Chapter 11 Part 8

***

 

Anais slowly blinked awake in the darkness.

 

She had thought she would sleep until morning from exhaustion, but it seemed she had woken up instead.

 

‘What a strange dream.’

 

If she didn’t call it a dream, it would only make her feel worse—because the moment she woke, reality returned.

 

She had been born remembering her past life, but as she grew older, she had gradually buried those memories deep inside.

 

Her family now—this life she had been given—was different from before.

 

Her mother loved her husband and son, but she loved Anais just as much. Not once had Anais ever doubted that love.

 

Her brother was the same. After their mother passed away, when Anais tried to take on that role herself, he told her he would handle it—and that she could remain a child.

 

As for her father…

 

She had once resented him, but she understood now that, at the time, there had been no other choice.

 

He was nothing like those who neglected their duties to their family and withheld affection simply because they didn’t know how to express it.

 

Anais knew that her late mother, her brother, and her father all loved her.

 

For the first time, she had felt love.

 

She had been happy within it.

 

And she had been desperate to protect her family.

 

But…

 

‘Why does it end up like this again?’

 

Jeremy had treated her as no more than something beneath even a mistress, and Rahil had forced her into a marriage for Angelica’s sake.

 

Even though Rahil later came to realize his love for her—

 

It still felt unfair.

 

‘Why can’t I ever be someone’s first choice?’

 

She wanted to love without doubt.

 

Even if it wasn’t returned equally, she didn’t think it was wrong to want to be loved without the fear of being abandoned.

 

All of a sudden, she missed her brother and father so much that tears began to fall.

 

The first person she thought of was her mother—but she could never see her again.

 

Francis was currently assigned as her guard, so she could see him if she wished.

 

But imagining herself running to her brother and crying in his arms—

 

She couldn’t bring herself to call for him.

 

‘He would worry.’

 

Francis had never been pleased with her sudden marriage to Rahil. If he knew everything, he might blame himself for not being able to stop it.

 

Unlike their father, he had always been close to Anais.

 

He would think it was his fault.

 

‘I don’t want that.’

 

She had to live well.

 

So that her father and brother wouldn’t worry.

 

But that wasn’t something she could achieve on her own—

 

And that made her angry.

 

“Anais, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

 

Even in the darkness, Rahil noticed her tears and spoke in a soft voice. It was only natural he would be startled—his wife had suddenly woken and begun to cry.

 

Anais looked toward where Rahil’s voice came from in the darkness.

 

“I don’t want to be someone’s second anymore. I don’t want to be a second choice.”

 

She knew he wasn’t someone she should cling to like this—

 

But the tears kept falling.

 

What she truly wanted, desperately, was to see her brother.

 

“I wish I didn’t have to doubt people.”

 

Rahil understood those words perfectly.

 

He, too, had been treated coldly by his birth mother, always forced to stand behind his elder brother, the Crown Prince.

 

Even in his relationship with Angelica, he had only ever filled the space left by Theodore—never once becoming more important than him.

 

“To me, you come first. You’ve never once been second. So trust me.”

 

The moment he saw her, Angelica’s existence—and the vow he had made to her—had faded away like the moon hidden by the sun.

 

“I love you, Anais… don’t cry. When you cry… it makes me feel like I should fall to my knees and beg.”

 

Rahil pulled her into his arms, trying desperately to comfort her.

 

At first, he wondered if she had seen a frightening dream—perhaps about the dragon—

 

But then he thought, maybe it was because of something he had done.

 

Since it was a dream likely born from his own actions, he couldn’t say he was blameless.

 

Simply making Anais feel this anxious was already enough to make him guilty.

 

If her tears would just stop, he truly felt he could fall to his knees and beg.

 

This was inside the bedroom—there was no need to think about imperial dignity.

 

With every tear that fell, his heart crumbled with it.

 

If only he had realized his feelings sooner, he might have been able to make her his Empress without hurting her like this.

 

Of course… that would only have mattered if she had accepted his love.

 

Held tightly in Rahil’s arms, Anais cried until she fell asleep once more.

 

When morning came, she tried to forget this night—

 

But for Rahil, it remained as a painful trace, lingering in his heart for a long time.

 

***

 

Alexander, Marquis Ruol, was satisfied to find that the Emperor’s handling of things had been better than expected. The operation last night had been one that could have led to a complete disaster if it had failed.

 

Dragons were powerful—and cunning. If they were allowed to escape, it could bring about great calamity. Even a place like the capital, protected by magical defense systems, would struggle to withstand a dragon’s magic—so for smaller provincial cities, it would be even worse.

 

And tracking a creature that could fly through the sky only made things more difficult.

 

In that sense, the operation carried out last night—boldly seizing the chance to capture the dragon without hesitation—had struck its mark perfectly.

 

What’s more, it had been resolved without needing to rely on Marquis Ruol’s intervention, even though he had been called in as a precaution.

 

Marquis Ruol was pleased that the ball, which had clearly been prepared by Anais, had concluded without incident—and that not a single life had been lost.

 

Of course, many of the imperial mages who had played a major role the night before had suffered internal injuries, but the fact that it had ended at that was something to be grateful for.