I'm Not Your Husband, You Evil Dragon!

Erza stared at Yuuta in horror as his screams continued filling the apartment.

The crimson glow burning within his eyes had become even brighter, almost resembling blood-red flames, while thin streams of blood continued running down his cheeks.

More blood leaked from his ears and nose as he desperately pulled at his own hair, completely unaware of how much strength he was using.

His entire body trembled violently while his mind was overwhelmed by memories that had remained buried for years.

Everything was returning at once.

The laboratory. The horrifying deaths he had experienced there. Someone making a promise to him. The sound of an elven song he couldn’t completely remember.

Snow, blood, unfamiliar faces, strange voices, and countless fragments from nightmares he had spent his entire life believing weren’t real.

None of them returned in the correct order, and Yuuta’s mind couldn’t understand where one memory ended and another began.

His brain desperately tried to process everything simultaneously, only for the memories to collide with one another until even his own thoughts became impossible to recognize.

The pain became unbearable.

Yuuta felt as though his brain was physically splitting into two. His body shook so violently that he could no longer control a single muscle, resembling a fish thrown onto dry land as his arms and legs jerked uncontrollably.

Every attempt his mind made to understand one memory only dragged another fragment to the surface, creating another wave of agony before he could recover from the previous one.

Erza couldn’t watch anymore.

She moved immediately.

Before Yuuta could hurt himself further, Erza wrapped one arm firmly around his body and pulled him against herself, using her strength to restrain his violent movements.

Even then, Yuuta continued shaking uncontrollably within her arms. His bloody eyes remained unfocused while broken words escaped between his screams, none of them clear enough for Erza to understand.

"Yuuta... enough!" Erza said, tightening her hold around him. "Stop trying to remember!"

He couldn’t hear her.

Whatever had been triggered inside his mind was already beyond his control.

Erza’s expression tightened as she realized there was no longer any time to hesitate. She raised her free hand toward Yuuta’s forehead, and countless tiny particles of light immediately began gathering around her fingers. The particles swirled rapidly around her palm while her trembling fingers moved closer to his burning forehead.

"Sommux Lummani."

The spell activated the instant Erza’s palm touched Yuuta.

Her magic entered his mind carefully, searching only for the memories responsible for triggering his current condition.

Erza didn’t reach toward his childhood or attempt to touch the ancient memories already buried within him. Instead, she targeted the conversation they had just shared, the revelation about his nightmares, his past, and the words that had pushed Yuuta into desperately searching for answers.

One fragment disappeared.

Then another.

The conversation gradually vanished from Yuuta’s recent memory, and with every erased piece, the connection pulling his buried memories toward the surface became weaker. With the recent trigger disappearing, the memories it had dragged toward the surface began sinking back on their own. The laboratory blurred.

The voices retreated.

The elven song slipped beyond Yuuta’s reach once again.

Yuuta’s scream abruptly stopped.

His entire body went limp.

The crimson light burning within his eyes disappeared as exhaustion crashed into him all at once. His knees gave way beneath him, but Erza caught him before his head could strike the floor.

She carefully lowered his unconscious body beside the sofa, allowing him to sit against it while gently positioning his head against the soft corner for support.

For several seconds, Erza remained beside him without moving.

Her hands were trembling.

The sight of blood covering Yuuta’s face made something tighten painfully inside her chest.

Tears had already gathered within her violet eyes before she even realized they were there, but she didn’t waste a second wiping them away.

She immediately placed both hands near Yuuta’s head and began casting healing magic.

A gentle light surrounded him as Erza carefully repaired the damage caused by the sudden overload. The bleeding from his ears gradually stopped first, followed by the blood running from his nose.

The crimson trails beneath his eyes slowly disappeared as the damaged vessels recovered, while her magic continued deeper to ease the terrible strain his brain had just endured.

Erza didn’t stop until she was certain he was safe.

Slowly, Yuuta’s breathing became peaceful again.

The tension disappeared from his face, his tightly clenched fingers relaxed, and the painful expression that had covered him only moments earlier finally faded.

He now appeared to be sleeping quietly against the sofa, completely unaware of what had just happened.

The apartment gradually became quiet again.

Yuuta rested unconscious against the sofa, his breathing finally returning to a steady rhythm as Erza’s healing magic repaired the damage throughout his body.

The blood beneath his eyes had disappeared, the bleeding from his ears and nose had stopped, and the terrible strain within his mind had finally settled. Anyone looking at him now would have thought he was simply sleeping after an exhausting day.

Erza knew better.

She remained kneeling beside him, staring at his face without moving. Her hands were still glowing faintly from the healing spell, yet even after confirming several times that Yuuta was safe, she couldn’t bring herself to pull them away.

Her violet eyes remained fixed on his chest, silently watching it rise and fall as though she were terrified that the moment she looked somewhere else, it might stop.

Eventually, Erza forced herself to stand.

Her movements were unusually slow as she took one step backward, followed by another.

She didn’t know why she was moving away from him. Perhaps some part of her suddenly felt that she didn’t deserve to remain beside him after what she had just done.

Perhaps she was simply afraid that if she stayed any closer, she would continue seeing the horrifying image of Yuuta convulsing within her arms.

Her gaze gradually fell toward her hands.

They were trembling.

Erza stared at them blankly before slowly closing her fingers, but they wouldn’t obey properly. These were the same hands that had remained perfectly steady while slaughtering armies, tearing apart monsters, and facing creatures capable of destroying entire kingdoms.

Yet now her fingers wouldn’t stop shaking because she could still remember exactly how Yuuta’s body had felt inside them.

His scream returned to her mind.

The blood pouring from his eyes.

The blood dripping from his nose and ears.

Those crimson eyes glowing like burning torches while his body shook uncontrollably, his own memories tearing through his mind faster than his brain could endure.

Erza’s breath caught.

"I..."

Her lips trembled as her eyes slowly returned to Yuuta.

"I almost killed him."

The words were barely audible.

For some reason, seeing Yuuta alive didn’t make the fear disappear.

Instead, the peaceful face before her suddenly became covered in blood again within her mind. She saw his glowing eyes, heard his screams, and remembered desperately holding him while having absolutely no idea whether she had already acted too late.

"I almost killed him..."

Her voice broke.

Erza suddenly struck herself across the face.

"Stupid!"

Her palm struck her cheek again before she could even think.

"Stupid...!"

Another strike followed, harder than the last.

"You stupid woman!"

Erza raised her hand again, but this time she couldn’t continue.

Her fingers were trembling too violently, and tears had already begun spilling from her violet eyes. She slowly lowered her hand before staring at herself with an expression filled with disgust.

"You knew..."

Her voice came out broken.

"You knew about the Crown Seal."

Erza clenched her teeth as her gaze fell toward the floor.

There was still blood there.

Yuuta’s blood.

The sight made something inside her chest tighten painfully.

She stared at those crimson stains as though they were accusing her, an undeniable testimony to how close she had come to killing the person she had sworn to protect.

"You knew why the Goddess placed such a powerful seal upon him," Erza whispered. "You knew the truth itself could become dangerous if his soul wasn’t strong enough to endure it."

Her shoulders began trembling.

"And still..."

A tear fell from her chin and landed beside Yuuta’s blood.

"...you told him."

Erza squeezed her eyes shut.

Immediately, the memory of their earlier conversation returned.

Yuuta standing before her.

Aura surrounding his body.

The disbelief she had felt when she first saw it.

A... Aura...?

Even now, Erza remembered exactly what had gone through her mind at that moment. The Crown Seal should have restricted Yuuta’s soul while he remained weak, yet somehow he had awakened aura with his own strength. He had accomplished something Erza hadn’t believed should be possible at his current level.

For the first time, that had given her hope.

Then... maybe I can tell him.

Erza slowly opened her eyes.

"No..."

Her voice trembled.

"I wanted to believe it."

She looked toward Yuuta.

"I saw your aura... and I wanted so desperately to believe that you had finally become strong enough."

That had been her mistake.

Not ignorance.

Not carelessness.

Hope.

Erza had wanted Yuuta to overcome the Crown Seal more desperately than she had ever admitted to him.

She wanted him to understand his origin, recover what had been stolen from him, and finally become free from whatever forces had been controlling his life.

But buried beneath even those desires had been something far more selfish.

She wanted him beside her.

Forever.

For one brief, foolish moment, Erza had looked at Yuuta’s awakened aura and imagined that perhaps the distance between them was finally beginning to disappear. Perhaps he would continue becoming stronger.

Perhaps he would uncover his past, free himself from the seal, and eventually become someone who could truly stand beside her as her mate without his fragile mortal existence constantly threatening to take him away.

She had allowed herself to imagine a future with him.

And because she wanted that future so badly...

She had nearly destroyed it with her own hands.

"I was so happy..."

A broken smile briefly appeared through her tears.

"You finally awakened your aura."

Her smile disappeared almost immediately.

"I thought it meant you were ready."

Erza slowly shook her head.

"I thought perhaps if you finally understood yourself... if you learned what you really were and freed yourself from everything controlling you..."

Her lips trembled.

"...then maybe you could truly become my mate."

Her eyes returned to Yuuta.

"Maybe I wouldn’t have to be afraid of losing you anymore."

A bitter laugh escaped her.

"How pathetic."

The woman who had been terrified of eventually losing her mortal husband had nearly killed him because she was too desperate to find a way to keep him forever.

Then another memory surfaced.

Yuuta taking her hand.

His expression hadn’t been angry anymore. There had been no accusation in his crimson eyes, only exhaustion and desperation as he asked the one person he loved to stop keeping him blind.

Erza, don’t hide it from me anymore.

Trust me.

Erza’s face crumbled.

"Trust me..."

She repeated his words beneath her breath.

Her eyes slowly dropped toward the same hand Yuuta had held earlier, remembering the warmth of his fingers around hers. Then her own answer returned to her with unbearable clarity.

I trust you, Yuuta.

Erza immediately covered her mouth as a broken sob escaped her.

"I trusted you..."

Her shoulders shook before she violently shook her head.

"No."

Her hand slowly fell from her mouth.

"No... that wasn’t your mistake."

Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks.

"It was mine."

Yuuta had asked her to trust him because he didn’t understand the danger. He didn’t know exactly what the Crown Seal could do to him, nor did he understand that reaching toward certain buried truths could cause his own mind to collapse under the pressure. As far as Yuuta knew, he had finally awakened aura and proven that he was becoming stronger.

Erza knew more.

"You didn’t know..."

Her tears fell faster.

"You were only asking about your own life."

She looked at him helplessly.

"How could you have known?"

Erza pressed a trembling hand against her chest.

"But I knew."

Her voice cracked.

"I knew, Yuuta."

She wiped her tears away, but they were immediately replaced by more.

"I knew there was a chance this could happen."

Her breathing became heavier.

"I knew it."

Erza’s fingers dug into her dress.

"I knew..."

Her voice suddenly exploded.

"I FUCKING KNEW IT!"

The scream tore from her throat as tears poured down her face. The sound barrier prevented her voice from reaching Elena, but inside it, Erza’s broken scream echoed throughout the room.

She stood there breathing heavily afterward, staring at Yuuta as though she hated herself for even having the right to look at him.

"And yet..."

Her voice collapsed again.

"Because I love you..."

Erza couldn’t continue.

Those words suddenly hurt more than anything else.

She loved him.

That was exactly why she had wanted to believe him.

When Yuuta showed her his aura, she had allowed hope to overcome what she already knew about the Crown Seal. When he took her hand, she had allowed his desperation to weaken her judgment. When he asked her to trust him, the woman who normally questioned everything had desperately wanted to believe that her husband had finally become strong enough to survive the truth.

Her love hadn’t protected him.

For those few minutes...

It had blinded her.

"I thought you had proven me wrong," Erza whispered. "I thought the Crown Seal couldn’t control you anymore."

She slowly shook her head.

"I thought because you had become stronger... because I was sitting beside you... because I could heal you if something went wrong..."

Erza’s voice gradually collapsed.

"I thought it would be okay."

Another sob escaped her.

"How could I be so stupid?"

Erza suddenly grabbed her own hair as another image of Yuuta screaming flashed through her mind.

"I am supposed to protect you!"

Her voice rose again before immediately dropping into something far more broken.

"I promised myself..."

Erza’s fingers loosened from her hair.

"I promised myself that I would protect you."

She stared at Yuuta’s unconscious body while tears continued falling silently.

"And I nearly watched you die..."

Her breathing trembled.

"...because I couldn’t say no to you."

Erza remained there for several seconds before finally wiping the tears from her face.

Her fingers were still trembling, and the guilt hadn’t disappeared, but something within her expression gradually changed.

The fear remained, yet beneath it came the cold determination of a woman who had already decided that she would never allow herself to repeat the same mistake.

"No..."

Erza slowly shook her head.

"Not anymore."

She looked down at her trembling hands, remembering how easily her judgment had collapsed earlier.

Yuuta had awakened aura, held her hand, and begged her to trust him, and for one foolish moment she had allowed herself to believe that everything would somehow be fine.

She had wanted that hope to be true so desperately that she had ignored the danger she already knew existed.

"I was foolish enough to lower my guard once," Erza whispered. "I allowed what I wanted to believe to become more important than what I already knew."

Her violet eyes slowly moved toward Yuuta again.

"Perhaps this was a sign from Heaven."

Erza took a trembling breath.

"A warning."

Her gaze hardened as she looked at the man resting against the sofa.

"A warning telling me not to interfere with something that was sealed for a reason."

She slowly clenched her hand.

"I won’t make the same mistake again."

There was no hesitation this time.

"Even if you beg me for answers again... I won’t tell you."

Erza’s expression softened painfully.

"Even if you become angry with me."

Her lips trembled slightly.

"Even if you hate me for hiding the truth from you..."

She closed her eyes.

"I’ll accept it."

For Erza, that decision was absolute. She would rather endure Yuuta’s anger for years than experience those few horrifying minutes ever again.

If protecting him meant becoming the person he resented for keeping him blind, then she would carry that hatred herself.

What Erza didn’t know...

Was that something had already gone wrong with her plan.

Behind her, Yuuta’s breathing gradually changed.

The weak, exhausted breaths slowly became deeper and more stable as consciousness began returning to him. His eyelids twitched several times before slowly opening, revealing unfocused crimson eyes staring blankly toward the ceiling.

Everything was blurry.

Yuuta couldn’t immediately understand where he was. His head felt impossibly heavy, his muscles refused to respond properly, and an exhausting weakness had spread throughout his entire body as though he hadn’t slept for several days.

"Where..."

His dry lips barely moved.

"...where am I?"

Yuuta blinked several times, trying to force his vision into focus. The familiar shapes of the apartment gradually appeared around him, but instead of bringing relief, they only created confusion.

"Why does my head hurt so much...?"

A dull pain immediately pulsed through his skull.

"Ouch..."

Yuuta instinctively tried remembering what had happened before he lost consciousness. He knew something had happened. There was an uncomfortable certainty buried inside him that he had been doing something important only moments ago, yet every time he reached toward the memory, his mind returned nothing.

"What happened here...?"

His eyebrows slowly pulled together.

He remembered speaking with Erza.

He remembered wanting answers.

After that...

Nothing.

Yuuta tried lifting himself, but his body immediately refused. Even moving his arm felt exhausting, forcing him to remain against the sofa while he waited for some strength to return.

"My head..."

Yuuta slowly raised one hand toward his forehead.

Then he stopped.

Something was wrong with his palm.

His blurred vision gradually focused upon his hand, and for several seconds Yuuta simply stared without understanding what he was seeing.

Blue ink covered his palm.

It had mixed with dried blood around several tiny cuts across his skin. Small pieces of shattered plastic remained near his fingers, while the broken remains of what had once been a pen rested nearby on the floor.

Yuuta’s crimson eyes widened.

His breathing stopped.

The pen.

Suddenly, one small fragment of memory returned.

Not the truth Erza had revealed.

Not their conversation.

Something from before it.

Yuuta remembered deliberately keeping the pen inside his pocket.

His lips began trembling.

He stared at the blue ink staining his bloodied palm before slowly looking toward Erza.

A tear slipped from the corner of his eye.

"...It was true."

Erza froze.

Yuuta’s trembling fingers slowly closed around the shattered piece of the pen.

"You..."

His voice cracked.

"...you erased my memory."

To Be Continued...

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