"Abel?"
"Hmm?"
"What if…"
"You won't."
"At least, let me finish talking." Aries frowned, looking up as she was lying on his side with her head initially resting on his chest.
"You were going to ask what if we fail?" Abel arched his brow and peeked down at her.
"No." She pouted. "I was about to ask about something else."
"Something else?"
"Mhm."
"What is it?"
"Uhm…" Aries pursed her lips, pondering for a moment. In the end, she clicked her tongue in irritation as she narrowed her eyes. "How can you guess everything I say before I can even open my mouth?"
"Darling, I am counting how many times you breathe in a day. What makes you think I won't be interested in your train of thought?"
"Are you peeking into my mind without me knowing?" she gasped, making him chuckle.
"Darling, just your face and body language alone is enough for me to know your train of thought." Abel laughed, rolling to his side until he was facing her. "Blame yourself for that, darling. Not only you conquered my rotten heart, but you also left no room for anything in my mind."
"Obsession is a bad thing." Aries narrowed her eyes playfully, poking the tip of his nose playfully. "Stop obsessing over me."
"Stop being so pretty, then."
She pursed her lips, trying to stop them from stretching ear to ear. "I'm born pretty. How was that my fault?"
"And since you are, how was it my fault that I can't stop thinking about you?" Abel glanced up for a moment before he corrected. "Fantasizing. That's the proper term."
"Isn't that the opposite of proper?" she laughed, moving her face closer to him. "I think you need some reeducation, Abel."
Abel smiled and pulled her waist closer to his body. "I don't mind taking my empress in as my tutor."
"No."
"Dress up for me. I would love to see you as an educator."
"No." Aries shook her head playfully.
"Please?" Abel nudged his nose against hers, making her chuckle.
"Stop it. It tickles — haha!" Aries wiggled as his fingers sneakily ran on the side of her stomach. "Abel — haha! Stop it."
His lips stretched even broader. "I need reeducation, darling. Let's do some roleplaying."
Abel kept tickling her until her waves of laughter filled their shared room. Only when she was tearing up did he stop tickling her, letting her recover for a moment whilst keeping her in his embrace.
"Darling, you can always fail." Aries cleared her throat and refocused her attention on him as he spoke after a moment.
"Hm?"
"I said, don't be afraid to fail." Abel flashed her a gentle smile. "The reason I am the emperor and I am the way I am is because my people can fail. I want them to not be afraid of failure, knowing they have me to fall back on. So, don't think too much if things don't go your way. You have me."
Her eyes softened, staring at the pair of loving and sincere eyes mirroring her face. Abel always had his ways to surprise her; be it with his ideas on their nights, his keenness in the royal court and how he prioritized his people's well-being, and how he was as a husband, a partner, a friend, and a family.
"That feels so reassuring, my husband." Aries cupped his face, gently brushing his cheek with her thumb. "Then, don't blame me if I failed you and this failure is irreversible."
"The only irreversible in this world is my heart, darling," he humored. "I can never unlove you no matter what."
"Lies."
"Want to stab me?" his grin stretched until his teeth were showing.
"I'm kidding." Aries rolled her eyes. "I know you can't unlove me, and even if you can, you're stuck with me, Abel."
Mischief glinted her eyes. "How many times did we hold a wedding? So even if you divorce me once, you're just annulling our first marriage."
"Ah!" Her eyes popped open as a sudden idea crossed her mind. "Abel, should we get married today?"
"Ah?"
"We only married thrice!" Aries raised three fingers. "That means it will only take you three times to divorce me. Considering you have wings, flying to different places to annul our marriage is easy. We should tie the knot in every country. In that case, we will have a long time traveling around the world just to rectify our marriage."
It was a silly idea, yet Aries felt serious about it. Abel could only look at her with amusement before a burst of laughter escaped his mouth.
"What?" she frowned. "Do you think it's silly?"
"It is silly, darling." Abel shook his head.
"So three weddings is enough?"
"No." He breathed out, smiling from ear to ear. "Let's do it."
"What? You mean…"
"Let's go around the world and get married to each country and territory." He grinned excitedly. "In that case, you will need to travel around the world with me if you want to nullify this marriage. In other words, it will take you years before you can get away from me."
Abel rubbed his chin as he counted the countries in the world. "That's not enough. There were territories that has a different law from their kingdom. Let's just visit every land and get married."
Aries blinked as she listened to how he made plans, estimating the total of weddings the two of them would hold. The numbers just kept increasing as more and more ideas crossed his mind; they would have to wed approximately five hundred times if they followed his plans.
'This is my plan, but why do I suddenly feel like I'm getting the short end of the stick?' she wondered inwardly, staring at him as if this was his original plan.
"The laws in the Fleure, Isaiah's territory are different, right?" Aries interrupted his planning, watching him raise his brows to him. "The march too — my brother's territory. Why don't we head there and get married? Since we can't leave the empire for too long, we should start holding weddings nearby."
Abel blinked before he smiled. "Shall we?"
That morning, Abel and Aries secretly headed to the north to get married, warranting Conan's wrath. However, despite that Conan already breathing fire to them, they still dragged him to the March – Dexter's territory — to get married that same night.
These were just one of the moments that Aries and Abel treasured, and these cherished memories were also the ones she now called nightmares.
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