"Okay, so here's the strangest thing ever," Erik says when he wakes up in the morning.
"What thing?" I yawn and I'm happy to find out that my headache is gone entirely. Gotrid is also slowly waking up, we're perfectly synchronised.
"I think I was experiencing your dream, hon," he says and caresses my hair.
"Oh?" I'm wide awake all of a sudden. "What did you see?"
"Not only see," he says. "I could feel what it's like to have wings and fly. Do you always fly in your dreams?"
"Yeah, mostly," I nod.
"Me too," Gotrid seconds. "What else should a Celestial dream about?"
"I don't know, normal stuff," Erik shrugs. "Dreams rarely make sense."
"Well, I do sometimes dream about nonsense, but I always have wings in them," I shrug. "You were lucky to see one of my carefree dreams. Did you like it?"
"I loved it," he smiles. "As I said already, if I played Draconia Online, I would definitely pick a Celestial."
I want to ask if he regrets that he didn't play Draconia Online, but I know it's a sore topic. Erik isn't a gamer, he considers video games to be a waste of time or a quirky hobby at best. Still, it will probably never stop bothering meâdoes he regret that he didn't transform into a Draconian?
I never really felt a real regret from him, but I do sometimes sense a strange undertone in his subconscious every time he can't accompany me because he doesn't have wings and can't do magic. He doesn't feel inferior being human, but, at the same time, he's painfully aware of his limitations.
"It was a really interesting feeling," Erik continues and stretches his hand to rub his back. "The experience was dreamy, but I could vividly feel having wings. I've always wondered what that feels like."
"I can let you share my dreams more often," I propose.
"That would be nice," he nods and gets more serious. "Since you're mostly recovered already, I'm afraid you will have a lot of explaining to do today, love."
"I guess," I lower my head.
I'm not looking forward to it at all. My partners might have forgiven me after our making love, but the same can't be said about Liana and the rest of the Celestials. Their priority is to protect their embodiment of magic and I was kind of sabotaging that for days. Now that everyone in the mansion is awake, I can feel their discontent.
I eat breakfast but only because my partners force me. My stomach is tight, I'm nervous about facing my subjects. I wasn't exactly lying to them, but I was hiding important facts. No wonder they are angry with me. I would also be angry if I found out that, for instance, Liana was hiding something super important from me.
Dalia, my new Japanese maid, dresses me into a beautiful robe with embroidered petals, which I got as a gift from the Japanese, and styles my hair with a traditional hairpin. My attire suddenly got a Japanese vibe and I really like it.
But then I realise that I'm not actually Japanese. I was born here, but only because my father chose this country to best suit the Divementis in their disguise. There's nothing Japanese in me just as there's nothing human in me.
"Love," Gotrid takes my hand. "You just started to feel sad for some reason."
"Because all of this," I touch my robe, "reminds me that I'm not actually Japanese. I never was."
"You were born here," Erik adjusts his tie and also hurries to take my hand. "It's okay to feel that this is your homeland."
I nod. Half-alien or not, I was born in Japan.
Noage appears, coming to check my condition. He's frowning when he attaches his rooty tentacles to my forearm.
"The worst is behind you, Your Majesty, but you're still not fully recovered," he says, more to my caretakers than me. "I can't allow you to fly for at least two more days and while you can go talk to your subjects, work is out of the question and you need to take a nap immediately after the audience."
I want to prove him otherwise, but I get up too quickly, my head spins and I wobble. Erik catches me readily, anticipating it.
"You're just going to explain yourself to the Celestial Council, not work," he sets the record straight. "You need to give them some answers and then you go back to bed."
"How angry are they with me?" I'm almost afraid to ask. I can feel the overall mood in the mansion and it's not good at all.
"Furious," Gotrid offers me his support, "especially after you told Liana that you could have died during the monster attack."
"Figures," I sigh. "Well, let's go then. I'm prepared for scolding."
The guards lock to me closely the moment I leave our apartment. They are also angry with me for hiding the truth and putting myself in danger, but they soften up once they see me leaning onto my partners.
"Your Majesty, we wouldn't insist you talk with the Council today if you still don't feel okay," Sareash says, bowing to me.
"The pain is gone, I'm just feeling a bit weak, that's all," I assure her. "I owe you answers and an apology."
Sareash chews her lip, only partly convinced, and orders the guards to walk slowly. It seems everyone was counting on Noage to heal me quickly, but poor Noage couldn't do much except for providing me with nutrients. My Divementis brain resists any external intervention and heals at its own pace.
The throne room is unnaturally quiet when I enter. My weakened state softens the Celestials to a certain extent, but not entirely. Liana must have given our inner government the gist of what happened, but I still have a lot of explaining to do.
First and foremost, I went against the Celestial law that concerns my protection. I put myself in danger and that's something Celestials won't tolerate. Something tells me I won't be forgiven easily this time. It's almost as if it suddenly doesn't matter that I'm the Emperor. Right now, I'm their precious embodiment of magic that was hiding the truth and got seriously hurt. They have every right to scold me.
"Your Majesty," Liana is standing in front of the throne.
She patiently waits for me to get seated and bows as the protocol dictates, but she straightens her back right away. I can tell from her strict expression that she's deeply disappointed. I twitch nervously in my seat. I deserve their anger and I do plead guilty.
"I've told the Council what happened, but that was just a shortened version. We demand a lengthy explanation, Your Majesty. Don't omit any details, please," she says resolutely.
I take a deep breath and tell them everything. There's no use hiding anything from them anymore and I wish to come clean. It didn't feel good hiding the truth from them anyway.
I tell them about my father approaching me in my dreams, his torturous training methods and all the information I've learnt so far. Then I tell them everything about my encounter with that monstrous consciousness from the Draconia dimension, the Divementis equivalent of Wikipedia and that I can apparently speak an alien language like a native.
There's a period of silence after I finish my long speech which gives me a little breather to sip a cup of coffee. I felt quite okay after the good night's sleep and making love with my partners, but just this much managed to exhaust me again. Having suffered a concussion is no joke. Ignoring the protocol, Erik moves right next to me and hugs me.
"Your Excellency, don't be too harsh on His Majesty," Gotrid stands up to my defence when nobody's saying anything, still digesting what they've just learnt.
"We do realise that His Majesty did it for us, Gotrid," Liana gives me a stern look. "That's why it pains us twice as much. What's worse, he let himself be tortured by his father."
"I didn't let myself be tortured, I had to learn how to oppose him," I object. "Also, and I hate to give him credit for that, it's only thanks to his harsh training methods that I was able to protect myself against that monstrous consciousness and get away only with a concussion."
"Li, you can't blame him for putting himself in danger during that monster attack," Erik states matter-of-factly. "Yes, our Emperor got hurt, but he didn't expose himself to danger on purpose. Nobody could have anticipated that there would be some kind of telepathic monster waiting on the other side."
"You're right, we won't blame His Majesty for that," Liana admits. "Still, His Majesty got seriously hurt and caused a global panic. We can't let that happen ever again."
"Your Majesty, it pains us that you didn't feel like you could confide to us," Gavreel stands up and also approaches the throne.
"And I'm sorry for that, I really am," I apologise profoundly, sending out my regret telepathically to convince them.
I see Liana pursing her lips. Here it is, my scolding. She starts loudly expressing everyone's frustrations with me and there's no space for any excuses on my part. She stays extremely polite, but otherwise, she's not holding anything back. All her points are valid so I can only take it head on and repent the best I can.
"I think His Majesty gets it, Viceroy," Gotrid waves his hands when Liana pauses to catch her breath.
I still fortify myself against another salve, but Luviael suddenly storms into the throne room, saving me from another round of scolding.
"The Japanese government wishes to speak with His Majesty," she announces. "They finally reached an agreement and are asking to see our Emperor in the afternoon."
So much for no work today.