Location: Valenhart Castle
The wind howled across the frost-bitten cliffs as Ethan's golden wyvern landed on the stone platform outside the castle gates. Its massive wings folded with a guttural hiss, sending a flurry of snow scattering across the stone.
Ethan jumped down, his boots crunching against the frost, and helped the two figures beside him dismount.
Magda still hadn't let go of Micheal's hand. Her crimson eyes stared vacantly ahead, unreadable. Micheal's fingers curled gently around hers in return, protective yet apologetic.
Neither had said a word since Ethan's sudden intervention had pulled them from Rüdiger's grasp.
Vivian and Calista ran to them, breath misting in the air as they fussed over Magda.
One look at Micheal's battered figure and Magda's blood-drained face sent alarms ringing through their minds.
"Your Highness, are you alright?" Vivian asked, gripping Magda's arm as she examined her pale face.
"What happened your highness?" Calista examined Magda's hands that bore marks of her own nails.
Calista's brows furrowed in worry. "You shouldn't have gone alone. We should've—"
Magda shook her head faintly, her gaze still locked on the snow-covered stones beneath her. "I'm fine."
Vivian turned toward Micheal, but before she could speak, he raised a hand gently. "Dame Vivian, Lady Calista... may I have a moment with my wife? Alone."
On a normal day Vivian and Calista would have welcomed Micheal's proactiveness.
They were reluctant a bit at first.
They both exchanged a glance, then as if a silent understanding passed through them and they nodded, stepping aside.
Micheal turned to Magda. "Come with me."
He led her through a narrow passage to the side garden. The bare trees stood like sentinels in the wind, their branches laced with frost.
Micheal let go of her hand and turned, his expression heavy.
"I'm sorry," he began, voice raw. "I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't protect you."
Magda looked up, startled by his sudden vulnerability.
"I don't know what he said to you," Micheal began, his voice trembling, fists clenched at his sides. "But I saw your face. I saw the fear, the pain... and I stood there, useless."
He swallowed hard, eyes dull with guilt. "I'm your husband, and I couldn't do anything."
He turned away and slammed his fist against the nearest tree. Bark splintered, and blood smeared across his knuckles.
"I should've been stronger. I'm ashamed to stand beside you. You're... you're the pinnacle of perfection. And I... I'm just a toad lusting after a swan."
Magda's breath hitched. Tears welled in her eyes as she rushed forward, wrapping her arms around him from behind.
"No," she whispered. "I was the greedy one. I used to know better than to want. I was raised to be humble, to accept. But I'm not that girl anymore. I want things I shouldn't. I want... you."
Micheal turned in her arms, eyes wide.
Micheal reeled inwardly, stunned that Magda—his Magda—believed herself unworthy of him, that desiring him was somehow a flaw.
It struck a chord deep within, a hidden pain and fury blooming into resolve.
Slowly, he reached up and cupped her face. His hands trembled—but then something shifted.
His gaze darkened.
"You aren't the only one who's greedy, Magda," he said, his voice layered, echoing with something ancient. "I'll right the wrongs of a hundred lifetimes. You think I haven't waited for this? A few weeks of uncertainty? That's nothing."
His eyes, once ocean blue, now glimmered with flecks of gold.
"Every lifetime I lost you. Every time, I was too late. Not this time."
Magda's breath caught in her throat. He wasn't just speaking as Micheal.
"Micheal...?" she whispered.
But Micheal looked as if he was possessed as if he was seeing something that she couldn't see.
But before she could ask more, Micheal's body swayed. He collapsed forward, and she barely caught him.
"Micheal!" she gasped, steadying him.
He blinked rapidly and stared at her, his usual expression returning, tinged with embarrassment. "I just... I said something odd just now."
"You—you..."
He held up a hand quickly and muttered, "Low blood pressure. I skipped breakfast again."
Then he added, with a sheepish smile, "You know us nobles. We faint over everything."
He gave her cheek a quick kiss, stepped back, and chuckled. "I'm fine now. Just need a proper breakfast. Maybe something with honey?"
He turned to go, brushing a hand through his disheveled platinum hair.
But then, half a step down the path, he glanced over his shoulder.
"Ah, and Magda?"
She blinked.
"That new uniform you had tailored—it's making it very hard for me to be a functional adult," Micheal murmured, running a hand through his hair.
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, a flicker of heat dancing in his gaze.
"I'm trying my best not to think about it, really," he continued with a small sigh, his voice lower, edged with longing. "But every time I look at you in it, my thoughts run wild."
He shifted closer, his hand briefly brushing against her arm, as though fighting the urge to pull her in. "I'm just an average man, Magda. Not trained or disciplined like Ethan or composed like Fredrick. I'm a weak man, with very real desires. And that uniform... it's a trial sent straight from the devils."
Magda opened her mouth, unsure of what to say, but the blush blooming across her cheeks said everything.
She had assumed that he hadn't noticed. She was a bit disappointed—until he said otherwise.
Hearing what it did to him from his own mouth sent a searing flush up the back of her neck, as if his desire had branded her with unexpected heat.
He grinned, satisfied with her reaction, and strolled away nonchalantly.
As he vanished behind the hedge, his gait grew steadier, the limp fading. His torn sleeve repaired itself, the blood on his knuckles disappeared.
His nonchalant expression changed, his blue eyes narrowed, glowing faintly gold.
"Rüdiger," he muttered. The name dripped with contempt, spoken like a curse.
Behind him, Magda stood frozen in the garden, her fingers touching her cheek where he had kissed her.
In her heart, something unfurled—a thread of certainty, and an ache of understanding. Micheal wasn't just the toad lusting after a swan.
Unknown to both of them, he was the man who had walked through time for her—and for him, she could defy fate itself.