Chapter Text
The guild office was quiet, the last of the daylight filtering through the stained-glass windows as Alina stamped the final mission report. Three months of marriage hadn’t dulled her infuriating habit of staying late just to finish those neglected forms.
The door creaked open. Jade leaned against the doorframe, his shirt unlaced at the collar, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Working late, Mrs. Scrade? Should I be jealous of the paperwork?"
Alina didn’t look up.
"Only if you’re planning to do it yourself."
He chuckled, crossing the room in three strides to pluck the quill from her fingers.
"Come home. I’ll make it worth your while." His breath was warm against her ear, his hands already sliding down her arms.
She shivered but swatted him away.
"Not until I finish this stack and you help me." She thrust the papers at him.
Jade groaned, snatching them.
"Fine, fine." He rummaged through her desk, grabbing a bottle of healing potion that they drank for energy.
But it wasn't the healing potion. It was a very dangerous liquid she forgot to hide.
"Jade—!"
Alina lunged, but it was too late.
His hand closed around the wrong bottle—a shimmering violet potion left by the guild’s alchemist earlier that day.
The Potion of Forgetting.
And before she could stop him—
He drank it.
Jade coughed, wiping his mouth. "What is that? The taste is horrible."
Alina’s blood turned to ice.
No.
No, no, NO—
She knew that potion. Knew its effects.
One sip erases the last year of memory.
And Jade had just downed half the vial.
"Jade," she whispered, gripping his wrists. "Look at me. Remember me. Please."
He frowned at first, studying her face. Then, slowly, he pulled away. "Who are you?"
The words gutted her.
Three months.
Three months of marriage—gone.
He didn’t remember their first kiss.
Their wedding.
The way he’d whispered "I love you" against her bare skin just that morning.
Gone.
All of it—gone!
Later the healers confirmed it: irreversible.
Jade sat on the edge of the bed—their bed—while Alina stood frozen in the doorway.
"You’re telling me," he said slowly, "that I married you?"
She flinched.
His tone wasn’t cruel. Just… blank. Like she was a stranger.
"Three months ago," she managed.
Jade rubbed his temples. "I don’t—uh—I don’t remember any of it."
Alina’s nails bit into her palms.
This wasn’t her husband. This was a man wearing his face.
Several days later she found him in the training yard at midnight, shirtless, sweat glistening on his skin as he drove his sword into a dummy with too much force.
"You shouldn’t be here," he growled, not turning, as if he knew who was standing behind him.
"I don’t care."
Jade exhaled sharply. "Alina-san —"
"Touch me."
He froze then turned his head slowly to catch a glimpse of her confident yet desperate face.
She stepped closer, her nightgown clinging to her thighs. "You don’t remember me. Fine. But your body does. You have always beein a stalker, a clingy cocroach who wouldn't just leave me alone! Your body, your reflexes were always directed at me. So -" Her voice broke. "Prove it."
Jade turned fully—and his breath hitched.
Moonlight caught the darkness of her hair, the curve of her lips. The neckline of her gown had slipped, revealing the beauty spot just below her collarbone—the one he’d kissed every night.
His eyes darkened and his control shattered.
With a snarl, he yanked her against him, his mouth crashing down on hers.
And oh—
Oh.
The moment their lips met, something ignited.
Jade’s kiss was furious—desperate—like he was trying to devour the memories he’d lost.
Alina melted into him, her nails scraping down his back.
"Jade," she gasped as his teeth grazed her throat.
He shuddered, his hands gripping her hips. "I don’t know you," he growled against her skin. "But I don't want to let go of you."
That was enough.
For now.
Some hours later Jade woke with Alina curled against his chest.
And for the first time since the accident—
He remembered.
Not everything. Not yet.
But flashes.
The way she laughed when he tripped over his vows.
The look on her face when he’d slid the ring onto her finger.
The sound she made the first time he’d taken her in this very bed.
Jade groaned, pressing his lips to her shoulder.
Alina stirred, blinking up at him. "Jade?"
His voice was rough. "I remember your taste."
Her breath hitched.
He remembered more after that.
Every time he touched her—every time he claimed her—another piece slotted back into place.
Her scent.
Her sighs.
The way she clung to him when they moved in sync, whispering each others' names like a prayer.
And then—
One night, as she lay trembling beneath him, Jade froze.
"Alina, you’re my wife."
The words spilled out—raw, reverent.
Alina’s eyes filled with tears.
Because he remembered.
The memories returned slowly, in pieces.
But Jade didn’t need them all to know one thing:
He loved her.
And when he pinned her to the guild office desk the next day—kissing her until she was breathless—he made sure it was a kiss she’d never forget.
Alina laughed against his lips. "Took you long enough."
Jade smirked, nipping her earlobe. "Blame the potion."
Then he whispered the words he’d always known, deep in his soul:
"I’d forget the world before I forgot you again."
And he meant it.
The End.