Work Text:
“I said stop it. Get away–! Get away from me!” I screamed with all my might. I begged him to stop. I pleaded for him to stop.
He still drew closer. Pinned me to the bed. He looked at me with the coldest eyes I had ever seen in both of my times living in this hellhole and my world. Stone cold. Grey. Eager to take me and solidify me as the crown princess once and for all. There would be no debate once I bore a child; Helena would be cast aside and treated as the emperor’s paramour; Anahkin–oh, sweet, precious Anahkin–would be left alone in the world once again; and I, would remain forever here, as the most abhorred empress in history.
“Please stop this, Your Highness.” I was not a gullible woman. Eris Miserian was not a gullible woman. Thinking that my pleas would have any effect on the man pinning me down was gullible however.
“I don’t care if you resent me for the rest of your life,” he said, his warm breath reaching my forehead.
Without hesitation, I grabbed a vase from the side dresser and thrashed it against his head. The sound was deafening as metal clashed with bone. Such a shame that a beautiful vase was used to strike an insane fool.
As I drew my hands away, I saw anger and hatred in his eyes–none that I wasn’t familiar with. The story always goes that the crown prince hates the villainess. It was the most simple, formulaic answer.
I quickly got up onto my knees on the bed and raised my only weapon.
Thunk.
Thunk.
Thunk.
…
Ding.
“Bo-ra?”
I jolted awake from the flashback to see Anahkin sitting up on our bed and holding my hand. I quickly took my hand away, still reminded of Alecto’s assault.
Ding.
“I can hear the bells,” I whispered, tears welling in my eyes. Though I knew there was no possibility of me becoming a witch in this world, the characteristic sound of the bell of transcendence still rang in my mind. It could reach 13 ‘dings’ and still, I wouldn’t be a witch.
Ding.
“May I hold you right now?”
Ding.
I couldn’t get any words out of me, but I nodded, shaking in his arms. I leaned my head against his chest, trying to comfort myself with the sound of his heartbeats.
“I thought I was fine–I thought I had escaped from that hell,” I mumbled into his shirt.
“Are the bells still ringing? Do you want me to keep holding you or make some tea?”
I peeled myself away from him and wiped my tears with the back of my hand. “Some tea would be nice.”
“Can I trust you to be alone right now?”
“Yes. Thank you, Anahkin.”
He pressed a tender kiss to my forehead before leaving our bedroom.
I stepped into the bathroom and turned on the lights. My eyes adjusted to the brightness for a few seconds.
It’s fine. I’m home.
I turned the tap on and splashed my face with cold water to bring my senses back to reality. This wasn’t the story world. There was no Alecto, Hubris, or Jason to trap me against my will. There would only be Anahkin, my loyal knight and now fiancée. He knew all of what happened to me and he understood my pain. My scars should have faded and the only thing remaining from there should be Anahkin and my memories of Medea, Kintia, Emma, and Helena.
As I dried my face with a towel, I looked in the mirror. My eyes widened in shock as I saw her–Eris Miserian. I screamed like I had seen a ghost. It was impossible.
I threw the wet towel I was using at the reflection–no, it wasn’t a reflection at all because the face that stared at me wasn’t me. As the towel fell, the water worked to obscure her face from my view.
“Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Show me my face–not hers, anything but hers..!” I muttered, hands grasping at my head to keep composure. I wished for Eris to disappear completely from my life, but that was no use. Eris Miserian’s soul no longer existed in any universe.
“Bo-ra?”
“Anahkin–I’m sorry, I thought I had it all under control. I just can’t get rid of the feeling–can’t get rid of the sensation of killing–can’t get rid of the feeling of being trapped. I killed Alecto and Helena. I killed them with my own hands, and I still feel like a murderer even if they’ve been revived. I thought when I found you, it would all go away,” I said, trembling in his arms once again. I often wondered what he thought of me; I used to be his confident, reactive master who sometimes showed vulnerability–but never to this extent. “And I saw her. The woman you fell in love with.”
“Bo-ra. You’re the woman I fell in love with, no matter whose body your soul inhabits. I choose to serve and love you for all of my life,” he eyes looked straight at my soul.
“Say my name again.”
“Bo-ra.”
“Again.” I held him closer to me.
“Bo-ra.”
“That’s right… I’m not Eris Miserian. She is long dead, physically and spiritually.” The rapid breaths I didn’t realize I was taking slowed down to a normal pace.
“I want to show you something. I think… it’s the perfect time for this.” His hand led me out of the bathroom and past the steaming cup of water and teabag on the dining room table. We stopped on the apartment balcony. The autumn breeze pricked at my skin.
The night sky wasn’t dark at all. The city lights of Korea polluted the blackness, turning the night a dark shade of grey. Such were the tradeoffs of a modern world. I used to come here and wonder what it would look like if it was all pitch black.
Anahkin set up a foldable telescope I had never seen before on a chair, just enough to reach my viewpoint.
“I was going to wait until your birthday for this, but I figured it’d be best for you now,” he smiled.
Ever since coming to my world from his, he had changed drastically. Anahkin became bolder, more talkative, and sociable. He even found friends and hobbies he couldn’t even dream of having the luxury of doing in his old position. His heart still remained pure for me, never moving on from being my loyal knight.
“What is all this?”
He hummed, trying to adjust the telescope to a certain view. “Just something I’ve been doing behind your back.”
“Hm?”
“Take a look at this, my lady.” He stepped away from the telescope and allowed me to look at what he had focused on. “Do you remember the night of Eris’ coming-of-age ceremony?”
“I remember it quite well.” It was the night Helena had been tricked into wearing my dress, causing an uproar in high society, especially since she came in with Eris’ fiancée.
“You told me to name you the constellations of that world.”
“I do remember.” Looking into the telescope, I could see a bunch of stars.
“I’ve studied the stars of this world. You’re the brightest star here, but I want to name you the constellations here. From this viewpoint, you can see Ursa Major and Cassiopeia. Ursa Major is the one that looks like a big trowel and opposite to it is a ‘W’ shape. That is Cassiopeia.”
“That is beautiful.”
“Let me know once you’re done looking at them, I’ll shift the view to another one.”
…
It must’ve lasted for an hour. Anahkin would shift the telescope to frame another constellation, I would look at it using his descriptions, and he would tell me all about the history of them. It must’ve taken so much time to memorize all of this.
When he finished describing the last constellation he remembered, I pulled him close and cupped his face. I smiled at him–my own knight. He followed me through worlds and stuck with me despite my deep desire to die back then. Anahkin was someone I considered my everything.
“Was it… okay?” he asked with a hint of nervousness. His face looked beautiful, illuminated by the busy streetlights of the night.
“It was perfect.” I leaned in to kiss him. He didn’t hesitate to kiss me back.
It was simply perfect.