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I held the strange book that Gigantia had been reading and stared at its title, feeling utterly perplexed.
"'A Forbidden Love Story: The Dragon Prince's Necromancer Concubine'? What?!"
"Uwaaah! Please don't read that! Forgive me!" Gigantia panicked. She hurriedly stored the book away and lowered her head in shame.
"Now the young lady will think I'm a pervert…"
She sighed, looking completely devastated.
That was definitely BL. Yep. It was a story between my dad and… who was that again? I don't think I've ever met them. Purple hair, necromancer… Ah, I remember my father mentioning someone like that before.
"Zorba or something?" I wondered aloud. "Was that his name?"
"L-Lord Zorba doesn't live in the capital, but… uuhh, please don't rub it in! I'm sorry!" Gigantia apologized frantically.
"Ah… well, if my parents don't care about any of that, I guess they see it as something way below them," I sighed, shrugging my shoulders. "Regardless… I guess I never really thought about this deeply enough. I'm the worst, aren't I?"
"Oh dear, of course not, young lady," Gigantia replied with a gentle giggle as she helped me dress. "You are just a child. Don't worry about such things and don't blame yourself. It's only natural."
"Okay…" I nodded faintly.
"So what was that secret you wanted to tell me?" she asked while dressing herself in her modified maid outfit. The dress was quite revealing and did not cover much of her body.
"Um…" I stayed silent for a few moments, gathering my courage. "I wanted to sneak out into town, register as an adventurer, and take on some work for the city. I wanted to do requests and help people in need. I have the Adventurer Class, but I can't even put it to good use…"
"Oh!" she gasped. "Y-You wanted to go with me?"
I nodded. "That's why I wanted to keep it a secret from mom and dad… sorry."
Gigantia sighed softly, then knelt before me. She kissed my forehead tenderly and stroked my head with affection. "There's nothing to be sorry about. That's a wonderful thing. You want to understand the people below you? I suppose you really should. But doing it dishonestly is not ideal. I know! We can talk this over with your parents, and I will help you convince them."
Her kind words made me very happy. "I was thinking about just being honest and telling them anyway. So that helps. Yeah, let's do that…"
While thinking about my parents and everything they had endured, I realized that getting angry at them for not understanding me was not the right thing to do. I wanted to talk to them openly and see what I could share. I wanted to open my heart and hope they might open theirs to me as well.
I think that was a much better idea than sneaking out and making them worry about me.
♢♢♢♢
King Louis sighed heavily as he reviewed a large stack of documents in his private office. He was powerful enough that he did not need sleep for centuries. However, because he had compressed and reduced his existence into a humanoid form to prevent his true power from destroying the entire capital, he suffered some side effects of his half-human nature. After three full nights without rest, exhaustion weighed heavily on him.
As he had expected, managing a kingdom was never easy. This was especially true for one so vast that it stretched across the ever-expanding planet Earth, which had transformed into a true Fantasy World and continued to grow larger.
Reports of new dungeons appearing, newly discovered species of monsters, mountains rich with valuable resources, fishing licenses, hunting licenses, and interplanetary exchange permits all required his personal attention. He had several capable assistants, but he still preferred to handle much of the work himself. He believed that if he did not do it personally, it would mean he no longer truly cared about his country and his people.
Knock. Knock.
The door to his office opened. Louis's sharp eyes darted toward the sound and found Queen Mirai standing there. She offered him a gentle smile, though a hint of worry showed on her beautiful face.
"Dear, it's breakfast time… Um, are you okay?"
"Mirai… Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I will drink an elixir and return to top condition."
"Enough with the elixirs! There is exhaustion that can only be healed by proper sleep. Even gods and divine dragons need rest, you know?"
"It's mostly because of this current form. If I transform inside my Inner Realm and then return, it should be enough to—"
"That is just stimulating your entire body with your power. Once the effect wears off, you will feel even more exhausted! I have heard that dragons can sleep for decades, but you barely sleep at all, dear…"
"Pure-blooded dragons have different internal clocks. We half-dragons, especially those with human blood, have strange cycles. It is something I have dealt with since birth, Mirai. There is nothing to worry about."
"Please make sure to sleep tonight, okay? And… the bed gets cold without you. I miss you by my side…"
"Ah…"
Louis looked at his gorgeous wife. His beloved Mirai gazed at him with pleading scarlet eyes, even her third purple eye joining the effort. Her cascading black and red hair, her shiny horns, and her curvaceous figure reminded him why they already had a second child together.
Mirai was his beloved. Simply looking at her cheered him up and filled him with renewed energy.
"I will finish everything today and then we can sleep together like always. I'm sorry."
Louis stood up, unable to bear seeing his wife like this. His heart ached even though he rarely spoke of it. He walked toward her and pulled her into a warm embrace. Mirai caught him off guard by hugging him tightly in return.
"Take care of your health, okay?" she asked softly.
"Okay," Louis nodded gently. Their lips met in a loving kiss.
Louis held her delicate hand. Decades had passed since their marriage and even longer since they first met, yet every moment alone with her felt as if he were falling in love all over again.
Despite his stoic personality, expressionless face, and sharp eyes, King Louis was a deeply emotional and romantic man. Only his wife could bring out that side of him, and perhaps his dear daughter as well.
"Heheh, what's wrong?" Queen Mirai asked with a gentle smile. She noticed Louis admiring her as he caressed her face and hair.
"You are as beautiful as the day we first met," he said romantically. "My beautiful Mirai."
"E-Ehhh?!" Mirai blushed adorably like an inexperienced high school girl in a romance story. She covered her face with both hands. "D-Don't say that so suddenly… it's embarrassing…!"
"What is wrong with telling my wife how I feel?" Louis asked while gently stroking her hair. "Maybe this is exactly what I needed. A little time with my wife."
"W-We can do more later…" Mirai replied, still blushing. "Our babies are waiting for breakfast, dear. Hurry. Let's go."
"Right," Louis nodded. "Let's go."
As they walked together toward the dining room, King Louis gazed at the many paintings decorating the castle halls. Some showed family portraits of his younger self with his mother and father.
Reminiscing about the past, the King could not help but remember the many hardships he had endured at a young age. From his mother's coma to his father's neglect, and even the disappointment from his dragon family who struggled to connect with him.
And that was only the beginning of the chaos. Stranded in a bizarre world, facing an evil cult and a kingdom ruled by a literal archdemon trying to seize the throne, he had suffered many deaths. Those painful memories still lingered in his mind no matter how hard he tried to move forward.
His worry for his children's futures grew stronger. He did not want them to suffer as he had. He wanted to always be there to protect them from any evil that might threaten them. Yet he felt he had already failed.
His daughter had faced true evil at an age when she should not have, risking her life for her aunt. It was a noble cause, but it awakened his old fears once more. The fear that everything could be taken away from him at any moment. That deep insecurity made him stricter and more overprotective with his daughter than he should have been.
His greatest fear was losing everything again and being unable to turn back time to fix it as he once could. Without the Heart of Time, the legendary Dimensional Relic capable of regressing time itself, Louis could no longer return to the past or control time as he once had.
All of this had planted a great sense of insecurity within the young King's heart. After facing so many terrible things, and with the new threat of these dimensional invaders known as the Nightmares, his worries only deepened, even if he rarely showed them outwardly.
King Louis simply wanted his family close to him as much as possible, safe from any danger that could take them away permanently.
"Good morning, Dad!"
"Awah!"
But the darkness that sometimes lingered too close instantly faded the moment he heard the voices of his two precious children.
Just hearing them and seeing his dear daughter and son made King Louis feel as if he were finally leaving behind the path of blood, death, and suffering he had once walked.
Or so he believed.
The darkness continued creeping in through those haunting memories that tortured him whenever his mind wandered.
Her bleeding hand, reaching out for help.
And all those he had left behind…
"Louis… why… why did you… let me die?"
And the cries of countless Mirais across different timelines, all those he could not save.
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