TRIGGER WARNING: There are some heavy topics such as psychological trauma in this chapter. Reader discretion is advised.

It was time for refreshments. Everyone was welcome to eat and drink as they pleased. Calypso had made sure that only the best food and beverages were served to match the status of the attendees. Even the hall was decorated with great care and consideration from the thick maroon velvet drapes to the elegant floral arrangements and the perfectly polished crystal glass.

But here he was, standing in the corner, away from prying eyes, facing the man with molten-silver hair and a pair of red eyes similar to his own.

"I hope you're not too mad about the decision, Uncle. After all, it was all for the betterment of our empire. I'm sure you can understand."

"Thank you for worrying about me, Your Majesty, but it is unnecessary," Constantine replied with a fixed smile, small and anything but genuine. "Honestly, if I didn't know better, I would have thought that you're rather happy with this predicament."

"Ah, I'm sad that you think that way, Uncle. You know that I only have your best interest at heart, right?"

"Haha... I'm grateful for your generosity, Your Majesty, but please pardon my impudence. As I am admittedly quite a busy person, I hope you don't mind if I cut this conversation short and excuse myself first."

"Very well then—I don't want to interfere with my uncle's busy schedule for sure, but may I ask you something beforehand?"

"Of course, Your Majesty."

"In the interest of our earlier discussion with the court, I've been hearing louder whispers about—"

"Is this an official inquiry, Your Majesty? Because if so, let me remind you that I'm allowed to have my own counselor present," he cut him off, standing straighter. "And if this is indeed just a friendly dialogue, I wish we can just pass since I'm rather busy at the moment."

"Oh my, please don't get so worked up, Uncle. I just wanted to ask you about a rather interesting gossip that I've heard recently."

"Your Majesty, I don't know what you're trying to imply."

"Oh, I'm just curious, that's it." He shrugged. "And I was rather worried that my uncle would get affected negatively by this."

Constantine looked around before whispering to Arsen, his polite facade all gone. "Are you doing this to pressure me about Phoebe? Just because I didn't let you meet her let alone take her as your mistress? I never thought my nephew was someone so petty—"

Arsen blinked then a second later burst into laughter. "I'm sorry, but you're wrong, Uncle. It's not about Phoebe—not at all."

"Then why are you doing this?" It was clear that he didn't believe him.

"Because I'm worried about the well-being of my citizens, of course."

"I assure you that whatever cheap gossip you've heard, it isn't true, and I won't explain myself further," Constantine said. "Now, please excuse me, Your Majesty."

Constantine was about to walk past him, but Arsen stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "It might be cheap gossip to you, but it isn't for me." Arsen took a step closer. "I've heard a great deal of things. I've heard the public rumblings. I've heard of corruption that leads right up the ladder to you. I even know you've begun questioning those who might go against you."

Constantine glared at him, but it was clear that he was nervous and agitated. "That is enough, Your Majesty—"

"A word of friendly advice, Uncle: Pick your battles wisely or you will end up like your mother. It's a well-known fact that you're more worried about your own reputation than the actual security of this empire—or how you abused your power to manipulate the media and knowingly vilified the wrong people to give the facade of progress. In the end, it was your own doing."

Arsen admitted that it was a low blow for him to use his mother as an example, but it wasn't like he was lying. Everybody knew that Desdemona's greed to put her son on the throne was what led to her own demise.

She had conspired to assassinate Arsen's father long ago, back when he was still a crown prince. Her treason was uncovered—she was proven guilty and banished from the empire, only to end up taking her own life.

It wasn't until Arsen's father was crowned as the new emperor that Constantine was allowed to return. Emperor Calisto had taken pity on his half-brother, who had only been six years old at the time of his mother's death and deemed that he shouldn't be held responsible for his mother's crimes.

He reinstated Constantine as part of the imperial family and gave him the title Duke of Aragon as well as his own territory.

But look how he returned the favor. Instead of proving that he was a better person than his mother, he only proved that he was just the same—or probably worse.

Arsen was deeply satisfied as he watched Constantine try to hold the anger bubbling inside him.

Ah, I never thought I'd say this, but it's so good to be mean sometimes. No wonder Calypso enjoys this kind of thing.

"Are you threatening me?"

"No. But you should worry less about maintaining your reputation, less about me playing the role you believe I should play, and less about reaching for power that doesn't belong to you in the first place. Try worrying more about what's happening out there to the people you want to lead so badly. You can try all you want to cover up everything, but who you are on the inside will eventually show up on the outside." He smiled menacingly. "Change is coming, Uncle. You can't hide from something that's already begun."

Constantine didn't say anything more as he shook Arsen's hand off his shoulder and left.

Arsen made sure his uncle was truly gone before he decided to pass the rest of his time drinking in the quiet corner, watching the nobles mingle with one another.

He was already tired just looking at them. He was not very good at this kind of thing—this was more of Calypso's thing.

Fortunately they were a team in this. Arsen would go to war and step in whenever there was a dangerous situation in the empire that required his strength. On the other hand, Calypso would take care of the political side.

They complemented each other and made a good team, so it worked quite well for both of them.

He gulped down his first drink in an instant, put down the empty glass, and took a new one. He was aware that he had caught a bad habit ever since he came back in time.

He still hated the bitter taste of alcohol—that fact didn't change, but it was harder to resist when it was the only thing that helped him turn down the voices in his head. He would rather let himself be intoxicated rather than let all those fucked up things haunt his mind nonstop.

Arsen was sipping on his second glass of whiskey when he caught sight of the familiar long, inky black hair—sweetly dark upon snow-white skin.

Even though she was his wife and best friend and they had known each other for years, there was just something about her that made her bloody terrifying sometimes. Maybe it was just her overall demeanor and charisma, but just like her mother, she was a person who looked very glamorous and cold at the same time.

Calypso was pretty. Not the goddess-like, decadent beauty type of pretty, but she sure was attractive in her own way.

She had an expression that was cold enough to straighten up even the most stubborn drunk—and she looked the most sober out of everyone in the room. It made you feel like you had to bow down and be grateful she even deigned to be in your presence.

But out of everyone there, there was one man who tried his hardest to get her attention. That blonde hair, bronze skin... Arsen couldn't help but notice him, and, more importantly, how Calypso expertly dodged his attempts to approach her. Arsen scoffed behind his glass.

Someone else was also watching his wife; a handsome man with black hair, standing across the room from them with a glass of wine in his hand. He shared many traits with Calypso. Although his eyes were silver-blue compared to the emerald green of his half-sister, they, too, could rob everyone of their warmth. Xavier was watching her with such an intense gaze that rivaled even the marquess's. It made Arsen shiver to the bones.

His strange obsession with his half-sister was more alarming than the marquess's silly little crush; but Calypso would only laugh at him if he ever brought it up.

Talking about Calypso, Arsen had noticed that something was different with his best friend ever since the banquet—no, ever since he woke up in the past. He didn't know why he had to wake up on that particular day. If it was up to him, he would rather avoid it.

He suspected that Calypso had also come back in time. It was probably why she was so mad at him, and why she had been behaving so strangely.

Then again, if I were her, I'd be mad at myself as well for stupidly falling for my uncle's scheme and putting the country in danger.

If his hunch about Calypso was correct, then just like him, Calypso must also be dealing with a lot of turmoil this whole turning back time thing was causing her.

He wanted to share her burden. To take some—even if only a fraction—of that pain away. But maybe it was too soon to offer himself in such a way—even if he wanted to reach out and touch her, sometimes it seemed like she didn't want to be comforted, so he held back. He had held his tongue and let her handle things the way she wanted—at least for now.

Forgiveness had never been her strong suit—he would have to work hard if he wanted to earn even a little bit of it. Not that he deserved it.

But more than that, he just desperately hoped that in the past timeline, his uncle had truly followed through on his promise.

He still remembered it vividly. At first, Constantine had threatened him with Phoebe's life—even so far as holding a dagger to her neck. He remembered how he had stopped fighting and stood still for a moment as he watched them, but still wouldn't let go of his sword.

He knew right there and there that he would have let her die if it came down to it. The guilt had eaten him up after he came back in time—that was why he had tried to make amends by saving her when she was falsely accused at the trial.

But of course the bastard hadn't stayed still after realizing it wasn't enough to stop him, so he had threatened him using Calypso's safety instead.

Arsen clenched his fist as he remembered his uncle's vicious smile at seeing him finally falter. He had begged him to trade his life for hers after that, and he had agreed to spare Calypso in exchange for his surrender.

Of course it still didn't ease his mind. It wasn't like his uncle was someone trustworthy at all, but he had hoped it would at least buy Calypso more time.

Calypso should have been able to escape through the secret passages, though knowing her, her servants would have had to convince her to leave the palace.

But... what if she didn't escape? What if she still chose to stay despite knowing the consequences? She's Calypso Berenice, the most stubborn person I know—

Arsen clamped his eyes shut. It was suddenly hard for him to breathe. A vast array of emotions were coursing through him: confusion, despair, frustration, anger... all pulling his mind from various directions, threatening to tear it apart.

He was just glad he was secluded enough that no one would notice him struggling.

Calypso's voice echoed in his head, and he remembered what she had taught him.

He started counting the sensations and objects around him. Five objects he could see, four things he could touch, three sounds, two smells, all the way down to one taste, where he finally felt a bit better.

Arsen was glad he had spent last night in a state of semi-meditation. If not, his swordmaster's aura would flare uncontrollably due to his unstable emotions. He could feel it flow from his chest to his hands, desperately trying to find an outlet. He fought it, shoving it down and balling his hands into fists to stop it from escaping.

Calypso is alive and well, and she's standing just right there. She's safe. He kept repeating those words in his head like a mantra, trying to push the undesirable thoughts from his mind.

He really didn't want to think about what would have happened to her if Constantine had broken his promise.

It scared him so much—he thought he was going insane.

Calypso might think otherwise, but to Arsen, she was the most important person in his life. She never listened to any of his explanations, and that made her assume the worst of him; made her believe that he cared for Phoebe more than anything else in the world, but she was wrong.

Phoebe had been his love interest in the previous timeline, but Calypso was his life partner, and just because they didn't have a romantic relationship, didn't mean he loved her any less. After all, romantic love wasn't always the strongest out there.

But he thought they both knew, even then, that what they had was something even rarer, and even more meaningful. He was going to be her friend for life and was going to show her possibilities. And she, in turn, would become someone he could trust more than himself. Because the only friend he had was Calypso, and he didn't want anybody else. To him, she was his best friend—a family—his soulmate. No one could ever replace her.

Arsen grabbed his third—or was it fourth, and gulped it down. He took another glass and drank, and only then did he notice the slight tremor in his hand. Maybe that was enough for today. He didn't want another episode.

He put down his empty glass. It was time to go. He needed a moment on his own, anyway.

His early retreat went unnoticed. Arsen was already at the door before he turned back to look at Calypso one last time.

His eyes fixed on her, and suddenly his heart clenched painfully inside his chest.

She was chatting with her uncle and some other high-ranking nobles. Though he knew that Calypso had a blundering mess of issues—none of them showed when she was talking to people. She even looked genuine when complimenting Count Bellona's sapphire cuffs—though she was probably counting down sheep in her head.

He wondered if he should feel jealous of how easily she manipulated people. Then again, her eyes looked too sad to match the smile on her face.

Would anyone notice?

He wondered if he would know her well enough to call out all her bluff one day.

Calypso's acting was truly astonishing—though he wasn't sure if it was something to be praised or to be worried about.

Because it was just as impressive as it was sad.

***

Author's Note:

Another Arsen's perspective. I hope some of the misunderstanding would be cleared up with this chapter. So yeah, Arsen didn't die for Phoebe in the first timeline-he did it for Calypso. It's kinda sad, isn't it? They both died for each other, but neither of them knew the truth.

And yeah, that's why he also feels guilty toward Phoebe. Because he would have let her die back then.

Anyway, thank you for all the votes and comments. I really appreciate it, guys. It's the only thing that motivates me to keep writing.

The theme song for this chapter is Every Day, Every Moment by Paul Kim.

Will I be able to smile without you?
Just thinking about it makes me cry
The person who protected me throughout my hard times
Now I will protect you

Your embrace was always warm
It was my only resting place at the end of my long days

You alone are enough for me
Because there's no need for words, I know by your eyes
Flowers bloom and wither
Every day, every moment, let's be together

They were shining like the sun
Your eyes when you looked at me
I was so happy I thought it was a dream
Each moment was so dazzling

In my anxious and sufering life
You came to me like a ray of light and made me smile

You alone are enough for me
Because there's no need for words, I know by your eyes
Flowers bloom and wither
Every day, every moment, let's be together

The future is unknown
But each moment of being in your arm
I wish it would last forever

I'll go to you when the breeze feels nice
I'll go to you on sunny days
Just like the day you first came to me
Every day, every moment, let's be together