Katherine found me lying in my bed pitifully, a pathetic sight. I had regained some physical strength, yes—my body had recovered somewhat from the night's extraordinary exertions. But a profound sadness in my heart kept me anchored there motionless, unable or unwilling to rise. I had tried repeatedly calling her, Furnaiona—or Aiona, whichever name she preferred—only to be met with absolute nothing. No reply, no sassy remarks, no presence whatsoever. Just emptiness.
So when I finally saw Katherine enter my room, concern etched across her features, I simply leapt impulsively into her arms without thinking, hugging her tightly and seeking comfort. Which startled her greatly, judging by her sharp intake of breath. She just stayed there frozen, too shocked to even move or respond. It was a full minute until she finally opened her mouth to speak.
"Um, Your Majesty, are you... into women?" she asked carefully, hesitantly. That completely unexpected question made me wake up abruptly from whatever melancholic trance I had been in. I quickly separated myself from her, stepping back, before replying with alarm.
"God, no! Why would you even think that? Is hugging someone really that weird?" I asked nervously, my face flushing.
Katherine didn't immediately answer my flustered question. Instead, she calmly began preparing a warm water basin on the wheeled trolley she had brought with her, arranging everything methodically. She fixed and folded the towels neatly to ensure easy access during my morning routine.
"Yesterday you called me 'sweetie' while taking a bath," she said matter-of-factly, "and today you hugged me suddenly without any explanation. Well, no judgment there from me. I'm a beautiful woman, I understand the appeal, but I have to say clearly—I'm into men exclusively." Her tone was entirely serious.
"I know that, and besides, you're already taken," I added, remembering. She had said so explicitly at last night's dinner.
"Who says I'm taken?" she asked, genuinely confused by my assertion.
"You did, last night at dinner," I explained, moving to the basin and starting to wash my face with the warm water. "You told the Duke's firstborn son he was three years too late."
"You even showed your engagement band on your finger as proof," I added pointedly, giving a meaningful look at her left hand.
"Oh, this old thing," Katherine said dismissively, glancing at the simple ring. "It's a complete fraud, a prop. But this thing has saved me from countless arranged marriages back in Ferne, so I treasure it."
She continued her explanation while selecting a dress for me from the wardrobe. "My mother and father started aggressively bringing potential suitors for me when I had just started bleeding at age fifteen—barely more than a child. I grew absolutely tired of the parade. I'm glad they always turned the men down if I showed even slight displeasure, but I desperately wanted it to end completely. So I purchased this ring and wore it conspicuously **(conspicuously: in a way that attracts notice)**, claiming I had already found someone—a merchant from Selon—and I was going to marry him when he returned from his travels."
"They actually fell for that story?" I asked, patting my face dry with a soft towel after finishing washing.
"They were reluctant and skeptical at first, not liking the idea of me falling for a mere merchant rather than nobility," she admitted. "But the thing about lying successfully is you have to cleverly mix truth into it. It's actually true that a Selon merchant asked formally for my hand that very year, even composing and singing elaborate poems about my beauty and virtue. Though I turned the man down gently." She selected an elegant emerald green dress from the wardrobe.
I privately pitied the poor merchant in my head. Getting his heart broken, then getting used unknowingly as a marriage repellent afterward without him ever knowing.
"Oh, there was an important military meeting early this morning while you slept," Katherine added with deliberate casualness. "There are signs of a massive snow storm approaching, so they decided unanimously to delay departure until after the snow starts to disappear."
"That will be around a whole three months minimum," I added, genuinely shocked by this news. So we'd be spending an entire month—possibly longer—here in Gorei? Not that I particularly disliked the idea of extended hospitality, but that would push our visit to Arap much, much later than planned. Was Arap fine without its emperor for a whole three months? That seemed problematic.
I began carefully wiping down my body with a warm towel after submerging it in the basin water, the heat soothing against my skin.
"It's far too dangerous to travel in these extreme conditions," Katherine explained, beginning to help me into my dress. "Even with twenty thousand well-trained soldiers, there inevitably tend to be casualties from the cold and storms. The officers agreed to organize hunting parties into the forests regularly so there won't be any food shortage during our extended stay."
The emerald dress, paired beautifully with delicate silver jewelry, complemented my pale northern skin perfectly. Katherine had developed a genuinely great sense of fashion. She herself wasn't dressed poorly either, I noticed. Though she wore a simple cream-white dress, it possessed a certain understated elegance that suited her.
After we finished dressing completely for the day, preparing ourselves for whatever awaited, I opened the heavy door—only to nearly collide with Arvid standing directly in front of it, his hand raised and clearly preparing to knock.
"Oh," he gave a shy, startled smile, quickly retrieving his raised hand and lowering it awkwardly.
"I thought I should show you around the castle grounds before breakfast," he said shyly, almost bashfully. *My Arvid is back*, I celebrated internally, my heart soaring. *Oh God, I love him. I love him so much.* So much so that I desperately wanted to grab him and climb on top of him and—whoa. Stop right there. I had to consciously calm myself down, forcing my racing thoughts into submission. I might have maintained a calm, composed exterior, but internally I was taking ragged breaths, practically salivating like a beast in heat. Absolutely thirsty for him in ways that should probably concern me.
*Let's act nonchalant, as we always do,* I coached myself.
"Alright, show me around—My love," I agreed. Despite my absolute best effort at control, my voice may have come out a bit, just a little bit inappropriate and suggestive. Surprise showed clearly in his expressive face, making him even more shy. He covered his reddening face with his hand, looking at me like I had wronged him terribly.
"You called me My love," he whispered, as if I'd said something scandalous.
I leaned deliberately toward him, and he instinctively took a step backward. I took a step forward toward him. This continued in a slow dance until his back finally hit the corridor wall and there was no more space for him to retreat. I placed my hands flat on the wall on either side of his head, effectively enclosing him between my arms. Trapped. His breath audibly hitched in his throat.
"There are many more things I can call you," I said with complete seriousness, my voice low. "Let's see—sweetie, honey, baby, darling, beloved. Hmm, what else should I try?"
He let out an actual whimper at my words.
"Stop—please stop teasing me like this," he managed to say, covering his entire face with both hands, thoroughly embarrassed and flustered.
I wanted desperately to do more, to make him even more embarrassed and shy, to see how far I could push. But a deliberate gagging sound came suddenly from the side, breaking the moment. We both snapped our heads sharply toward the sound in unison, finally acknowledging Katherine's continued presence. And I noticed a group of soldiers had appeared, approaching from the far end of the corridor, witnessing everything.
"My apologies, morning sickness or something," Katherine said with exaggerated seriousness, though her eyes danced with amusement. But her interruption had been enough. We snapped out of our intimate trance immediately, putting proper distance between us like guilty teenagers.
"Let's go for that walk," Arvid managed to say, composing himself. He offered me his hand formally, which I gladly took without hesitation. The familiar electric sensation between our entwined hands returned instantly, that pleasant tingling. At that perfect moment, I didn't know what I wanted most—for time itself to stop at this exact moment and preserve it forever, or to let us continue like this, hand in hand, until we both grew old and gray and haggard together. In my heart, I knew with absolute certainty that either option would be fine. Both would be paradise.