Who are you?
Where is Ariellia?
These are loaded questions Eren can't answer fast enough. He barely manages to get out from behind the desk when Rei dashes over with his twin blades, cleanly slicing his desk in two. He trips over his own two feet trying to avoid the madman. He's never had to come up with a quick way to explain his own existence while evading lethal blows at sword point.
"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" He screams with his lungs burning and his heart racing.
"Why? Haven't thought of a lie to tell me yet?"
The menacing twirl of Rei's blades doesn't look very promising from his vantage point on the floor. They make Eren gulp in fear that he may be forcefully evicted from Ariellia's body tonight. His slow retreat stops the moment he feels the sharp, cold brush of a sword right next to his throat. There's really nowhere else to run within the seal; if he can't make his case now, then he truly will meet his maker soon. Eren's light brown eyes tremble while staring into those scarlet red eyes, unable to look away.
"Speak. Why do I feel like I know you?"
"Would you believe me if I said I am the other half of her soul?" He confesses, though his voice is shaking terribly.
Rei looks puzzled by the concept, tilting his head to the side like he's trying to wrap his mind around it.
"Stop! He's telling the truth!" Ariellia suddenly appears, quickly rushing to his defense. To Eren, she looks like a walking human pardon before his executioner. He can finally let out the breath he's been holding the entire time. Surely, she won't stand by and watch Rei decapitate her other half.
"You know him?" Rei's scrutinizing stare switches from him to her.
"I summoned him." Arie doesn't back down, proudly puffing out her chest in an oddly endearing manner.
"Why? When?" The young dragon lord can't comprehend why she would open herself up for possession after seeing what happened to Anya.
"I-I didn't mean to at first…it just kinda happened that way…" She begins to lose steam the more she tries to explain what brought about the situation. It's not like she can admit to casting forbidden magic in hopes of binding Rei to her. It's okay; clearly, he expected too much from the young heiress. She's not a public defender; how could he expect her to make a sound case to prove his innocence? Eren can only curse his current predicament. His gaze wanders around the trashed room, landing on an inconspicuous doll on the bed that had just witnessed the whole thing from start to finish.
'Jasper! That bastard-'
"Calm down, nephew. You're about to scare your bride into an early grave."
"Which bride?" Arie and Eren shout in unison, then gape at each other.
"It was you!" Rei's scarlet eyes zero in on him once more. "You were the one at the altar. It was you who hesitated to say the vows. You've been wearing her face ever since then!"
The murderous intent from before redoubles as the young dragon lord stares him up and down. His hands flex, switching his sword grip as though he might change his mind and slice him in half anyway.
"Don't be rash and do something you may regret later, nephew. There is an explanation for all of this."
"And you knew!" He glares at the stuffed doll, knowing this must all seem amusing to his crazy uncle. The fact that he unknowingly said 'I do' to a middle-aged male of unknown origins without knowing any better, like a fool.
"No, I actually didn't know of any of this until the night I kidnapped her from the castle. It's then that I noticed a change in her mana and realized her soul was finally completely whole."
"Her soul?" Rei looks to Ariellia, his concern for her well-being outweighing his anger.
"Yes, her soul. Your bride was born with half a soul. For many years, David and I tried to devise ways to find the missing piece. Who knew that it wouldn't be us but Arie herself who found him."
"Him?" The scathing gaze from before lands on Eren again. The poor civil servant tries to clean up his dreadful appearance before the protagonist, desperately trying to earn some goodwill.
"Of course, dual affinity users are rare. I knew something was different, but I couldn't figure it out until now. I felt like I was driving myself crazy this whole time, second-guessing myself. There's no way I wouldn't know what Ariellia is like." Rei shakes his head in disbelief, looking to Ariellia and then back to Eren. All the pieces of a puzzle are finally coming together in his head. The two grimoires, her sudden interest in books, and the sudden shift to train. "It was all you…"
…
"Guilty as charged," Eren admits while peeking through one eye, only to be taken aback by the broad smirk on Rei's face.
"You switched places during the fight against the impostor too. I sensed it when Arie's affinity changed from dark to life magic…this is insane." There is no longer any doubt in his voice; Rei is now certain.
"Took you long enough…" Ariellia grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. The familiar pose brings a smile to Rei's lips before he can stop it. He didn't even realize how much he'd missed something so minor until now. All the unsettling feelings of living with a stranger wearing a familiar face this whole month finally washed away.
"I'm married to two people?" The poor young dragon lord looks dumbfounded by the truth.
"Don't be so glum, hatchling. Things could have been worse. You could have found your soulmate a step too late after they'd already married another and made an irrevocable vow never to be with anyone else till death. Just think of it as a double blessing, two for one. You got a steal." Once again, his cheap uncle has a way of ruining the mood with his careless words.