"You..."

"I swear I saw nothing, your highness."

"Good. If word of this gets out, I’ll tear you apart bit by bit. And I’ll do it myself."

He raised his hands in surrender. "I swear on my life, I won’t say a word."

Anna picked herself off the floor, dusted her gown, wiped her eyes, and turned to him. "What do you want?"

"You’re crying,"

She frowned at the odd question. "Yes, I am."

"Why?"

Her arms came up defensively. "Why do you want to know?"

He took a step closer to her. "I heard you never cry. What could make you cry? What emotions are you feeling now?"

A bitter laugh came out of her. "Seriously what are you? A low budget therapist? How about you tell me what emotions led you to sneaking around the gardens at this time."

"I was hoping to see you."

"Why?"

He touched his chest, a confused look flitting across his face. "I don’t quite know. I felt...I wanted to see you."

Anna’s frown deepened. The range of her experiences since she’d transmigrated were crazy at best. I went from escaping death at Leon’s hands to...this.

"Look," she took a step closer to him. "Let me get this straight. Do you have a crush on me?"

He tilted his head to the left in a peculiar way Anna had never seen a person do. The movement was fluid, too fluid, like the rest of him.

"A crush? What is that?"

Huh? Has he never heard of a crush?!

Inhaling deeply, Anna thought of the best way to explain it. "Do you have feelings for me?"

"What sort of feelings?"

"Are you being serious right now?"

"Yes, your highness. Perhaps if you explain the feelings in question, I’d be able to deduce if I’be felt them for you."

He sounds like a computer program...

"Fine. Let’s do it this way. What feelings have you felt for me?"

He touched his chest, rubbing it absentmindedly. "I don’t know how to explain them. It’s like...I want to see you."

How did I go from crying my eyes out to this? Fuck. My life should be a novel or something.

"Very well. And let’s keep it at that, okay? I’m married. To five men, mind you. And j don’t like soldiers."

"You married the General,"

Anna grit her teeth. "Are you always this annoying?"

At that, he cracked a smile. "That’s a first time I’ve received such feedback. I’m grateful, your highness. But what does it mean to be annoying? Can you describe it in—"

"Oh for fucks sake! I don’t know! How the fuck do you...why do you want me to explain emotions for you?"

"How else will you understand them?"

"I don’t know?! You just know what they are like everyone else. Sheesh. I know you’re a goldfish but—" Anna caught herself.

Wait, will that be racist? Probably. I shouldn’t specie-shame him but damn he gets on my last fucking nerve! Urgh!

She rubbed her temples, then the bridge of her nose, then her closed eyes.

"I think you should leave."

"Am I annoying you now?"

"Yes."

"..."

Anna looked up at him.

"I think I’ve figured out annoyance." He said with a smile. "Thank you, your highness." He said, holding out the flower for her.

What a fucking weirdo.

"I don’t like flowers," she said, folding her hands behind her.

His brows knit together and he looked devastated. "I...I thought you did. All beastwomen like flowers, I made sure to ask."

Fuck!

Anna begrudgingly took the flower, only because he looked like a kicked puppy when she refused. "Goodnight."

His smile was back on like nothing happened. "Goodnight, your highness. I hope you don’t cry anymore."

Anna turned on her heel. Yeah right. Talking to you just dried up all my tears.

As she walked away, she felt a slithering feeling crawl up her spine. It felt like a hand made of snakes, making its way up her back before curling around her neck.

She spun around, and only found him, right where she’d left him. He waved, smiling. His teeth glinted in a way that sent more shivers down Anna’s spine.

Weird.

She hurried out of the garden without looking back.

Something about him was wrong. She replayed their conversation in her head, but she couldn’t place what it was.

The flower in her hand weighed down on her. She glanced down and found it was a truly lovely flower. The petals glowed a bright red, the color of freshly spilled blood. In the center was a black core. It looked like a normal flower.

Anna blinked, and the core turned to an eye.

She blinked again and it was gone.

"Great. Now I’m hallucinating." She muttered, gripping the stem of the flower so hard it got crushed. She tossed it aside and kept walking.

She returned to her chambers, stared at her ungerminated strawberry plant for fifteen straight minutes, picked the pot up and was about to hurl it out of the window when her hands paused.

[Hostie, what are you doing?]

Slowly, Anna lowered the pot. "Nothing."

[...]

[Your mental state is declining,]

"You don’t say."

[In that case, I’m allowed to give you a hint for the plant. Do you want it?]

Anna stared at the soil.

A strawberry right now would greatly lift her mood. She was dying for a taste of her old world. Anything at all.

"Sure."

[Use your healing spores. You really look like you need the strawberry.]

****

Ray was livid.

He was unfortunately close to the prisons when he spied the Princess on her way to soothe Leon. Out of curiousity, he listened in on their conversation.

He wished he hadn’t.

He watched the exact moment the Princess ran out of the prison, terror and silent tears brimming in her eyes. She was so terrified she didn’t see when she ran past Ray.

Ray knew emotions. He knew how to spot fake ones. In that moment, the Princess was close to having a heart attack from fear. Her heartbeat was the highest he’d ever heard from her; 190bpm.

Ray listened, hoping to hear a deviation in Leon’s heartbeat. Hoping to hear the remorse, or worry, or anything at all.

All he heard as a cold, heart stopping laugh.

"He’s mad..." Ray muttered to himself.

He knew how much Leon hated the Princess. In his delusion, Ray wanted to believe it was a mere lover’s quarrel, because he also knew how much the Princess loved Leon.

But judging from what he’d just seen and heard, there was no love for Leon in the Princess’s heart. There was only fear and disgust and more fear.

Ray decided then that he had enough information to plan his next move.

As much as the Princess was a horrible person, she was still his flower wife. If it weren’t for her, he’d still be on the black market, tortured and probably killed.

Ray needed to talk to someone.

He thought of Kai first, and squashed the thought as soon as it came. Sure, Kai didn’t want to kill the Princess, but he was still unstable.

Then he thought of Azul. To outsiders, it would seem that Azul held feelings for the Princess. But Ray had listened in and found nothing of the sort. Azul was simply performing what he thought to be his duty with the polished ease of an actor.

Only one person was left who Ray could ask for help.

He didn’t want to use this option, as it was something he’d vowed to use as a last resort.

"This is a last resort," he said to himself.

As unpleasant as it was, he had to pay that man a visit.

He made his way out of the palace, before spreading his wings and taking off into the night sky.

It took an hour to get to that place.

And one he touched the ground, he felt the shift in the air. He knew, that he was already watching.

Ray walked up to the beautiful but concealed mansion and stood before the front door. It wasn’t so much a door as it was a mesh of steel bars, showing that even if the house was beautiful, it was still a prison.

"It’s been a dreadfully long time, my dear friend." A musical voice called from inside.

Ray walked closer to the door. He couldn’t unlock it, no one except his flower wife could. Ray had tried, two hundred and twenty seven times. But the kind of technology used for the lock was a personal invention of the Princess, the exact same she used in the collars.

Indestructible.

"I need your help," Ray said, getting straight to the point.

"You know the deal." The man replied. From the shadows, Ray spotted a pair of green and gold eyes with slited pupils watching his every move.

The deal.

One that always left an unpleasant taste in Ray’s mouth. Yet, he went ahead.

He recounted everything the Princess had been up to in the past three months. Beyond the door, the man listened with rapt attention.

"Ah, I see she’s up to no good as always."

"She’s in danger. Leon tried to kill her. Thrice."

Silence.

Ray felt it. A cold feeling down his spine. One that only one person could elicit.

"HE DID WHAT?!" The man roared, his voice lauded like that of a hundred people speaking at once.

Before Ray could reply, a massive snake tail slammed into the door with the intent of breaking it. Lightning sparked from the door, and Ray jumped back to avoid getting hit.

Inside, the man shifted into his beast form.

Halfway, he stopped.

Ray watched, listened. And what he heard made him take ten steps back.

He’d never heard such murderous intent before. Not even from Leon. Not even from the AI beasts.

"He hurt her..." the man said, his voice calming down. "How is she?"

"She’s okay for now," Ray lied.

He didn’t know how she was. He didn’t check.

"Did she fight back?"

"I think so..."

"I should have killed that fool the moment I had the chance."

After a few seconds, normalcy returned to the house.

Ray noticed the lock had a dent in it.

"Take this," the man said, and a small green bottle tumbled out of the door. It rolled to Ray’s feet and came to a halt. "Use it on that bastard. All of it and he’ll be dead by morning."

Ray picked up the bottle. He didn’t need to open it to know what was inside.

"And if I use a little?"

"I don’t know. I haven’t exactly had the liberty of testing it out."

Ray’s jaw clenched. I can see why she married you.

"Thank you, Drax." He said. There was no reply, but he felt those eyes still watching him.

Ray’s eyes went to the lock again. The dent there wasn’t a small one. He wondered for one second if he could use it to break the lock.

Then, it hit him.

Drax could break free anytime he wanted.

Why didn’t he?