Emerald Skylake

While everyone was moving into Blackrose Castle, Nyris put on male clothing like before and worked like any ordinary Archeron, doing all kinds of work and even participating in menial construction tasks without a care for how dirty she got. She had met Richard the moment he gave her a chance to ask what had happened on the royal island, but Richard just said there was an argument with Apeiron that wasn’t worth mentioning. She knew that was a clear lie, understanding him much better than he understood her, but she didn’t press further and just gave him a hug. Outside of moral support, she could only help him by going into battle like the rest of the Archerons.

Becoming an independent noble was only one step away from forming one’s own country, especially for someone with Richard’s resources. He had some buffer time now because the two other empires were fighting over him, but a definite rejection or...