Crux's pather eye twitched in vexation after hearing the emperor brazenly declare that he was the man of her dreams with a charming smile. Pun or not, it left her vexed and annoyed.
"Now that you've thoroughly mocked me, can you explain this situation?" The shadow cat growled.
"Nothing about you and the person imprinted on my mind aligns, yet you claim to be one and the same with bold confidence. Will you explain that?"
"Oh, yes." Kaze smiled, "I transmigrated into the past into my old body. Thus, here I am."
"You not only expect me to believe that you returned to the past but also that you returned as a completely different person?" Crux asked in annoyance.
The emperor's laughter ceased, and a sad glint flashed across his eyes.
"I transmigrated four and a half millennia after our last meeting, Crux." He explained calmly, "Naturally, I wouldn't be the same person I was during the Killian War.
Bonus chapter~ thanks again for the votes! This chapter is a bit choppy because I cut 700+ words of clever dialogue from it. The unabridged conversation triggers Crux's memories and genuinely convinces her to join them with clever, charming dialogue. However, it was a 2,200+ word conversation, dooming it to make a person's eyes glaze over by default. So please forgive the choppiness. Removing a third of a conversation is like playing a losing game of chess where you hit the back button twenty times and still lose, but I still did... okay. I think. #biased