{Volume two starts.}

Julian walked through the long, high-arched hallway of the Duke’s manor, his boots clicking softly against the dark stone floor.

Outside the narrow windows, the sky was a heavy, perpetual grey, and the wind howled against the glass like a restless spirit. It was a sound that used to terrify him, but now, it felt like a lullaby.

How quickly time had slipped through his fingers.

It had been months since they had fled the Capital, leaving behind the mourning banners and the Emperor’s suffocating shadow.

Back when he was still just a simple tutor who had come to teach the Young Lord, the staff of this manor—especially the head butler and Lucius’s stern nanny—had looked at Julian as nothing more than a temporary eyesore, a frail scholar who had somehow stumbled into the Duke’s favor and was ’changing things’.

Everything had been within their grasp all along, until he showed up and began to meddle. The nanny’s negative 2 was especially hard to ignore.

And now, even without the system to show the affection levels, he could tell how much the nanny despised him, especially knowing Lucius now leaned more into him than he ever did with her.

But aside from the petty hatred of the nanny, the Butler had grown to get ’used’ to it, and the atmosphere had shifted entirely.

As Julian passed a maid polishing the silver statues, she immediately straightened and bowed low, her eyes fixed on the floor.

"Good morning, Master Julian," she murmured.

"Good morning," Julian replied calmly with a polite nod.

He could still feel the weight of their gaze as he walked away, but at least they no longer acted like marionette dolls whose only purpose was to move and work.

The news of his relationship with the Duke had sent shockwaves through the household and the entire North.

In the North, the Duke’s word was law, but seeing their stoic, battle-hardened master smiling warmly at another man, openly sharing his bed and his heart with him, was a reality they were still struggling to digest.

This was the same man who had been mourning his wife for seven years, now smitten by a man, and he was the tutor who had come to teach his son, no less.

In any case, they treated Julian with a meticulous, almost fearful respect now, aware that a single frown from him could bring the Duke’s wrath down upon them.

Despite his new standing as the Duke’s lover, Julian refused to let his duties slide. He was still, first and foremost, a teacher.

He adjusted the leather satchel at his side, containing the day’s lessons for Lucius. The boy was waiting in the study, and Julian took his role as a tutor with a seriousness that even Alaric couldn’t shake.

As he turned the corner toward the East Wing, his mind drifted toward the desk in his private study. Specifically, toward the book. The Chronicles of Astrea. He had spent many late nights staring at those glowing purple pages, trying to piece together the world he was now destined to rewrite, but... It was more difficult than he imagined.

Of course, the system and its creator wouldn’t have been so generous as to drop the entire plot just like that.

He had to decode it. And so far, the only thing he had decided was— 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Suddenly, a large, calloused hand shot out from the shadows of a recessed archway.

Before Julian could even gasp, he was pulled sideways and pinned against the cold stone wall. His heart leaped into his throat, his breath hitching in a sudden, sharp panic.

For a split second, he imagined that this was an assassin sent by Aurelian to finish what the trial couldn’t.

But as he looked up, his eyes widened with something of relief as he found a familiar pair of blue eyes dancing with a playful, childish glint, looking down at him.

"Did I scare you?" Alaric asked, a lazy grin spreading across his face.

Julian let out a long, ragged exhale, his shoulders slumped in relief that quickly turned into annoyance.

"Lucien! You nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought... I thought the Emperor had finally decided to be a tyrant and sent someone to come find me."

Alaric’s grin softened, but he didn’t move. He kept his arms caged around Julian, his massive frame blocking out the light from the hallway.

"No one is finding you here. Not while I’m breathing."

Julian tried to look upset, but looking into Alaric’s sincere, adoring eyes made it impossible to hold onto the anger.

The Duke leaned in, the scent of cedar and cold air clinging to his clothes. He began to press soft, lingering kisses to Julian’s cheek, moving slowly toward the corner of his eye and then down to the bridge of his nose.

"Lucien, stop," Julian whispered, though his hands had already found their way to the Duke’s chest, his study materials scattered on the floor of the hallway he had just been pulled away from. "I can’t right now. Lucius is waiting in the study for his history lesson. I’m already five minutes late."

"Lucius can wait," Alaric murmured against his skin, his voice a low, vibrating rumble. "The boy is patient. I, however, am not."

Before Julian could protest again, Alaric captured his lips. It was a deep, possessive kiss that tasted of warmth and a hunger that never seemed to fade.

They had woken up in the same bed only hours ago, tangled together under heavy blankets, but it seemed the Duke could never get enough of the physical reality of having Julian within reach.

Julian’s eyes drifted shut, his fingers curling into the fabric of Alaric’s shirt. He didn’t hate the intimacy—in fact, he craved it just as much as the Duke did. In a world that had tried so hard to erase him, Alaric’s touch was the only thing that made him feel like he truly existed.

He let himself be tasted for a moment longer, the cold halls of the manor forgotten, before he finally found the strength to pull back, breathless and flushed in the face.

"Five minutes," Julian panted, looking just as flustered and shy at the situation as he did the first few times Alaric pulled this stunt. "That is all you get, or Lucius will come looking for us."

Alaric chuckled, resting his forehead against Julian’s.

"Then I’ll have to make every second count."