Wriothesley's POV
After much thinking, I decided not to get involved too much in the main conflict leading up to the prophecy.
I will however warn Navia so she can evacuate Poisson in time and everyone on that side can survive.
Dougier and Beret can be dealt with in advance as well. That won't change much.
Then there is Kiara's matter. Helping out and decreasing Neuvillette's already high stress levels even just a little bit will be good too.
As for telling Neuvillette...
I decided not to tell him anything.
I will court him properly, albeit with a bit of a cheat seeing as how I now know exactly what he likes and dislikes.
And burdening him with things about the prophecy he cannot change either way would not do him any good either.
And trust me, I know he can't change a thing. Neuvillette thought long and hard about it for years on end and came up with nothing that could have prevented the death of Focalors.
There was one person who I could tell about some of it though.
Furina.
For one, she can sure as hell keep a secret better than anyone.
And two...
She needs some serious reassurance right about now.
Well, actually what she needs is a whole lot of therapy but I can't be of much help in that regard.
I'm not thinking of telling her how it will all pan out, but she could use a 'you're doing well, Fontaine will be fine'.
I would rather not have a depressed retired archon on my hands again especially since it also causes Neuvillette to be depressed.
So yeah. I'm telling Furina a very, very censored version of everything.
So.
How does someone the Hydro Archon is somewhat frightened of set a meeting with her?
By sneaking in through the back of course!
Hooray for Furina and her secret routes through Palais Mermonia!
Even Neuvillette doesn't know about most of these yet. Thankfully so, as I still haven't prepared my heart for greeting him without a kiss again.
I want to kiss my little dragon!
This isn't fair!
Waaah!
I know I kind of deserve it course, I stupidly got myself killed but still...
It will take me ages till I can get to kissing Neuvillette again!
Let's not even talk about the wedding.
Wait...
I will get to have a wedding with Neuvillette again!
Wow!
I'm starting to like this new chance at life a bit more.
But for now, let's focus on sneaking into Palais Mermonia without alerting the hydro dragon.
Fortunately for me, I had become quite efficient at it when my relationship with Neuvillette was still a secret.
...
Ugh...
I guess we'll have to go through that stage again.
And then the mess with the reporters...
I'm never dying again!
This is a pain in the ass!
I just want to go and kiss my husband but instead, I have to court him all over again!
And I just remembered...
The girls...
I'll have to go through the 'we don't trust you around dad' phase again.
Ugh...
Not that again!
Then there is Neuvillette's legendary obliviousness as well, but that can be avoided somewhat this time around.
Heh.
Good thing I asked him about draconic courting habits even though some of them are a bit extreme.
Like, I won't throw Neuvillette over my shoulder and whisk him off to engage in a heated-
Yeah... Nope. Not happening anytime soon.
Even if I tried, Neuvillette might just slap me out of shock and I know from experience that my bones aren't too fond of slaps from a shocked dragon.
But I'll have to put my dragon-courting plans aside for now.
Let's meet with Furina first.
I snuck through the hidden passages in Palais Mermonia all the way to the top floor. In other words, Furina's residence.
Here goes nothing.
I knocked on the door a few times only to be met with silence.
I was just starting to think that she wasn't here when-
"Neuvillette, I believe I told you that I wished to be-"
I locked eyes with an incredibly shocked Furina.
"Hi?" I smiled awkwardly.
Predictably enough, she proceeded to try and slam the door in my face.
Emphasis on 'tried to'. I was far too experienced with that not to act.
I quickly pushed my foot into the small crack before the door could close.
"Lady Furina-"
"Duke Wriothesley! This is incredibly rude! Remove your foot this instant!"
Yes, yes. I'm very rude. I got that years ago.
"Lady Furina, please just allow me to-"
"Will I have to call the guards-"
"I'm aware of your secret." I blurted out.
...
That was not how I was planning on sharing that...
Not the best move on my part.
Her face went pale in an instant.
"S-Secret? Wha-What secret? I have no secrets that would be of interest to you, Duke Wriothesley."
Oh, how quickly she found her bearing again.
"May I come in, Lady Furina?" I asked gently.
"No-"
"I do not wish to talk of a 5-century-old secret in the hall. Act frivolous as you may, I'm guessing neither would you."
Her eyes went wide and she shuddered, but after some more hesitation, she eventually stepped aside to let me in.
Still, her gaze full of suspicion and dread never left me, following every single one of my movements.
I made my way over to the closest couch in the sitting room. Furina followed along wearily, sitting down on the very edge of the couch across.
Silence.
Predictably so. I knew damn well that she wasn't gonna start this uncomfortable conversation.
Let's just throw it out there.
"I know you are not the real archon of Fontaine, but instead someone Focalors asked to act out the role of god."
That's what I want to say, just not like that. Saying it like that would probably cause her to pass out from fright.
So since I want to tell her about some of my matters as well...
"I know Neuvillette is the Hydro Dragon." I started.
Her eyes went wide from shock but there was no emotional breakdown so that's a good start.
I saw her open her mouth to say something but before she could I quickly added:
"I know this because I'm his mate. Or at least I was in another timeline. In that timeline I died, causing Neuvillette to go on a rampage, which in turn got the God of Time to send my soul back to the past and now here I am."
The room fell silent.
Furina's mouth closed and then it opened again as if to say something. This repeated a few times before she suddenly got up from the couch and walked towards a cupboard on the other side of the room.
She swung the door open and without another word took two bottles from the cabinet.
She returned to the couch and sat down, throwing one bottle to me and opening the other chugging some of the contents herself.
"Say that again." She demanded flatly.
"This is...?" I asked, lifting the bottle.
"Alcohol. I don't usually drink, but I feel like I'll need it this time."
...
Fair enough.
I opened my own bottle.
Huh...
Quite the strong drink Furina got stashed away.
I chugged down a few mouthfuls before starting my explanation.
"So in the original timeline, I died and-"
"Oh, no, no, no. I meant tell me about how the hell you managed to get together with Neuvillette. Compared to that time travel and the like is a simple matter." She cut me off.
...
Furina sure as hell doesn't change a bit no matter how much time passes.