Asil's words hung in the air — heavy as chains.
"You will leave the North only if you die."
Remesis heard them. But her mind simply refused to grasp the meaning.
"What..." her voice sounded foreign, strained, "what do you mean?"
Asil did not answer. She was still holding her hand firmly.
Meanwhile, Remesis was beginning to get more and more nervous. Of course, she remembered that phrase, which had been etched into her memory long, long ago. That conversation with the princess just a few hours before the failed assassination attempt that ultimately led to her death.
Remesis still remembered every word of that conversation. But... the problem was that this conversation had taken place in their past life.
Therefore... this was impossible...
"I don't understand," Remesis said again, and now panic sounded in her voice. "What are you talking about?"
She tried to free her hand, but Asil's fingers tightened — inexorably, like a trap that does not release.
"What do I mean?" Asil chuckled softly. "Wife, don't you understand yourself? Think carefully."
Remesis's breath caught. Her confusion grew with each passing second, almost driving her into a panic attack. The girl tried her hardest to keep her mind clear right now.
Until the very end, she did not want to believe it. And yet, no matter how much she didn't want to, it was the only reasonable explanation.
Although it was a guess more akin to madness, and yet...
"Your Highness... did you also reincarnate?" the girl asked in a trembling voice.
Asil, looking at her intently, smirked.
"Well, well. You finally understood."
"....."
"It took you so long... Did you really only realize this now?"
Remesis's entire body was chilled in an instant.
She was in such shock that she simply refused to believe what she had heard, and her own assumption, which was becoming more and more plausible.
No, it wasn't true. It was a lie.
"This... this is impossible!"
"Why not?" Asil tilted her head to the side. "If you could reincarnate, then why can't I do the same?"
Silence.
"...Wh-what?"
"You heard me," said Asil. "Did you think you were special?" she smirked. "I also remember my past life, Remesis."
Remesis froze.
Her heart was pounding somewhere in her throat, making it hard to breathe. She wanted to laugh — to say that this was madness, that the princess had gone insane. But the words stuck in her throat, because somewhere deep, at the very bottom of her consciousness, something clicked.
It was realization.
"I... I don't understand," she whispered.
"You do," Asil said softly. There was no threat in her voice. Only gentle certainty. "You're just afraid to admit it."
"You say you reincarnated?" Remesis's voice broke. "But that's absurd! If... if that's really true, then why... why are you only telling me this now..."
"Because I am already tired."
"What?..."
"You know, wife, even for me it can be a little tiring to pretend for so long. Especially since you started talking about divorce again... Honestly, these words irritate me."
Remesis paled.
She still could not believe something so incredible.
As it turned out, the princess knew that she had reincarnated. And as it turned out, she had also reincarnated... This information was too shocking for her to accept it so easily.
Remesis looked at the woman before her, and the world around her began to blur.
"It's not true," she whispered. "You're lying..."
With her last strength, she continued to cling to the crumbling reality.
"....."
Remesis faltered.
Because Asil stood up.
Slowly, smoothly, like a predator that no longer sees the point in playing.
"Don't come closer...!"
"Or what?" Asil grinned and took another step. "Will you hit me? Kill me? You are weaker than me, Remesis. You have always been weaker."
Remesis retreated until her back hit the cold wall.
"Why did you tell me this?" she breathed out. "If you were lying, you could have done so until the very end!"
"I could have," Asil agreed, stopping a step away from her. "But that is... too boring."
Remesis froze.
"What?"
She reached out and touched Remesis's cheek — with her fingertips, almost tenderly.
"Do you have any idea how long I have waited for this moment?" she whispered.
Remesis could not breathe.
Too much. Too much was wrong.
"...No," Remesis whispered.
Asil smiled — truly, for the first time.
"How about we continue this conversation in the bedroom?" she said. "There are too many ears here."
And before Remesis could object, the princess scooped her up in her arms — easily, as if she weighed nothing.
"Put me down!" Remesis beat her fists against her shoulders, but the blows were useless — Asil's muscles felt like stone. "Your Highness! I demand..."
"Demand all you want," the princess replied calmly, stepping towards the exit from the dining room. "I will listen to you in the bedroom."
"No! Don't you dare! I am not..."
They stepped out into the corridor.
The servants by the doors immediately lowered their eyes, no one dared even to breathe. The Lord of the North was carrying her wife in her arms, and the princess was struggling in her embrace like a captured bird — desperately and uselessly.
The walk to the bedroom took no more than a few minutes.
The heavy door of black oak opened with a dull creak. Asil crossed the threshold, and the doors closed behind them on their own.
She was thrown onto the bed.
Not roughly — Asil was careful even in her strength. But sharply enough that Remesis gasped and lost her sense of direction for a moment. The silk of the sheets chilled her back. Her hair scattered across the pillows.
And above her already loomed Asil.
Golden eyes in the dimness of the bedroom burned — like those of a hungry beast.
"You are furious," the princess said, running a finger along Remesis's cheek, down to her chin, to her neck. "I understand. You have the right to be angry."
"Don't touch me...!"
"But I will not stop," Asil interrupted, and her voice became lower, heavier. "Not today. Not tomorrow. Never."
She leaned down, and no more than a breath separated their lips.
"You can hate me," she whispered. "You can curse me. You can try to run away... I can endure all that. I have endured worse."
Her hand slid lower — to the collar of Remesis's dress, to the thin fabric that was the only barrier between the cold air of the bedroom and her heated skin.
"But you will not leave me," Asil continued, unfastening the first button. Her fingers moved slowly, almost lazily — as if she had all the time in the world. "Not today. Not in this life."
"You..." Remesis tried to push her away, but her hands were trembling. Her whole body was trembling. From fear. From rage. "You have no right!"
"Wife, calm down," the second button.
The third.
"Do you remember what this place is?"
The dress fell open, baring her shoulders, her collarbones, the upper part of her chest heaving with ragged breath.
Asil fell silent, looking down at her.
A cold smirk slowly spread across her beautiful face, as if she were enjoying the sight before her.
"It brings back memories, doesn't it?"
The bedroom grew quiet — only the crackling of the logs in the fireplace and the hoarse breathing of two women.
This was that very room. The room in which Remesis had lost her life at the princess's hands in the past life.
The princess of the north involuntarily swallowed the lump in her throat.
Remesis looked into her golden eyes.
And involuntarily drowned in them.
"...You are a monster," she whispered.
"That is the best compliment I could have received from you, wife," Asil smirked, leaning in for a kiss.
And Remesis could not turn away.