Chapter 280: Back Home

"Maximilian..."

Catherine couldn’t stop herself anymore.

It was true. He was awake.

Her Maximilian was awake.

Every instinct urged her to throw herself into his arms, but she remembered the fractures in his ribs. Instead, she hurried to his bedside, sat beside him, and wrapped her arms around him as gently as she could.

"You smell like yourself again, my love," she whispered.

A shaky laugh escaped her.

God... She had missed this.

She had missed him so much.

"Quid?"

[What?]

Catherine pulled back just enough to look into his face.

Her heart skipped.

He truly didn’t understand English.

She had expected the rehabilitation to be long. After such a severe brain injury, he would have to relearn almost everything—language, coordination, even the simplest daily tasks.

She had already accepted that. She would stay beside him through every lesson, every setback, every victory.

But... This wasn’t what she expected.

His speech was clear. Too clear. He had been extubated only recently. He shouldn’t have been speaking this well.

Then she felt his hand settle against her waist. There was no tremor.

His eyes searched hers with the same quiet tenderness they always had. The same eyes. The same gaze that had followed her across two lifetimes.

Holding his face between her hands, she whispered,

"Quid postremum meministi?"

[What is the last thing you remember?]

Maximilian looked at her in silence.

Then, without warning, he gathered her into his arms.

His embrace was firm despite the weakness lingering in his body, as though he feared she might disappear if he loosened his hold. His forehead rested against hers for the briefest moment before his lips found hers.

He kissed her with all the desperation of a man who had already watched her die once.

"Tangere te possum... Katerina."

[I can touch you... Katerina.]

His voice was barely more than a breath.

His fingertips rose to cradle her face before slowly tracing the curve of her neck, lingering there with reverent disbelief, as though he still could not convince himself she was flesh and blood instead of another cruel dream.

"Te sentio."

[I can feel you.]

Catherine’s eyes fluttered shut.

His lips were warm.

Familiar.

Everything inside her that had been held together by sheer will these past weeks unraveled beneath that kiss. The fear. The sleepless nights. The guilt. The helplessness she had buried deep inside herself.

She hadn’t realized how exhausted she was until his arms became the one place where she no longer had to be strong.

A tear slipped from the corner of her eye. Another followed.

She felt one of his own tears fall against her skin.

His entire body trembled. "Calida es... viva..."

[You’re warm... alive...]

Every word sounded like a prayer finally answered.

"Ignosce mihi... propter me tantum passus es," Catherine whispered against his lips.

[Forgive me... you suffered so much because of me.]

She wasn’t sure he had even heard her.

He only held her tighter.

Again and again, his lips found hers with quiet urgency, each kiss gentler than the last, as though every touch was another attempt to convince himself she truly existed—that the pyre, the flames, and the unbearable emptiness afterward had all finally ended.

For Catherine, there was nothing to resist.

Nothing to question.

She melted into his embrace, letting herself be held for the first time since the world had fallen apart. This was home.

This... This was where she belonged.

Outside, the rain battered against the windows. She noticed the rain only because it had stopped frightening her.

For she found the truth. And the truth had truly set her free.

A low groan suddenly escaped him. Catherine immediately pulled back, her palm pressing against his chest.

"Cave."

[Careful.]

"Costae tuae."

[Your ribs.]

Maximilian looked at her. Whatever discomfort had crossed his face disappeared the instant their eyes met again.

A faint, weary smile curved his lips. "Et tam pulchra quam semper."

[And as beautiful as ever.]

Catherine laughed through her tears.

There he was... Her prince... Her Maximilian.

Finally... He had come home.

Maximilian rested against her shoulder, his breathing gradually slowing.

Almost absentmindedly, his hand slipped beneath the hem of her shirt until it found the warmth of her bare waist. His palm remained there, unmoving, simply resting against her skin as though reassuring himself she was truly there.

Everything felt wrong. Her clothes were strange. The way she did her hair was different. Even the room around them was unlike anything he had ever known.

Yet... She was the same.

He could feel it.

He closed the remaining distance between them until there was scarcely a breath separating their bodies. After believing they had both perished in the flames, after mourning a future neither of them would ever live...

She was here.

Alive.

In his arms.

He wanted nothing more than to remain like this forever.

But after a long moment, his breathing grew uneven. Catherine felt it... his desire growing between his legs. She pressed her lips to hide her smile.

All is well in that front too.

His brow furrowed in confusion before his lips brushed lightly against the side of her neck.

"Collum tuum... mirum saporem habet."

[Your neck... tastes strange.]

Catherine swallowed. It must be the concealer. It was a miracle he hadn’t noticed the bruises beneath it.

"Noli sollicitari. Nihil est."

[Don’t worry. It’s nothing.]

She smiled softly as her fingers slipped through his hair. It had grown longer during the weeks he had been unconscious.

She loved it.

She still couldn’t quite believe she was holding him again.

"Katerina..."

He breathed her name so quietly that the warmth of his breath brushed across her cheek.

For a long while, neither of them spoke.

They simply remained wrapped around one another, listening to each other’s breathing, making up for all the moments they had believed were lost forever.

Then Maximilian’s gaze drifted toward the door. Almost reluctantly, he eased back, leaving a respectful distance between them.

Catherine watched him with quiet amusement.

He had forgotten.

Forgotten they were no longer the awkward young couple who always had chaperones watching from every corner.

Forgotten the endless rules that had forbidden them from lingering too close, even after their engagement.

His eyes continued darting toward the door as though expecting someone to burst in and separate them.

A smile tugged at Catherine’s lips.

"Quid circumspicis?"

[What are you looking around for?]

He frowned, uncertain.

"Hic alius mundus est," she said softly.

[This is a different world.]

"Hic amor non tot legibus vincitur."

[Here, love is not bound by so many laws.]

She reached for his hand, gently intertwining their fingers. "Tota tua sum. Me osculari potes..."

[I’m wholly yours. You can kiss me...]

Her voice faltered for the briefest moment, a faint blush warming her cheeks.

"...vel quidquid velis."

[...or whatever you wish.]

His eyebrows lifted almost imperceptibly. "Quidquid velim?"

[Whatever I wish?]

Catherine’s heartbeat echoed in her ears.

Suddenly she remembered the countless times she had longed for his embrace, for his kisses, and for nothing more than his quiet presence beside her.

She met his gaze without looking away.

"Quidquid velis."

Whatever you wish.