Chapter 10: Ruby

Chapter 10: Ruby

~o~

A loud slap rang throughout the courtyard.

The moment that I had stepped off the carriage on my return from Lannisport with Cersei and Melisandre, the first to greet me was a certain Tywin Lannister. Of course, what came next was self-explanatory.

When I turned my head back, I saw him stare down at me with disappointment. All I could do was nurse my bruised cheek.

There was no reprimand or complaint. There was, in fact, no word at all. He simply turned about and walked away.

He knew what I had done. More important than that, he knew that I knew.

It left me with a mysterious and deep sense of regret.

Or at least, that was what it was supposed to do.

Oh? Did you think I would become depressed and desperately seek out fatherly approval? I had already experienced and suffered through the depths of that before my transmigration. My corporate-enslaved parents were the type who had attempted to appeal to my family piety by using loving encouragement, harsh criticisms, and then finally silent disapproval with a side of resignation. Besides that, I had time and mental age on my side. I was immune to all of that!

No, that wasn't right. I still felt something. If anything, I was afraid to put it into words, to make what I felt more of a reality than it was. Worse was the fact that I was distinctly aware of that. Some people liked to imagine me as an unfeeling monster, and at times, I liked to imagine that of myself, but I wasn't. I really wasn't.

I did something big. Really big. There was already controversy about allowing missionaries of the red faith to freely preach in Lannisport. Now, especially with my involvement, there was going to be deep consequences. Yet, I got away with just a slap.

No, that was wrong too. If I thought about it rationally, then I would be called in later to give a full report and receive the real punishment.

Of course, being the heir, it shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully.

After that, I made my way to my bedroom. On the way, nobody interrupted me and those that saw me shied away. It was a given—with how public the slap had been—that the information would have spread far beyond the confines of the courtyard like a plague. Nobody wanted to earn the ire of an irate noble, but even if that was the common sense of the world, it wasn't like I going to do that. In fact, I had never gave out any punishment, even during that time when I had laundry water accidentally splashed on me. I felt bad just from them pleading desperately for mercy and forgiveness.

After I entered my room, the door closed behind me. Of course, by that, I definitely mean that I didn't close it myself. Taking a glance back, I saw Melisandre with her back against the door. She turned the lock with a click.

My springtime is here!

No, not really. Not that I had anything against beautiful women who were old enough to be my great great grandmother, but I knew she wasn't looking for that kind of thing. More than that, I wasn't looking for that kind of thing. At the moment, I didn't feel that much. In a couple of years, I would probably be assaulted by raging hormones and liable to repeat the disastrous circumstances of my middle school years in unfortunate misunderstandings that would lead to massive humiliation and extensive trauma. The kind of thing like, "Ah, she smiled at me. That must mean she likes me," which eventually leads to: "Sorry, you're a nice guy, but I only think of you as a friend." Of course, despite the so-called "friendship," the event would spread out throughout the school like wildfire, leading to endless teasing and screaming into pillows—

"My lord, are you okay?" Melisandre stood right in front of me with her hand on my cheek.

"I'm fine," I hurriedly said as I brushed off her hand. Ah, that was close. I almost dazed out right then and there. Walking over to the brazier I had set to the side, I dragged it over until it was in the middle of the room. After I took out all the material—and conducted some fire safety precautions—I set fire to the brazier with my powers and waited. It wasn't a long wait; we had already agreed beforehand that this was his exclusive brazier and that I wouldn't be using it for lighting or heating.

As expected, that otaku appeared within the flames, molding the fire to the shape of his chubby face.

"The great Zaimokuza is here!" The flames condensed in a solid looking face, a far-cry from the mess of flickering flames that it was in the years before. He even was able to recreate his glasses without any of the fire spreading beyond the outline. Oh wait, he recreated his upper body along with his trench coat, making him look like a fire genie. Did he really have to recreate the anime logo and character on his shirt though? "Of course I needed to; it's Emilia-tan. Now, bow, kneel, and genuflect, for the great samurai general is here once more to save the day."

"You said great twice."

"It's necessary to illustrate how great I am."

"…great."

"Ohohoho? As expected of my rival, to twist 'great' into an expression of sarcasm."

"Just when did you start laughing like a rich daughter?" Sometimes, I just couldn't grasp what was going through his mind. Most of the time, I didn't want to. With a shake of my head, I said, "Never mind that. What about her?"

"Her who?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and merely glanced at the other occupant of the room with a tilt of my head. He followed my gaze before his flaming eyes almost comically widened in surprise. It worried me that he was actually supposed to be a god in some capacity. As for the girl in question, Melisandre was staring back at us with wide eyes and mouth, but it was easy to tell her feelings by the open expression of awe and worship on her face. Even though she could only hear one side of the conversation—my side—I supposed it was a lot of stimulus to finally see her god for the first time.

"Oh, her." He opened his mouth, as if to say to something, but he paused instead. "What about her?"

"How is she still alive?"

"Well, that's…"

"If you say 'secret,' I'm going to sell this brazier."

"…a long story," Zaimokuza finished.

"Better."

"I may have made some…mistakes in the past. Well, I wouldn't say mistakes. I think of them as experiments that didn't quite work out."

"What did you do?"

"I made a few special gemstones filled with magic. They swap your soul with the magic. Your soul in the gemstone and most of the magical energy in your body. Magic works differently internally than externally so its enhancement effects works far better than wearing external gear."

No, it couldn't be that…

"I may have taken some inspiration from a magical girl anime that I once saw," Zaimokuza slowly said. "In particular, soul gems."

"And it didn't occur to you that this might be a bad idea?"

"The problem with the anime's soul gems was that they couldn't replenish magical energy easily. My gemstones drains it from the surrounding environment and lets it filter into the body. No grief mechanics! Though, there's a lot less energy in the environment these days. I started the project centuries ago."

"But that anime only existed when I was alive so that's a few decades at most. It can't be that far back."

"Well, the time difference between the dimensions is not exactly straight-forward," Zaimokuza said. "Don't ask me to explain it. It just works."

"Time dilation? Time synchronization? Time distortion?"

"It just works! Don't question it too deeply!"

"Fine, but in all that time, didn't you think it'd be a bad idea to displace the soul?"

"Weeeelllll… It worked for you."

He had a point there, though I wasn't reborn back then.

"I figured this wouldn't be so drastic of a difference. Their souls would still be close enough, but the distance does reduce pain and emotions. Still, it was a good trade-off. An enhanced body for reduced pain and emotions," Zaimokuza said. "And it worked, for a time, but it turns out that feeling less emotions made some of them become obsessed with it. Some tried to reverse the process by using a strange ritual or destroying the soul gem, which of course didn't work. Others embraced going to the extreme to elicit an emotional response from themselves. They just all became too focused on what they lost."

"So many are left?"

"A few," he responded. "Only Melisandre is still by my side. As for the rest, I'm still hunting them down."

"Hunting them down…?" I felt a chill down my spine at his words.

"None of them became vigilante super heroes while I wasn't looking. When I said they took it to the extreme, I really do mean extreme. Their sins are many; I can't allow them to run amok." Zaimokuza had a pensive look on his face. "Like I said, mistakes were made."

"So what about her?" Taking a glance at the side, I saw that Melisandre was still staring with creepily unblinking eyes.

"Well, she's not exactly stable, but it's not exactly bad. Some of them focus on certain feelings, pleasure being one of the more popular ones, but for her, it's piety."

"So she's a complete religious zealot."

"Better than lust or gluttony. Besides, I'm sure you can help her. I wouldn't assign her to just anybody. You should be proud to be my super special subordinate." Zaimokuza pointed a finger at me. "Why do you think I reincarnated you into the wealthy Lannister family?"

"Because their red armor looks like samurai armor?"

"Well, errr…umm, yes, but when you put it like that…" The flaming god's pose began to crumble. He vigorously shook his head and slapped his own cheeks, somehow making a sound despite his hands and cheeks being made out of flames. "Moving on! You just need to watch out for Melisandre. This is her first time living in the same castle, though I think it'll be fine if she doesn't try to do something to you within a couple of weeks Just lock your door at night." He paused for a moment before continuing. "And lock your windows."

"Wait, what do you mean lock my windows?"

"You never know when she'll come night-crawling." He waved off my concern. "It'll be fine, it'll be fine. What's the worst you can lose? Still, that's a worry for later."

"Do you not remember my situation right now?" I glanced at Melisandre and the locked door.

"Oh right…" Zaimokuza scratched his head. "Run?"

"You're useless."

"Kuh! My heart." Zaimokuza held his left chest, as if he had been shot with an arrow.

"If you're done joking, can we be serious now?"

"What's the big deal? She doesn't seem like she's going to conduct a religious murder-suicide ritual. Even though there are a few in the sacrifice section, which I'll need you to change, but that's a concern for later." Zaimokuza turned to glance at Melisandre. "Look at her. She's still in worship mode. Even has that dazed look in her eyes. She does look a little flushed—wait, is she drooling?"

"Melisandre?" I directed my voice at her.

"Huh? M-my lord?" Melisandre blinked out of her daze and quickly wiped her mouth. "For-forgive me, my lord, for my impropriety."

"You know who she reminds me of." Zaimokuza placed a hand on his chin. "Ebina Hina."

"How so?"

"Her appearance when she was staring at us. I bet if we teach her how to draw manga, she would make a doujin of us. Where I, as R'hllor, would come down before you and say, 'Come, my faithful, and I'll teach you the ways of the world.' The next part would be uncensored since this isn't Japan."

The frightening thing was that I could imagine that happening. Her drawing that, not Zaimokuza indulging in the yaoi spirit.

"What should I do now?"

"Didn't you bring her here to teach you magic?" Zaimokuza asked with a shrug. "Learn as much as you can before she goes insane and you have to destroy her soulgem."

"She—" I stopped myself and lowered my voice so the person in question wouldn't hear it. "She's not a zombie."

"I know, but she could go crazy at anytime. She's like a ticking time-bomb," Zaimokuza whispered conspiratorially.

"Why are you speaking so low?"

"Why are you?"

"She can't hear—never mind." Why was I even bothering to whisper. I returned my voice to normal and turned to Melisandre. "Sorry for the late introduction. This is…R'hllor. Is there anything you want to say or ask him? I'll voice his responses."

Melisandre's eyes gleamed as she began to speak…

~o~

That night…

Wait, you wanted to know what Melisandre said? There was a reason that I skipped it. What would you say when you were confronted with the very god you worshiped? The answer was not calling him Being X. It consisted of the same platitudes as you would expect, praising him and such. I won't get into the details since I didn't want to remember things that closely. After that, it was the standard set of questions. What is the meaning of life? Why was I born? Where do babies come from? Well, no, not the last one, but it was still pretty mundane. Of course, I had to listen to Zaimokuza's flippant responses and translate them into something more appropriate, even though it was just as vague. I felt like one of those political translators that would translate the cursing of their employers into polite speech.

As I was saying, that night…which was actually this night, I was currently lying in bed. Even though I was tired, I couldn't fall asleep. There was a very good reason for this.

It was because my door knob kept shaking.

I was lying on my side, watching the door silently in the dark. Of course, it wouldn't open because I had locked it earlier, but the rattle of the door knob had been going on for the last ten minutes. If it had been a normal person, after twisting the knob once or twice and finding out that it was locked, wouldn't they have given up already? What was the point of testing it over and over again when they knew what the result would be? Was that common sense that exceeded the dimensional boundaries of worlds and universes?

Was this going to continue all night?

Reaching the end of my patience, I said loudly, "It's locked."

A muffled voice behind the door answered me. "Did I wake you, my lord?"

I held in the urge to rub my head. "Melisandre, what are you doing here?"

"I have something to discuss with you."

"Do you know what time it is?" I asked exasperatedly. "Can't we talk in the morning?"

"It's urgent."

"What's it in regards to?"

"I can't speak of it out here. Someone might overhear." Her voice seemed a little breathless. "Will you unlock the door now?"

"I refuse." If I hadn't heard Zaimokuza's warning, I would have probably let her in, but now that I did, I wasn't willing to be in a room alone with her. It was for that reason that, for the whole day, there had always been someone else present when I was with her. For the truly crazy, it wouldn't be much of a determent, but for now, it was good enough. I believed that if she was crazy, she would still be in the initially crazy stage.

There are five stages of crazy that I had come up with from countless movies and anime. It wasn't too accurate since I never met someone insane yet and there were different varieties of insanity, but it would do.

First stage - rejection: "I'm not crazy."

Second stage - anger: "Seriously, I'm not crazy, you bastard!"

Third stage - bargaining: "If I was crazy, would I do this?"

Forth stage - depression: "You…you don't really believe me, do you…?"

Fifth and final stage - acceptance/rebound: "I admit it, I'm crazy, but that's okay. Let's all die together."

If this sounds a lot like the five stages of rejection, it is just a coincidence.

I admit that it wasn't too accurate, as depending on each individual insanity, it could either skip or stay at a stage indefinitely. However, that was the unpredictability of life, I thought sagely as I ignored Melisandre's pleas for me to open the door. Then I heard her become quiet. It was only moments later when her footsteps began sounding out and receding as she got further away.

I relaxed into my pillow. Finally.

A few minutes later, I heard a loud rattling from my locked window. It was far too persistent and consistent to be the wind.

Damn it.

~o~

"Well, what was it that you needed to speak with me last night about?"

I was standing in Melissandre's room with a haggard face with the door guard beside me. Opposite of me was the red priestess with a look of confusion on her face.

"Last night? I was sleeping the whole time, my lord."

I turned my head to glance at the guard. He nodded his head.

"It's true, sire. She never left the room. Not while I was guarding."

The hairs on the back of my neck began to rise.

I assigned guards for my door and window for tonight.

~o~

Well, two weeks later—

Wait, you wanted to know what happened with the nighttime visits? Nothing did. After I assigned guards to keep watch, I hadn't had a repeat, such that I was starting to doubt my own paranoia.

After that, I had Melisandre teach me magic. I had Jaime and Cersei join in as well, though Jaime backed out of it pretty early. He wasn't the type to care that much about it, it seemed. Cersei, on the other hand, practically worshiped the ground the older woman walked on, ever since she saw that revival act. She was now hanging off of her every word, to the point where she was starting to neglect her sword practices, scholastic studies, and etiquette classes.

In the course of the classes, I had found—to my dismay—that my little sister was a far better student than I was. Of course, I wouldn't have cared with how compulsory education in the modern world and the fact Komachi had always been a better student than me, but this was magic. Magic! This was what dreams were made out of. My combined age from both lives was technically enough for me to qualify as a wizard. Oh wait, no, I actually didn't qualify since it would only be 27 years old when combined. Well, by the time three years passes by, that would be the year I hit puberty and marriageable age. How tragic.

Since then, a full two weeks had passed me by. In regards to Lannisport, things had exploded. Most that had seen the event converted over to the red faith, and the rumors of it was spreading far and wide. Of course, it was just rumors and hearsay to most of Westeros at this point with most thinking that they are embellished lies. It was like parting the red sea; a fantastical event that would most likely garner disbelief from those who hadn't seen it first-hand. And maybe some from those that did see it. It was, after all, more than a bit unbelievable.

Of course, there was fallout from this event. Since I was a major participant in it, I was now being closely associated with the religion of R'hllor. This was both good and bad. Well, more bad than good.

That was because Lannisport had practically turned into a town that almost completely supported the red faith. However, it's reputation was dropping fast because the rest of Westeros believed in the Seven. Except the North, but nobody really cared about that snowy region. It was just home to barbarians who worship creepy trees—or at least, that was what I had heard. If I went by how the North was viewed, I was willing to bet that the West would eventually be considered the territory of cultists.

Truthfully, I didn't know much about the red faith except for the basics like the good god being Zaimokuza and the bad god being an ice necromancer. The living versus the dead. Though, hopefully, the world wouldn't turn into something out of zombie movie. Wait, technically, the Long Night was essentially a zombie apocalypse…

Now that I thought about it, didn't I ponder about this before? Well, I supposed it didn't matter if I did or didn't.

What mattered more was that my name was becoming famous, except it was for all the wrong reasons.

It was unavoidable, though. I had to go through with the resurrection, as it took out two problems that I was having. The first being that Melisandre was dead, and the second being that the spread of the red faith was near nonexistent. I supposed that it was more the latter than the former since I could have had the former done in private. I admit that the former was still important though, since few actual magic users were willing to cross the seas to Westeros, even under Zaimokuza's prophetic urgings. Learning magic would take an even longer time since I would need to find a new and trustworthy teacher. That wasn't even mentioning the different types of magic.

Still, the rise of the red faith was much more important. With the increased influence, Zaimokuza would have more power in the region. It was mostly concentrated in Lannisport, but it was starting to spread. I had to make contingencies in case the Faith of the Seven started to take action. It would start with subterfuge, so it would be awhile before it would become more public and organize the zealots into an actual force.

So why was I thinking about all of this, while I was lying awake in bed, unable to sleep under the light of the moon and the chilly winds?

I had thought it was safe so I dismissed the guards. Even though I had locked my door, I had forgotten to lock my window. Did you really think I would see the moonlight if my curtains weren't parted and feel the chilly winds if my window wasn't open?

Melisandre was standing by my bedside, staring down at me. I was staring up at her.

I hadn't even realized that she had come in until she was by my bedside, gazing silently down at me. It was an awkward situation where I didn't know what to say, even as I crept my hand slowly towards the dagger hidden under my pillow.

You know when I was thinking about how hard it would be to find a replacement teacher who was trustworthy? I was a little bit more open to it now, especially since my current one was not trustworthy at all. Not after her resurrection, at least.

Her hand slammed down on my pillow, pinning my wrist underneath. I had just grabbed the handle of the dagger, but I couldn't move.

She leaned down toward me as I began to tremble. The swirls of her eyes were reflecting crazily in the moonlight.

Her lips parted, and she whispered—

~o~

I opened my eyes to the morning light. As I sat up, I stretched my neck and arms. The curtains were closed so I got up from my bed and walked over, spreading it open. The bright glare of the sun shone down on me as I opened the window, letting the cool breeze flush over the staleness of the room. A bundle of clothes was handed to me, and I got changed into them. Some nobles wanted servants to change their clothes for them, but I wasn't like that. I still retained my Japanese upbringing so I couldn't bring myself to do that. Once I was done changing, I left to go to the privy for my morning routine.

It was called a privy here, but it was essentially a bathroom, medieval style. Basically a counter-top with a hole in it. Not really comfortable, and what I had to use afterwards to clean definitely wasn't on the level of toilet paper, but I had to make do. Gratefully, I was handed a clean bucket of water to wash up with.

I eventually came to the breakfast table and started eating my meal with the rest of my family. The expression on Tywin's face was as stoic as ever, though my brother and sister had a strange look on their faces, even as they started eating. After awhile, I turned my head to the side and allowed a towel to clean my mouth since a bit of sauce had dripped down at the corner of my lip. Once that was done, I continued my meal. At some point, Tywin finished his meal and left, leaving only me and my siblings at the table. It was only then that Cersei finally gave voice to a thought she had been holding in this whole time.

"Why is teacher Meli here?"

"What are you talking about? Melisandre—" Was right next to me. I stared at her, even as she held the used toilet with a smile.

She was the one who handed me my clothes.

She was the one who handed me the bucket of water.

She was the one who cleaned my mouth with the towel.

"Ah…ah…"

She had never left my side. Not when I changed my clothes and not even when I was in the privy, doing my business. Wait, when did she first came to my side? I remembered that she was there when I woke up. Was it last night?

As I thought about it, my memory came back to that whisper. After that, everything was a blank.

"Melisandre," I said after awhile, my emotions in a swirl. "What did you—"

"Our fates are now conjoined, my lord."

"Wait, does that mean…?"

Melisandre smiled and pointed at her golden choker with the blood-red ruby. I stared back her blankly, unsure of her meaning. She merely turned her finger and pointed at my own neck. I reached up my hand even as I gazed downward. The exact same choker with a similar blood-red gem was around my neck.

Huh.

I moved to take off the choker, but Melisandre placed her hand on mine, stopping me from doing so.

"You mustn't take it off, my lord Hachi."

I raised an eyebrow, but I didn't take it further. I would just have to ask Zaimokuza about it later.

~o~

"I don't know," Zaimokuza said with a shrug of his flaming shoulders.

"What do you mean you don't know?" I standing in my room with the burning brazier. It wasn't exactly a private conversation since Melisandre was here; I couldn't exactly find it in myself to shut the door in her face.

"I'm the god of fire, shadow, and anime. I don't know that much about soul magic, but that's definitely not your soul in there."

"Wait, where did that last domain come from?"

"Since that will be my domain in the future, I thought that I should include it early so that I'd get used to it."

"This is way too early!"

"Anyways," Zaimokuza said, changing the topic at his own whim. "The necklace isn't going to hurt you. I already checked. She split off a piece of her soul into there somehow. You know, like what couples do. Not that I would know, seeing that I'm still single, you bastard."

"You're a god; you can get anyone you want."

"Yes, but I want a girl who'll love me for me and not because she feels she has to." Zaimokuza twiddled his flaming fingers together. "I want something genuine!"

"What? S-shut up! Where did you hear about that!?" I could feel my cheeks heating up as the unwanted memory came to me.

"I've my sources~. Besides, what's wrong with true love between a mortal and a god? Wouldn't that make a good light novel series?" Zaimokuza smirked. "Besides, you got some of those cliches from transmigration stories going on. Just think about it. Your otherworldly harem is finally starting. You now have the extremely mature older woman in your harem."

"Extremely mature? Shouldn't it just be mature?"

"Well, think of it this way. Aged wine is fruity, but aged wine times ten is extra fruity."

"That doesn't make sense either!"

"You'll understand someday," Zaimokuza said sagely before turning his eyes aside. "…by the way, keep her necklace safe."

"I was planning on returning it."

"Do you think it'd be that easy? She gave you a piece of her soul! If you return it, she might act like a spurned woman and throw it away or something," the flaming head said. "Besides, she already connected the piece to your soul."

"She did what?!"

"Don't worry. It's better this way. You don't have to worry about any sacrifices involving you as the main participant, and you now have a fashionable matching choker you can show off at parties."

"I'm not seeing the benefits here."

"Just don't lose it, okay? I'm not too clear on what would happen, but it'd be bad. For her. And you. Well, maybe. Seventy Percent sure."

I could feel a headache coming on.

"Fifty-five percent sure. No, forty percent sure. I'm pretty sure it's forty percent sure."

"Stop saying sure," I said, rubbing my temple.

"Sure."

I angrily grabbed a nearby bowl of water and doused the brazier, ignoring the otaku's cry of "I'm melting, I'm melting." Only once his flaming image and screams faded did I finally let out a sigh of frustration. I touched the choker on my neck. This was what was currently on my mind. Besides being a strange fashion sense for a man and being attached to his soul, it matched Melisandre's choker completely. Wasn't this a statement that they were together? Or would it be more a statement that he was part of the R'hllor religion? Even if he didn't want to mess with the political arena, he had practically been born into it so there was no avoiding it. This was getting complicated.

"Couldn't she have made this a little less conspicuous?" I rubbed my thumb against the ruby of the golden choker.

"Would you prefer it to be a bracelet?" I froze at her voice and turned my head rigidly.

Melisandre crawled out from under my bed.

"What… Why…?"

"The realm of shadows is the domain of my lord," Melisandre said nonchalantly as she stood up and brushed off the dust. "For a prince's bedroom, I'd expect it to be cleaner."

"First, I'm not a prince. Second, that's under my bed. Sure, it has a lot of shadows, but don't hide under there! I happen to like my privacy."

"I'm aware. These drawings are—"

"Not another word!" I snatched the scrolls out of her hand and placed them gently aside. "Why are you hiding in my room?"

"To observe your majesty," Melisandre said with a look of wonder. "Our fates are tied together, my lord."

"You…you heard all that, did you?"

"Only your side of the conversation, but it's enough," she said, the wonder in her eyes and the gracious smile not fading in the slightest.

So basically, she heard nothing important.

"Look, Melisandre—" A sneeze interrupted me. Normally, I wouldn't really have noticed, except that it didn't come from either of us. It came from under the bed, and it was familiar. "Okay, come out. Now."

Cersei and Jamie crawled out from under the bed, both of them looking guilty and sheepish. Melisandre brushed the dust off them like a mother hen. I merely rubbed my head.

"Is Tyrion down there too? Maybe Tywin? What about Uncle Gerion? Aunt Genna? Cousin Lancel, are you under there as well?"

Jamie shook his head. "Don't be mad, Hachi."

"I'm not." I sighed as I began to calm down.

"Well, I am!" Cersei seemed to have regained her dignity, glaring at me with a ferocity that only little sisters had. "You've been keeping secrets from us!"

"That's…" I began, but Melisandre shook her head.

"They have the blood of Azor Ahai running through them as well. They deserve to know, for the future is dark and only the light of our lord can save them."

I frowned. I really wanted to retort back at her, but if I did, I would seem like the bad guy in this situation. This was so unfair, but if the choice had came to me, I would have still kept it a secret from my twin siblings. Now that it had came to this, forcefully by that red priestess's hands, I couldn't keep silent about it. With another sigh—I seemed to be sighing a lot these days—I allowed my flame powers to envelop my hand in fire. The twins stared at it with wide eyes.

"It all happened…" I paused for a moment. "…a few years ago."

Even if I was telling them some things, I wasn't going to tell them everything. Just only up to what Melisandre knew about and certainly nothing about my reincarnation.

~o~

A/N: The obligatory cool-down chapter. Because in Westeros, beach episodes don't exist.

Also, I'm addicted. Forgive me for my weakness.