Chương 72: Chapter 71: A Day in Velmora

Ria's pov The message arrived while I was stealing bacon from my husband's plate. Ren noticed immediately, because apparently possessing enough spatial awareness to monitor an entire battlefield also meant detecting the disappearance of one perfectly ordinary piece of breakfast meat. His chopsticks paused above his eggs, his dark eyes lowered toward the suspiciously empty portion of his plate, and then his gaze traveled slowly across the table toward me. I had already eaten the evidence.

"You have your own bacon," Ren pointed out, his voice carrying the tired patience of a man who had encountered this crime often enough to know justice was unlikely. I glanced toward my plate, where two untouched pieces remained beside my eggs, then calmly lifted my coffee.

"Yours tasted better."

"You stole it before tasting yours," Ren replied, raising one eyebrow as though the flaw in my reasoning should have been obvious.

"That changes nothing." I took a slow sip of coffee and shifted my chair slightly closer beneath the table until my bare foot rested against his ankle. Ren noticed that too. His eyes flicked downward for a moment before returning to breakfast, but the tiny movement at one corner of his mouth betrayed him. Across the table, Ruri noticed both of us.

Our eldest daughter lowered her spoon and looked between Mama and Papa with the quiet understanding of a child who had already learned far too much about the peculiar habits of married adults. Karin remained busy spreading an unreasonable amount of jam across her toast, while Hikari was conducting an experiment involving cereal and milk that appeared to possess no scientific value whatsoever.

Vael sat at the far end of the table with the composed expression of a former intelligence commander who had somehow adapted to dragons, breakfast arguments, and the realization that his former sovereign regularly stole food from her husband. My phone vibrated beside my coffee. I picked it up with one hand while leaving my foot exactly where it was against Ren's ankle. The message came from one of the settlement representatives, and the first few lines immediately caught my attention.

The central market officially opens today. Several permanent vendors have completed registration, and the archive cooperative will begin public sales of translated texts. No formal attendance is required, but you are welcome to visit if convenient. A second message followed beneath it. Please note that this is not a royal ceremony. We remembered your instructions. I narrowed my eyes at the screen. Ren noticed the expression.

"Guild?"

"No," I answered, scrolling through several attached photographs. Cloth banners crossed a broad stone street while new stalls stood beneath repaired Velmoran arches, and another picture showed merchants arranging goods beneath a handwritten sign announcing the reopening of the central market district. Something warm tightened unexpectedly beneath my ribs.

I had visited the settlement several times since the Convergence Incident, but those trips had been filled with reconstruction plans, memorial arrangements, security agreements, housing concerns, council discussions, and people who still looked at me and remembered a throne before remembering the woman standing in front of them. These photographs looked different. They looked ordinary. Karin apparently decided my silence represented an invitation.

She leaned halfway across the table, toast still in one hand, and tried to angle her head toward my phone.

"What are you reading, Mama?" Karin asked, narrowing her eyes as though investigating classified intelligence. I tilted the screen away from her.

"A message." Karin frowned immediately.

"I know it's a message. What kind of message?" Beside her, Ruri sighed and placed her spoon down.

"Karin, Mama can read something without you interrogating her."

"I'm not interrogating Mama," Karin protested, although she remained stretched halfway across the table.

"I'm asking because Mama made the interesting face." I lifted an eyebrow.

"What interesting face?" Karin studied me with remarkable seriousness before answering.

"The one where you're thinking about something and pretending you're not." Across from me, Ren made a suspicious sound into his coffee. When I turned toward him, my husband kept his eyes firmly on the mug as though nothing had happened.

"Did you just laugh?" I asked. Ren lowered the cup and arranged his features into perfect neutrality.

"No."

"You did."

"I breathed."

"Suspiciously." Ren nodded once.

"I'll regulate it better next time." The corner of my mouth betrayed me by trying to smile. Before I could decide whether to punish him anyway, Hikari lifted her spoon and pointed toward my phone. Her golden eyes widened with sudden inspiration while a bead of milk slid dangerously close to the edge.

"Hikari thinks Mama has treasure map." I looked toward our youngest daughter.

"Why would Mama receive a treasure map through her phone?" Hikari slowly lowered the spoon and considered the problem. Her little brows drew together before relaxing as a better answer arrived.

"Modern treasure." Ren coughed into his fist. Vael looked down at his plate, but I saw the corner of his mouth move. I turned toward him.

"Vael." The former commander immediately straightened.

"Your Majesty."

"You are laughing."

"I assure you, I am not."

"You nearly did." Vael lowered his eyes with impressive dignity.

"I successfully prevented it." Karin snorted into her toast while Ruri covered her mouth with one hand. My family had become impossible. I set the phone on the table before the situation deteriorated further.

"The settlement is opening its central market today. It is not a ceremony, and I was only thinking of visiting briefly." Karin straightened immediately, jam-covered toast forgotten in one hand.

"Will there be weapons?" I stared at my middle daughter.

"Why was that your first question?"

"You said market."

"That does not imply weapons."

"It could." Ruri leaned forward with considerably more restraint.

"You said the central market. Is that where the translated books are being sold?" I glanced at the message again and nodded.

"Apparently the archive cooperative recopied some surviving histories, folktales, household texts, songs, and other material. Several have Japanese translations now." Ruri's eyes brightened so clearly that she did not need to say anything else. Hikari had focused on an entirely different part of the announcement. She put both hands around her cereal bowl and stared at me hopefully.

"Mama, market has snacks?"

"Yes, sweetheart," I admitted. Hikari's entire face lit up.

"Hikari wants go." Karin raised her toast like she was volunteering for military service.

"I'm going too." Ruri looked between her sisters before surrendering the last of her restraint.

"I'd like to see the books, Mama." I slowly turned toward Ren. My husband was eating his eggs with entirely too much calm.

"I was only going for an hour," I told him. Ren glanced toward our daughters, then returned his gaze to me.

"You have three daughters."

"That is not an answer."

"It is." I followed his gaze. Karin had already started asking Vael whether Velmoran blacksmiths made better weapons than dwarven smiths, Ruri was quietly wondering whether translated folktales counted as educational purchases, and Hikari had begun listing every snack she intended to investigate despite having absolutely no idea what the market sold. Ren chose that moment to steal one of the bacon pieces from my plate. I saw him. He saw me see him. His expression remained perfectly calm.

"You've lost," Ren said. I looked down at the missing bacon before narrowing my eyes at him.

"You stole from me."

"You established the legal precedent."

"That was marriage privilege."

"Marriage works both directions." I hated that he had a point. With a sigh, I shifted my chair even closer and rested my head briefly against his shoulder. Ren's posture softened immediately, and one of his hands moved beneath the table to squeeze my knee before returning to breakfast.

"Fine," I murmured.

"We're going." Karin cheered loudly enough that Vael flinched, while Hikari raised both arms and announced that Hikari was getting Velmora snacks. Ruri smiled more quietly, although she already looked as though she were planning shelf space for books she had not purchased yet. Then I turned toward Vael. He stopped eating.

"You're coming too," I told him. Vael's eyes shifted toward me with immediate caution.

"Your Majesty, I had intended to attend to several matters this afternoon." I tilted my head.

"Seris?" His face became perfectly unreadable. Ren looked toward him. Karin looked toward him. Even Ruri looked toward him. Vael placed his utensils down with deliberate care.

"Lady Seris requested assistance with several administrative matters." Ren nodded solemnly.

"Shopping." Vael's jaw tightened.

"Sire."

"Probably bags," Ren added.

"Sire." I pressed my lips together, but laughter escaped anyway. I leaned against Ren's shoulder and hid part of my face there while Vael stared across the table with the exhausted dignity of someone who had once commanded spies and now had to defend his social life before breakfast.

"If you accompany us first," I told Vael after recovering, "you can attend to Seris's extremely complicated administration afterward." Vael closed his eyes for the briefest moment.

"As you command, Your Majesty." Karin immediately leaned toward Ruri.

"Uncle Vael lost." Ruri nudged her sister's arm with an embarrassed smile.

"Stop saying that where he can hear you." Without changing expression, Vael replied, "I can hear both of you." Karin immediately returned to her toast while I smiled into Ren's shoulder. Peace was wonderful. By ten-thirty, Fluffy carried all six of us toward the protected Gate complex. I sat in the passenger seat while Ren drove, my fingers comfortably intertwined with his near the center console. I could not remember consciously reaching for his hand.

Somewhere during the drive, I had simply found it, and Ren had accepted mine without looking away from the road. That had become normal too. Months ago, I would have noticed every time I touched him in front of someone. I would have wondered whether the girls were watching, whether Vael noticed, whether my affection looked excessive, or whether I should move away before somebody started teasing me. Now I simply wanted my husband's hand. So I held it. The girls filled the back of Fluffy with conversation.

Karin was attempting to convince Vael that inspecting practice weapons counted as cultural education, Ruri kept reminding her that visiting a market did not guarantee the purchase of anything sharp, and Hikari had apparently decided the market opening meant Velmora itself was having a birthday. Ren listened with the faint expression of resignation he wore whenever correcting the girls would require more energy than allowing their logic to survive. I watched the road instead.

The stabilized corridor leading toward the settlement had become familiar, but this visit felt different. There were no briefing documents in my bag, no council agenda waiting for me, and no list of families requiring relocation or security concerns demanding an opinion. For the first time, I was simply visiting. Ren's thumb moved slowly across the back of my hand, drawing my attention toward him.

"Nervous?" he asked. I considered the word before shaking my head.

"No. I'm thinking."

"Dangerous." I squeezed his hand. Ren's mouth curved faintly, and after another moment I looked toward the pale light gathering at the end of the corridor.

"I'm wondering what they built without me," I admitted. Ren glanced toward me only briefly before returning his attention to the road. His expression carried no judgment and no unnecessary sympathy, only quiet understanding. That was one of the things I loved most about him. Velmora had once been shaped around a throne. Roads led toward the capital, military commands eventually returned to the palace, and provincial disputes climbed through ministers until someone stood before me expecting a decision.

Even when I hated the crown, the kingdom had still bent around it. Now there was no crown. There were only people deciding what came next. The Gate opened, and light flooded across Fluffy's windshield as the road emerged into the broad valley holding the new settlement. My breath caught. The settlement I remembered from the weeks after the Convergence had been practical rather than beautiful.

Temporary housing had stood beside salvaged stone structures, security barriers divided unfinished streets, and every face seemed to carry the same exhausted question. What now? Today, someone had answered. Color stretched between the buildings. Long cloth banners in red, silver, green, gold, and blue crossed the central avenues, decorative rather than royal, while flowers had been planted beside drainage channels and newly built storefronts stood beneath surviving Velmoran arches reinforced with modern supports.

Smoke rose from cooking fires, children chased one another between stalls, and somebody laughed loudly near a fountain. A dwarf merchant argued cheerfully with a Velmoran craftsman over metal hinges while an elven woman sold herbs to two human Hunters, and a fox-beastkin courier complained to a horned clerk about an address written so badly that even Ren would probably have considered it offensive. Nobody seemed surprised that several species occupied the same street. That part was already normal.

What mattered was that my people stood among them now. I felt my fingers tighten around Ren's hand, and he answered with a gentle squeeze.

"They built quickly," I murmured.

"They had help," Ren replied, glancing toward the street ahead.

"I know." That was not what I meant, and he knew it. My eyes moved toward a row of new homes built around an older stone archway. Children had painted pictures across the lower stones—flowers, suns, stars, animals, and at least three creatures that looked suspiciously like dragons. Nobody had rebuilt my crest. There were no statues or throne banners, no enormous reminder that Astrea von Velmora had once stood above them.

The absence should have hurt, but instead something inside my chest loosened so suddenly that I almost laughed.

"They chose what to build," I said quietly. Ren's thumb brushed across my knuckles.

"Looks like they chose pretty well." I leaned slightly closer toward him. Before I could become too emotional over drainage channels and painted stones, Hikari leaned forward between the front seats and pointed through the windshield with shining golden eyes.

"Mama, Hikari sees snacks." I stared at my youngest daughter for several seconds before Ren laughed beside me. The sound dragged a helpless smile from my lips, and I turned enough to meet Hikari's eager expression.

"Yes, sweetheart," I told her.

"Mama sees them too." Finding parking took nearly fifteen minutes, which made me reconsider every claim that this was merely a small market opening. The moment we stepped out of Fluffy, the settlement wrapped itself around us properly. Voices overlapped beneath the banners, vendors called from crowded stalls, metal rang somewhere deeper in the market, and the air carried roasted meat, fresh bread, spices, hot oil, smoke, and enough sweetness that Hikari visibly inhaled.

I had just linked one arm through Ren's when a Velmoran man carrying a crate saw me. His eyes widened, the crate nearly slipped, and instinct took over before he could stop himself.

"Your Majes—" The woman walking beside him immediately struck his upper arm with the back of her hand. The man turned toward her in surprise, and she frowned at him before looking toward me with an apologetic smile.

"She told everyone to stop doing that. Sorry, Ria. He forgets." The man shifted the crate awkwardly against his chest.

"Old habit." For a moment, I simply stared at them. Then something absurdly warm rose into my chest.

"It's fine," I assured him. The couple continued toward the market, and Ren waited until they had moved several steps away before turning his head toward me. Amusement already glimmered in his eyes.

"Progress," he murmured. I elbowed him without releasing his arm.

"Do not sound so pleased."

"You've been trying to stop them bowing for months."

"I expected something more dignified than a man being corrected by his wife in the street." Ren nodded thoughtfully.

"Effective administration." I tightened both hands around his arm and leaned closer until my shoulder pressed firmly against his.

"Keep talking and I will administrate you into the fountain."

"You'd have to let go first," Ren observed, lowering his gaze toward the way both my arms had wrapped around one of his. Heat touched my cheeks. I refused to move.

"That proves nothing."

"Of course," he replied, clearly enjoying himself. Out of pure defiance, I rested my cheek against his shoulder while we kept walking. Ren smiled. Before he could become more irritating, Karin shouted from somewhere ahead.

"Mama! Papa! There are swords!" I jerked my head toward the sound and discovered our middle daughter already fifteen meters away. Ruri hurried after her with visible concern, while Hikari stood halfway between us holding a pastry I had not purchased. I released Ren only because motherhood occasionally required mobility.

"Hikari," I called as we hurried toward her, "where did you get that?" Our youngest daughter turned around and proudly held up the pastry.

"Hikari got snack."

"Yes, I can see that. Who gave it to you?" Hikari pointed toward an elderly Velmoran woman behind a nearby stall. The woman waved. I stared. She waved harder. Ren stepped beside me and rested one hand against the small of my back.

"Diplomatic relations are progressing." I sighed and leaned slightly into his palm.

"Our daughter has been here for three minutes."

"Efficient diplomacy." Hikari took another bite. I had lost control of the situation before the market had properly begun. Karin's swords turned out to be a collection of tools, decorative blades, practice weapons, and traditional Velmoran metalwork displayed by a broad-shouldered blacksmith with one broken horn. Our daughter stood directly in front of him holding a reinforced wooden practice sword with both hands.

"This balance is weird," Karin announced. I stopped behind her and folded my arms.

"Karin, you are six." She glanced toward me with complete confidence.

"I'm still checking, Mama."

"That statement did not improve the situation." The blacksmith laughed, deep and loud enough that Hikari jumped slightly beside me. He leaned across the counter and watched Karin test the practice sword again with obvious amusement.

"Little one has opinions," the smith said. Karin nodded seriously.

"The weight is too far forward." Ren stepped closer. I saw the exact moment he examined the weapon and realized Karin was correct. Before he could open his mouth, I pointed at him.

"Do not encourage her." Ren lifted both hands.

"I didn't say anything."

"You were going to." The blacksmith took the wooden weapon from Karin and tested it himself. His eyebrows rose before he looked toward my daughter with genuine surprise.

"She's right." Karin's entire face lit up. I closed my eyes. Ren's smile became impossible to miss.

"Now I'm encouraging her."

"You are impossible." Karin eventually left with a small reinforced practice dagger made entirely from wood. I inspected every edge, checked the grip, tested the balance myself, and made the blacksmith personally promise that absolutely no enchantment hidden inside it could turn my daughter's bedroom into a battlefield. Then the man refused payment. I placed the money on the counter. He pushed it back. I returned it. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

He pushed it back again, and I could feel my patience narrowing.

"You made this," I told him, placing the coins firmly beside his ledger.

"You used material, time, and skill. Take the money." The blacksmith shook his head.

"A gift for the former Queen's daughter."

"No."

"Ria—""No." I tucked the payment beneath his ledger and turned away before he could attempt another argument. Ren caught up beside me while Karin happily examined her wooden dagger. The moment he reached me, I slipped my hand into his as naturally as breathing.

"Still royal," Ren observed. I squeezed his fingers.

"Paying people fairly is not royal."

"You made it sound like an edict."

"He was being unreasonable." Behind us, the blacksmith shouted, "Still stubborn too!" I stopped walking. Ren's arm slid around my waist before I could turn back.

"Leave the civilian alone," my husband murmured, already guiding me forward.

"He started it."

"You were a Queen."

"Former Queen." Ren nodded.

"Historical accuracy matters." I glared at him, but his arm remained comfortably around my waist and I made no effort to remove it. Hikari giggled behind us, apparently delighted by the sight of Mama requiring physical restraint to prevent an argument with a craftsman. Ruri found the books shortly afterward, and the difference between Karin seeing weapons and Ruri discovering a book stall was primarily volume. Karin announced her discovery to half the street, while Ruri simply stopped walking and stared.

Her eyes widened, and then she approached the shaded awning almost reverently. I knew that expression. Ren knew it too. Our eldest daughter moved carefully between the shelves with both hands tucked behind her back, as though she feared touching something without permission might damage it. Japanese translations rested beside Velmoran originals, some printed cleanly while others still included handwritten notes where scholars had been uncertain about obsolete words. Ruri eventually lifted one volume from the shelf.

Stories Told Beneath the Red Moon. My chest tightened. Before I realized I had moved, my fingers were already resting lightly against the cover. Ruri looked up at me.

"Mama?" I traced the embossed pattern with my thumb. The binding was new, but the title remained exactly as I remembered it.

"My nurse used to read some of these stories to me," I said. Ruri's eyes brightened.

"When you were little?" I nodded and smiled faintly at the cover.

"Some of them are older than Velmora itself. My favorite was about a moon moth that kept stealing stars because it thought the night was lonely." Ruri smiled immediately.

"That sounds like Hikari." Behind us, Hikari looked offended.

"Hikari does not steal stars." Karin glanced toward her younger sister.

"You would if you could." Hikari considered the accusation with complete seriousness before deciding, "Hikari maybe borrows stars." Ruri laughed softly, and I felt myself doing the same. When I asked whether she wanted the book, Ruri hugged the volume a little closer before nodding.

"Can I?" she asked. Ren leaned over her shoulder and checked the price.

"Educational purchase." Ruri's smile widened.

"Thank you, Papa." I exchanged a look with my husband. Neither of us discussed the fact that Ruri left the stall carrying three books. Apparently education was expensive. Hikari, meanwhile, had become a crisis. Every elderly Velmoran woman within visual range appeared to have independently decided that my youngest daughter suffered from catastrophic nutritional neglect. By the time I found her properly again, she carried a pastry, two skewered sweets, a little cup of fruit, and something wrapped in leaves.

I crouched in front of her and gently removed the unopened package before she could add it to the growing pile.

"Hikari, sweetheart, you cannot eat everything people give you." Hikari looked down at the food in her arms, then back toward me.

"Hikari can try."

"That is not the point," I replied, although her determination nearly made me laugh. The woman behind the nearest stall leaned forward.

"Let her eat. She's tiny." I turned toward the stranger.

"She is six."

"Exactly."

"That does not explain anything." The elderly woman studied me carefully. Her gaze traveled from my face to my shoulders and then lower before her eyes narrowed.

"You're too thin too." I froze. Ren stopped beside me. Vael stopped behind us. The woman stepped out from behind the stall and pointed directly at me.

"Come here." I blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"Come here, Astrea." Something in her voice reached through years. I stared more carefully. Gray hair braided beneath a cloth wrap, one horn curving farther than the other, and flour dusting both sleeves. My stomach dropped.

"No." The old woman smiled. Ren became visibly interested. I took one step backward. She followed.

"Aunt Maera." Maera reached me before I could escape and grabbed both of my cheeks. The sound that left me was entirely unworthy of a former sovereign, which made Karin's eyes widen in immediate delight.

"Still too thin," Maera declared while squeezing. I caught her wrists.

"I am not thin!"

"You were thin when you were twelve. You were thin when you were twenty. You are still thin."

"Aunt Maera, stop touching my face."

"No." Behind her, Ren covered his mouth. I saw him. My eyes narrowed.

"Ren." My husband lowered his hand, but amusement had already infected his entire face. Maera finally released me and turned toward him with immediate scrutiny.

"And you are the husband." Ren straightened slightly.

"Yes." She looked him up and down while I rubbed both abused cheeks.

"Aunt Maera, behave," I warned. She ignored me. Of course she did. Maera pointed toward Ren.

"You feed her?" My husband looked toward me. I stared back with enough warning that most sensible people would have reconsidered answering anything. Ren nodded carefully.

"Regularly." Maera looked satisfied.

"Good. She used to skip breakfast whenever she thought nobody noticed." My face heated. Ren slowly turned toward me.

"That was when I was a child," I told him. Maera waved one flour-dusted hand.

"You were a terrible child." I stared at her while Karin's mouth fell open, Ruri hugged her books closer, and Hikari stopped chewing altogether. Ren leaned one elbow against the stall with far too much interest.

"How terrible?" I pointed at him.

"You do not need this information." Maera smiled broadly.

"Do you know she used to steal honey cakes from the western kitchen?" Ren looked toward me. I could feel every daughter doing the same thing.

"I was eight." My husband nodded gravely.

"Historical criminal activity."

"I will kill you." Maera laughed loudly enough that several shoppers glanced toward us, and then a familiar voice joined from behind.

"Oh. The honey cakes." Every muscle in my back went rigid. Slowly, I turned. Seris stood several steps away with a cup of coffee held between both hands, looking far too calm for someone who had arrived at exactly the wrong moment. Behind her stood Vael, and he now carried four shopping bags. Ren's eyes immediately dropped toward them. Vael noticed before my husband could speak.

"Do not, Sire." Ren lifted one eyebrow.

"I didn't say anything."

"You were about to." I turned toward Seris, who took a leisurely sip of coffee despite the growing danger in my expression.

"Why are you here?" I asked. Seris lowered her cup.

"I live here."

"That was not the question." My oldest friend glanced toward Maera, and something terrible entered her eyes.

"Did you tell him about the goose?" My entire body locked. Ren turned toward me. Karin gasped. Ruri's eyes widened. Hikari tilted her head so far that I worried about her neck. I pointed directly at Seris.

"No." She smiled. Maera looked delighted. Ren moved closer, and one of his arms slid around my waist. The gesture could have passed as affection if I did not know perfectly well that he was also preventing me from escaping.

"What goose?" my husband asked. I looked up at him.

"There was no goose." Seris lifted her coffee.

"There was absolutely a goose."

"Seris." Maera slapped one palm against the stall as laughter overtook her.

"Astrea was nine. She decided one of the palace geese looked lonely and tried feeding it by hand." I closed my eyes. This was how kingdoms ended. Not war or rebellion. Goose stories.

"The goose bit her sleeve," Maera continued, apparently determined to destroy everything I had spent a lifetime building.

"Astrea screamed and ran."

"I did not scream," I muttered. Seris tilted her head.

"You did."

"I was nine."

"You screamed loudly." Karin had both hands covering her mouth now, but her shoulders shook so violently that the effort was pointless. Maera delivered the final blow with visible pleasure.

"Then the goose chased her across the entire courtyard." Hikari's golden eyes became enormous.

"Mama ran from bird?" I opened my eyes and looked toward my youngest daughter.

"Mama was nine years old." Hikari studied me carefully, her gaze drifting toward the place where my horns would have been visible without concealment.

"Mama had tiny horns?" I hesitated.

"Yes." Hikari's expression immediately softened into unbearable delight.

"Tiny-horn Mama cute." Ren nodded beside me.

"Extremely cute, probably." I turned toward him.

"You were not there."

"I can extrapolate."

"That is not how childhood works."

"It works well enough." I elbowed him, but Ren only pulled me closer against his side. That should not have made me feel better. It did. Ruri finally laughed softly into the top of her books.

"I think tiny Mama sounds cute too." I stared at my eldest daughter in betrayal.

"Ruri."

"Sorry, Mama," she replied, although her smile ruined the apology. Karin had already lost all restraint.

"Mama got chased by a goose!" I pointed toward the wooden dagger at her hip.

"One more sentence about that goose and the dagger goes back to the blacksmith." Karin immediately closed her mouth. Her grin remained enormous. I slowly turned toward Seris, who regarded me over the rim of her coffee with the serenity of someone who had deliberately chosen violence.

"You remembered this for all these years?" I asked. Seris lowered the cup.

"I remember many things."

"That sounded like a threat."

"It was information."

"You are enjoying this."

"Immensely." I stared at her. Seris smiled pleasantly. Then my eyes shifted toward Vael. He stood beside her carrying the bags with the expression of a man who had completely accepted his circumstances. Ren followed my gaze and looked toward the bags again, which made Vael sigh before either of us could speak.

"Administrative matters," Vael said. Seris turned toward Karin.

"Curtains." The children went quiet. I looked at Vael. Ren looked at Vael. Ruri looked at Vael. Even Hikari looked at Vael. Our former intelligence commander closed his eyes. Ren's mouth curved.

"Complicated administration." Vael opened his eyes and looked toward my husband.

"Sire." I laughed. I tried not to. I truly did. But something about standing in the middle of a market while Maera exposed my childhood crimes, Seris weaponized historical memory, my daughters discovered that Mama had once possessed tiny horns, and Vael carried curtains for a woman he absolutely insisted he was not dating broke through whatever dignity I had left. The laughter escaped openly, warm enough that my eyes began to sting at the corners.

Ren looked down at me, and when his expression softened I leaned more fully into his side without thinking. His arm tightened around my waist. For one brief, unexpectedly precious moment, I was not Astrea von Velmora returning to the remnants of her kingdom. I was simply Ria—someone's niece, someone's childhood friend, a wife being held by her husband while her daughters laughed at stories from when Mama had been little. When my laughter finally settled, I looked toward Maera.

"Do you still make the honey cakes?" The old woman's expression softened immediately.

"Of course." I looked away before anyone could see how much that answer affected me.

"The girls should try one." Maera snorted.

"You want one."

"I said the girls."

"You always were stubborn." I opened my mouth to argue, but Ren's arm tightened around my waist. When I looked toward him, his eyebrow had already risen. Five minutes later, I was eating a honey cake while leaning against my husband. Nobody needed to comment. Unfortunately, Ren kept looking at me. I narrowed my eyes while chewing.

"Do not."

"I didn't say anything."

"You are thinking loudly." Behind us, Vael made a tiny sound that sounded suspiciously like agreement. Apparently the phrase was spreading. We escaped Maera only after she packed enough baked goods to feed a small military unit and physically refused every attempt I made to return them. I carried one bag, Ren carried two, and my free hand remained linked with his as we walked deeper into the market. Seris joined us while Vael followed with his increasingly suspicious collection of administrative materials.

Every few steps I found myself leaning into Ren again, sometimes against his shoulder and sometimes with both hands around his arm, and eventually I stopped pretending there was any practical reason for it. I simply liked touching him. The market was busy, unfamiliar in places, and filled with people who remembered versions of me I had spent years trying to bury. Having Ren beneath my hand made all of it easier. Naturally, the world chose that moment to discover my husband was useful.

We reached the eastern side of the square when three Velmoran craftsmen and a dwarf technician came into view around an opened metal housing attached to the public water system. The dwarf looked up, saw Ren, and brightened so dramatically that my husband stopped walking before anyone said a word.

"No," Ren said. The dwarf blinked.

"I haven't even asked anything." Ren's fingers tightened around mine.

"I know where this goes." I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. The dwarf gestured toward the half-disassembled unit.

"The heating array keeps collapsing whenever the modern regulator activates. We think the old Velmoran runes are interfering with the new mana converter." Ren looked toward the machine and then toward the technician.

"Call a technician." The dwarf folded both arms.

"I am the technician." My smile escaped. Ren slowly turned toward me. I gave him my sweetest expression and hugged his arm against my chest.

"My husband is very helpful." His eyes narrowed.

"Do not volunteer me."

"But you are helpful."

"I came here to eat."

"You have honey cake."

"That is your honey cake." I lifted the half-finished cake toward his mouth. Ren stared at it. I moved it closer until his expression became resigned. He sighed and took a bite. I smiled triumphantly.

"Now you have honey cake." Ren looked deeply betrayed, while the dwarf appeared uncertain whether laughing at an SS-rank Hunter's marriage was safe. One of the Velmoran craftsmen suddenly developed enormous interest in the open machinery. Ren pointed toward me.

"You owe me." I stepped closer and kissed his cheek. Everyone around the water unit immediately found urgent reasons to examine their tools. I smiled when I lowered myself again.

"Payment." Ren touched his cheek with two fingers and gave me a long look before sighing.

"Fine." I stayed beside him while he crouched near the opened housing. Eventually, I draped one arm across his shoulders and leaned enough of my weight against him that he had to adjust his position. Ren glanced upward.

"You know this makes repairs harder."

"I am observing."

"You said that while I was cooking yesterday."

"It remains effective." Ren stared at me for several seconds before returning to the machine. The problem took less than five minutes. The older Velmoran heating array operated through a looping abyssal flow while the modern regulator expected directional transfer, and both systems worked perfectly alone but became mutually destructive once connected. Ren traced two mana lines with his fingertips, rewrote the junction, and separated the incompatible flows with a conversion buffer.

The machine gave a low hum, the runes steadied, and warm water began flowing through the testing pipe. The dwarf stared at the unit in disbelief.

"We've been working on this for three days." Ren stood and brushed dust from his hands.

"You were trying to make two systems agree. They don't need to agree. They only need to stop interfering with each other." I slid my hand back into his and smiled.

"Apparently you understand plumbing and marriage equally well." My husband looked toward me.

"That comparison feels dangerous."

"It should." The craftsmen thanked him repeatedly, and I pulled Ren away before someone remembered another broken appliance. The administrative hall stood on the far side of the square, its wide windows open to the afternoon air. Voices carried clearly into the street, and as we approached I heard the unmistakable sound of several people disagreeing with one another at increasingly unnecessary volume. My steps slowed. Ren slowed with me.

Inside, several council representatives stood around a wide table covered in documents. A Velmoran woman held three sheets of paper and appeared ready to weaponize them, while a human logistics officer pointed toward a map and a dwarf representative argued loudly about storage allocation. Once, that discussion would eventually have reached me. Someone would have entered the throne room, bowed, presented the problem, and waited for a decision that everyone else could blame on the crown afterward.

Now the argument continued without me. The dwarf slapped one palm against the table while the human officer complained about road access. A Velmoran representative accused both men of ignoring sanitation requirements, and nobody seemed particularly interested in whether Astrea von Velmora was standing outside. Something unfamiliar moved through my chest. Then one councilwoman noticed me through the window.

"Ria!" she called, lifting one sheet of paper. I straightened automatically.

"We're changing the eastern market permits," the councilwoman explained.

"If you have an opinion, submit it before Tuesday." I stared at her. She waited. Someone inside shouted, "Mirel, we're not finished!" The councilwoman glanced over her shoulder.

"I know!" Then she looked back toward me and pointed at the paper.

"Tuesday!" The window shut. The argument resumed immediately. I remained where I was until Ren's fingers brushed mine. I caught his hand and held it tightly.

"They didn't ask me to decide," I murmured. Ren looked toward the window.

"No."

"They barely stopped the meeting."

"They looked busy." A laugh escaped me, quiet at first but followed by such sudden relief that I had to close my eyes for a moment. Ren stepped closer until his shoulder pressed against mine, and I leaned into him without thinking.

"I think I like that," I admitted. Ren's thumb moved across my knuckles.

"Seems inconvenient for your ego." I opened my eyes and stared at him. He was smiling. I elbowed him gently, then rested my head against his shoulder anyway.

"They don't need their Queen," I whispered. Ren turned slightly toward me.

"Good." I looked up at him and found no hesitation in his face, no pity for the role I had lost and no nostalgia for a throne I had never truly wanted. There was only certainty, and somehow that made the strange emptiness inside me feel lighter. I tightened my fingers around his hand.

"Yes. Good." The memorial garden stood beyond the market, where the noise softened beneath young trees and low flowerbeds. No towering monument dominated the space, and no enormous royal statue tried to make grief impressive. A simple stone wall carried names, benches rested beneath the trees, and flowers grew along narrow paths where people could sit without feeling watched. Near the center stood one marker. MORCANT Beneath the name, someone had carved three quiet words. He stayed behind. My feet stopped.

Ren's hand remained in mine while I stared at the marker, and for several breaths the market seemed to recede until all I could hear was wind moving through the leaves. I looked toward my husband. He understood before I spoke. His fingers squeezed mine once, then loosened gently. I let go and walked toward the marker alone. The girls remained behind with him while I crouched near the stone.

Distant sounds from the market reached the garden only in fragments—laughter, bargaining, someone hammering metal, children calling to one another. Life. I rested two fingers against the cool surface and remained there for a while. Morcant had already heard every apology I could give him. Every failure had already happened, every choice had already been made, and nothing I said now could change the price he had paid. So instead of apologizing again, I looked toward the market beyond the trees.

"They're arguing about permits now," I murmured, and a faint smile touched my lips.

"You would have hated the paperwork." Footsteps approached slowly behind me. Ren stopped beside my shoulder but did not touch me immediately. He waited until I leaned toward him first, and only then did his hand settle gently against my back.

"He'd probably consider that a victory," Ren said quietly. I looked toward Morcant's name. My throat tightened, but the ache was no longer sharp enough to tear me open the way it once had.

"Yes," I replied.

"He would." Behind us, Hikari whispered something. I turned and found our youngest daughter standing beside Ruri with one small flower held carefully between both hands.

"Hikari wants give flower," she explained softly. Ruri looked toward me.

"I told her to take one from the basket instead of picking from the garden." I smiled at my eldest.

"Good choice." Hikari approached with unusual care and crouched beside me. She placed the flower against the base of Morcant's marker, then pressed both little hands against her knees while looking up at the engraved name.

"Hikari says thank you." My vision blurred slightly. I wrapped one arm around her and pulled her against me, pressing a kiss into her hair.

"Thank you, sweetheart." Karin came next and placed another flower beside Hikari's. Ruri followed last, choosing one of the pale blue flowers from the basket and laying it carefully beside her sisters'. Nobody gave speeches. Neither did Ren. I loved them for that. When we were ready to leave, Ren held one hand out toward me. I took it, and he pulled me gently to my feet. Before we returned to the market, I stepped into him. My arms wrapped around his waist and my face rested against his chest.

Ren embraced me immediately, his chin settling lightly atop my head while one hand moved slowly over my back. I closed my eyes and let myself remain there for several breaths, protected by nothing more complicated than the familiar warmth of the man I loved. There was no throne here. No crown. No obligation to appear unbreakable. Just my husband holding me beneath quiet trees while our daughters waited nearby. When I finally looked up, Ren brushed one strand of hair away from my cheek and studied my face.

"Okay?" he asked softly. I nodded, then rose onto my toes and kissed his cheek.

"Okay." His hand remained at my waist as we walked away, and I was grateful for that too. We returned to the market together, where life swallowed us again exactly where we had left it. Near the fountain, we found Lysa. Her mother noticed us first, but Lysa saw Hikari perhaps half a second later and immediately waved both hands.

"Hikari!" Lysa called. Our youngest daughter's entire face brightened.

"Lysa!" They ran toward one another, and within minutes all three of our girls had joined a loose group of children drawing with chalk around the fountain. A human boy was attempting something that looked like a giant mechanical knight. An elven girl had covered one paving stone with flowers, while a dwarven child drew a hammer large enough to flatten the entire settlement. A cat-beastkin girl kept adding tails to everybody else's drawings, apparently because she believed artistic consistency was important.

Karin immediately transformed the activity into competition.

"Whoever draws the biggest monster wins," she announced, planting both hands on her hips. Ruri stared at her younger sister.

"That wasn't the game."

"It is now."

"You can't change the rules halfway through."

"I just did." Hikari raised a piece of purple chalk.

"Hikari draws dragon." Lysa held up green chalk.

"I'm drawing a dinosaur." Karin pointed toward both younger girls.

"Then we compare when you're done." Ruri pressed two fingers against her forehead and turned toward me.

"Mama, please tell her she can't invent rules every thirty seconds." I smiled apologetically.

"Your sister appears to have inherited an unhealthy relationship with authority." Karin's face brightened.

"So I can?"

"That was not permission." Her shoulders dropped. Behind me, Ren laughed softly. I reached backward until my fingers caught his shirt and pulled him closer. His arm slipped around my waist with practiced ease, and I leaned back against him while the children returned to their increasingly complicated competition. For the next twenty minutes, they turned chalk into international negotiations.

Karin gave her monster lava armor after finishing the drawing, prompting Ruri to explain that adding abilities afterward violated rules Karin herself had invented. Hikari drew wings large enough to consume two paving stones, while Lysa gave her dinosaur a crown for reasons nobody could explain. The Velmoran girl with small dark horns sat shoulder to shoulder with an elf child while they shared chalk.

A human boy complained that the cat-beastkin girl had added a tail to him again, and the dwarven child declared every monster could be defeated by a sufficiently large hammer. Nobody stared at Lysa's horns. Nobody stared at the other Velmoran children. Nobody asked whether they belonged. Something squeezed tightly inside my chest. Without thinking, I leaned farther back against Ren. His hand shifted from my waist to rest across my stomach, holding me securely against him.

"You're clingy today," my husband murmured near my ear. Heat touched my cheeks. I considered denying it for perhaps half a second. Then I looked at our daughters laughing around the fountain and decided I did not care.

"I know," I admitted, wrapping both hands around the arm he held across my stomach.

"Is that a complaint?" Ren went quiet for a heartbeat before answering.

"Not remotely."

"Good." I rested my head against his shoulder again, and Ren kissed my temple. The warmth of it remained long after his lips moved away. We stayed like that while the children continued arguing over chalk, and for once I felt no embarrassment about the way I held onto him in public. Years ago, being watched had meant judgment. Now people could watch me cling to my husband if they wanted. I had survived worse things than teasing. Eventually, Ren looked down toward me.

"Happy?" he asked. I watched Hikari lean over Lysa's dinosaur while Karin argued with the dwarven boy and Ruri desperately attempted to prevent the drawing contest from acquiring additional combat rules. My people were there alongside humans, elves, dwarves, and beastkin. Children who would grow up knowing Velmorans as classmates, neighbors, merchants, annoying friends, and rivals over pieces of chalk instead of monsters from another world. I smiled and tightened my arms around Ren's.

"Yes." His embrace tightened gently around me. That was enough. Later, while I was buying drinks, a young Velmoran boy approached. He looked perhaps ten years old and spent several seconds gathering enough courage to speak, twisting his fingers around the hem of his shirt until I turned toward him with a smile.

"Hello," I greeted him. The boy shifted his weight.

"Can I ask something?"

"Of course." His eyes moved toward the market before returning to me.

"Are you going to be Queen again someday?" The question carried no accusation and no political agenda, only the blunt curiosity children possessed before adults taught them to hide it. For years, that question would have demanded a speech. Today, I simply looked around. Maera was arguing with someone who had touched bread before paying. The administrative hall still contained people making decisions without me.

Merchants shouted prices, craftsmen repaired buildings, and Seris drank coffee while Vael carried curtains and continued pretending his circumstances were perfectly normal. Then I looked toward Ren. My husband stood several meters away with one arm folded while Ruri showed him one of her books. Karin was demonstrating the grip on her practice dagger, and Hikari had somehow acquired yet another snack. My family. I turned back toward the boy.

"No." He blinked.

"Never?" I shook my head.

"Never." The boy thought about that before asking another question.

"Then what are you now?" For a moment, I almost laughed. Demon Queen. SS-rank Hunter. Former sovereign. Mother. Wife. All of them were true. None of them felt like the answer. I looked toward Ren once more. He noticed immediately. His eyes met mine across the market. I smiled.

"Ria," I answered. The boy considered the response and then nodded as though it made perfect sense.

"Okay. Thank you, Ria." He ran away before I could say anything else. I watched him disappear into the crowd, and a moment later familiar arms wrapped around my waist from behind. I smiled before Ren even spoke.

"That was dramatic," he murmured. I leaned backward against his chest and rested both hands over his forearms.

"I said one word."

"Very efficiently dramatic." I turned my head enough to pinch his cheek. Ren endured the attack with admirable dignity.

"You are irritating," I told him.

"You married me."

"I know." I turned inside his arms until both hands rested against his chest, then rose onto my toes and kissed him. It was brief and casual, public enough that several nearby Velmorans definitely noticed. I did not care. When I pulled away, Ren's eyebrow rose. I smiled.

"Still irritating."

"Interesting punishment." I rested against him again and wrapped one arm around his middle.

"You complain too much."

"I'm not complaining."

"Good." Ren's hand settled against the back of my waist, and we stayed like that until Karin shouted that Hikari was trying to trade one of her sweets for someone's decorative knife. Motherhood resumed immediately. By late afternoon, we had acquired enough purchases to require logistical planning. Ruri carried three books and guarded them as though transporting sacred texts.

Karin had her practice dagger and a small metal charm the blacksmith insisted encouraged courage, despite Karin informing him she already possessed enough. Hikari carried sweets, two carved figures, a ribbon, and a polished stone she had found beside the fountain and declared important. I carried Maera's baked goods. Ren carried almost everything else. Vael walked several meters ahead beside Seris, still carrying her bags. I looked toward Ren's arms. Then toward Vael's.

"This seems contagious," I observed. Ren glanced down at his burden.

"I noticed." I moved closer and wrapped one arm around his free elbow.

"You look capable."

"That does not reduce the weight."

"You look handsome too." Ren gave me a flat look.

"Still no reduction." I smiled and rose onto my toes to kiss his cheek before taking one of the bags from his hand.

"Better?" He considered the difference.

"Slightly." I tucked myself against his side as we continued walking.

"The kiss contributed."

"Debatable." I tightened my grip around his arm. Ren smiled. The setting sun turned the artificial horizon gold by the time we reached Fluffy, and the girls lasted approximately fifteen minutes after we started driving. Karin fell asleep first despite insisting repeatedly that she was not tired. Her head gradually tipped toward the window until even stubbornness could no longer defeat gravity, while her hands remained folded protectively over the little wooden dagger resting in its bag beside her.

Hikari followed soon afterward with her cheek resting against Ruri's shoulder, one small hand still curled around the polished stone she had declared important. Ruri fought sleep longer than either of her sisters, but eventually her eyes closed too, fingers resting loosely near the bag containing her books. The car became quiet. Not empty. Not wrong. Just peaceful. I sat beside Ren and watched the settlement recede through the passenger window.

New rooftops glowed beneath the evening light, and market banners became smaller with every bend in the road until color gradually gave way to distance. My hand found Ren's again. He intertwined our fingers immediately. I shifted closer until my shoulder pressed against his, then rested my head carefully against him without interfering with his driving. Ren glanced briefly toward me.

"Regret it?" I knew what he meant. For several moments, I watched the settlement disappear. Then I looked toward our daughters. Ruri slept nearest the window, Karin had somehow leaned sideways despite the seat belt, and Hikari had curled toward both of them.

"No," I answered quietly. Ren remained silent. I appreciated that. I loved Velmora. That had not changed. I loved its stories, its streets, the people who remembered me before the crown, and even the ridiculous goose that I sincerely hoped had died of old age shortly after humiliating me. But I no longer needed to sit above any of it. I could visit, help, offer an opinion, fix what I could, and complain about permits if I temporarily lost my sanity. Then I could leave. I could go home.

"It feels like home again," I murmured. Ren kept his eyes on the road.

"Good." I tightened my fingers around his and let the warmth of his hand settle some final restless place inside me.

"But ours is better." My husband smiled.

"Ours has better Wi-Fi." I lifted my head and stared at him. Ren continued driving as though he had not just vandalized an emotional moment. For one full second, I considered hitting him. Then laughter escaped me. I pressed one hand over my mouth to keep from waking the girls, shoulders shaking while I leaned against him again. Ren's grin widened, which only made the situation worse. From the back seat, Karin shifted in her sleep and muttered something nearly incomprehensible.

"... one more match..." My laughter stopped immediately. Slowly, I looked toward her. Then I turned toward Ren. His mouth had already started moving. I pointed one finger at him while keeping my voice low.

"Do not." Ren kept his eyes on the road.

"I didn't say anything."

"You were going to."

"Probably." I sighed and settled against his shoulder again, then curled both hands around his arm and pulled it closer despite the awkward angle created by the center console. Ren glanced down briefly.

"You have your own side of the car."

"I know."

"And considerably more space over there."

"I know." His mouth twitched.

"Then why are you attached to me?" I closed my eyes and rested my cheek more comfortably against his shoulder. There were several answers I could have given him, and none of them were particularly complicated. Because I wanted to be close.

Because today had reminded me of too many versions of myself at once—the child Maera remembered, the Queen my people no longer needed, the friend Seris still knew, the mother our daughters called whenever something went wrong, and the woman who had somehow fallen in love with an irritating Archmage who made emotional moments worse by mentioning Wi-Fi.

Because after years of sitting on a throne large enough to separate me from everyone, I had discovered that my favorite place in any world was wherever Ren happened to be. I opened my eyes and smiled against his shoulder.

"This side is more comfortable." Ren laughed softly, his thumb brushing across my fingers before he shifted his hand enough to hold mine more securely. Somewhere beyond the Gate, Velmora continued without me. Council members would argue about permits, Maera would bully people into eating, blacksmiths would refuse payment, children would fight over chalk, and somebody would almost certainly break the water heater again. They would manage.

For most of my life, I had believed loving Velmora meant carrying it—protecting it, ruling it, bleeding for it whenever necessary. Perhaps Morcant had understood something I had taken much longer to learn. Sometimes loving people also meant allowing them to stand without you. I no longer had to carry a kingdom.

Ren was beside me, warm beneath the hands I still refused to remove from his arm, while our daughters slept behind us after spending an entire day treating my homeland like exactly what I wanted it to become: somewhere ordinary enough to buy books, argue over wooden swords, eat too many sweets, and draw monsters on the pavement. Tomorrow, Hikari would probably climb into our bed before sunrise. Karin would complain about something. Ruri would already be trying to organize everybody.

Vael would disappear downstairs for another mysterious administrative matter involving Seris, and Ren would undoubtedly find some new way to irritate me before breakfast. The thought made me smile. Velmora had survived. My people had begun again. And when the road carried us home, I went with the family I had chosen. I did not feel like a Queen leaving her kingdom behind.

I felt like Ria Arclight taking her husband and daughters home, while clinging shamelessly to the man she loved because his side of the car really was more comfortable. That was much better.

End of Chapter 71 Arclight Parenting Status Parents: Ren Arclight — Retired Archmage / Dragon Dad / Emergency Plumbing Consultant Ria Arclight — Former Demon Queen / Dragon Mom / Tiny-Horn Goose Survivor Current Family Objective: Visit rebuilt Velmora Explore the central market Absolutely do not restore the monarchy Children Under Protection: Ruri — Ice / Emotional Anchor / Educational Purchase Exploiter Karin — Fire / Chaos / Armed With Wooden Dagger Hikari — Light / Reality Risk / Elderly-Woman Snack Magnet Today's Activities: Visited Velmora's reopened central market Purchased books, snacks, and suspicious quantities of childhood evidence Visited Morcant's memorial Confirmed Velmora can stand without its Queen Returned home as a family New Developments: Ria's childhood criminal record has been exposed"Tiny-Horn Mama" has entered family history Velmora officially feels like home again Ria no longer needs a crown to belong there Household Status: International Overfed Emotionally Stable Carrying Too Many Shopping Bags Parents Stress Levels: Ren Relaxed Amused Unexpectedly Employed By Public Utilities Ria Nostalgic Liberated Still Furious About The Goose Parenting Skill Growth: Ren: 100% (Emotional Support Husband Certification Maintained) Ria: 100% (Queen-to-Mama Transition Fully Complete) Family Synergy: 100% (Homeland Visit Successfully Integrated Into Family Life) Current Parents Status: Ren Papa Husband Preferred Physical Furniture Ria Mama Wife Just Ria Immediate Priorities: Protect Karin's wooden dagger privileges Prevent Hikari from accepting food from every grandmother in Velmora Find shelf space for Ruri's "educational purchases" Ensure nobody tells more goose stories Operational Assessment: Mission Type: Family Market Trip + Former Sovereign Closure Difficulty: Historical Embarrassment Emotional Status: Ren Content — Supportive — Entertained Ria Free — Loved — Home Future Outlook: Velmora Will Continue Rebuilding Ria Will Continue Visiting Without Ruling Children Will Grow Up Knowing Both Worlds As Home Seris Possesses More Dangerous Childhood Information Vael's Administrative Matters Remain Curtains Ria's Clinginess Shows No Signs Of Decline Parents Personal Statement: Ren:"Ours has better Wi-Fi."

Ria:"This side is more comfortable." Reality's Response:"Velmora no longer needed Astrea von Velmora upon a throne. That was precisely why Ria Arclight could finally love it without carrying it—and then go home holding her husband's hand."