He jolted awake, mind swimming in fog.
His body felt heavy, like he'd run a marathon in his sleep—but it wasn't all that bad. The ground beneath him was warm and soft, familiar in a way he couldn't place.
As if he had the best pillows in the entire world, no questions asked—thighs. But whose?
He opened his eyes, the lids heavy, and everything felt dark.
As if he had been staring at a pure white void until now—but that couldn't be right.
It took a moment for his sight to clear. The first thing he saw was a bare stomach. Soft, but toned, rising and falling with steady breaths. And of course—the thighs.
So he was in heaven. But then his eyes adjusted further.
Straight, ginger strands fanned over round shoulders.
A heart-shaped face with pink lips and an upturned nose.
Freckles. Freckles for days. Lily Freeman in the flesh.
His high-school love—the only one he'd ever had. But that couldn't be—
A sudden jolt almost tossed him off her lap. He yelped, righting himself before landing back on those soft, pale thighs. His eyes darted to the window, and they were on a train?
But no train ride should've been this bumpy.
And what was with her outfit? Lily always liked crop tees, not—whatever this was. A ragged bikini? Was this some cosplay? Were they on a train ride to an anime convention?
"Oh, Konny, you're awake." She gave him a wide smile as he stared up at her, before—
"Who?"
Lily's eyes went wide, then narrowed, shooting a glare towards the seats across.
He couldn't help but follow her gaze, and they weren't alone in this weird train cabin.
A girl in a frilly blue dress sat there—regal enough to be a princess, or at least a noble.
She had long, black hair, rolling her eyes before addressing Lily's glare.
"What?" she scoffed. "I told you, it was a necessary precaution."
"Wiping even his name, Gabby?!" Lily shot back, and he could almost see sparks flying between them. If only he knew what the hell they were talking about.
"You got a blank canvas," the girl in blue—Gabby?—shrugged. "Pretend he's your boyfriend."
His mouth fell open.
"Wait, what?" he managed, but his head wanted to explode right away.
A sudden pain pulsed at his temples, building with each second.
"You okay, Konny baby?" Lily asked, caressing his face, warmth spreading through his body. But the migraine remained, stubborn, making him see stars.
He rubbed his temples.
"Is this some kind of cosplay?" His memories were a swirling fog—nothing solid to grab onto.
The two girls exchanged a curious glance.
"And what do you mean pretend?" he pushed further. "Didn't we start dating a month ago, Lily?"
Her eyes went wide, then a happy smile spread across her flushed face.
"Yes, yes, we did, Konny," she nodded, caressing his face. "We are dating."
"I don't understand," Gabby mumbled, leaning closer. "How does he remember you, but not his name? And what is a cosplay, anyway?"
What a weird thing to ask, dressed as a princess on a train traveling on the bumpiest rails ever.
"Who could ever forget Lily Freeman?" Darkness pricked at the corners of his vision.
He squeezed his eyes shut against a spray of spinning lights.
"Freeman?" That was Lily's voice. "Oh. Oh boy."
"What?" Gabby urged, leaning in close.
"That was my—"
Lily's voice dissolved, drowning in static. Her thighs disappeared—no, the floor fell away.
He plummeted into the void, lost in a swirl of blinding lights. No train rides this wild should exist. He forced his eyes open, and that comfortable little lap disappeared.
The stars, though—they got even bigger, clearer. Voices twisted into sounds he almost recognized—but not quite.
Only one of them stood still in front of his nose, vibrating brighter than the rest.
"We have decided, we recognize you as Konrad of the Halstadt house," it said. "Your defiance and determination convinced us. But you have to correct Nimrod's fate, too. Don't forget."
"D-don't forget what? Who are you?"
Who was even this Konrad? Or Konny?
He didn't understand anything, until—
Another bright flash, overwhelming the white void itself.
Memories of two lifetimes, his wish for control, and Lu's promises.
His death and rebirth as Konrad Ostfeld—no, as the Halstadts' heir.
Welf, Vargas, and Zoltan. That girl in blue, Gabrielle.
Eyna and how he rescued her from the greater dungeon. The dragon's core—and the kiss.
His first kiss with Lily—his Lily, Lily Freeman, but under a different name, in a different world.
The Church and Halaim's catacombs—the cracks between the planes.
His twin and their duel. His highest and lowest points, and how he had already ended up floating in the same void before. He couldn't understand the spirits back then, but now—
"The motherfu—"
Lu and Gabrielle wiped all his memories.
They knocked him out and took everything—well, almost.
Somehow, they unlocked memories from his previous life, things he had lost before.
Why was Lily even locked away? Or how did she reincarnate here, too?
"I can't give you the answers you yourself don't know," the floating orb said. "But I can return the true memories you had—if you help us—or you'll lose everything again."
"No, no, no, I'm keeping them, thank you very much," Konrad straightened himself.
His brain was already in an overdrive, putting together pieces he couldn't until now.
He would have a word or two with Gabrielle, who was also an angel and his guardian's sister.
And what did Lily have to do with all this? They broke up in his past life, and things went downhill fast. It couldn't have been a coincidence—but he had to deal with the spirits first.
"What do you need me to do?" he asked with genuine interest. "Fix Nimrod, how?"
"Bring him back to the right path," the spirit said, and the void was already fading around him.
"Wait, but how?" The question echoed hollow, and the headache returned.
The stars—these spinning lights, spirits or whatever—all disappeared.
He woke up on those soft thighs again, heart pounding. Was it over? Had any of it been real?
The funny part was that he still had no idea how he had gotten there, but he recognized the carriage now. Lily leaned over him with a worried expression, then flashed him a weak smile.
"Hey, sleepyhead, you passed out again," she said, caressing his face.
So soft and genuine—did this girl ruin his past life on purpose?
She couldn't, right?
"Yeah, I, uh," Konrad glanced at Gabrielle, unsure how much to tell her. But the angel's eyes widened—making it clear that she already knew everything.
"What did you do?" she demanded, reaching her arm to snap her fingers—but he was faster.
Konrad ignored his dizziness and jumped, grabbing her hand before time could freeze.
"No, you're not," he spat, pushing her back. "The real question is, what did you do, angel?"
For a split second, Gabrielle's pupils blew wide in panic.
"Y-you remember," she said, a desperate warning. "You can't hope to overpower an archangel, whether I can stop time or not."
"That is true, Konny boy," Lily agreed from behind him.
Was she taking her side? Konrad's confidence evaporated fast, looking back at her.
But that face—her cute, fanged smirk he remembered from both lives—
"But I can, and I totally will."