Joining my now husband in bed was not something I dreaded. I was actually quite curious. Was he going to try to seduce me? Or is he simply planning to slumber next to me?

After finishing my bath I thought of a million different scenarios as I walked to the bedchamber.

When I finally entered I was met by amber eyes staring at me from the bed where he sat smoothing a few feathers.

"I see you made it. I was unsure if I needed to come check on you to assure you didn't drown in the bath"

"I am very much alive. I simply wished to enjoy my time"

"Do you not enjoy your time with me?" He hummed

"Not particularly if I'm being honest. You have a knack for irritating me"

"How so?" He tilted his head playfully

"Your voice, you enjoy hearing yourself speak" I sit on the other end of the bed

"But it was you who allowed me to share this language"

"And i said before I need to clean up my mistakes" I huff

He pouted before meeting my eyes again, "If you really wanted to be stop talking maybe you could occupy my lips with another task" he raised a brow

"You already had a kiss today at the ceremony. Don't be greedy"

"That simple peck was just a show" he got under the blankets as I did

"What do I get out of it"

"I'll give you an untouchable allowance"

"Oh?"

"A kiss a day gets you 100 gold?" He smirked at me

Idiot, "Fine, deal"

"Perfect" he laid on his side facing me looking content.

We both fell asleep fine. The next few weeks were surprisingly simple. I only saw keigo when we ate or slept. He went to do his thing while I did mine.

To be honest I used a lot of magic for the wedding. Producing flowers and the greenery for the celebration was quite the task for the winter. I look a few days just to recoup but took the time to learn the castle.

Once I started getting my new income I started pouring it into my garden and a few charity affairs.

The garden was turned into my own personal haven with all the greenery I wished. Extra money I put to creating a program to educate the masses. The one catch was it wasn't just for the men.

I feel content with everything only bothered on occasion. Until today when someone entered my garden.

"Darling?" A voice rang

I look up from my book in my cozy moss bed to realise keigo has entered my domain, "What?"

He came around the bushes to see me looking far too bashful to not be up to something, "There you are"

"Yes. Now what do you want?"

"Well I haven't gotten my daily kiss for one" He pouted fakely

"And it is only mid-day"

"Patience isn't a virtue I possess" he shrugged looking around, "The garden is beautiful. Did you do all of this?"

"I told you this is my area"

"I promise I come in peace" he held up his palms in surrender

Amusing. I don't think he's ever done such a thing in his life, "Surrender? Then you wouldn't mind a search?"

"Search away" he shrugged

I shut my book deciding this was currently more amusing. The emperor letting me search his person. It's not that I expect weapons but I am more wanting to see what he keeps.

I start looking through his pockets curiously.

"Find something?" He hummed

I pull out his pocket watch and a few random items but for the most part he has nothing, "You pass appearently"

"Lucky me" he shrugs tossing on a casual smirk that only seemed to piss me off

"Now tell me what you want" I hiss

"My beautiful wife to bless me with her kiss" his hand grabbed my chin letting his thumb run across my bottom lip.

He was trying to be flirty and cute but I know what this is. He has something up his sleeve and I don't particularly like it. I take to biting his thumb causing him to rip it away with a yelp.

"God fucking...why??"

"You stuck your finger there, what did you expect?" I scoff

"Not that obviously!"

This is really going no where, "Ok keigo. Either tell me what you actually want or leave"

"Fine, I'm fucking bored ok?"

"You're bored and decide to come to bother me?"

"Don't make it sound stupider than it is" he glared

I go back to my spot to sit and think this out. This man is a living headache. I never thought that saving 1 man would bring me so much headache.

"Fine" I take a deep breath, "Then tell me what it is you wish to do?"

"I don't know" he mumbled

I'm going to kill him, "Well as you can see I WAS reading. Why don't you go do the same"

"Boring. I've read so many books already. They are all so predictable by this point"

"Then go be barbaric somewhere else. Go play emperor in your murder dome"

"It's called a coliseum for 1 and 2 I'm bored of that. Plus it's cold outside still from the winter"

"Well I don't know"

"Show me your magic"

"What?" I huff in disbelief

"Yeah, like how you made all the flowers for the wedding despite it being winter"

"If you don't have magic when you're born then you can't do it"

"I know but I just want to watch you do it" he shrugged

"Go bother the court wizard" I shoo

"He won't anymore plus he's still pissed at me for not taking his side when you punched him at the reception"

"He made 1 too many sexual comments" I defend

"Please please please" he dropped to his knees beggingly

"If I do so will you promise to leave me alone?" I glare

He hummed in thought but nodded, "For at least an hour"

"That's very little"

"Trust me, I know I can be more annoying"

I roll my eyes but nod, "Fine. I'll show you some Magic"

"Can you show me a love spell??" He looked excited like a child ready to see the fair

"Doesn't exist"

"Really?" He paused, "My court is always spouting how I need to watch for those things"

"Those old bags know nothing" I scoff, "What do you know of magic?"

"I know it's powerful, used for war and healing. Women are more adapt to it"

This man really is an idiot. He knows less than a toddler I swear. I grab my book and head towards the library, "This needs to change. No wonder you make a good ruler, your head is empty enough everyone can fill it with their own bigotry"

"What? I make my own decisions all the time"

"Like when you killed the chef 2 nights ago for fucking up a meal?"

"It was pork, I could have died. He could have poisoned me" he reasoned

I glare at him, "He was a child! Barely 19 and you killed him for a simple mistake" I spit quickening my pace.

Once we made it to the library I shut the door behind us and start pulling out books, "The history of this land, the culture. You know so little. Magic, the biggest political argument in this country and you know less than a 5-year-old" I grumble stacking the books on the table, "You are going to learn this"

"This is what I have you for"

"And I'm not going to argue with you over something you know literally nothing about" I slam the last book down

Hawks POV

I was bored before but this is worse. History. I'm not a child in school anymore. I have the basics. War-torn country blamed women for their magic blah blah.

"Are you listening!?" She huffed

"I got the gist. When do I learn about magic?" Roll my eyes

"You wanna learn magic, Fine" She slammed a book infront of me.

The thing was as thick as 4 dictionaries put together, "What's this?"

"A spellbook"

"Why so much?" I peek at the pages

"There are 5 classifications of magic, one for each of the elements and potions"

"Potions are separate?"

"Yes. I am known as a water witch specializing in life magic and potionry"

This is already getting complicated, though interesting, "so life mage, can you raise the dead?"

"That's a complicated question with an even more complicated answer"

"Give me your best shot" is immortality a thing here??

"Depending on the mage they can control a corpse but it's simply a puppet. The country to our far east is well known for their necromantic culture. It's known when you die your body serves the country until either you are unusable any longer or you're under some religious hold"

"That's...creepy. you're telling me grandma could be city guard?"

"They only keep the bones. Bone mages are coveted there. Usually rise high in society"

"Bone isn't an element" I scoff

It's a derivative of earth mage" she explained

"So why are they mages and you're a witch?"

She looked a bit taken aback and stopped to think, "It's...I guess a derogatory term I've gotten used to and inherited"

"W-"

"Anyway," She cut me off, "Its common for mages to take 2 areas of study. Think of these as languages. Since people can learn many, others can only learn 1 though its common for people to learn 2. The derivatives are common. They are an area you focus"

Ok, so magic is...like coding in the real world? Maybe? Or I guess my reality? Dimension? It's so hard to connect some things here, "Ok, so why can't anyone do magic?"

She pulled out a book flipping through the pages until she showed me a picture of anatomy. I didn't see anything weird until she pointed out the area that for me would be my appendix. Though that one looked...weird? They drew it in a weird size.

"This is what we simply call a mana sack. Not everyone has this. It's a specialized organ. It fills with a condensed energy that we use for spells"

"What about potions?"

"Potions require it too. It's like a stone oven. You put your ingredients together but the oven cooks it"

"So why do women more commonly have it?"

"No clue. Anatomy" she shrugged, "What we do know is the magic you practice you need to fill it with"

"Fill it?" Does an earth mage eat rocks like a chicken

"Through meditation in the area. For example I like staying in the garden. Surrounded by life I recharge. The court mage is a fire and earth mage so he probably has a lot of fire"

All the candles finally make sense.

"Can I see magic now?"

She sighed rolling her eyes. She found one of the notebooks around and ripped a sheet of paper from it.

"Paper, it's made from plant matter. Obviously it is already dead. Now all things are connected though. So say I get a seed" she pulled a random seed from her pocket placing it in the folded paper, "The seed can use the paper as fuel"

She crushed the paper but when she reopened her palm a waterlily rested in her palms, "How?" I mumble

"Magic works in strange ways" she shrugged setting the flower on the table, "Now leave me be. I wish to get back to my reading"

"I'll see you at dinner" I call after her

"I suggest you study all that" she called back before leaving me in the library with the stacks of books on the desk.