It would be my honor to be your sword.
The words echoed in my mind as Arthur and I returned to the main floor of the banquet hall, but they felt inadequate compared to the storm of emotions churning in my chest. Every step felt weightless, as if I might float away on the sheer joy threatening to overflow from within .
I'm proud of you.
I will never regret saving you.
You are worth it in every way.
His words replayed themselves on an endless loop, each repetition sending fresh waves of warmth through my entire being. I pressed my lips together, fighting to maintain the composed expression expected of soone who had just received such an honor, but I could feel the smile trying to break free. My cheeks ached from the effort of restraining it.
I focused on my breathing, on the familiar weight of my sword at my side, on anything that might help regain control. But every ti I thought I had managed it, Arthur's voice would echo again in my mory, and the giddiness would surge back with renewed force.
Stand by my side when I reach peak.
He wanted there. Not just as a guild mber, but as soone worthy of standing beside him at the summit of power. The thought made my heart race so fast I was genuinely concerned it might be audible to everyone around .
"Well, well," ca a familiar voice dripping with amusent. "Soone looks like they've just been told they won the lottery."
I turned to find Elias approaching with that knowing smirk that ant trouble. His eyes held the particular gleam they got when he'd spotted sothing entertaining, and I realized with dawning horror that my carefully maintained composure might not be as effective as I'd hoped.
"I don't know what you an," I said, aiming for casual indifference and missing by several leagues.
"Really?" Elias's grin widened. "Because you're practically glowing. Did Arthur give you another present? Maybe tell you how special you are?"
Heat flooded my face so fast I felt dizzy. "It wasn't like that," I protested, which only seed to confirm his suspicions.
"Oh, it absolutely was like that." Elias moved closer, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "You know, I've seen that exact expression before. Usually on people who've just been personally blessed by their deity of choice."
"Stop it," I hissed, glancing around nervously to make sure no one else was listening. The last thing I needed was for Arthur to overhear this conversation.
"Stop what? Observing the obvious?" Elias chuckled, clearly enjoying my discomfort. "Reika, you look like soone just handed you the sun and moon wrapped in a bow. It's actually kind of adorable."
"I do not—" I started to deny it, but Kali's voice cut through my protest.
"Oh, this is rich." She materialized beside us with the predatory grace of soone who had sensed weakness and moved in for the kill. "What's got our little flower all flustered?"
I shot her a warning look, but she ignored it completely, her dark eyes dancing with mischief.
"Arthur complinted her," Elias supplied helpfully. "She's been walking on air ever since."
"I have not," I said through gritted teeth, though even I could hear how unconvincing it sounded.
Kali studied my face with the intensity of a scholar examining an interesting specin. "Hmm. Dilated pupils, flushed cheeks, that particular starry-eyed expression..." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Classic symptoms of Arthur-induced euphoria."
"That's not a real condition," I snapped, which only made both of them laugh.
"Isn't it?" Kali raised an eyebrow. "Because I'm pretty sure half the female population of the Empire would disagree with you."
"Including you?" The words slipped out before I could stop them, and I imdiately regretted the defensive bite in my tone.
Kali's expression shifted, becoming more serious but not unkind. "Touché. Though I like to think I manage it better than most."
"Manage what?" I demanded, frustrated by the implication that whatever I was feeling was so obvious it needed 'managing.'
"The hopeless devotion," Elias said matter-of-factly. "Though in your case, I'd say it's progressed well beyond devotion into sothing else entirely."
My stomach dropped. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure you don't." Kali's tone was gentle now, which sohow made it worse than when she'd been teasing. "Just like you don't know why you spent months secretly practicing ballroom dancing, or why you nearly charged across a continent when you heard he was going to the front lines."
"Those are completely normal reactions for—"
"For soone desperately in love with their 'master'?" Elias finished helpfully.
The words hit like a physical blow. I opened my mouth to deny it, to explain that what I felt was loyalty and gratitude and admiration, nothing more. But the protest died in my throat, because sowhere deep down, a part of recognized the truth in what they were saying.
"I'm not—" I started, then stopped, the words feeling false even as I tried to form them.
"Oh honey," Kali said, and her voice held genuine sympathy now. "You really don't see it, do you?"
"See what?" I whispered, though I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the answer.
"The way you look at him. The way you light up when he pays attention to you. The way you'd probably walk into hell itself if he asked you to." Kali's expression was uncharacteristically gentle. "That's not just devotion, Reika. That's love."
The word hung in the air between us like a challenge. I wanted to reject it, to laugh it off as ridiculous, but my traitorous heart had started beating faster at just hearing it spoken aloud.
"That's..." I swallowed hard, struggling to find my voice. "That's not possible."
"Why not?" Elias asked, genuine curiosity replacing his earlier amusent. "You're both remarkable people. It would hardly be surprising if feelings developed."
"Because he's..." I gestured helplessly, trying to encompass everything that Arthur was—brilliant, powerful, destined for greatness beyond anything I could imagine. "And I'm just..."
"Just what?" Kali's voice carried a note of challenge. "Just soone he trusts enough to give his master's sword art? Just soone whose safety he worried about enough to send you away from danger? Just soone he chose to dance with tonight?"
Each point felt like another weight added to a scale I hadn't realized was tilting. When she put it like that, when she listed out Arthur's actions rather than just my feelings, it painted a picture I wasn't sure how to interpret.
"That doesn't an anything," I said weakly.
"Doesn't it?" Kali studied my face with that analytical intensity she usually reserved for combat tactics. "Tell , what did he say to you just now that has you glowing like a lantern?"
I hesitated, unwilling to share sothing so precious and personal. But Kali waited with infinite patience, and eventually the words tumbled out of their own accord.
"He said he was proud of . That he'd never regret saving because I was worth it." My voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "He asked to stand by his side when he reaches peak."
Elias whistled low.
"It's not romantic," I protested, though the words felt hollow.
"Reika." Kali's voice was gentle but firm. "When soone asks you to stand by their side at the summit of their power, that's not a casual request. That's choosing who you want with you at the most important mont of your life."
The implications of her words crashed over like a tide. I'd been so focused on the honor of being chosen, on the trust it represented, that I hadn't considered what it might an from Arthur's perspective. Why he would want there, specifically, when he could have anyone.
"But he's dating Princess Rachel, Princess Seraphina, Princess Cecilia and Lady Rose," I said, grasping for the safety of established facts. "He has relationships with people who actually make sense for soone like him."
"And that changes what you feel how exactly?" Kali asked with ruthless logic.
It didn't. That was the terrifying truth I'd been avoiding. Whether Arthur was available or not, whether anything could ever co of these feelings or not, they existed. They were real. And pretending otherwise was becoming increasingly impossible.
"I need so air," I said suddenly, the weight of these revelations making the banquet hall feel suffocating.
"Actually," Jin's voice interrupted our conversation as he approached from across the room, "we should probably start thinking about departure. The flight plan I filed has us leaving within the hour."
I'd never been so grateful for a change of subject. The ntion of Jin's private plane—the sleek, luxurious aircraft that had brought us here in comfort far beyond anything I'd experienced before—reminded that this entire evening had been borrowed ti. Soon we'd be back to the real world, where I could process these confusing emotions in private.
"Perfect timing," Elias said with a aningful glance at . "I think our little flower here could use so ti to... contemplate recent revelations."
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