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"Hello, my dear. I have been away for a god awful long time, haven't I?
I am so terribly sorry for leaving you to fend for yourself. I did not mean to, but some pests got in my way.
I am glad to see that you are well, despite the fact that I was not here to take care of you. You are still as beautiful as ever, my love. Your skin is soft to the touch, and your eyes are still the lovely shade of (e/c).
Our child is growing perfectly in your womb, it seems. I hope that they turn out to be just as perfect as you are. If not... then we can always make more, yes?
I have faith that that will not be the case, however. Our children are bound to be nothing short of perfection, of course, just like their mother." He smiled lovingly, a gloved hand caressing the bump on your stomach.
"I am so very thankful that I can always come home to the warmth of your arms.
I love you, so much it hurts, so much it hurts to part from you, even if it is just for one second. I need you by my side, even if you say otherwise. You mean the world to me, and I'm sure you feel the same about me too." He breathed out, falling to his knees and placing his ear on your chest to hear the beating of your heart.
Oh, how the mighty fall.
Your breathing stayed steady and continuous the entire time he was there, almost as if the one who forced you to take such a drastic action was not there at all. Your hands lay by your sides, unmoving.
It had been years since your descent into the arms of an eternity of sleep, but you had not aged even one bit, and neither did your lover. If that's what you could even call him.
Ten years ago, you had fallen in love with the then prince of Akrathia, Aurelius. He was the man of every woman's dreams, the prince to their Snow White.
You and him had married not more than two months after your declarations of love, and together, ruled the kingdom of Akrathia once he ascended the throne. The love shared between the both of you had been pure, the very essence of love, all until a fool decided that he was more deserving of you than Aurelius, and attempted to abduct you from your place on the throne.
Aurelius, as expected, was beyond furious.
After the incident, he had locked you up in your shared room and placed guards at every angle. Every waking second, a maid was to be by your side.
You had found it suffocating.
Your complaints fell on deaf ears, and so you learned to shut up as to not waste your breath.
Naturally, your husband did not like this. Then again, it's not like he could force you to speak (unless he did some unholy actions, as it would be hard to not make a sound or two at the very least).
You tolerated it for five years, until you could not.
Thus, you searched from what you could. You took a chance and asked him to bring you a few books every once in awhile, and he, blinded by the joy he felt that you were speaking again, agreed without setting any restrictions.
What were the chances a book he brought with him was about spells that would cause sleep? And what were the chances that his wife was exceptional at using magic?
You had planned out everything carefully. During the night, you would bring the book in and hide it in a cabinet that he would not open as it was for your necessities. Then, during the day while he was off to do his duties, you would go into the bathroom with an excuse to urinate. Finally, you would cast the spell on yourself and stay in the realm of sleep for the rest of your life.
You made sure to modify the spell to ensure that you would only be able to wake up after Aurelius' death, but Aurelius was already one step ahead.
When he found out about your defiance, he was not particularly angry nor was he particularly sad, for he already had tied your life to his. He would only die when you did, and vice versa, so that either of you would not have to live a life without each other.
Your sleep was a minor inconvenience to him. He even found it a blessing in disguise, due to the fact that as you were asleep, you would not make any escape attempts nor could you ignore him voluntarily.
"Since you are seven months along, I shall refrain from being in the front lines of the battle, and instead, be by your side." He kissed your forehead lovingly, unbothered by your lack of a response.
"May our child be as sweet as our love, and may we never have to live a life apart."
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a/n: 愿得一人心，白首不相离 (yuàndé yīrénxīn, báishǒu bùxiānglí) - long for the heart, never be apart.
