NOVEL WEB Chapter 250: [Extra] [Final] Life together
Under King Rian Azure’s reign, quality of life increased rapidly.
State healthcare was established. Through decades of funding and training, commoners could now visit knowledgeable and qualified first-point-of-care doctors and nurses at a low, subsidised cost; mage healers were assigned to more specialist healing work. Vaccines and antivirals moved from theoretical research to application, with some approved for use after clinical trials.
The Imperial Magical Academy expanded to accepting younger students. Several dozen state schools for non-magical students were created across the kingdom.
Human rights was now a commonly understood topic; the death penalty was abolished and the tiered taxation system was passed. Sustainability of agriculture and protection of the natural environment were overseen by large multidisciplinary teams.
Trains and trams and buses were commonplace, many of which were powered by sunlight converted to magical energy. The first mountain tunnel was made between Sedaveria and Angio to facilitate more movement between the two countries.
Magical technology and machines became commonplace. Non-mages could also develop magical technology due to the development of magic-to-mechanical energy motors and converters.
Given the increase in administrative burden, the Sedaverian government departments expanded over ten times, with new positions populated mostly by non-mages. Spending and incomes increased across the board and the economy thrived.
Rian couldn’t work without breaks. He made Alexius Crown Prince so that he would be compelled to take over temporarily whenever he and Ren Xiyang went on a romantic holiday.
Alexius: “…”
Every time this happened, he reconfirmed the fact that he didn’t want to be king.
Why was there so much work? How was this humanly possible??? Working in the treasury was a lot more straightforward than everything else!
At first, Alexius could convince his Imperial Mother and Imperial Father to help him. But eventually, they conveniently went on holiday too or said that they were too busy looking after the grandchildren. Alexius could only ask Cassiopeia and his friends for help.
Cassiopeia handled work a bit better, but she much preferred healing to kingdom management. Meanwhile, Tierri was the Prime Minister and had limited scope to handle matters. Adrienne had a business empire to run, and Günter was too annoying to work with on anything else aside from duelling events.
It was better when Alexius’s children grew older and could assist him. He had an eldest daughter who was very responsible, and a younger son who mischievous and loved trains and duelling but was still capable of doing some work if sufficiently bribed.
And no, Alexius wasn’t embarrassed that his children (daughter) were more hard-working than him. Everyone had their strengths, after all!
Sometime after Rian ascended, Ren Xiyang and Rian decided to tell their closest family and friends about their secrets.
They revealed to Florence, Mira, Edric, Alexius and others about their past lives. Ren Xiyang told them his name and background, and how he was using Alyssa Rosewood’s body and how she was using his body back in his old world. Rian explained the plague-curse and subsequent events.
It took a moment for everyone to parse the words. It sounded like a fantasy, but Ayden—Ren Xiyang was indeed serious.
Florence was the calmest. Ayden had always thought differently. She had suspected that he had grown up in an unknown location with a completely different culture; her suspicions were technically correct.
Many things suddenly made sense to Mira. No wonder she could never find any information about Ayden Rosewood’s background. No wonder Rian had been so mysterious about it. And to think that he had died so young in his first life…
Edric now understood some (but not all) of Rian’s actions in Angio. Ren Xiyang and Rian’s words also hinted at the concept of souls and memories and, potentially, multiple worlds.
Alexius was extremely shocked. His two big brothers had died previously? He, in a different life, had become king so early???
Rian smiled at Alexius, which put Alexius on alert.
“Because we’re actually nearly twenty years older than we appear to be, we’ll be retiring relatively early. So, look forward to ruling, Alexius, you won’t be too old at all. I know you can do it,” Rian said.
“—That’s a different me!” Alexius protested.
“It would be a good experience for you,” Rian said. “You’ll be known as a king in the future. Don’t you want Cassiopeia to also experience being a queen?”
“I disagree!” Alexius said.
“You’re already Crown Prince. When I abdicate, you’ll have to ascend,” Rian said with a shrug.
“I disagree!” Alexius repeated.
“You can rule for as little or as long as you want before abdicating,” Ren Xiyang said.
Alexius pouted, aggrieved. He didn’t want to go down as the king with the shortest reign in history, which meant he needed to rule for at least a few years!
“Did you attend a university in your first life?” Mira asked, bringing the conversation back on topic.
Ren Xiyang nodded and explained his schooling and research background, which further helped Mira clear up her old unanswered questions about Ayden Rosewood.
“Why are you telling us now?” Edric asked.
“At first, we had signed contracts with each other preventing us from telling others. Then, we decided we wanted you to know, but Rian wanted to secure the kingship first,” Ren Xiyang said.
Edric: “…”
“What are the things your old world had?” Florence asked.
Ren Xiyang obligingly explained about computers and the internet.
“Your old world sounds amazing,” Alexius said.
Ren Xiyang gave him a slight smile. “This world is amazing too. It has you—and Rian—in it.”
Alexius and Rian both beamed.
Rian reached out and held Ren Xiyang’s hand. “Our meeting is over, come talk to us later if you still have any questions.” With a short farewell, the two of them left.
Rian chuckled as they walked away (with the Royal Guards following silently behind them).
It had been a while since they shocked others. Rian had missed this feeling!
In preparation for Rian’s abdication, Ren Xiyang planned his retirement from his roles in the Rosewood fief.
Although the Rosewood fief had been under the lead of numerous people over the last few decades, and even had a dedicated program to empower people to become leaders, most residents didn’t believe that a single person could take over his role. They believed that no one had the same competency, same level of magical power, and could inspire people in “just the right way”. But because he had no heir, this was an issue that had to be solved.
Ren Xiyang consulted with the Rosewood people for several years. With his people’s grudging consent, he restructured the concept of ‘acting-Duke’ and wrote some new legislation.
Rather than a single acting-Duke, there would be a small team of leaders who, together, would form the Council of the Rosewood Dukedom (or CORD, for short). There would be no ultimate leader, and each person on that team would be responsible for different sectors (departments) and different locations in the Rosewood fief. Each leader needed to be voted in, with roles lasting five years and with a maximum of 15 years total. With King Rian’s approval, a member of the Rosewood Council could attend the Imperial Council and vote on matters on behalf of the Rosewood fief.
The draft legislation was as thick as a book. There were notes on how the leadership team would be structured. There were terms of reference, regulations, methods of consensus and internal voting. There were many pages of requirements that prospective leaders had to fulfil and many guiding values and rules to preemptively reduce the risk of bad behaviour. There were outlines for the different departments and regions each would have their own representative. There were outlines on how the voting should be conducted, rules around the prior campaigns, and rules about how the rules could be changed.
After several iterations and further consultations with the people, a finalised version was reached and approved by King Rian and the Imperial Council.
The first Council election was scheduled for not long before Rian’s abdication. Every eligible person was forced to vote, and twenty people were successfully promoted into the inaugural Council of the Rosewood Dukedom.
Ren Xiyang shook hands with everyone and wished them all the best. He was available for consultation for the first few months, but once Rian’s abdication occurred, he was out.
Rian took his post-abdication holiday seriously. He and Ren Xiyang were not allowed to do any work. They were otherwise allowed to be as impulsive as they wanted.
No matter how old Rian was, he was still very cute.
No matter how old Ren Xiyang was, Rian still adored him the most.
They stayed up late in bed; they woke up late and lazed in bed. They had picnics and visited the cat lounge and the dog park. They impulsively acquired a pet dog and a pet cat. They cooked together, they had meals served to them, they walked hand-in-hand in beautiful and delicious gardens.
Alexius had his ascension and coronation and was crowned as King Alexius.
After giving Alexius some tips to rule, Ren Xiyang and Rian retreated to their retirement home with their two pets.
Their new home was moderately sized, spacious and neat. According to Ren Xiyang’s wishes, they had no servants, but someone came around to clean the house regularly.
Outside, they had a small duelling field, a greenhouse, gardens and vegetable beds, and fruit trees. Inside, they had a big spacious bedroom and bathroom, and a big study room filled with books. The living-dining room overlooked the garden, and the kitchen had state-of-the-art food preservation cupboards; the entire house had magical temperature control and lighting.
Rian had hired a dozen artists to draw and paint scenes of their wedding for commemoration many decades ago; he also had several paintings from the coronation, of them on holidays, of them working. Several paintings were hung around the Imperial Palace and Rosewood manor, but his favourites were moved to their retirement home. The house was also decorated with many plants, miniature floating carriages, miniature floating trains, miniature agricultural machinery, miniature weapons, and life-sized weapons.
However, since Rian liked travelling, the property had a special feature.
After many years, Rian was finally able to make something even more amazing than trains and planes with Ren Xiyang: a floating house!
Powered by an array of magical crystals, the house could be surrounded by a protective dome and rise up into the air. It could float leisurely and smoothly to a new location according to its occupants’ wishes. It shocked many people the first time it happened.
With a wave of his hand, Rian had organised several ‘landing pads’ at his favourite places around Sedaveria. They visited the snow-covered mountain slopes in the winter, the bustling Capital in the spring, the sparkling ocean in the summer, and the festive Rosewood fief in the autumn.
They travelled, enjoyed food, and met with the people while they still could. Ren Xiyang continued tinkering with his garden and greenhouse and Rian continued convincing Ren Xiyang to bed.
As it turned out, one of their favourite past-times was sitting on comfortable chairs outdoors in the sun and reminiscing about their lives. About their childhoods in their first lives, and their ‘childhoods’ in this life; about how Ren Xiyang had used Rian’s body as a reference (these conversations often made Rian frisky) and about Ren Xiyang’s many love rivals (which Ren Xiyang didn’t even bother denying); about past memorable moments, such as when Ren Xiyang revealed the existence of germs to the people here; and of all the times that Rian won a duel against Ren Xiyang (those were easier to list than the other way around). They fondly and nostalgically remembered old Count Leopold Aegean’s frequent bewilderment…
They had so many friends, family, and colleagues over the years.
As mages, they lived longer than the average person. However, despite advances in healing, the human body, and the brain in particular, still aged. As time passed, their friends and loved ones grew old and passed away. The number of funerals they attended increased as the years went by. After Mrs Cooks passed away, Ren Xiyang would forever miss her cooking and her warmth. When Mira passed away, the world fundamentally shifted for Rian. It wasn’t the same without their loved ones.
One day, it would be their turn. Rian had already made a plan that tied their lives together, so that they could go at the same time.
No matter how old Rian became, he was still a possessive romantic. Ren Xiyang found it cute.
Without a doubt, they would go down in the history books—Rian commissioned many of them himself. He had many detailed books written about contemporary life, so that historians of the future would have less confusion about all the amazing things that he and his husband did and about the infinite depth of their love.
A hundred years after their death, the Rosewood press would release a book that Rian had prepared long beforehand. This book detailed hundreds of small romantic moments between him and Ren Xiyang, and included excerpts of them calling each other ‘Riri’ and ‘Yangyang’ and had multiple mentions to their telepathic connection. As though it wasn’t already clear enough that they really, really, really loved each other.
As a turning point in history, as an era with rapid changes and an explosion in the arts and sciences, the period of King Rian Azure and Duke Ayden Rosewood’s lives would become a popular period of study.
But that was in the future, when they were long gone.
Under the warm sun of the present day, Ren Xiyang and Rian sat together and held hands.
The sky was blue with fluffy white clouds. Trees and plants and flowers and vegetables surrounded them. A cat curled up on Ren Xiyang’s lap, and a dog was flopped on the ground at Rian’s feet.
“In the next life, I’ll find you first,” Rian suddenly said.
Ren Xiyang’s eyes crinkled. “Hm.”
Rian’s hand was warm in his.
FINAL END
Aaannddd that was the last chapter! I added a few more extras so that we could finish on chapter 250 😆 (I was going to otherwise finish on chapter 247)
Thank you to everyone that read, liked, commented, drew fanart, wrote fanfic, wrote reviews, recommended this to their friends and others, and gave me tapas ink or kofi!!!! This novel would not be possible without all of your support over the 2.5+ years!!!!
Here are some stats:
- Total words written: 715,395
- Total words published (not including end notes): 562,599
- Hours taken: 1123.4 hours
- Average hours per week: 7.8 hours
- Average hours per chapter: 5 hours
Readers (hypothetical): That’s all great and all, but what story would be posted next? When will it be posted? What will it be about? 🔪🔪
bafflinghaze: I don’t know know! *hides*
But I do know some things: First, I’m going to take a writing break. Second, I want to work on a BL catalogue/list/library/database website, and if you’re interested in that, you should check out this post about my thoughts https://bafflinghaze.tumblr.com/post/760289272144232448/cataloguing-bl-books and keep a close eye on me for future developments.
More generally:
- If you want to be notified when I post my next story (and other writing-related news), then you can sign up to my email newsletter https://buttondown.email/bafflinghaze
- If you want to see me procrastinating, then check out my tumblr https://bafflinghaze.tumblr.com/ and/or join the BL Palace discord server https://discord.gg/xgJ3RCeE5h
- If you’re feeling curious, you can check out my website https://bafflinghaze.neocities.org/writing
- If you’re still on twitter, you can also check out my twitter, but I don’t really use it aside from reblogging BL Palace related announcements these days https://x.com/bafflinghaze
It’s been a long journey…
q(╥﹏╥)p thank you again everyone, this story wouldn’t have been possible without you all. I’ll see you again in the comment section / next story / elsewhere!!