Chapter 9: Accepted
Four days had passed since Ethan’s transmigration into this new world. In that brief span of time, he had come to terms with his reality. He had embraced this world... no, his world.
He had accepted this family as his own. He had accepted Asher, for he was now Asher. He had embraced it all. Yet, at his core, he remained unchanged. The world might have shifted around him, but it would not reshape who he truly was.
Over the past few days, Asher had largely confined himself to his room, limiting his interactions with the outside world and only emerging when absolutely necessary. During that time, he had grown somewhat closer to Lyra.
Yet, despite their increased familiarity, the dynamic between them remained unchanged, a clear line drawn between master and servant, nothing less and nothing more.
Within those four days, whispers had already begun to circulate, rumors that Asher had finally emerged after an entire year of self-imposed isolation. A year spent locked away, refusing to face reality. A year spent running from the world.
Now, talk spread not only of his return but of his newfound presence in the library, and the subtle yet undeniable shift in his demeanor.
And, of course, the Ninth Sun; Thalric, did not let the opportunity slip by. Seizing the moment, he began spreading malicious rumors: that Asher had been harassing the maids, and that his visits to the library were merely a ploy to browse Martial Arts techniques he intended to sell in preparation for his inevitable banishment.
Lyra was not spared from the swirling rumors. Her name passed from mouth to mouth, entangled in Asher’s fate. If punishment awaited him, she would not escape it. Bound to him by duty and oath, she was destined to follow him, through disgrace, through exile, until the moment of his awakening. To live beside him. To fall with him.
Such was her path. A woman of formidable power, reduced to a shadow of status by the weight of her loyalty.