Morning light filtered through the window, pulling Leo from sleep.
He lay there for a mont, staring at the ceiling, thinking about the days ahead. The Jubilee ahead looked like it was going to be massive, and overwhelming, he’d also be attending and representing the First House, standing among nobility and warriors from across the world.
The thought should have terrified him, instead, the thought excited him.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Master Leo? Your formal attire has arrived."
He rose and opened the door. An attendant stood with an ornate box, bowing slightly before entering to set it on the desk.
"Lady Iori had this commissioned for you. For the Jubilee ceremonies." The attendant gestured to the box. "I can assist with the fitting if needed."
"I can manage. Thank you."
The attendant bowed and left.
Leo opened the box.
The outfit inside was unlike anything he’d worn. Deep crimson fabric, trimd with black accents. The cut was formal but allowed movent. Quality that spoke of expense and status.
He dressed slowly, adjusting each piece, when he finished, he turned to the mirror.
And stopped.
The man looking back at him was almost a stranger.
Leo stood six-foot-four, and the formal attire emphasized his height. The crimson brought out the color in his face, contrasted against his dark hair, his build, lean muscle earned through survival and training, filled the outfit well, shoulders broad, waist narrow, the lines clean and sharp.
Scars marked his hands, visible reminders of fights survived. His face had changed too, sharper sohow, more defined. The softness of his previous life, the one before the fountain, was completely gone.
He looked like he belonged here, like nobility.
Leo turned away from the mirror, carefully removing the outfit and storing it. He’d wear it when the ti ca.
For now, he had other plans.
---
He found Iori in the estate’s garden, practicing forms with her katanas, the morning sun caught her white hair, and for a mont, Leo just watched.
She moved with precision that made combat look like art, each strike perfectly placed, each step asured, no wasted movents.
She noticed him and stopped mid-form, sheathing her blades. "Leo. You’re up early."
"I received your gift this morning." He approached, hands in pockets. "I didn’t know you paid such close attention to my asurents"
Iori playfully roles her eyes."Don’t flatter yourself, is that all you ca to talk about?"
"I like receiving your gifts, so thank you" He paused. "Actually, I also wanted to ask you sothing."
Iori raised an eyebrow. "Go on."
"You’ve been to the capital before, many tis, from what I’ve seen so far." Leo t her gaze. "I’ve barely seen anything, so would you... Like to show around? Before everything starts."
She studied him for a mont, expression unreadable. "You want to play tour guide?"
"I want you to show places you like here." He kept his voice casual, but his intent was clear. "Just us, no other delegation drama, no formality."
Iori’s lips curved slightly. "Are you asking on a date, Leo?"
"Would you say yes if I was?"
Silence stretched between them, then she laughed—genuine, surprised. "You’re bold, i’ll give you that."
"Is that a yes?" Leo asked, excited.
"It’s a ’let change into sothing less formal.’" She moved past him toward the estate. "et at the gate in twenty minutes. And Leo?"
He turned.
"Don’t make regret this."
---
She appeared exactly twenty minutes later.
Gone were the training wear and structured wrappings, now, Iori wore a simple dark dress that flowed as she walked, practical but elegant. Her white hair was pulled back loosely, and without the ceremonial layers, her figure was impossible not to notice.
Tall—six-foot-six—and built like a warrior, but the dress emphasized curves that formal attire usually concealed: full breasts, narrow waist, full hips that moved with unconscious grace. She looked... different, still dangerous, but also undeniably beautiful.
Leo realized he was staring.
"Ready?" she asked, amused.
"Yeah, lead the way."
They left the estate together, just the two of them, and for the first ti since arriving, Leo felt like he could breathe.
Iori took him to parts of the capital he hadn’t seen.
First, a scenic overlook in the upper noble district, it was a small park that offered a view across the city. The Imperial Palace dominated the center, golden spires catching sunlight. Districts spread outward in all directions, a living map of organized chaos.
"The first ti I ca here," Iori said, leaning against the railing, "I was eight years old, my mother brought to et the Emperor." She gestured at the palace. "I rember thinking it looked like sothing from a story, it was too grand to be real."
"What changed?"
"I grew up." Her expression was thoughtful. "Learned that grandeur usually hides rot, the prettier the exterior, the uglier the politics underneath."
"That sounds cynical."
"It’s realistic." She glanced at him. "You’ll see soon enough, the Jubilee is pageantry and celebration on the surface, beneath? It’s power plays and backroom deals."
"And we’re part of that."
"Yes we are." She pushed off the railing. "Co on, there’s more to see."
They wandered through a cultural district Leo hadn’t known existed. Art galleries displaying works from across the empire, musicians performing on street corners, theaters advertising plays.
Iori stopped at a small gallery, studying paintings in silence. Leo watched her more than the art.
"You like this," he observed.
"Is that surprising?"
"You don’t seem like the artistic type."
"Because I fight well?" Her tone was dry. "People are more than one thing, Leo, I can appreciate beauty and still crack skulls when necessary, besides fighting too is a form of art."
"Fair point."
She moved to another painting, a landscape painting with crimson mountains beneath dark skies. "I don’t get to do this often. Diplomatic duties don’t leave much ti for... leisure."
"Then I’m glad you made ti today."
Iori looked at him, sothing shifting in her expression. "So am I."
The mont hung between them, charged and unspoken.
Then she smiled slightly and turned away. "Hungry?"
---
She took him to a restaurant tucked into a quiet street, the kind of place you’d never find without knowing it existed. High-end but not ostentatious. Private booths, soft lighting, the sll of expensive food and subtle incense.
The staff recognized Iori imdiately, bowing deeply before seating them in a secluded corner.
"You co here often?" Leo asked.
"When I’m in the capital and need an escape." She gestured at the nu. "Order whatever you want, It’s excellent."
The al was one of the best Leo had ever tasted. They talked between courses, about her childhood training, his ti before the outpost which he half made up, then they focused on the absurdity of formal politics, then her best years and monts at the academy before duty called.
"Do you ever resent it?" Leo asked. "Being the heir, having your entire life planned out."
Iori considered the question, swirling wine in her glass. "I did for so ti, but resentnt doesn’t change reality, I was born into this, I am good at it, I might as well fulfill the role."
"That’s bleak."
"It’s honest." She t his eyes. "What about you? You have no obligations, no family expectations, doesn’t that feel... freeing?"
"Well not exactly," Leo admitted. "So far I’ve been living without purpose or direction really, I’ve just been trying to survive one day to the next."
"And now?"
"Now I’m trying to build sothing." He leaned back. "Figure out what I want instead of just reacting to what happens."
"Have you figured it out yet?"
Leo looked at her, really looked, at the way lamplight caught her white hair, the red markings on her pale skin, the intelligence in her eyes. "I’m starting to."
Iori held his gaze, and for a mont, the restaurant disappeared. Just the two of them, suspended in sothing neither quite wanted to na.
Then she smiled, breaking the tension. "Co on. One more place."
---
The night market was alive with color and sound.
Lanterns with light enchantnts hung everywhere, casting warm light over hundreds of stalls. The vendors sold everything, street food, trinkets, flowers, clothes. Musicians played, dancers perford, sotis people joined, and the crowd flowed like a river of humanity.
Iori moved through it with ease, and Leo stayed close. The press of people gave him an excuse to walk near her, and she didn’t pull away.
At one point, navigating through a particularly dense crowd, her hand found his arm. Just lightly, steadying herself.
She didn’t let go imdiately.
Leo was acutely aware of her touch, warm through the fabric of his sleeve. Aware of her height putting her slightly above eye level with him, aware of her scent, sothing clean and faintly floral beneath the market’s slls.
They stopped at a stall selling sweets. Iori bought sothing, candied fruit on sticks, and handed one to Leo.
"Try it."
He did. It was good, sweet with a hint of spice.
They continued walking, eating, not talking but not needing to. The silence between them was comfortable now.
Eventually, they found themselves on a quieter street at the market’s edge. Fewer people, less noise. Lanterns still glowed overhead, but the chaos had faded to background hum.
Iori stopped near a small fountain, which made Leo pause for a bit.
"You alright?" she asked, noticing.
"Yeah, Just... thinking."
"About?"
"How much has changed." He looked at the water. "About a month ago, I was nobody. Now I’m standing in the empire’s capital with you, about to attend a celebration for an Emperor, as nobility."
"Regretting it?"
"Not even slightly."
Iori moved closer, looking at the fountain herself. Close enough that their shoulders nearly touched. "You’ve changed since the forest. You’ve grown."
"You’ve said that before."
"It bears repeating." She turned to face him fully, and suddenly the space between them felt very small. "You’re not the desperate survivor I pulled out of those trees anymore, who had so much fear in his eyes."
"What am I now?"
"I’m still figuring that out, but I can say you are much more confident, your eyes have gotten brighter."
Leo’s heart was beating fast, they were close, close enough that he could see the faint pattern on her skin, the exact shade of her eyes, the way her lips parted slightly when she wasn’t guarding her expression.
"Iori..."
"Leo." Her voice was quiet, almost hesitant, sothing he’d never heard from her before.
He moved closer, or she did, or they both did simultaneously, he didn’t know and didn’t care, the distance between them collapsed to nothing.
Her eyes were locked on his, as if searching for sothing, and when he leaned in, she didn’t pull away.
Their lips were a breath apart, her hand ca up, resting against his chest, feeling his heartbeat through the fabric.
"Leo," she whispered again, his na barely audible.
He closed the final distance.
And she stopped him.
Her hand pressed firmly against his chest, holding him back, soft by firmly.
"Not yet," she said softly.
Leo froze, confused, wanting to push forward but respecting the boundary she’d just set.
"You haven’t earned yet," Iori continued, her voice steady despite the charged mont between them. "The challenge, rember?"
Reality crashed back, the challenge, only if he fights her, prove himself worthy, then, and only then, she would be his.
"I..." Leo pulled back slightly, giving her space. "Right."
"I want this," Iori said, and her honesty cut through the disappointnt. "Don’t misunderstand that, but I won’t compromise what I believe in, you will need to earn this. Properly."
She dropped her hand from his chest, but her eyes remained on his, intense and unwavering. "When you defeat , when you’ve proven yourself... then you can kiss . The chance for that will co in two years if you can make it."
Leo let out a slow breath, fighting the frustration and desire warring in his chest. "You’re really going to make wait two years for a kiss?"
"I’m going to make you work for everything," Iori said, a slight smile returning to her lips. "If it cos easy, it won’t an anything."
"It would an sothing to ."
"Then imagine how much more it will an when you’ve earned it."
"Besides how am I supposed to get strong enough to defeat you in two years? Also what did you an ’if I can make it?’."
"You’ll find a way, I’m sure. We’ll flesh out the details later if you are serious about this."
She stepped back, creating deliberate space between them. The mont broke, but the tension lingered, unresolved, electric, promising.
"We should head back," Iori said, voice returning to its usual composed tone. "It’s late."
Leo nodded.
They walked back to the estate in silence, but it was different from the comfortable quiet earlier. This silence humd with awareness, with want, with the ghost of what almost happened.
At the estate entrance, Iori paused.
"Thank you," she said. "For today. I... needed it."
"So did I."
She looked at him for a long mont, sothing soft in her expression. Then she reached up, briefly touching his cheek with her fingertips.
"Two years, Leo."
Then she turned and walked inside, leaving him standing in the courtyard alone.
Leo touched his face where her fingers had been, still feeling the warmth.
Two years.
He’d earn her, properly.
And when he finally kissed her, it would be after defeating her in combat, after proving himself worthy, after becoming the man she believed he could be.
Worth the wait.
He just hoped he could survive it.
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