Frey opened his eyes.
A sharp headache throbbed in his skull.
There were lingering aches across his body, but nothing he couldn't endure.
He was lying in a room he didn't recognize, on a wide bed beneath an unfamiliar ceiling.
Pain flared in his mind ..a stabbing pressure, like someone trying to carve through his brain with a blade.
His heart wouldn't settle.
His body kept trembling.
It felt like he had just survived a battle between life and death…
Yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember anything.
The last thing he recalled .. was the suicidal Ignition he unleashed against Sansa.
Everything that happened after, inside his mind…
It was gone.
As if someone had intentionally stolen the memory away.
Slowly, Frey's senses returned.
He glanced around, taking in his surroundings.
It was then that he sat up on the unfamiliar bed ..
And beside him, seated in a wooden chair, was a familiar girl.
She stared at him, stunned by his sudden awakening .. too overwhelmed to speak.
"Sansa…"
Frey let out a relieved sigh.
He had done it.
He'd completed the mission.
It hadn't all been for nothing.
Sansa had thought of many things to say.
To apologize…
To thank him…
But instead, she smiled.
"Welcome back."
Frey sat up further, his body wrapped in bandages from head to toe.
"Welcome back, huh? How long was I out to deserve such a dramatic line?"
He laughed, while Sansa responded nervously ..concerned he might still be in pain.
"A week… Today's the eighth day."
"Tch. Guess I didn't break my record."
The longest Frey had ever been out was an entire month ..
Back when he fought the Moonlight Family.
Either this time had been easier…
Or he'd just gotten stronger.
Frey turned his attention back to Sansa, noticing the changes in her appearance.
"You're gonna have to do something about that hair."
He grinned, nodding toward her new black hair.
"And your eyes, too. Maybe try some lenses?"
Paler skin, long black hair, dark eyes ..
She no longer resembled the princess the world once knew.
Frey didn't mind the change.
But the people around her…
They would.
After all, she was still a princess.
But Sansa simply shook her head.
"It's fine. I'm happy with how I am now."
Frey was quiet for a moment, then nodded.
"So, you've accepted yourself."
In response, Sansa raised her right hand.
Black fire ignited in her palm.
"Yes."
She had fully accepted herself.
And now… she had control over her power.
Frey's final blow had destroyed the demon inside her .. But even that level of holy energy wasn't enough to eliminate the power of the King's Shadow.
After all, its source was the Demon King himself.
That power still remained within her…
But the will that had once dominated her—was now completely gone.
"Thank you, Frey. Truly… thank you for everything."
None of this would've been possible without him.
That was a fact.
Frey stood, motioning for her to drop the formal tone.
"No need to thank me. Just live your life the way you always wanted to."
"I will. But that doesn't change the fact that you saved me," Sansa said.
Frey grinned mischievously.
"Isn't this the part where the princess falls in love with the hero after he saves her life?"
Sansa laughed the moment she heard that.
"And you're supposed to be the hero in this story?"
Frey shrugged.
"Not even close. I'm not cut out to be a hero .. saving people and saying fancy lines doesn't suit me at all."
How could you pull someone out of the abyss when you were drowning in one even deeper?
Sansa laughed again, remembering what happened during the battle.
"Yeah, it really doesn't suit you. Do you remember what you said to me when you were trying to make me resist the demon?"
She asked, and Frey feigned ignorance.
"Nope. Don't remember."
"Really? Because half of what you said was either 'Damn you' or some words I couldn't understand but definitely sounded like insults..."
Of course Frey remembered ..
Desperately trying to survive under that barrage while being forced to say something that could push Sansa to fight for her life…
It annoyed him so much that he ended up stuffing some profanity into nearly every sentence he shouted.
"Sorry, I couldn't find a proper hero nearby to handle that role for me."
Most likely, Snow Lionheart would've done a better job.
"It wouldn't have worked if it were someone else,"
Sansa cut in.
"I survived because you were the one who came."
Frey and Sansa locked eyes for a moment ..
And Frey immediately shifted the mood to avoid the awkward atmosphere.
"So… where exactly am I right now?"
This room didn't look familiar to him at all.
"We're still in Moon Castle… or what's left of it."
That once majestic castle had been reduced to ash.
Only a small part of it survived.
The princess's home was now nothing more than rubble.
"So I've spent an entire week lying in the princess's bed, huh… what a privilege."
Frey joked just as the door swung open.
The man who entered wore a mask, just like always .. so much so that Frey could barely remember what his real face looked like.
"Did I interrupt something?"
he asked, glancing between the princess and Frey.
"Oliver Khan."
Their battle companion.
The man who had fought beside Frey.
Oliver looked the same as ever .. except for his arms, which were tightly wrapped in massive casts.
"Good to see you alive, Lord Starlight,"
Oliver said, as Frey's gaze locked on the casts.
"Your arms…?"
The greatest injury of that final battle was Oliver's ..
Taking the full force of a fatal blow just to protect Frey.
Frey had always been okay with risking his own life ..
But having others sacrifice themselves for him… that was different.
He already owed too much to his father.
He didn't want to add more names to that burden.
Luckily, Oliver reassured him.