Rozalia was the first to land on the house surface her head, her hands empty and her white dress sparkling like fluorescent in the night. Behind her landed Marshal, over his shoulder a huge packed bag and many shopping bags in both hands.

"We need to hurry," Rozalia inspected the surface as her index touched her chin in deep thought, "It's clean, just get the sofa here along with a table and tableware."

"You are spoiling him already."

Rozalia’s eyes widened to what Marshal had said, "What spoiling, not making a birthday party for him is a grave mistake."

Marshal was unable talkback, he walked to the door, unlocked it and got down, in a few minutes he got back with a sofa, "Don't worry. It seems he's out doing his duty, go down prepare the food, I will prepare the place here."

"Don't touch the cake, it's a pretty delicate one."

She said as she went downstairs.

Despite her trust in Marshal her heart never stopped doubting, there was always that nagging doubt of him lying, even though he had never lied to her before. But for Rozalia, it wasn't that Marshal didn't lie to her, it was she who couldn't uncover his lies. For example, Ray. Why didn't he tell her about him, she knew that he didn't forget. The reason might be one of two then. Either he had an affair or he thought that seeing Ray was bad for her.

Rozalia spun like a ballet dancer on the second floor, and when she stopped her pointed index was directing into a door. 

That must be Ray's room, Rozalia giggled malignantly as she opened the door. Then she parted her lips, the room, the small room was extremely tidy and clean!

The books arranged on the shelves, clean with no single particle of dust on. The futon sky color matched the pillow's cover, both of them sparkling clean. She opened the closet, extremely tidy. Opened the drawers, extremely clean. Looked under the bed, no garbage, or even a porn magazine.

and above all of this, she sniffed… 

This scent…

She spun around. Hung on the wall's candler, a new incense! 

Her heart skipped a beat as she dropped on her knees, "I want to see him," she muttered, "I want to see this angel."

She stood, her eyes moved to tears, she worked her steps out… But!

Before closing the door behind her, the picture of the room flashed again in her head, and in that corner of the room, there was Ray's school bag, which she hadn’t inspected yet. She stopped the door from closing with her foot. 

And entered the room again.

……

Rozalia got out when she had nothing else to do. She walked down to the ground floor where the lion's share of inspection resided, Marshal's Room.

The first thing Rozalia did was getting into his bedroom. As soon as she opened the door, she took the deepest breath she could take.

Good no woman's perfume. 

She then slid the closet open, sniffed each piece of cloth there, after a few minutes she closed the closet with an uncontrollable smile. She didn't think happiness would cover her heart just by discovering how loyal her man was. 

But still, to make sure, she sniffed the bed, the drawers, the trash can, and even the bathroom…

It's been a few years since she had seen him and yet there was no clue of even a dirty tissue anywhere. His browser's history was pure as well… 

Rozalia kept looking for cheating evidence all around the house, and then noticed, her man was abnormally clean.

Have he become impotent…

But that shouldn't be true, she slept with him a few days ago after all. He was as energetic as ever. 

Unlike her who reached menopause a few thousand years ago… If not for her stubbornness, they might have had a child in glades, and Marshal might have had never left her behind. If she wasn’t stubborn she could have had another child to build her heart back,  the heart that was crushed by Malize death.

Having those regrets shadowing her Rozalia reached the kitchen arched like an old man. However, as soon as she saw the dishes on the sink she regained some energy. There were many plates and tableware, not just pairs. 

Marshal wasn't lonely…

That might have been the reason he adopted a human child, to forget about his loneliness… or, to forget about her and Malize.

No, she shouldn't overthink it. If he had forgotten about her he wouldn't have been calling her and answering all of her requests, he wouldn't have run to her rescue when she called him.

Rozalia opened the fridge, 

"What should I say to him?" said with lifeless eyes, "he won't dislike me, right?" 

She bolted up, slapped her face with both hands leaving a seamless blush behind, "What am I getting sad about, what's important now is facing Ray with a smile."

"But what if he didn't accept me?"

No, I shouldn't get nervous now, Thought as she slapped her face again.

She got her smartphone out of her pocket and stared at Ray's photo which she had used as a wallpaper.

She flexed her eyes. No matter how much she looked at him she couldn't find a piece of irregularity in that beautiful face. Marshal told her that Ray was an archmage, one of four in this world, and the only unknown one to the human world.

But for Rozalia, Ray looked extremely normal. No! he wasn’t really normal, Ray gave off a soft vibe. Ray wasn't suitable for such a bizarre position, honestly.

Before Rozalia could notice she was touching her cheek with her palm, exhaling in longing to meeting him.

Ah, I'm late. 

What did she want to do, to begin with?

She looked around, faced the fridge, and as she took out some vegetables, the front door squeaked open.

!!!

Ray was here, he came! What should she do? How should she meet him…

She got out of the kitchen her hands sweaty. Her head spun crazily and she began thinking to run away. 

But not long later she slapped her face again and waited for the boy to appear.

she stared at the corridor hearing Someone taking off his shoes by the corner. At any second Ray would show up in the corridor. She shouldn't falter. She should greet him formally, he might be scared of direct speech after all.

But those were just thoughts. Rozalia was never the bold person, she was the kind who only showed her bold side to whom she got along with. In the end, she would just tremble in front of him, scared of what to say, or how to call him. She will just accept her shrinking heart when Ray would tell her he didn't need a mom, or if he gave her no reaction. In no time she began to tremble, and a picture of her son flashed through her head… Eventually, Ray was only a human, and a human in this new world would never live more than a century. Eventually, she would see him age and die before her… 

Why did she come here again? Remaining in her castle was better…

Rozalia grasped her chest as she felt her aching heart…

She shouldn't do anything. Just greet him and return to your castle.

But that was her decision before witnessing Ray. Her eyes widened as Ray stepped into her vision, full of blood, sweat dripping all over his body, his hair covering part of his swollen red eyes, and his eyelids wrinkled up in misery… 

And she noticed, that sparkling liquid bead on the edge of his eye…

He was…

Ray was…

Just like Marshal on that day, lost between his decisions and feelings… On the verge of losing his own heart.

Rozalia processed no more thoughts. She no more thought of Ray’s opinion or how he would view her later, she gave up her doubts as well, gave up her tagging overthought. 

And with no awareness of everything she lifted her dress and ran, in her ultimate speed, without anything else in mind.

And as she reached him, she grabbed his face with both hands and closely looked on his trembling pupils.

She slid her arms around his back and hugged him gently.

"Did you kill it?" she asked, the picture of her old Marshal flashing on her eyes…

Ray never understood who this woman was, or how had she come here… But, this hug. This woman’s hug held extreme warmth and safety behind, he closed his eyes and without much thought answered.

"No."

"Well done."

It was the first time Ray got complimented in so long...