Reborn As The Lead's Love Intrest

Chapter Thirty Four

I grabbed his hand, smiling kindly, "thank you for worrying about me. All of you."

Leon and Finn looked at Damon, than back at me, then at our hands.

"If you become emperor, I'm retiring," the two said at the same time.

Damon started laughing at that, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Don't worry, I probably will not have that title."

Damon looked at me, brow quirked, "what do you want to be called then?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"Besides that wonderful announcement, thank you for telling us," Leon said kindly.

I smiled brightly back, still holding onto Damon's hand.

"That aside, when did you and the prince get together?"

Damon went to speak, but shut his mouth, wondering if saying the retirement party was the right idea.

"We talked about it before. When we were nearly done talking to all the newly installed kings and leaders. I brought up concerns and then a week or so later, he brought up some of his."

"Concerns?" Finn asked.

"I know I'm next in line to be emperor, so who I date will be very public eventually. Me being with Isaiah could have people doubting my integrity as emperor, that sort of thing. But we'll be fine, I'm sure of it."

Finn and Leon immediately understood.

"I guess I just expected you to be more forward about it, Liam was pretty open about your relationship," Finn reminded.

"To show off his boyfriend surely," Leon joked.

My face scrunched up, "he wasn't doing it to brag at all. Liam did it because he was scared I'd leave."

All the smiles slipped.

"What?"

"Liam knew Damon liked me when we got together. I never believed it because I was head over heels for Liam. Liam went out of his way to tell people we were together so that it solidified that we were together."

"Why?" Damon asked.

"He was insecure. My first love was the crown prince. He thought he wasn't good enough. It took me a long time to convince him that I only saw him. Liam even admitted his insecurities to me multiple times. Like when Damon and I became friends again, he expressed his fears of me leaving. At the time, I told him that even if Damon suddenly confessed, he was the only one I was seeing."

Leon's brows furrowed, "Liam was worried about stuff like that?"

"He's only human. And all the time we'd known each other, I've been talked up, praised, gods gave me their blessings, all of that. People get insecure even over the smallest of things. He was scared, and I did everything I could to make him feel secure."

"So when he boasted to the soldiers-"

"That was bragging. When we got married, a lot of his insecurities vanished. And from what the god of tragedy told me, he was at his happiest when he passed. So I'm sure that he wasn't scared of me loving someone else while he was alive."

"You two always seemed so sure of yourselves, I'd never think you'd be insecure."

I shrugged, "it wasn't just him. I was worried he'd find someone better. I was scared he's reject me, and we both worked together to build each other up." We had trust in each other and we worked hard to be there for each other. "Besides, no matter how in love you are, you can always be scared of things that will never happen."

"How so?" Finn pressed.

I decided to use a more recent example. "When I feel in love with Damon and confessed the first time, I didn't think about him being prince, anything like that. He was just Damon. And as we got closer when Liam died, I got scared again. Scared that Damon didn't feel anything a rn I was setting myself up for failure. Fear that Liam would resent me if he knew. Fear that the emperor would take his crown. Even now I'm worried that I'll get in his way. I know that emperor may not mind, but that doesn't change my fears. Because I want Damon to become emperor. He's a good leader and exactly what the empire needs when the emperor retires. But I also wish I didn't see the crown. To me, Damon is my best friend, my first love, and don't want him to ever think I want the crown."

"I'm well aware you don't want it," Damon assured.

"Still."

"To think even the great Duke Reynolds worries that much."

I was still holding Damon's hand, and I gave it a calm squeeze, smiling a bit. "You'll never stop worrying when you have someone to worry about."

"You two are calling us all sort of single, aren't you?"

Yup.