"You should be careful, Yuki Chibana. I could have taken your head off."
Ren's voice was calm, controlled, but the weight beneath it was undeniable.
"You're lucky I have restraint. Lucky I know control. I'm glad I didn't kill you—wouldn't have looked good for my image of perfection."
He exhaled, the slightest hint of irony lacing his words.
"That's what your grandfather sees me as. Perfection. Because I'm the descendant of the first emperor of our dynasty."
Yuki remained composed, unfazed by the near miss, her gaze lingering on the edge of his blade before she finally spoke.
"Yes. The Chibana family has always been loyal to the Eternal Nine Royal Families—especially the Black Dragon family."
She paused, measuring her words.
"My grandfather asked me again if you agreed to the marriage between our families," Yuki said, her tone measured. "He'd be delighted, since you left the answer vague last time. You said you understood, but that wasn't quite a yes."
She held his gaze, unwavering.
"My parents and yours won't interfere. They've left the decision to us."
Ren's expression remained unreadable, but something flickered beneath it—thoughts turning, calculations forming.
"My father and mother," he said, quiet but firm, "they care about me."
But the ones they called his parents?
They weren't his birth parents—just people bound to him by blood.
Immortals like him.
His real family had died long ago.
A Warrior's Farewell
If you genuinely wish to marry me, you might regret it."
He thought about her—one of the people whose memory he had erased, one who had once known his true identity.
Back then, he hadn't bothered with illusion. No shapeshifting, no deception beyond the mask and hood.
When Jaime shattered that mask, Ren hadn't moved. He hadn't cared.
He was having too much fun.
He respected Jaime, not as an opponent or an obstacle, but as someone who deserved to fight without restraint.
So he let him believe.
Let him think, for that fleeting moment, that victory was within reach.
And Ren ended it when Jaime fulfilled himself and convinced himself he had won.
Jaime accepted the death. Not in fear, not in sorrow—but in satisfaction.
It's better to die on his feet than fade in a bed he never belonged in.
A Love Unseen
"I won't regret it, Prince Ren."
Her voice was steady. Certain.
"I never intended to marry, but I thought about many things. And I realised—"
"Maybe I can love a man. Even one I've never seen without the mask."
Ren remained still, his eyes veiled in secrecy.
Love. A sentiment burdened by fragile convictions and fleeting ideals.
She believed she could love him.
That wasn't a lie.
But it wasn't relevant, either.
"So... are you doing this for duty or yourself?" he asked.
Yuki hesitated. Not because she didn't know the answer, but because she knew he wouldn't care what it was.
Ren did not seek reassurance. He did not soften for the sake of comfort.
If she had chosen duty, it made no difference.
If she had chosen herself, it would have made no difference.
Because to him, it had already been decided.
Marriage was inevitable, built upon love, loyalty, or simple practicality.
"Both," she said finally, watching him.
For the first time, Ren laughed.
Not in cruelty. Not in mockery. But as if something within her words resonated, even if he would never say it aloud.
"Then you understand."
In the end, duty and self are never separate.
They were the same.
Ren's gaze remained unwavering.
"You're interesting, woman—Yuki Chibana."
His voice carried no praise. No mockery. Just an observation.
"You remind me of an ancestor I once read about in history—the one who forged your family's legacy into what it is today."
"Because she knew—"
"When to kneel."
"And when to fight."
The words held weight—an unspoken recognition of power, not just in battle but also in understanding when to surrender, wait, and strike.
Yuki didn't flinch. She absorbed the comparison, tracing its implications.
She could dismiss it. Challenge it. Accept it.
But instead, she tested it.
"And what do you think, Prince Ren?"
"Is this one of those moments?"
Silence.
Then, the faintest hint of amusement in his gaze.
A recognition, perhaps, that she understood more than he expected.
"I suppose we'll see, won't we?"
Ren leaned back slightly, as if settling into the inevitability of it all.
"But out of all the Chibana I've met in my time, you represent her the most."
"She was formidable. Sharp. Unyielding. Loyal to her family, loyal to her husband."
"From what I've been told, that husband's loyalty may have had more to do with fear than devotion."
"Regardless, your family speaks of her often. They remember her for what she was—"
"A woman who knew exactly when to bend—"
"And exactly when to make the world bow instead."
Eterna Veil
"How about facing steel with real steel? What do you say, Yuki Chibana—do you accept?"
"Your family had a hand in shaping this. Your ancestor—the first to forge it—left her mark on history. Another detail I happened upon in my readings."
Yuki's gaze didn't waver.
"How could I not know?" Her voice was steady, layered with meaning. "It was the Black Dragon Emperor who bestowed it upon my ancestor. She respected him deeply. But she only ever feared him."
A pause.
"For I have heard he was the embodiment of a true god. Of something beyond what she could ever imagine."
"People used to deny it—that the Eternal Nine were anything more than human. Just warriors, just legends. Nothing beyond that."
"But my ancestor never believed that."
"She felt it."
"She couldn't explain why—only that when she stood before them, something in her very being recognised the difference. They were not human."
"Especially him."
"The mysterious steel he brought did not belong to mortal hands. It wasn't crafted, wasn't forged like ordinary weapons."
"It was otherworldly."
"A weapon that had crossed time and existence itself, carrying the weight of something unseen."
"She could feel it in the air around it. The way it resisted touch. The way it seemed to shift—like it was never truly meant to be held by human hands."
"And that was how she knew."
"Not because of stories. Not because of titles."
"But because she stood there—and understood something she could never explain."
Fading Into Time
"Tell me, Yuki Chibana—what does your instinct say now? Do you believe the Eternal Nine still exist, or have they faded into time like all humans do?" Yuki met his gaze, unwavering. "I believe they still exist. It just... makes sense to me. I don't know why—instinct, I suppose." Ren watched her momentarily before speaking again, his voice steady and deliberate. "And if I told you everything you know is a lie?" "That the supernatural does exist?" "That I am the Black Dragon Emperor?" Yuki didn't hesitate. "I would believe you." Silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken meaning. Then Ren exhaled—not in surprise, but as if accepting something inevitable. "Reincarnation exists, you know." His tone was measured and reflective. "You remind me so much of her." A pause. "Too bad you're not—but perhaps that makes you even more interesting." "I think we will work well as husband and wife, right?" Yuki didn't falter. "I have faith we will, Prince Ren." His gaze lingered on her, something unreadable behind it. Then, just slightly, he smiled. "Just call me Ren." "Since you're my fiancée now."