I'd Give Up The World For You

Juliet had to cease following the man with the eyepatch since she didn't have military clearance or even know who to look for since Silas Conrad never mentioned his name. Elaine might know but she would probably be too preoccupied with getting engaged to answer any questions.

Maybe if she brought up seeing them buy the ring together it would work. It was the only plan she had.

She headed back to the castle and knitted furiously in her anxiety. It was barely past lunchtime; Elaine wouldn't be back for hours! She was going to lose her mind.

Her prediction came true but she had to keep her cool even if she felt like she might throw up from nerves. Elaine came in squealing after what seemed like a lifetime and showed off her ring to anyone who would listen.

"Silas proposed! We're getting married in a month. Nia already agreed to do the flowers and I'm going to ask Veronica to make the cake since she's such a talented baker. This is the best day of my life!" she gushed as everyone crowded around to ooh and ahh over the ring.

Juliet didn't get the chance to say anything for a solid five minutes but when there was finally an opening she spoke quickly. "I knew this would be happening today. I saw him buying the ring with his friend. He was totally panicking; I could tell how much he cared about what you would think of it."

Everyone cooed over how adorable that was and Elaine's smile was practically blinding. "That sounds just like him. What did his friend look like? There's only one person I can imagine him taking ring shopping."

Perfect! This was going exactly how she wanted it to.

"Tall, bronze brown hair, has an eyepatch. Is that the person you're thinking of?" she asked, trying to hide her desperation.

Elaine laughed. "That's him alright. Silas's best friend. He's an interesting character. I had dinner once with him and his wife—you know Veronica from the flower shop?—those two are so in love it's tangible."

Juliet nearly had a heart attack. "He's Veronica's husband?!"

"…yes. Why is that so surprising?"

If the man with the eyepatch truly was Rukelion Blaze as she suspected it was more than surprising. It was impossible! That crazed, bloodthirsty killer who thrived on destruction could never fall in love with anyone, let alone to the point that it was tangible!

She had heard Veronica talk about her husband. They had grown up together. They were cousins. He was sweet and doting and everything that the villain she wrote was not.

Her suspicions had to be wrong. This had to be some sort of bizarre coincidence. Her husband was supposedly some big war hero and there was no way that someone who hated Mirea so much would fight for them not once but twice.

Juliet's heartrate slowed. Yeah. Veronica's husband was NOT Rukelion Blaze.

Unfortunately, this meant she was back to square one. And she had been so excited too! Not that she had any idea what she would do once she did know where he was…but still. Having some sort of starting point was necessary if she was going to try and save the world she had created.

"No reason," she said after what she realized belatedly was too long of a pause. Everyone was looking at her strangely.

They all dismissed her moment of weirdness quickly to go back to discussing Elaine's wedding plans. Thank goodness. The last thing she needed right now when she was so overwhelmed was having all eyes on her.

Juliet gave up on knitting and flopped backward onto her bed. Would she ever get all of this figured out or was it some sort of bizarre karma that she would die alongside the people in a world she had carelessly created only to destroy since she thought it was fictional?

===

Rukelion didn't care that all Conrad would talk about was wedding plans after he finally proposed to his sweetheart. He was in such a good mood that nothing in the world could bring him down right now!

He had finally gotten his promotion paperwork and new uniform jacket. Instead of having a gold leaf on his shoulders he would have a silver one. Colonels had silver trees and generals had golden suns. He tried not to think about how far off those were because with this promotion he would most likely have access to the castle.

Their map was slowly but surely coming along and they had heard back from the mercenaries. Barry had been surprised to hear from Rukelion to say the least, thinking he must have died since he had never bothered contacting them.

He mentioned how to find him and asked if he ended up marrying his girl. Rukelion had been delighted to reply that he had. Not only had he married her but she was in love with him too!

Life was going very well for him lately. The only thing that could make it better would be successfully pulling off his plan and avenging his family, country, and people.

Rukelion left headquarters feeling rather buoyant. When he arrived home Daisy wasn't around so he correctly guessed she was out in the garden. He opened the back door and saw her pulling weeds while wearing a sunhat.

"Hi, Leo!" she greeted cheerfully before frowning in confusion. "You're still wearing your uniform."

He rarely wore his uniform when he came looking for her outside knowing it would get dirty when he jumped in to help. It was just like her to catch onto something like that. She had always been too observant for her own good, though thankfully she usually didn't pry.

"Do you notice anything different?" he asked.

Daisy squinted at him before her face broke into a grin. "Silver leaves! You got your promotion?!"

"I did."

"Congratulations, Lieutenant Colonel May! I would hug you but I'm covered in dirt. Go get changed; we need to celebrate this! You have to be the youngest lieutenant colonel in Mirean history!"

"That's what they told me," Rukelion said, a smile playing on his lips at her enthusiasm. He had known she would react like this. "I'll be back."

He sped upstairs and got out of his uniform as quickly as possible so he could be congratulated properly by the woman he loved. She did not disappoint. The moment she saw him she abandoned what she was doing and flung herself into his arms, kissing him deeply.

He had been congratulated quite a lot today but this was by far his favorite. He savored the feeling of having her in his arms even if she did smell rather earthy. It was a smell he was very familiar with. A comforting one reminiscent of their days on the farm.

After a while Daisy (tragically) released him and returned to her weeding, asking him more about what his promotion would entail. He told her everything he knew about the change in responsibilities and privileges.

"Wow, that's really amazing, Leo! I'm so proud of you," she said sincerely once he was done.

Rukelion smiled. "Thanks. That means a lot coming from you."

"This deserves a proper celebration. I should go out and get ingredients for an apple tart and roasted duck since that's your favorite. Do you want to come with me or would you rather stay here since you barely got home?"

"You know I would always rather go with you."

Daisy laughed. "True. I shouldn't have bothered asking. Speaking of going places though…I got a letter from Ira today. His summer holidays start in a couple of months and he wants me to come visit him. He's staying behind since he'll be working as a research assistant for one of his professors; otherwise he said he would come here to see me. I know you're probably too busy to come with me but can I go?"

Rukelion truly hated being apart from her…but this might actually work out in his favor. If she had a habit of visiting Ira on her own it wouldn't be at all suspicious for him to send her away when the time came for him to organize his coup.

"Of course, though I will miss you terribly."

"I'll miss you too," she admitted. "It shouldn't be for long though. I can't get a ton of time off at the flower shop so excluding travel time I'll likely only be there a week. We've definitely been apart more than a few weeks before."

"Don't remind me," he murmured as he took her hat off to kiss the top of her head before plunking it back down to its original position.

"I only meant that things will be fine."

"I know what you meant. I still don't like thinking about it though. Those were dark days without you lighting them up."

Daisy's face turned pink as she smiled. "Always such a flatterer."

"It isn't flattery if it's true," Rukelion pointed out.

She conceded with a shrug and they returned to picking weeds before washing the dirt off as best they could without showering fully and headed to town.. They walked with their fingers entwined, gently swinging their linked arms as they grinned at each other.