The Villainess Wants To Retire-Chapter 524: I love you too, Soren.

SOREN

"You look profoundly miserable Your Majesty," Aldric said quietly beside me, his tone mild.

"I’m fine," I snapped, the lie unconvincing even to my own ears.

Aldric didn’t believe me, and he made no effort to hide it. "Are you alright? Truly?"

"Are you developing a sentimental streak in your old age, Aldric?" I deflected.

"I’m not that old, Your Majesty," he replied flatly. "And you didn’t answer the question."

I said nothing, which was its own answer. Aldric had known me long enough to read the silence. He knew exactly what was eating at the center of me.

"I assume this is about her," he stated. It wasn’t a question.

"I need you to look after her," I said, redirecting the conversation to the only thing that mattered. "She’ll tell you she’s fine. She’ll mean it approximately forty percent of the time. Don’t listen to her the rest of the time."

"I know how to manage Eris," Aldric began, but my look stopped him mid-sentence. He amended himself quickly. "I know how to respectfully suggest to her Majesty that resting is not a character flaw."

"Better."

"Will you be alright, Soren? Staying away that long?" There was a hint of gentle teasing in his voice, but the humor left him quickly when he saw my expression. "You’re already practically addicted to her."

"I don’t have a choice," I said simply.

"She feels the same way," Aldric said, his voice soft and certain. "For what it’s worth."

I didn’t know if I could being myself to believe him.

"Take care of her."

"On my life."

I took the reins of my horse, my foot at the stirrup, ready to mount and begin the long ride into the dark. But then, a sound cut through the cold air... my name.

"Soren!" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The voice was breathless, sharp with an urgency that made my heart stop. I turned slowly, a cold fear clutching at my throat. I expected an emergency, a collapse, the seal finally giving way.

What I saw was Eris. She was standing several feet away, her face flushed from exertion, her breathing ragged.

She had run after me. She was standing there with a sheen of sweat on her forehead, her white hair wind-blown and messy, looking at me with an expression I had never seen on her face.

It was completely unguarded. There was no armor. No sharp-edged deflection. No imperial distance.

"I love you too," she said. The words were steady, cutting through the silence of the courtyard like a blade. "Soren."

My brain did something it had never done in my entire life: it stopped.

Completely...

For five long seconds, the world was absolute silence. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I just stood there, processing the impossible reality of those three words.

"I’ve loved you for longer than I—" She stopped, her voice lowering. "I was afraid. I didn’t know how to say it. I kept waiting for it to feel safer. It never did." Her eyes met mine, fierce and honest. "But you’re leaving. And I couldn’t let you leave without knowing how much you make happy Soren. You have no idea."

I didn’t walk. I didn’t measure my steps. I let go of the reins, the horse forgotten, the empire forgotten, Aldric forgotten. I ran.

The distance between us closed in a heartbeat.

I wasn’t an Emperor; I was a man who had finally found the air he needed to breathe. I reached her and took her face in both my hands without a word of preamble.

I kissed her with everything I hadn’t said in that room. It was a desperate, unpolished thing, born of a lifetime of waiting for something I hadn’t allowed myself to believe was real.

Eris met me with the same intensity, her hands clutching at my tunic, pulling me closer until there was no space left between us.

When we finally broke for air, both of us were breathless. The evidence of our shared hunger was undeniable.

"Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to hear that?" I whispered, my forehead resting against hers.

A sound escaped her... something between a breath and a laugh. Her head nodded against my palm. "I’m sorry. I was a coward."

"You were never a coward," I said, and then I kissed her again. And again. Because once was a tragedy and twice was barely a beginning.

"I love you," I murmured against her mouth. "I have wanted to say this every single day for a very long time."

Eris actually laughed then, the rare, musical sound of it bright in the cold courtyard. "You’ll have to stop at some point, Soren. Or we’ll be here until the empire finishes collapsing."

I smiled... a genuine, warm expression that I reserved for her and her alone. The weight of the world felt lighter, as if the confession had granted me a strength the divine power never could.

"I hate that you’re leaving," she said, her voice turning quiet as she looked up at me. "So go quickly. So you can come back sooner."

"As fast as I can," I promised, holding her face for one more second.

The reality of the departure returned, slow and reluctant.

I had to peel myself away from her, the motion feeling like skin being torn. I mounted my horse and took the reins, the Emperor returning to his seat, but the man underneath was finally whole.

Eris stood in the courtyard, her hands at her sides, watching me. She didn’t follow. She stood her ground, a pillar of fire in the dark.

As the gates began to open to the world beyond... cold, dark, and waiting... I carried what she had said with me. It belonged to me now. It was mine.

Against all the weight of the war I was riding into, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

I was happy.

Ah...

I was truly, truly a happy man.