He did not say anything. He did not need to.
Yuuta simply held out the ring, his eyes fixed on Erza's face. He wore the same gentle smile she remembered from the moments they had spent together—when she laughed in his apartment, when she allowed him to wash her hair, and when they danced in a hall filled with strangers.
Erza slowly reached for the ring. Her fingers closed around it, but instead of withdrawing her hand, she caught his as well. She held his bleeding, battered hand between her own, staring at the wounds he had suffered while searching through the fields all night.
He had searched for something she had already given up on finding.
And he had found it.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
For centuries, Erza had worn her crown without allowing anyone to witness her tears. She had endured losses, battles, and hardships without revealing the pain beneath her cold expression. Yet now, standing before a mortal who had nearly destroyed himself for a ring whose meaning he didn't even understand, she found herself crying.
She had watched him search through the grass until his hands bled. He had continued long after exhaustion should have forced him to stop, refusing to abandon something that mattered to her even though she had never explained why.
And now he was standing before her, smiling as though everything he had endured had been nothing.
Yuuta raised his free hand and gently wiped the tear from her cheek with his thumb. His skin was rough and torn, stained with dirt and dried blood, but his touch was unexpectedly gentle.
"Didn't I say I would find it for you?" he said.
"Stupid," she whispered. More tears fell. She could not stop them. She did not want to stop them.
Erza took his hand in both of hers and closed her eyes. The healing spell came naturally, without the hesitation she might have felt on another day. Warm, radiant magic flowed from her palms into his battered body, closing the wounds he had suffered throughout the night.
His fingers flexed as the torn skin repaired itself. The cuts across his palms disappeared, and the bleeding finally stopped. Gradually, his breathing steadied and some color returned to his exhausted face.
When Erza released him, Yuuta straightened and looked toward the sky. The sun had risen fully above the horizon, scattering the remaining clouds and bathing the fields in warm morning light.
He was still smiling.
Erza lowered her gaze toward the ring resting in her palm.
The silver bands were beautifully intertwined, with a small gemstone catching the sunlight. It was her mother's ring, an heirloom she had believed lost forever.
She closed her fingers around it and pressed it against her chest, holding it carefully as though she feared it might disappear again.
Then she heard something.
Click.
Erza froze.
Her eyes widened as she slowly opened her hand, afraid that the sound meant something had broken.
The ring had separated.
Where there had once been a single intertwined ring, two individual silver bands now rested in her palm. They had remained joined for centuries, passed down through generations of queens, yet somehow they had finally come apart.
Erza stared at them in confusion.
Had she accidentally applied too much pressure? Had the fall from the rocket damaged the ring? Or had something happened during the long night it spent lying somewhere in the field?
Before she could examine them properly, one of the rings slipped from her palm.
It fell toward the ground, flashing silver in the morning sunlight. Erza instinctively reached after it, but her hand was too far away.
Yuuta reacted first.
His hand shot forward, catching the falling ring before it could touch the grass. He hadn't even needed to look directly at it. His fingers simply closed around the silver band, and he turned toward Erza with a relieved smile.
"Woah," he said. "That was close. You have to be more careful with these things, my queen."
He opened his hand to return it.
And Erza's expression froze.
The ring was on his finger.
Somehow, during that brief movement, the silver band had slipped onto Yuuta's ring finger. It sat there perfectly, as though it had been made specifically for him.
For a moment, Erza could only stare.
She hadn't seen him put it on. He hadn't deliberately tried to wear it. Yet there it was, resting on the very finger associated with marriage.
Her expression darkened.
The warmth that had softened her face moments earlier disappeared, replaced by the terrifying coldness of the Dragon Queen.
"Remove it," she said. "Now."
She immediately slipped the other ring onto her own finger. It fit perfectly, just as it always had, but her attention remained fixed on the silver band encircling Yuuta's hand.
Without waiting for him to respond, she grabbed his finger and pulled.
He screamed.
"Stop! It hurts!"
Erza pulled harder, but the ring refused to move. It seemed to have attached itself to his skin, resisting every attempt to remove it. She tried again, ignoring the way Yuuta twisted his body in pain.
"Remove it, you idiot!" she shouted. "How dare you steal my ring!"
"I didn't steal it!" His voice was high, desperate, the voice of a man who was watching his finger being slowly removed from his hand. "I was the one who found it! I was the one who gave it to you! Remember?!"
Erza finally stopped pulling. She examined the ring more carefully, her brows furrowing when she realized that it hadn't shifted even slightly.
Something was wrong.
She had never encountered anything like this before, and the longer she looked at the ring, the more irritated she became.
"There is no choice," she said. Her voice was cold. Ruthless. The voice of a queen who had made a decision.
Yuuta's voice cracked. "What do you mean, no choice? What do we have to do?"
Erza raised her head and looked directly into his eyes. Her expression was so serious that Yuuta instinctively straightened, expecting some complicated magical explanation.
Instead, she delivered her judgment.
"I have to cut off your finger."
Yuuta's face went white.
"No."
Erza extended her hand toward him.
"Give me your hand."
"NO."
"It is just one finger. I can heal it. You will barely feel anything after."
"NO! NO, NO, NO!" He clutched his hand to his chest, cradling it like a wounded animal. "I love my fingers! I need my fingers! I cook with my fingers! I hold Elena with my fingers! I can't live without my fingers!"
Erza's eye twitched. "Do not test my patience. It is not as if I cannot heal it. Just endure a little pain. It will be over quickly."
"YOU ARE SO CRUEL!" Yuuta backed away from her, still clutching his hand. "THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT YOUR SAVIOR?!"
Erza lunged forward before he could retreat any farther. She grabbed his head and twisted it toward her, furious that he was daring to argue after causing such an absurd situation.
"SAVIOR?!" Her voice rose, cracking with fury. "MY ASS! THIS IS HAPPENING BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPIDITY! YOU IDIOT! YOU FUCKING DUMBASS!"
"OW! OW! LET GO! MY QUEEN! HAVE MERCY!"
A short distance away, the guards who had spent the night helping Yuuta search through the fields were struggling to maintain their composure. They had supported him when he could barely stand, offered their shoulders when his strength failed, and remained professional throughout the exhausting search.
But watching their terrifying queen argue with a mortal over his finger proved too much.
Several covered their mouths, their shoulders trembling as they tried to suppress their laughter. Others turned away, unable to hide their amusement at the ridiculous scene unfolding before them.
Yuuta heard them.
His face turned bright red.
"This is not funny! She is threatening to cut off my finger!"
"It is a little funny," one of the guards said, and then had to turn away as Erza's eyes snapped toward him.
The laughter stopped immediately.
Every guard suddenly found something fascinating to examine—the clouds, the distant mountains, the grass beneath their feet. Anything was preferable to meeting the furious gaze of the White Dragon Queen.
Erza released Yuuta's head and looked down at their hands.
The ring remained firmly attached to his finger. Meanwhile, the other silver band rested on her own, giving off a faint glow that seemed to pulse with a strange warmth.
Her irritation slowly gave way to confusion.
The ring had belonged to her family for generations. It had passed from mother to daughter, worn by queens who had ruled long before her birth. Throughout all those centuries, it had never behaved in such an unusual manner.
Then, without warning, an old memory surfaced.
"Mama," little Erza said, her voice small and worried, her tiny claws tracing the ring on her mother's finger. "What if I lose it? What if it falls off? What if I cannot find it?"
Her mother's voice was warm, patient, the voice of someone who had been asked the same question many times and always gave the same answer. "Do not worry, little one. This ring has its own soul. Once it is separated, once it finds the one it belongs to, it will attach to your finger and to your mate's for the rest of your life. Until death parts you. It will never leave you. It will never be lost."
The memory faded, leaving Erza standing motionless beneath the morning sunlight.
Yuuta was still holding his hand protectively against his chest, while the guards pretended they hadn't been laughing moments earlier. Nothing around her had changed, yet her mother's words echoed so clearly that she could almost hear them being spoken again.
Erza pressed a hand against her forehead.
No.
No, this cannot be true.
The ring had never separated since its creation. Not once throughout the countless years it had been passed down through the royal family.
And now, during her reign, it had finally chosen someone.
Not a dragon.
Not an ancient beast.
Not even a powerful warrior worthy of standing beside her.
It had chosen Yuuta.
Erza had long ago accepted that she would remain alone. She had ruled her kingdom, fulfilled her responsibilities, and built her life around the certainty that no one would ever be worthy of wearing the ring beside her.
Yet now that very ring had attached itself to the weakest, most troublesome human she had ever encountered.
It has to be a mistake.
She looked toward Yuuta.
He was no longer paying attention to her. Instead, he was grinning sheepishly at the guards, apparently trying to convince them to stop laughing at his humiliation. Despite his embarrassment, he had begun laughing along with them.
Erza glanced between the ring on his finger and the one on her own.
The two bands had remained joined for centuries, and now they were separated, each resting on a different hand.
Her heart began beating faster.
Her face felt strangely warm.
She tried to think of another explanation, something that didn't involve the meaning her mother had described.
It must be a mistake. Yes. That is it. The ring made a mistake. He slept in my bed. He touched my skin. The ring sensed that and confused it for something else. That is the only explanation.
The thought brought her a measure of relief.
Of course. The ring must have misunderstood their circumstances. It was an ancient magical artifact, but that didn't mean it was incapable of making mistakes.
Erza slowly nodded to herself, satisfied with her conclusion.
Well, it looks like I will have to wait a year to get my ring back.
She cleared her throat.
The deliberate cough immediately drew everyone's attention. The guards straightened, abandoning their attempts to hide their laughter, while Yuuta turned toward her with his injured hand still held protectively against his chest.
Yuuta was still on his knees, his hand held out, the ring still glowing. "Yes, my queen?" He looked up at her, his face still red, his eyes still tired, his smile still there despite everything. "I almost forgot about the ring. So what do we do? There has to be another way, right? Without cutting off my finger?"
Erza studied his hopeful expression, then glanced at the ring that had chosen him for reasons she couldn't begin to understand.
She sighed.
"Well," she said, "it looks like I will have to wait for your death to get my ring back."
Yuuta blinked. "My death? How is my death connected to this?"
Erza sighed again, already regretting having to explain the situation to him. She had read enough novels to know that their protagonists were often hopeless idiots, but she had never imagined she would find herself living with one.
"The ring is connected to your soul, you idiot," she said. "Unless you die, it will not come off."
She paused. A smile crept across her face, cold and sharp. "So I suppose I will have to kill you now. No matter what."
Yuuta lowered his gaze toward the ring. It was still glowing faintly, completely unaffected by Erza's earlier attempts to remove it.
He had just learned that the only way to free himself from the magical artifact was to die. Under ordinary circumstances, such a revelation should have terrified him.
Instead, he merely sighed.
"Well," he said, "it looks like there is no helping it."
Erza stared at him in disbelief.
She had expected panic, desperate pleading, or another ridiculous attempt to escape. Instead, the foolish mortal had accepted her explanation with an almost casual resignation.
For some reason, that irritated her even more.
"We will talk about this later," she said, her voice softer now, the coldness fading. She looked at him, at his red face, his bleeding hands, his exhausted eyes. He had been awake all night. He had been searching for her ring. He had not slept, had not eaten, had not stopped even when his body began to break.
"For now," she said, "you need to rest."
Yuuta looked at her. At her cold face, her tired eyes, the ring that was now on her finger, glowing in the morning light.
He smiled.
"Yes, my queen."
There was something about that smile Erza couldn't understand. It wasn't nervous or mocking, nor did it resemble the expression of someone desperately trying to conceal his fear.
It was warm and genuine, softened by exhaustion.
Yuuta looked at her as though he had finally accomplished something important, as though finding her ring had made every painful hour of the night worthwhile.
Erza watched him quietly.
The corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled, and his shoulders relaxed now that the search was finally over. Despite everything she had said and done, he remained beside her without showing the slightest desire to leave.
Then another memory surfaced.
Her mother's voice echoed through her mind, distant and gentle.
"Mama?"
She was small again, sitting on her mother's lap in the great hall of the palace. A fire crackled in the hearth, casting warm light across the walls, while her mother's arms surrounded her with a comfort she had rarely experienced anywhere else.
"Mama, do I have to marry a dragon? Like you did?"
Her mother had laughed. Not the cold laugh she used in court, not the sharp laugh she used to silence her enemies. A real laugh. Soft. Warm. The laugh of a woman who still remembered what it was like to be young.
She had cupped Erza's tiny face in her hands. Her fingers were warm. Her eyes were bright. Her voice was soft, almost a whisper, like she was sharing a secret that no one else was allowed to hear.
"No need, my daughter. If you find someone, no matter what they are, who truly loves you, then follow your heart. Because in the end, love is love."
She paused.
Her smile faded.
The memory disappeared.
Erza found herself standing in the garden once more, surrounded by the warmth of the morning sun. Birds were beginning to sing among the trees, and a gentle breeze passed through the field, but she barely noticed any of it.
Her mother's voice still echoed in her ears.
Don't end up like Mama.
Erza pressed both hands against her head.
"Stop it." Her voice was low. Desperate. "Stop it, stop it, stop it."
That cursed dragon curse refused to leave her in peace. It dragged memories from the deepest corners of her mind, forcing her to relive moments she had spent centuries trying to forget.
Her mother's face.
Her mother's words.
The warning she had never fully understood.
Erza didn't want to remember any of it.
She wanted to remain the cold, merciless queen who ruled without hesitation. The woman who never allowed her emotions to interfere with her judgment, who could face enemies without fear and make decisions without questioning herself afterward.
For centuries, she had believed herself immune to the weakness that had consumed so many others.
But something had changed.
Perhaps it began when the ring disappeared, or when she saw Yuuta searching through the grass with his wounded hands. Perhaps it was the moment she realized he would continue searching even after she had already given up.
Whatever the reason, the memories she had buried were returning.
And she couldn't make them stop.
"What's wrong?"
Yuuta's voice interrupted her thoughts.
Erza raised her head.
He stood in front of her with his arms folded, his head tilted slightly, and an expression of genuine concern on his face.
She hated that expression.
She hated the way he looked at her as though she were someone worth worrying about, rather than a queen who had threatened his life countless times.
"Erza? Are you okay?"
The concern in his voice made her want to scream.
"Are you okay?" she mimicked, her voice sharp and cruel. "What do you think, mortal? Do I look okay? Does anything about this situation look okay to you?"
Erza glared at him, her frustration finally reaching its limit. Before Yuuta could understand what had upset her, she stepped forward and struck him on the head.
He stumbled backward with a startled yelp.
"This is all YOUR fault!" Her voice rose, cracking with fury. "I am having bad memories again and again because of YOU!"
"WHAT MEMORY? WHOSE MEMORY?" Yuuta clutched his shoulder, his face twisted in pain. "I didn't do anything!"
"YOU EXIST!" She pulled his hair. "YOU BREATHE! YOU LOOK AT ME WITH THOSE STUPID EYES!"
"THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!"
"NOTHING MAKES SENSE!" She hit him again. "EVER SINCE YOU APPEARED, NOTHING MAKES SENSE!"
"WHAT DID I DO, ERZA" He ducked. Missed her next swing. "ERZA, STOP"
"DON'T TELL ME TO STOP!"
Yuuta stumbled backward, desperately trying to avoid another blow. His body was still exhausted from the night's search, and although Erza had healed his wounds, he had nowhere near enough strength to deal with her sudden outburst.
She chased him across the garden while the guards watched in bewilderment. Yuuta ran as quickly as his tired legs would carry him, ducking beneath her swings and repeatedly glancing over his shoulder to see whether she had finally calmed down.
Unfortunately, she hadn't.
Erza caught up with him and seized his hair, pulling him backward before he could escape.
"You FUCKING MORTAL!"
"WHAT DID I DO?!"
"EVERYTHING!"
She pulled his hair again. He screamed.
"ERZAAAA!"
To Be Continue...