little. "

"I can decide not to do it and announce the following feast," she said calmly.