Chenzhou stared at himself in the mirror.
The bags under his eyes were gone.
He poked at his cheek with a finger, watched it turn white, then flush pink.
He pinched it, watched it change colors again.
His hair was shiny and soft. There was a brightness in his own eyes that he didn't recognize. A glimmer of something he saw in others, but never in himself.
Until now.
He looked….healed.
No, he looked human. For the first time he could remember.
There was a strength in his body he'd always wanted. He felt…sturdy. There was no dizziness. No gnawing exhaustion. No darkness in the corners of his vision. No ache in his joints.
No…anything.
He was weak still. A little bit sore and hungry, but that made sense. His body had been healing non-stop for the last three weeks. Captain Li had told him he hadn't moved at all during that time and Anna had carefully stretched his limbs every day to prevent bed sores. Marian had been busy doing the same for Eirian, who hadn't been awake a few minutes ago when he sent Captain Li to check again.
There was a new awareness to him. The fresh air smelled bright, almost painful when he inhaled.
The sunlight shining through the massive hole in the roof was warm and somehow sweet. Soft blue sky had been the first thing Chenzhou had seen when he opened his eyes, and he laid still in the sunlight for several minutes before Anna and Captain Li had realized he was awake.
"Yuze explained it was the backlash of Eirian's magic that destroyed the roof." Anna ran a soft brush over his shoulders, brushing the fabric until it gleamed. She dug out one of his nicer sets of robes, tearfully insisting that there was no reason not to look his best now, when he looked better than he ever had.
The soft silk, a blue so dark it was called midnight nearly matched his hair. It was lined in glittering gold embroidery depicting dragons and camelia flowers that matched the gold ornament Anna carefully placed around his topknot.
The sunlight glinted off the gold and off Huaban resting on his hip and for the first time in his entire life, Chenzhou thought he looked like Lord Ye.
Like the painting of his father that hung in his office. Where he was wearing the same robes and the same age Chenzhou was now. He'd looked down on Chenzhou every day of his life from that portrait and when Chenzhou had been a child and the office had been used by the Regents, he'd sat under every day after dinner. For a while he'd talked to his father, telling him about his day in an attempt to feel closer to the man he barely remembered. He'd stopped after Regent Zhao had caught him and asked what he was doing, too embarrassed to admit it or continue.
He'd only worn these robes one other time, during his Rite of the Ascending Blade and idea had made him sick to his stomach then.
Now, as he looked himself in the mirror, there was knot. No butterflies. No gurgle.
He put his shoulders back and looked straight ahead as Anna fussed with his collar. "Once you're feeling better, we'll move into the guest room so they can repair this one."
Chenzhou finally managed to pull his gaze away from his own reflection, too elated to worry his desire to look at himself in the mirror was a tad arrogant and looked up at the roof.
Or the lack of roof really.
The backlash of Eirian's magic had destroyed the canopy of his bed and everything above it. Thankfully, his rooms were on the top floor and Eirian's magic, while extensive, had been focused, so the damage was limited to completely destroying only the roof above his rooms instead of bringing the whole place down.
There was a tarp rolled to the side to allow the sunlight in, that they clearly covered the hole with at night and a few blankets laid over what was left of the supporting poles of his canopy. It was enough to keep him warm and comfortable as he healed.
"The sun has been out every day," Anna told him, looking up in wonder. "I don't think I can remember seeing it like this before."
Because it had never been like this before, Chenzhou thought. Not in their lifetime anyway.
Eirian had succeeded. The poisonous miasma had to be gone, burned away by her magic. Chenzhou had yet to venture out of his rooms, but he could already tell that the Camelia itself felt different.
Alive almost.
He wouldn't know if it was permanently fixed until he spoke to Eirian, but for the first time in years, he felt a spark of hope he didn't want to immediately quash.
This is not what he had been expecting when he'd gone searching for a wife. At most he'd thought to find someone who could lead the Camelia on with as little change as possible. He'd been so scared that any change for the estate would be the end of it that he'd actually been convinced that stagnating in its own rot was better than taking any risk.
He hadn't meant for Eirian to be a risk, but she'd turned out to be the biggest gamble of his life.
And the best.
And she would stay the best for however long he managed to live now.
She'd brought sunlight and warmth back to the Camelia. Freed them from the strangling hold of a dead man's vengeance.
The door slammed open, bouncing off the wall. Beside him, Anna jumped and shrieked as Yuze burst in.
He took one look at Chenzhou and burst into tears.
~ tbc