§ Alright, I’m not going to pretend that Rod’s reasons were any kind of a surprise. No, they were exactly the reasons I expected them to be. That being said, despite the fact that Sirth was in the back of my mind, advising me to agree with him, I wasn’t about to just take this lying down. It did help …

§ As soon as she heard it, the Princess jumped to her feet and charged the door. Genette was handling some matters, so an ordinary maid was on standby there. Her panic was plain in her eyes as the Princess marched her direction. – Ease yer mainsheets, woman! Where you goin’ in such a hurry? As she charged out the …

§ The Princess made a tactical error upon wakin’. She didn’t notice that the goddess shut down her spiritual vessel and me along with it when she put her to sleep. Maybe ’cause she didn’t need it in that Illusory Reality dream thing, she didn’t think about it. Not sure. But she was distracted by her own embarrassment and the …

§ The awkwardness was almost overwhelming after my companions woke. I had already slipped out of Mireia’s hug and into my yukata before that, but with none of their items in reach, the other two needed me to retrieve their clothing for them. We all kept our backs to each other while they put things on, without anyone saying a …

§ So, Volume 9 is complete at an already long fifty six chapters. Once again, I am your author, Eric Fretheim, online as Fushigi on this site and on Discord, and as /u/ericthefred on reddit.  If you are a free chapters reader popping in to read this when you haven’t unlocked the preceding chapters yet, please go away and come …

§ As I emerged from sleep, I became aware of two things: First, I had fallen asleep without planning to, which almost never happens. Second, I was once again in an Illusory Reality. The distinctive different texture of existence couldn’t be anything else. Then I became aware of the arms around me and the warm neighbor hugging me from behind. …

§ As I watched Mireia drowse, clad only in a thin layer of moisture, with Rod’s arm draped over her from where he lay on her opposite side, it felt a bit surreal. Even weirder to me was her hand still firmly clutching mine as the pair quietly slept in my bed. I think it was the juxtaposition of the …

§ From not long after my arrival on Huade, my morals have largely been Tiana’s. Robert’s feelings didn’t vanish as I assimilated Tiana’s values, but Tiana’s reinforced the Catholic values that Jennifer Stewart worked so hard to instill in her kids. Perhaps her effort was hypocritical, considering her failure to marry either Robert’s father or either of his sister’s fathers, …

§ The couple entered the room behind Genette. I shook my head slightly and stood as they came in. Rod still wore what I saw him in last, his military uniform, as pressed and polished as always. His golden blond hair was, as always, neatly combed. My fiancé is never anything but a perfectly dapper clotheshorse, following in the footsteps …

§ Beretin’s warehouses held quite an assortment of goods. Much of it was disturbing contraband, but most items couldn’t be characterized as illegal, per se. At least, not before he actually attempted to ship them out of the country. For example, it was no surprise, since we already knew about the slave girls who were almost certainly breeding stock for …