“You’ve really mao ruffle her feathers, haven’t you?” Man remarked as they traversed the corridor.

  “Quite the achievement, I must say. The angrier she bees, the more delightful it will be to catch her off guard in a fight,” Burn replied, his smirk as sharp as his bde. “A’s not fet, she seems to uimate me.”

  “But this Mahkato, I think she’s around my age,” Man pondered. “One might even think she possesses fighting experienparable to warriors who had fought tless millennia.”

  Burn frowned, resisting the urge to inquire just how many dles adorned her st birthday cake. Did he really want to know, though?

  “Aside from that, Caliburn, I show you something?” Man asked, dragging him toward the pace’s physi office. This was a level of randomness even Man rarely achieved.

  Upoering, the physis stood frozen in horror. Burn recalled meeting them when Man fainted ireasury during the st loop. It wasly a fshback filled with peaceful associations.

  “Hello, do you have a weight scale?” Man asked sweetly, fshing a smile that sent the staff into a flustered frenzy.

  “Oh, yes, Your Majesty, it’s over here,” one physi sighed in relief, realizing the imperial couple was merely eaining a casual weight check rather than a medical crisis.

  In the far er of the room stood a meical weight scale that looked well-loved by patients and ignored by bed rest. Man promptly took off her shoes and beed Burn to withe scale’s dramatice.

  As the needle flicked up, the physis lined up beside them like soldiers on parade, brag for whatever might e .

  “See? It’s 115 lbs now!” Man beamed, that smug look firmly pstered on her face. “I gained weight!”

  Seeing their empress’ delight, the physis couldn’t help but feel a surge of happioo. They nearly broke into appuse when Burn, t behind her like a shadow, inexplicably decided to lift her breasts with his hands.

  Man gasped—a lovely, shocked little gasp—and naturally, the scale’s needle dipped dramatically, just like everyone’s eyes now turo. Down. Low. Why, the floor looked positively inviting today.

  “6 lbs of it is just your tits,” Burn quipped, his tone dripping with indifference.

  “Caliburn!” Man shrieked, her face flushing a hue that could rival ripe tomatoes, vividly creeping down her ned shoulders.

  Without missing a beat, Burn halted her frantic embarrassment, lifting her entirely off the ground, trying to gauge her weight iail. “Not bad. You’re definitely heavier than when I first lifted you off that coffin.”

  This was quite the progress report, wasn’t it? The physis evaluated the se, w if they’d unwittingly stumbled into the absurd drama of royal retionships—weight and all.

  “But why the sudden i in body weight?” he inquired.

  The room fell into a weighty silence before the woman finally responded, her voice barely above a whisper. “So I try to mend my reproductive an,” Man admitted, a flush creeping across her cheeks. “I heard being too thin stop menstruation…”

  At that revetion, not only did the physis nearby gawk, but even Burn raised an eyebrow. She was serious about wanting his blood and flesh.

  “A’s not fet stress,” Burn added. “That should be your first priority. Your body will eventually catch up.”

  But what was Man Le Fay without her special brand of stress? As if five turies of relentless purification wasn’t a hefty enough burden.

  “I also want to learn Force soon,” Man pressed, her determination unwavering.

  “Fantastiow, do me a favor: actually finish your meals and stop sneaking your food onto my pte,” Bured, gently pg her back above her t heels, his grip steadying her as she clumsily maneuvered into the shoe box.

  “I really learn it, right?” Man asked, a hint of desperation creeping into her tone.

  “Of course,” Burn asserted, fidence bleeding through. “You’ll master Force magid your body will gradually e around, little by little. One day, you might eve pregnant.”

  “...promise?” Maed, her eyes searg his, as if awaiting validation from the universe itself.

  “I’ll make it happen,” Burn said. Miracle medies were practically his side hustle. He had a treasure trove stashed away in his special ste room. “But you must have ‘iion.’ Remember how I drummed into Yvain’s head that iion is the heartbeat of Force magic?”

  Man nodded.

  “You o iionally learn about your body and aim for recovery,” Burn emphasized, an earness creeping into his voice. “Do you uand?”

  The woman smiled, and he sighed.

  “You want to learn about Force, and I want to learn about Vision,” Burn reminded her as he pulled her back toward the corridor. She waved cheerfully to the physis seeing them off.

  “Do you think it will be hard for me?” he asked, turning to her. “The way you expined how to ma it is too simple. But despite my efforts, I ’t seem to grasp the cept.”

  “Well, I heard,” Man replied, “that the more you’re aced to Force art, the harder it bees to uand Vision. And guess what? Since you’ve mao master the Force beyond anyone's wildest dreams, it’s probably going to be a Herculean task for you to ma Vision.”

  Maing Vision wasn’t as straightforward as flipping a switch, after all. It was not about what you aspire to bee; it’s about who you were ily desigo be.

  If Force was how you saw yourself, Vision was how God viewed you. And well, God always had quite the knack for perspective, judging by the mess we humans often make of things.

  It was a trast from how Man ged her mind about her life, now wishing to learn and recover her body through Force by intending it. Burn o uand that, different from the ever-ging Force depending on one’s iion, Vision was the stant truth of one’s existence.

  “There’s a theory that because God is all-knowing, God already knows our truth before ourselves. And since we are created as equals, we have the same potential. And this truth and potential is our specialty,” Man said.

  Burn narrowed his eyes. “I don’t get it. Vision is not what God willed us to be?”

  “No,” Man chuckled as they passed by the pace’s garden, and the te afternoon light filtered on the leaves, casting on the open corridor. She raised her hand to ‘touch’ oring of the filtered light and it started to swirl around her finger.

  “Vision is the faith that you are already created as you. He’s God, after all.”

  Defying logid uanding, Vision already existed in one’s soul. Despite the equal potential it grao all creation, it was something he couldn’t ge no matter how he inte. And he just o ect with it—

  “All-knowing, all-powerful,” Burn muttered, reag out to light. His finger slowed, and then stopped at the boundary beyond which events ot affe observer. “All-present…”

  Event horizon.

  “AHH!”

  SLAP!

  Bururo his senses when the pain from Man’s hard sp on his hand attacked his nerves. “Are y to destroy—Caliburn, what was that?!”

  Man’s face was a mix of horror and amazement. “Did you just…”

  The man bli her. “Bitch?”

  Man spped his mouth as she burst out ughing.

  “You’re banned!” she pointed her index fi him, shaking her head, her smile full of fear and anger. “No! You are banned from Vision art.”

  “But I just maed something,” Bur a surge of excitement for himself and amusement from Man’s rea. His heart was beating so fast seeing his wife walk away, goosebumps all over her. He smiled in disbelief, “Madam, I just maed something.”

  “I’m fug magic—”

  “No!” Man yelled, seeing him chasing after her. “Don’t ‘Madam’ me.”

  “Man, praise me. I’m a good student.”

  “You almost killed us! And everyone in the world—”

  “I love you.”

  “Don’t ‘I love you’ me! Stop chasing me, you monster!”

  “I know you love this monster’s massive di—”