You smiled at the feeling of the warm grass under your hand. Hopefully, Kazue wouldn't see you here and worry about you staining your dress. You chuckled under your breath at the thought of him scolding you for stains on your dress. 

"You know you'll stain yourself sitting there."

You glanced up to see Kouen standing there. You stood up and brush stray weeds off your skirt. "So I've been told," you said as small memories of your siblings and parents scolding you. You shook your head at them, it was always so silly. 

"What've you been doing here?" He asked. 

You took another look at the small garden you were sitting at. "Just admiring plants that aren't frozen," you joked. "I almost forget I'm not there after being stuck there for six months," you added solemnly. You felt yourself shudder as a breeze came by and clench the skirt of your dress. You closed your eyes for a small moment and took in a shaky breath. Then, you felt a hand grab onto yours and you opened your eyes to look at Kouen. 

"You're fine," he said simply, stroking your knuckles. "I understand it was hard to be alone, but it's all over now and you're okay." 

You brought his hand to your chest and held it there, "thank you," you whispered, pressing a small kiss to the back of his hand. 

Kouen brought a hand to the top of your head and pressed a kiss to your forehead. "No problem," he responded. 

*~*~*

"Oh, look who made it back alive."

You turned to the source of the snickering and, as you suspected, it was Judar with the normal teasing smirk on his face. "Something you need?" You asked, setting down your teacup softly on its saucer. You had wanted to sit outside with a nice cup of tea given that you had finally gotten some time to relax, but, of course, there was never going to be a moment where you got peace here.

Judar didn't answer and decided to take a seat in the unoccupied chair across from you. You rose a brow and stared, wondering what he was here for. For the most part, he only ever interacts with you to annoy you. In your opinion, it was his only real skill, but you never told anyone that. 

"Well?" You pestered, crossing your arms. 

"The old hag is making me watch you to make sure you don't go crazy again," he sighed, sounding annoyed at the prospect of essentially being a babysitter. 

Your eye twitched, "I don't need a babysitter." You rolled your eyes.

Judar scoffed, "after that stunt you pulled with one of goatman's old concubine's? I beg to differ," he said, laughing under his breath. 

You had to take a moment after hearing what Judar said. "Wait, what?" You asked, "but I thought she was the Emporer's." 

At that, Judar decided to start laughing at you. "Are you really that clueless?!" He guffawed, "Or did you not hear a single word that woman said?" He asked in between laughs. 

It was then that her words came back to you. 

"You really know nothing about Kou," she had scoffed, "he could've easily kept me as his consort after marrying you, but no... The day after the wedding he lets me go to stay loyal to you."

Then, your lip twitched in disgust for a slight moment. When you had been taken to the Empress regarding your verdict you remembered them saying you had attacked the Emporer's concubine, not Kouen's. Did the Emporer take Kouen's as his instead when you came along? You didn't know whether to think it was weirdly kind or just plain weird. 

You scowled at Judar. "Do you honestly have nothing better to do with your time than annoy people?" You inquired. 

Judar shrugged, "not really cause goat-man and the small one are getting ready to go to the dungeon," he said nonchalantly. 

At that, you shot up out of your chair. "What?!" You exclaimed, "since when?" You stood up and grabbed him by the collar. 

Judar put his hands up, a smirk present on his lips. "They began planning this 3 months ago," he explained. During your slight moment of shock, Judar grabbed your hand and pulled it off his collar. 

"Guess they didn't want to tell you 'cause you might cause some trouble after six months of peace," he teased, crossing his arms.

Your eyes widened. No one until now had exactly told you how long you've been gone, it was quite a shock adding on to the initial one, to say the least. "Where are they?" You managed to ask. 

Judar scoffed, "why do you care? What? Do you and goatman actually care about each other?" He asked. At your silence, he began to cackle so hard he had to hold his stomach. 

"Oh, this is rich! This is amazing!" He said in between laughs, "you've got a crush!" 

Your hand clenched into a fist and you were about to tell him off until... Nothing came. You wanted to freeze his feet to the ground and his mouth shut, but he was right. Soon enough, this became a lot more confusing than you bargained for. Now, thanks to Judar (ugh), that you had a moment to sit and think. There hasn't really been a moment that you and Kouen talked about this relationship. 

You muted every single noise surrounding you as you sat down for a moment to think. Everything had been happening so quick, the incident, the trial, the dungeon sentence, that you've never had a moment to think. Now that you had, you realized you were being a bit of a fool, weren't you? 

How were all of his siblings able to warm up to you so quick anyway? Kougyoku at least made a bit of sense, she was generally a sweet girl. Kouha seemed to enjoy meeting new people. Maybe Koumei did actually like you? 

But Kouen... Who was he? 

It was then that hit you. You were in Kou. An Empire that thrived on military and strategy. Throughout your whole time here, you've been someone's plan in some way or other. 

The Emporer. He wanted more djinn warriors for his arsenal.

"We'll see. I'm going to be honest with you, your father's rumored military strength doesn't rival ours one bit. He begged for his kingdom to be spared and in the end, he offered you. After seeing your strength with a military, I agreed."

The Empress. She probably wanted you to die in that dungeon.

"She is to be sent to a dungeon raised by Judar without the assistance of her metal vessels the next morning. For now, take her away."

You pressed your fist to your forehead. For once in your life, you had to be ignorant of your own surroundings. You grabbed the hair stick from your hair causing it to fall from its style. You stared at it in disdain. If you were brash you would've just smashed it and stomped on it. 

You didn't though and you weren't.

What you did do was get up from your chair and set out to go find Kouen before he left. 

And you might've frozen Judar's feet with your djinn to the ground as you left.

*~*~*

Kouen was busy as of now with organizing the small number (small in Kou's standards) of troops to bring into the dungeon. Kouha was barely containing himself, ready to conquer a dungeon and fight for Kou with the new djinn he would acquire. His assistants Junjun, jinjin, and reirei were happy for him as well especially when Kouha began to slap them. He never understood why they enjoyed it and never wanted to ask. 

As he put the troops into their respective places, you came in. However, instead of the normal smile on your face, there was a dark look in your eyes. You definitely weren't happy. One thing he also noticed was that the hair stick was gone.  Your hands were in your sleeves creating a calm demeanor, making the look in your eyes seem darker. When you finally walked up to him, he had flinched just a little, not enough for anyone to notice though.

"Kouen, may I please speak with you?" You asked, your head lowering a little allowing your bangs to cloud your eyes. 

He only nodded in response and gestured for another soldier to take control for a moment while following you out of the room. Both of you had walked into his study, which was close by. 

The moment you two entered and Kouen closed the door. You took your arms out from their sleeves and stabbed something into his desk. As he stared at it, he realized it was the hair stick he had given you, your hand was clenched around it. 

Finally, you spoke.

"Just how foolish do you think I am?"

Kouen didn't respond. 

At that you clenched your hand harder against the stick, let it go, and finally turned to face him. "Well, tell me." Your tone was hard and cold.

Again, he didn't respond. Acting as if he hadn't done anything wrong. 

"Fine. I'll continue speaking," you said, "during my time here, everything went along so quickly between us I never had time to question where this relationship was going. But you had enough time to think up where you wanted it to go..." You slowly began to walk towards him. 

"For your own benefit," you explained, "I'll have to thank you, however. It made me realize no one can be trusted in Kou because of everyone here in manipulating someone else for their own good." You stood toe-to-toe with him and during the whole explanation, Kouen only stared at you, masking his shock. 

"Now that I know where you'd like to stand against me, I'd implore you to be careful," you advised your face nearing his as you began to speak in a whisper, "I may be married to you, but that doesn't mean I'll ever have to be of use to you. I'll allow you to decide what you really want."

With that final sentence said, you walked out, leaving him standing there to stare at the hair stick stuck in his desk. 

Then, finally, he smirked which soon turned into a full laugh. 

You were smarter than he gave you credit for. 

*~*~*

You were in the gardens again, this place always brought some form of peace within you. This time, you made a reminder as not to sit down. Kazue ended up noticing some small stains from the grass on your dress and wasn't too happy. 

"Y/N-nee, is that you?"

You turned to the voice behind you to see Kouha there with a giant sword strapped to his back. You sent him a smile, "of course, who else would it be?" You teased. 

Kouha rolled his eyes slightly at your tease. 

"Now, now, Kouha. If you roll your eyes like that they'll roll to the back your head," you playfully chided with a wink.

Kouha then had to resist the urge to roll his eyes again as to not let you chide him again. He walked up to you to stand next to you. "Hey, what happened to the hair stick?" He asked, curious with a brow raised.

At that question, you tensed slightly but then recovered with a smile. "Don't worry about it, Kouha," you said your hand lightly petting the top of his head, "it's fine. Shouldn't you be getting ready to get to the dungeon?" 

Kouha's brows shot up in surprise, "ah, right! I'll see you soon, Y/N-nee!" He said and was about to leave until you grabbed his arm. He looked back at you with confusion and a single brow raised. 

"Please be careful and come back alive, okay?" You squeezed his arm slightly, giving it a small, comforting sort of pressure. 

Kouha only nodded, a tad shocked at your words and soft tone. Then, you did something he certainly wasn't expecting and you hugged him with the same comforting pressure you used to grab his arm. "Watch over everyone, hm?" You whispered, "Including yourself." 

With those final words said, you let go and allowed him finally walk off towards where the soldiers were with Kouen. As he walked off, his back facing you, he was beginning to feel a slightly warm feeling in his chest. His nose twitched in irritation and he shoved it down, not understanding exactly what it was. 

*~*~*

You stood side by side with Kougyoku as the soldiers left along with Kouen, Kouha, and Judar for a proper place to raise a dungeon. As you watched them leave, you didn't bother meeting eyes with Kouen. 

Kougoyku didn't even seem to notice anything wrong with you. The only thing her attention was on were her brothers, she watched with slight envy. You had caught the look when you turned to glance at her. 

As you followed her eyes and noticed what she was staring at, you place an arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry," you began causing her to flinch, "your chance will come soon as well."

She looked away from you, a small blush present. "W-What do you mean?" She stuttered, embarrassed. 

You giggled, "you want to capture a dungeon too, don't you? To gain strength and fight for the people you care for," you supplied her empty words while your free hand held onto your newly acquired ring. Kougyoku didn't respond, she did, however, turn to gaze at you. 

You beamed at her, "I've once felt that feeling," you said, "and don't worry. I'm sure you're time will come as well and I will gladly help you prepare." You held out a hand for her to grab. 

Kougyoku returned the smile directed towards her. "Thank you, Y/N-nee!" She exclaimed. 

You nodded, "let's go train."

"Okay!"

~~~

A/N: I know this chapter wasn't all that long, but I feel like it's a tad better this way because at least then this update came quicker. 

As for the direction I'm taking this, I promise it will end with romance between the two (obviously). But, just so you understand, it's not very accurate if Kouen just miraculously falls in love out of nowhere. Don't forget that this marriage is arranged and Kouen makes use of anything he can get his hands on (except his family of course). 

Just stay with me and things will progress in a timely manner. Thank you for reading!