"AMILO, MY son has found me," Kiho told the jewel maker when he interrupted him in his workroom. "Don't ask questions."

Well, to be honest, he really didn't know how Winter found him.

"Dad, please don't ask questions."

That was Winter's request.

He decided to respect that. Also, he knew that his son was doing that to protect his mother. And to be honest, he didn't care about that anymore.

The important thing is I'm with my son now.

"Congratulations on being reunited with Lord Winter, Your Grace," Amilo said in a gentle voice. He didn't smile but his usually strict face softened up. "The young lord was only a baby when I last saw him. He must be a big boy now."

He smiled proudly. "Yes, but he'll always be a baby to me."

"Understandable," the jewel maker said. "Would you like to have some tea, Your Grace?"

He nodded. It looked like Amilo already knew that he had something important to talk to him about. He wouldn't interrupt him at work for nothing.

While Amilo was preparing tea, he sat on the sofa in the lounge area of the workroom.

He intended to keep his conversation with jewel maker short because he didn't want Winter to disappear from his sight for a long time. Even though his son was just sleeping next door, he still felt anxious to be separated from him.

"My lord, what is it that you need to talk with me?" Amilo said when they were sitting across from each other while having tea. "I'm certain that it has something to do with Lord Winter."

Kiho nodded, then sipped his tea before he spoke. "I'll bring Winter with us back to the Royal Capital. But he can't stay with me at the main mansion yet. Now that Louisa and David are still missing, I can't trust anyone in my own home anymore."

He tried reaching out to Duke Sherwood to ask him about Louisa and David. But for some reason, he couldn't contact the duke.

I hope he was able to save Louisa and David.

"Lord Nystrom, do you want me to look after the young lord for the meantime?" Amilo asked. "I promise to take good care of him."

"That's not the only thing that I want to ask from you," he said. "Amilo, I actually want you to move to the annex building of my mansion. I will limit the servants' access to the annex. They will only be allowed to enter the building if it's time to bring food. As an excuse, I will tell them that they can't disturb you while you're working on our new collection."

"Wouldn't it be better if we completely ban them from entering the annex, my lord?" the jewel maker asked. "As long as I have supply of ingredients, I can make food for me and Lord Winter. I can also do other chores to serve the young lord better. I just think that it will be much better if we don't risk Lord Winter being seen by anyone."

He shook his head. "They will only get suspicious if I completely shut down the entire annex. Winter is smart so he'll understand if I say that he needs to hide for the meantime."

It hurt him that he would need to ask his son to hide in their own mansion.

But until the servants of House Nystrom were still under the control of the emperor, he couldn't bring Winter to the main mansion for his safety.

Dad will sort this out as soon as possible, our little rascal.

"I understand, Lord Nystrom," Amilo said while nodding his head. "I will protect Lord Winter at all cost."

Kiho was relieved to hear that. "Thank you, Amilo."

***

"I KNOW that you're trying to ascend the heavens to become a god," Tilly said, then she sipped her tea before she continued. "I'll give you a chance to fulfill your lifelong wish."

It was a huge risk, she'd admit that.

She knew that they should hide the things that Aku Moonchester needed instead of offering them to him. But she heard that even though Soleil Rosenberg did exactly that many years ago, she still failed to defeat the Moonchesters.

But she wasn't doing things differently to spite her past self.

As Tilly Prescott-Nystrom, she was using her knowledge from her second life to her advantage. To be honest, the things that she learned from the modern world had been very handy in her fight against an old monarch.

Also, she would like to thank all the anime, Kdrama, and N*tflix shows she had seen in her second life that taught her how to be a "protagonist" in this lifetime.

My life is a fantasy romance series.

"Good story," Aku Moonchester said with a smirk. "I love your confidence now, Lady Nystrom. You talk as if you really know my "lifelong wish.""

"Good acting," Tilly said with a smirk of her own. "I love watching you sprout b*llshit, Aku Moonchester. You talk like a pathetic lair that you are."

The emperor clearly looked unimpressed by her sarcasm.

Elis Ripperton, on the other hand, stifled a laughter.

"The Moon Serpent's heart and the soul of your beloved," she continued with a big smile. "Those are two of the things that you need." She raised a finger and playfully waved it at him. "You also need the branch of the Great Fire Tree to create the key that you want, don't you?"

Aku Moonchester turned serious. "How did you know–"

"I'll give you seven days to think about my offer," she said, cutting him off because she didn't have any intention of answering his question. Then, she put the tea cup down on her table. "Once you decide to cooperate with me, I'll give you the full details of our game." She snapped her fingers when she remembered something important. "By that time, I need Nia Moonchester to be included in our talk."

"Nia was exiled because of you," he snarled.

She laughed when she remembered that it was her who exposed the royal princess's secret– just like what she did in her first life. But this time, she exposed it as retaliation instead of her greed. "Ah, right. Exposing Nia Moonchester's secret to the whole empire was my farewell gift to you back then, Aku Moonchester. Did you like it?"

He just glared at her a response.

"Come on, don't be upset," she teased him. "I know that you've been taking good care of your beloved sister. Her official "punishment" was getting exiled but we both know that it's nothing more than a long vacation in the side country for the princess. I'm sure that you have plenty of ways to contact her. So make sure that she'd be able to attend our meeting after seven days or else, I'm taking back my offer."

"Fine," the emperor said begrudgingly. "How will I contact you after seven days?"

"I'll come to you just like how I did tonight," she said. "If you ask your people to follow or look for me for the next days, our deal will be automatically cancelled."

"And then what?" he asked mockingly. "What will you do then?"

"You wouldn't want to know what I can do, Aku Moonchester," she said with a sweet smile. When he didn't have a retort, she stood up and picked up her cloak that she hanged on the back of her chair. "Anyway, it's time for my beauty sleep so I'll be going ahead."

"Have a good night, Lady Nystrom," Aku Moonchester said in a sarcastic tone. "See you after seven days."

"Let me at least walk you to the balcony, Supreme," Elis Ripperton said. "If you don't allow me to do that much, I'll chase you."

Tilly raised a brow but she didn't turn his offer down. After all, she still needed to somehow manipulate the Blue Dragon. "Alright, I'll let you accompany me as a thanks to the wonderful tea that you prepared, Elis Ripperton."

***

TILLY was a little startled when a gust of wind closed the door of the balcony behind them.

It was kind of weird to stay in that balcony while Aku Moonchester was still in his room. But she figured that was Elis Ripperton's way of assuring the emperor that he wouldn't betray him for her. After all, the Blue Dragon willingly followed Aku Moonchester.

"Aren't you going to throw up?" Elis Ripperton asked. He was leaning against the railing of the balcony with his arms crossed over his chest. "You used to throw up after you killed people even if they were enemies who tried to hurt you."

"The old Supreme can't come to the phone right now," Tilly said that obviously confused the Blue Dragon. But she didn't care if he didn't get her pop culture reference. "Oh, `cause she's dead."

"You're really hard to understand now," the Blue Dragon said while shaking his head.

"It's only hard for you to understand me because you're not the right person for me," she said bluntly. "The right one will get me despite what I say or do."

"Are you referring to the Black Serpent?"

"I don't really remember him," she lied with a shrug, then she changed the topic. "I don't have time to waste with you, Elis Ripperton. Tell me what you need."

In just the blink of an eye, Elis Ripperton was already in front of her while cupping her face. "Nothing," he whispered. "I'm just glad that you're still alive, Soleil."

"I'm Tilly Prescott-Nystrom now," Tilly said with a roll of her eyes. And then, she made her body literally hot enough to make Elis Ripperton let go of her face. Good because she didn't like being touched without consent. When the Blue Dragon took a step backwards, she moved her shoulders until her wings sprouted in her back. "And Elis Ripperton, if you're in love with Soleil Rosenberg or something, forget it," she said, then she gave him double thumbs down. "You were never my type and never will be."

***

KIHO felt pissed for some reason.

He didn't know why but he suddenly felt the urge to punch someone in the face.

God, why do I suddenly feel agitated?

To calm himself down, he just turned to Winter's peaceful sleeping face. Right now, he was sitting beside his son while watching him sleep. He wanted to make sure that he wouldn't disappear when he woke up next morning.

My son is really here with me now.

Looking at Winter was effective in soothing him.

He was about to pull the blanket over his son's neck when she noticed the earring in his left ear light up. Since he had been working with spirit stones embedded in jewelry, he recognized that it was a communication device and not a simple earring.

His heart suddenly beat erratically at the thought of who might be calling his son at that hour.

Could it be…

He knew that it was wrong to touch his son's belongings. But he couldn't stop himself from quickly yet carefully snatching the earring from Winter's ear. Then, without hesitation, he put the earring in his own ear and tapped it to receive the call.

"Winter, my little cinnamon roll," said a lovely voice of a woman on the other end of the line. "How's my baby?"

"I'm fine," Kiho automatically answered even though he knew that she was referring to Winter when she said "baby." Maybe it was because he was excited to finally hear the voice of his wife again. He had been playing the videos of her every night but hearing her voice right in his ear made him ecstatic. God, he missed her like crazy even though he had his memories of her erased. "How about you, my lovely Tilly?"

***

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