Royal Reboot: Level up, Your Majesty!

Chapter 78: Red (1)

Red 

1

When had it started?

If it had been sudden, like lightning, maybe she would have noticed sooner. Maybe then, she wouldn’t have spent so long not knowing. Not understanding.

But it was never an explosion. It crept in slowly, quiet as the tide. At first, it only lapped at her ankles. Then, one day, she looked down and the shore was gone beneath her feet.

Like the moment Eydis tilted her head and smiled. That indifference smile that never quite reached her eyes.

Except… except when she looked at Natalia.

Then, it was real.

And now, Natalia couldn’t unsee it.

“You're staring again," Eydis had said once, not looking up from her notebook.

"Am not." Natalia had turned away too quickly, heat crawling up her neck.

“Mhm.” That knowing tone made Natalia want to sink straight through the floor. And then, there was that smile. Softer. Genuine.

Hers.

Natalia had stared too long. Longer than necessary.

Three years. Crazy, right? Three years of friendship, and only now did Natalia realise she’d been watching too closely. Laughing too easily at Eydis’s antics. Memorising the way her mind worked—quick, sharp, always a step ahead.

Always.

Except when it came to understanding feelings.

“Do you, um…” Natalia had asked once, weeks after the Tiffany’s incident. “Do you like anyone, Eydis?”

Eydis’s lashes had fluttered in confusion. “What an oddly imprecise question.”

“You know.” Natalia had forced a casual shrug, though her fingers curled against her sleeve. “Anyone special special?”

Eydis just stared at her. Not in the sharp, assessing way she usually did, but with something almost blank.

“You mean… romantically?” she said, as if testing the word on her tongue. As if the idea had never once occurred to her.

Something about that response had made Natalia feel like an idiot for asking. But even more foolish for caring an answer. That should have been the end of it.

It wasn’t.

Because somewhere along the way, Natalia had started wanting more.

Not all at once. Not in some dramatic relevation. 

Just in small things.

The way she sought Eydis out in a crowded room without meaning to. 

The way her breath caught when Eydis so much as glanced her way. 

The warmth that settled in her chest at a passing touch, the awareness of every brush of skin, every hint of something that felt like it could be something.

And missing her.

Not in the easy way she missed Birgit and Colette when they were gone. That was simple. But when Eydis wasn’t there, it was different. It was an… aching kind of absence.

That week had been chaos. Theo under house arrest. Athena temporarily pulled from school. Tiffany’s father and uncle… gone. The flu sweeping through, taking down half the student body.

Everything had gone wrong.

But all Natalia could think about was Eydis. Worried about her.

That was when she knew.

She was utterly, hopelessly, completely screwed.

Because she had watched Eydis long enough to understand what her real smiles looked like. She had seen them before, had foolishly thought—hoped—that they were meant just for her.

And she had thought, maybe if she waited, maybe if she stayed. Maybe one day, Eydis would look at her the same way.

Then Eydis returned.

And something had changed.

Not in the obvious ways—not in the way her dark hair caught the light, making her seem untouchable, not in the way she moved with quiet elegance, like someone from another time, another place.

Not in the way she was both magnetic and unreachable.

No.

In the way something had softened, something distant had given way… just enough to let someone in.

And Natalia, reckless, stupid, idiotic Natalia, had let herself believe that it could have been her.

Until Eydis looked at Astra.

And Astra looked back.

Not in passing. Not in curiosity.

But in that way.

A look Natalia had only ever read about in romance novels, the kind she had laughed at and dismissed as overblown and unrealistic. But now, as she watched them…

She couldn’t laugh. Because she knew.

She had never stood a chance.

Because when Eydis looked at her, it was warm, affectionate in a way that felt almost special.

But when Eydis looked at Astra….

It was gravity. It was inevitability. It was something that had already been written long before Natalia had ever stepped into the story.

It wasn’t her who had broken down Eydis’s walls.

It never had been.

“It’ll pass,” Eydis had said, when Astra caught them in the courtyard. For the first time in months, Eydis seemed… unsure. Almost… shaken.

And then—That smile.

Natalia had thought she understood what Eydis’s real smile looked like. She had memorised them, convinced herself she knew what they meant.

She had never seen this one.

It was breathtaking. 

It was heartbreaking. 

It was the end.

Because it wasn’t for her.

It was the kind of smile that made Natalia want to close her eyes, sink into the dream, and stay there just a little longer. Pretend, for one more moment, that she didn’t already know the answer.

There was no space for her here.

And yet, the dreams still came.

Haunting her for weeks, even before she’d understood what they meant. Dreams where Eydis smiled just for her. Where she leaned in, soft and sweet, lips carrying the scent of something that belonged to Natalia and no one else.

Where every almost became real.

But it wasn’t real.

Because that wasn’t the smile Natalia had seen in the courtyard. Because her hopeless mind hadn’t kept up with the truth. That Eydis could smile like that. And that smile wasn’t hers to claim.

So the dreams grew sharper.

More vivid. 

More passionate. 

More cruel.

They festered, pulling her deeper into a world where Eydis reached for her, kissed her, whispered her name like a secret meant only for them. A dream so lucid she knew it wasn’t real—and yet, she couldn’t quite wake from it.

Because she didn’t want to. Even when she knew it was wrong.

Wrong to hope. Wrong to imagine something that had never been hers to begin with.

Then came the blue light.

It was cool and soothing, like ocean spray carrying the scent of mint. Natalia had always loved the sea, but this was not the sea; this was something else. It felt familiar.

But she couldn’t quite remember why it felt familiar.

Eydis’s smile flickered. Glitched.

No!

This dream was hers.

But the blue light swelled, expanded gradually. Like waves brushing against the shore, cooling her skin, whispering in a voice so soft it melted into the sea.

“I’m here. Stay with me, Red. Stay with me.”

Whose—

“It’s alright now, Natalia.”

Just like that.

The second voice, Eydis’s voice, surprised her. It was warmer than expected, musical in ways her dreams never managed.

Real in ways her dreams could never be.

And for the first time, waking up felt like more than just letting go.

When Natalia woke up, the first thing she felt was the warmth of soft skin pressed against her forehead.

Eydis.

The weight of her hand grounded Natalia in the space between sleep and waking. It felt like she was still dreaming, like she could close her eyes again and drift back into something softer, something safer.

But then Eydis smiled.

Soft. Quiet. Almost… sad.

“You took your time.”

The words were almost playful, but Natalia knew Eydis well enough to tell the difference between what was genuine and what wasn’t. This time, it wasn’t playful—just a quiet sadness, a regret she didn’t say.

And just like that, the dream shattered. Everything crashed back.

Going to Eydis’s room. Crawling into her bed, drawn by something. A feeling. Something desperate, something selfish. She wished she didn’t remember.

But she did.

The way Eydis had held her without thinking, tightening her arms in sleep, only to wake and pull away. To look at her with something that wasn’t quite rejection, but close enough to leave a mark.

Natalia’s chest tightened.

Disappointment.

That look wasn’t meant to hurt.

But it did anyway.

Shame stung her eyes. She blinked hard, trying to push it down, but Eydis already blurred in her vision. That soft, sad smile shifted into something else. Something like panic.

And then, before Natalia could speak, before she could say something, anything, Eydis wrapped her arms around her.

Warmth. Steady and certain. The weight of her. The way she held her like she mattered. Like she had always mattered.

It was cruel.

Because it wasn’t real.

Not the way Natalia wanted it to be. And it was almost enough to break her.

“Natalia, I—” Eydis whispered.

“Don’t. Please.”

Natalia held her tighter, seeking the fleeting comfort in the embrace. Because she knew what was coming. She knew what Eydis was going to say. And she never wanted to hear it.

She never wanted to see that look on her face again—regret, hesitation, discomfort, the one that meant I care about you, just not like that.

Natalia swallowed hard and whispered instead, “I understand.”

Eydis’s breath hitched. And then her arms tightened, just slightly.

“Don’t say it.” Natalia’s voice trembled. “Don’t say you’re sorry.”

“I wasn’t going to—” Eydis protested.

“Yes, you were.”

And Eydis flinched, letting out a quiet sigh. She held Natalia a little closer, letting the silence settle between them.

And that was enough.

Eydis, despite acting like she didn’t care about anyone, did. And that silence was her way of accepting Natalia’s choice. Of giving her space. Of helping her come to terms with what remained unsaid.

As Natalia leaned her head on Eydis’s shoulder, she caught movement from the corner of her eye.

Astra stood in the doorway, concern written across her face. Their eyes met, and Natalia understood.

Astra did too. She held Natalia’s gaze for a moment longer, then gave the smallest nod before stepping away and closing the door without a sound.

Natalia pressed her face into Eydis’s shoulder and let herself have this final moment. The steady thud of Eydis’s heart. The warmth of her skin. The bittersweet knowledge that her first love would only ever be that.

First.

And unreturned.

It hurt.

And just like that, the tide went out, leaving her stranded on the shore, alone.

God, it hurt.