The manor gates exploded.
Quite literally.
Rei flinched as the thunderous blast echoed through the stone halls of the Duke's estate, shaking dust from ancient tapestries and causing an unfortunate nursemaid to drop an entire tray of herbal tonics outside his chamber.
"What in the nine hells—?" Lilia's voice hissed like a coiled serpent.
But Rei didn't respond.
He couldn't. He was too busy being paralyzed with dread. A certain primal instinct — the kind reserved for prey animals sensing a predator — ran electric through his veins. His soul remembered a specific pitch of fanatical shrieking, even if his current body did not.
And that shriek was approaching.
Fast.
Through the double doors, through the manor halls, through the stunned battalion of maids attempting to reassemble their lives after the morning chaos, came a voice that peeled the very paint off the walls.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!"
Lilia's head snapped toward the noise. Her pupils dilated. "No. No. Not her."
[System Notification: Incoming Princess-Level Yandere Detected.]
[Threat Level: National Emergency.]
[Recommended Action: Cry.]
Rei didn't need a second warning.
The ornate double doors to his bedroom were blown off their hinges by a surge of golden wind magic. The wood didn't crack — it simply ceased existing in its original state, atomized into glittering splinters by the overkill spellwork of one very determined noblewoman.
And there she stood.
Princess Seraphina Aurelia of the Solarium Empire. Daughter of the Sun Emperor. Third in line to the throne. First in line to make Rei wish he'd never woken up.
She was, to be perfectly objective, dazzling.
Tall, radiant, and robed in sunlight-stitched imperial fabrics that clung just enough to make the room hotter than any summer. Her long golden hair shimmered like fire in motion, flowing behind her in a radiant wake. Her boots clacked with imperial finality. Her crimson cape snapped like a war banner in the magical turbulence.
Behind her marched thirty fully armored imperial knights, each one wearing pale gold plate emblazoned with an unfamiliar crest.
At first, Rei thought he was hallucinating.
The crest was not the Solarium sun-sigil.
It was his face.
Stylized in silver embroidery, embroidered across their chests like devotional art. He blinked. No, he wasn't mistaken. That was 100% his sleeping face — mouth slightly open, hair tousled.
"Oh no," he whispered.
[System Update: You are now a national emblem.]
[Bonus Title Acquired: "Sleeping Beauty of the Sun Kingdom." +10 Charisma when unconscious.]
Lilia's nostrils flared as she stepped protectively in front of Rei, spoon still clutched like a dagger.
"You. Were. Banned."
Seraphina smiled. "And yet, here I am, Big Sister."
"I am *not* your sister."
"Not yet," Seraphina purred. "But once I marry my darling Rei, we'll be family! Isn't that sweet?"
Rei's heart jumped several feet into his throat. "Wait—"
She turned to him with the intensity of a collapsing star.
"There you are, my prince."
And before he could crawl back into the bedsheets, she crossed the room and dropped to her knees beside him, taking his hand in both of hers like a pilgrim at an altar.
"You've awakened at last! As foretold by the Imperial Dreamwatchers! My weekly offerings to the Moon Garden weren't in vain!"
Lilia growled. "You bribed them."
Seraphina ignored her. "And the timing is divine! The moment I heard rumors of your awakening, I summoned the Rei's Bridal Guard."
"The what."
"The new name for my personal army," Seraphina explained brightly. "I had the heralds rewrite the official charter. We even held a parade in your honor!"
"There was fire," muttered one of the knights behind her.
"I assume you received the custom jewelry I sent in your sleep? The enchanted wedding rings with our initials engraved in sunsteel?"
Rei blinked. He looked down.
His pinky finger.
A gold band, tiny and glowing faintly with warmth.
[System Notification: Passive Enchantment Detected: "Sunbound Oath of Matrimony." This ring resists all attempts at removal and glows brighter when its partner is within proximity.]
[Partner Detected: Princess Seraphina Aurelia.]
[Distance: 0.02 meters.]
"W-Wait—this wasn't here yesterday!?"
"Oh, I made sure the court enchanters affixed it during one of your naps!" Seraphina beamed. "The Royal Council voted unanimously."
"I was unconscious!"
"A detail. Not an obstacle."
Rei whimpered.
He tried to stand, but Seraphina pressed him gently back into the pillows.
"Rest, my love. You must regain your strength. The wedding isn't for another four days."
"Wedding?!"
"Oh, it's only the first of several," she continued, matter-of-factly. "The state wedding. The sacred wedding. The symbolic political wedding. The honeymoon ceremony. The military parade-slash-nuptial reenactment."
"STOP."
Lilia had heard enough. Her eye twitched dangerously as she stomped forward.
"This is my ward," she hissed, voice icy. "I have changed his diapers. I have tucked him into bed. I have—"
Seraphina cut in, eyes gleaming. "—failed to wake him up for fifteen years while I never gave up hope and brought three high mages to sing lullabies to his soul every month."
Rei blinked. "That… that happened?"
"I spared no expense," she whispered.
[System Update: Affection Meter (Princess Seraphina) +5. Status: Burning Obsession.]
The room temperature jumped ten degrees.
Seraphina stood.
Then she leaned close — very close — her forehead pressing gently to Rei's as her hand slid behind his neck.
"You are mine," she whispered.
[System Alert: Target locking complete. Conditions met for Possessive Imperial Romance Route.]
[New Skill Unlocked: "Imperial Aura — All rivals suffer -50 Confidence when in Seraphina's presence."]
The pressure from her magic alone made Lilia's nose bleed.
But Lilia wasn't about to surrender.
"You think you're the only one who's waited?"
"I know I'm the only one whose army would die to preserve his smile."
"I'm the only one who—!"
The argument escalated. Voices rose, magic flared.
Chandeliers trembled.
Meanwhile, Rei — poor, powerless Rei — slowly reached for his pillow. Not to scream into it.
But to suffocate himself.
[System Notification: Self-harm discouraged.]
[New Quest: Survive the Love War for 24 Hours.]
[Reward: Permission to use the manor bathroom alone.]
[Failure: Shared baths commence.]
Rei sobbed into his pillow.
And outside the window, unseen by all, a figure in black lace watched from atop a cypress tree.
A gloved hand traced symbols in the air.
Eyes like obsidian narrowed.
"The Princess moves first," Lucivella the Demon Queen murmured.
"But the game has just begun."
To be continued...