The Choice to Stay

I woke again.

Same room. Same polished ceiling. Same soft bed and scent of old wood and lavender.

But something had shifted.

The window was open. Morning light streamed in. The air felt colder, sharper—like the world outside was watching.

A knock echoed against the door.

Before I could speak, Jonathan entered—composed as ever. In his hand, a tray with warm bread, fruit, and a ceramic cup of something that smelled sweet.

“You should eat,” he said, placing it at my bedside. “Your body’s still recovering.”

I didn’t touch it. My thoughts were still trapped in yesterday—on her.

“Is… the princess okay?”

He paused. For just a second, a crack flickered in his perfect mask—something human.

“She will be,” he said. “She always is.”

I looked at my trembling hands.

That thing—that curse—it wasn’t just following her. It was her shadow.

“I saw my first yokai the day I lost everything,” I said quietly. “Our house caught fire. My parents died. And from the ashes… I saw it.”

Jonathan stood silent, listening.

“It was grinning… hollow-eyed… sitting in the flames like it belonged there. And I…”

I stopped. My throat locked.

“I ran.”

Silence.

Jonathan moved to the window, voice low and heavy.

“You survived,” he said. “That’s not weakness. That’s proof.”

“Proof of what?”

“That you can still walk forward.”

I had no answer.

“Why am I here?” I asked.

He turned, gaze sharp.

“That night, you reached a boundary,” he said. “The river you jumped into—it’s not just a river. It’s a gate.”

“A gate?”

“To a place between this world and the next. Very few find it. Fewer survive it.”

I stared, confused. “You’re saying this palace… it’s not real?”

“No,” he said. “It’s more real than anything you’ve known. Because here, the truth doesn’t hide.”

He walked to a shelf and pulled out a book covered in blue runes.

“You’ve seen them your whole life, haven’t you? Yokai. Curses. Spirits no one else acknowledges.”

I nodded slowly.

“Then you have two choices,” he said, placing the book in my lap. “Go back to your world and pretend. Or stay. Learn what you are. What she is. What the world hides.”

I looked at the book.

Its title was carved in a language I couldn’t read… yet a part of me understood.

“Why me?” I whispered.

Jonathan tilted his head.

“Because she smiled when she saw you,” he said. “And that curse didn’t devour you.”

The door creaked open again.

Princess Annya entered—pale, but standing.

She didn’t speak right away. She just stood beside me, eyes gentle.

Then, softly:

“I want you to stay.”

I looked at her.

For the first time… I didn’t feel like I was falling.