Lys eased the bedroom door shut behind him, the latch clicking softly so he wouldn't wake the whole house. The sword stayed propped against the bedside table, close enough to grab if he needed it. Selene was already under the covers, facing the wall like she did every night now.
He slid in beside her, the mattress dipping under his weight, and pulled the thin blanket over them both. The room smelled faintly of the lavender soap she used, mixed with the warm scent of her skin and the faint woodsmoke that always clung to this house.
For a minute, he just lay there, staring at the dark ceiling, the day's weight and events still sitting on his chest. He thought she was asleep until her voice cut through the quiet, low and steady.
"Lys."
He gets a little startled, eyes snapping open in the dark.
She still didn't turn around. "From the moment I met you, all I've seen is you acting strange. You were not like any other people as far as I knew. Too precise. Too well-timed for almost all the work you do. When I asked Mira, she even said you've changed a lot from before your injury from the wolves. Did something happen back then? Is there something we should know that you aren't telling us?"
The question sat heavy in his chest, thicker than the darkness. He stared at the back of her head, heart thudding hard against his ribs.
He knew he could lie. Hell, he could even just dodge the question somehow. But something in her quiet voice made words come out anyway, without him even realising.
He kept his voice low, careful. "Back then, I… remember another life before this one. When I was almost dead from the wolves, it all came back to me somehow. Not everything as you might think. It's not like I forgot this life. I still know who I am here. But the memories from before that day feel to me like I'm reading pages from a book. They only open up when something triggers them. A name, a situation, or a piece of knowledge. That's it. That's why I was acting completely different from my previous self, unlike any other villagers, because I don't feel like I'm any longer one of them, like before I used to be. I know it is hard to believe, but it is what it is. I just hope that answers your curiosity."
Selene stayed perfectly still. The only sound was her breathing and the faint creak of the bed when she shifted slightly as he paused.
Then he kept going again, letting her in more than he'd let anyone know after coming to this world. "I didn't plan any of what's happened. The market thing with Mitsu, the guild, even stepping in with you that day. It just happened, and I acted as best as I could. I reacted the way that felt right in those moments. I know from your perspective it might have looked like I was way different from any villagers, as no normal villagers would do things that reckless, so I get that thinking something happened to me is the most logical thing one would come to. I would understand if my family asked you to ask this of me if this chance ever comes."
He understood enough that Selene was not the type to ask this type of question. However close they had gotten after staying in the same room for two to three nights together, chatting as if they were two friends having a sleepover, she shouldn't be bold enough to ask this deep question without any warning. It's not like she knew him before he became Lys, so seeing her asking about his change in nature certainly made it obvious to him that his family might be the one who made her do this.
Selene was quiet for a long time, knowing she had been caught. Lys could hear her slow breathing as the candle on the table had burned down to nothing, leaving only moonlight slipping through the cracks in the shutters.
Finally, after thirty or more seconds later, she spoke, voice soft. "Uhh, no, nobody asked me to ask you anything. I had no idea it was something like that. I just thought maybe you were possessed by some evil witch or spirit. That might have also explained the strange way you act sometimes, so I asked myself, just to check how you react to it. After all, you're nothing like the other villagers. You always seemed… so out of place to me. But now that you explained everything to me, all of your actions up until now make sense to me somehow. More than you might think."
Lys swallowed, trying to figure out her opinion about him now that she knows this. "So? Does it bother you? That, I have this strange condition?"
She let out a small breath. "Hmm, let me see..uh.....it definitely bothers me a little that you didn't tell your family yet, about all of this. They love you after all. So, they deserve to know."
She took a pause. "But somehow, I also get why you didn't, too, at the same time. It's a lot after all. Knowing the person you consider your family might not have a complete memory about you, which might make them look at you differently than now. So… I'm glad you told me at least. It feels like you're closer to me than to them. You know?"
Even in the dark room, he caught the warm smile in her voice while she said that. It hit him low in the chest, knowing he still wasn't completely honest about everything. But he still kept quiet about anything more than that.
After this, the conversation stretched on between them, as they talked about many little things of their daily stuff at first, how strange the memories felt to him, or how she was now completely free to eat, read, take a bath whenever she likes, unlike before, where she had to always tiptoe around her Father.
While talking about this and that, she suddenly turned her head just enough that he saw the faint outline of her profile. Then, without any warning or any buildup, she asked an abrupt question once again. But this time it wasn't anything about any suspicions, or even any sort of curious questions of hers. The question almost came out of her mouth sharply, almost like it hurt her to say it out loud.
"Are you not going to ever touch me, Lys?"
Lys's throat instantly felt tight. He turned his head from staring at the ceiling to her face, trying to keep his voice steady. "Huh? Oh that…I..uh... Heh....Hey, what are you talking about all of a sudden?!"
He looked at Selene's face, which told him that she wasn't joking with him.
"Uhhh, well, it's not that I don't want to. I just…you know, I want to treat you right. Not just take what I can. Not like that. You know what I mean!"
Selene stayed quiet for a beat, hearing that, but he could feel the tension in her body now. Her next words came out smaller, almost bitter. "You rescued Mitsu from me. You saw what I did to her. You even had to marry me because of it. I get it."
Her voice dropped even lower after that, which made Lys feel the pain she felt in real time while saying that. "You probably think I'm disgusting. That's why you never even tried to touch me, right? Even when I'm right here. Even after three nights sleeping beside me, you never even tried to touch me, even by accident."
The hurt in her voice hit him hard this time when she finished her sentence.
He finally understood that she wasn't just asking. She was scared that he might have seen her the same way the rest of the village probably did now, the bully, the priest's daughter who got put in her place.
After getting her way of thinking now, he shifted closer, voice gentle but firm. "Hey. Stop thinking that way. That's not what I think at all. I didn't ever think you were disgusting or something. Not even close to that. From the moment I saw you all, I thought is you're beautiful, Selene. Really beautiful."
He continued, seeing her expression didn't change much, "The way you look, the way you talk when you're not trying to act like the perfect priest's daughter… I notice them, Selene. I notice every damn time. But I just didn't want to rush you into anything. I didn't want you to feel like I was just using you because we're stuck together now for whatever reason. I guess I just wanted you to feel safe here, in this house, with my family. So, you can feel that you actually matter to me. Not like some prize I won in the market square or something. You get my point, what I'm trying to say here?"
The words hung between them. Selene's heart skipped a beat.
She didn't say anything right away, but he felt the way her body relaxed against his, the tension bleeding out of her shoulders, hearing all of this.
Then, without another word, shocking him, she closed the distance in one smooth motion. She rolled toward him and pressed her lips to his, soft and sudden. Her lips were warm, a little hesitant at first, like she was testing if he'd pull away from her.
But he didn't.
Before she could pull away on her own, he grabbed the back of her head, fingers sliding into her hair, and kissed her back hard, too. His other arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her body against him.
She made a small, surprised 'Kyaa' sound against his mouth that turned into something softer, hungrier. Their bodies pressed together under the blanket; the thin nightdress of hers did nothing to hide how warm she felt right now. Her perky breasts pushed against his chest, and her leg slid over his as she pressed closer to his body unknowingly.
All of a sudden, the night turned into something else for both Lys and Selene, as they finally realised their own feelings about each other, better than before.
Author note: Please send some power stones to this novel, and rate the story, if you've liked it till this point. If possible, while you're at it, give it a good review too.