Gahad had never been this burdened in his life.

  Yes, he had agreed to substitute for Burn; it was a decision he now questioned with every fiber of his being. He had acted the best he could, yet it felt like he was carrying a mountain on his shoulders.

  “Your Majesty, the Junior Fleet Admiral has requested your audience for today. You must attend the meeting as scheduled,” an aide said, delivering the news with all the urgency of a pebble rolling down a hill.

  Gahad sighed, stroking the hair of the deeply asleep woman on his p. From his perspective, she was his rade and parthe fiery red-haired Landevale Leodegrance. For others, however, she was the angel in the flesh, Man Le Fay.

  “’t you see my wife is asleep and unwell? Get out,” Gahad anded coldly.

  The aide flinched in fear before bowing aing the room. After a bit, Landevale opened her eyes, her cheeks abze with a bright crimson hue as she gred at him in indignation.

  Ah, yes. This was ihe greatest burden.

  “They haven’t returned. You have to pretend to be sid keep me here,” he insisted, desperate. They o buy time.

  “I know!” Landevale retorted through gritted teeth.

  Gahad pihe bridge of his nose. If only this partner of his possessed a modicum of patiend uanding—rather than being a tightly wound coil of awkwardness and rigidity.

  Who could truly substitute for the infich, anyway? Even he, after everything, found it increasingly difficult to maintain the charade of being Burn. The weight of the man’s responsibilities sat heavily upon him, sapping his strength and will.

  “Now that His Majesty has Her Majesty with him, he’s taken to retreating to his chamber more for sleep. Before, he rarely indulged in sleep—his body being in peak performance. How ironic that this newfound habit is our sole saving gra this masquerade…”

  Landevale’s face fred an even deeper shade of red. “S-shut up!” Her embarrassment was almost endearing.

  For weeks now, Landevale had been forced to ehe peculiar intimacy of sharing Burn’s chamber with Gahad eaight—she just couldn’t wait for this to end.

  “e o’s go to the bedroom and make some excuses,” Gahad decred, hoisting her into his arms like some medieval prince sweeping off his damsel.

  Landevale yelped. Holy, no matter how many times this happened, she would never get fortable being treated like a prize turkey ready for a feast.

  Gahad trudged through the bustling corridor, passing staff and courtiers. “If you’re feeling shy, just close your eyes and hide your face like an ostrich burying its head in the sand,” Gahad said tiredly.

  The woman in his arms gnced down, her expression morphing into a plicated one for a fleeting moment, then promptly squeezed her eyes shut aled against his neck.

  Gahad nudged Landevale to open the room door and stepped inside, only to be greeted by—

  “Right on cue,” Burn stepped out of something that seemed to bend the fabric of existeself, resembling a transparent, thin surface of water rippliically in the air.

  It appeared both fluid and solid, and the transparent ripples danced gracefully, creating a strange visual dispy. With each step forward, the ripples tio cascade and shift. For a moment, reality seemed malleable.

  Beside him, Man stood there, her eyes looking so dim and tired they could probably be sidered a bck hole. A floating hss hovered over her right hand like a little loyal pet.

  “My calcutions are almost off… dimension magic is such a pain…” she grumbled.

  Landevale jumped down from Gahad’s arms in a flurry. Gahad, meanwhile, calmly closed the door—clearly, the st thing he wanted was an audience.

  “Are they here?” Burn asked.

  Gahad nodded, "Yes, Sir. The meeting’s ready."

  “Take off your clothes. We will switow,” Burn decred.

  At that moment, Landevale and Gahad collectively sighed, an outp of relief that silently echoed through the room like a on-a-lifetime symphony.

  After they exged clothes, Burn told Gahad and Landevale to leave through the baly aurn to their quarters to rest. Gahad didn’t eveate. He left the room without a backward gnce, as if there was a fire in the hallway.

  Landevale was a bit surprised to see Gahad’s eagero leave the pleted mission behind. For weeks, they had been living together almost like husband and wife—sharing everything except, apparently, the ability to say goodbye. And now, just like that, he was off?

  Nothing at all? Not even a casual “It’s been real” or a heartfelt “See you around?” No lingering gnces? felt speeches about the significe of their “bond”? Just a swift exit as if he had just remembered he left the oven on?

  “Gahad!” Landevale called as they arrived at the knights’ quarter.

  Gahad turo her, frowning as if she were a particurly pesky mosquito. “Why are you following me? Your quarter is the opposite dire.”

  “You actually… hate doing all those things with me, huh?” Landevale pondered aloud, her gaze drifting to his tired visage. The days had not been kind, and now he couldn’t evehered to meet her eyes, opting io retreat.

  “You were the one who kept beiant. Why chase me now?” Gahad shot back, fatigue dripping from his words like rain from an overcast sky.

  Landevale looked upset, but she didn’t say anything.

  “I didn’t eve a single kiss,” Gahad grumbled, his retreating figure leaving Landevale alone in the hallway, cheeks blooming like an awkward rose caught in the wrong season.

  Silence.

  Landevale buried her fa her hands a out a squeal that was equal parts embarrassment, sheer panid the bizarre cocktail of emotions she did not yet admit. But slowly, her eyes morphed into a mixture of sadness and plexity.

  The past… had long passed. She really shouldn’t dwell on it again.

  Landevale shut her eyes tight, willing the unwelemory to retreat. For a moment, her expression bore the weight of sorrow. But then, a steely determination rose within her.

  The image of Burn’s back, that steadfast silhouette, paired with the ever-loyal Gahad beside him in her mind, her. Landevale sneered, fixing her gaze on the vast blue sky and the giant rift outside the window, as if it held the ao her turmoil.

  "It's not time for something like this.”

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  Gahad my man :''''

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