Aria listened to Sage with a frown. "Sage... you're doing more than enough." She said with a soft smile. "You've been by my side through it all. Just take a break sometimes." She said, kissing the top on his head gently. "You are a great father to Caroline and an amazing husband. Sure... it can all be tough sometimes with you being King, but it's alright. You're doing great Sage. I promise." Aria said, trying to cheer him up a bit.

Sage glanced over at Aria and forced a slight smile on his face. "Not sure I know how to take a break," he admitted with a slight chuckle. He was used to hard work....now servants did everything for him. It was odd. His smile turned genuine when she kissed him though, and he hummed lightly. "I hope so," he murmured, shifting to curl up next to her to rest while she ate.

Aria rolled her eyes playfully. "I hope so...? You should know so Sage." Aria chuckled. The girl played with his hair for a bit. It came down over his forehead, which Aria thought was pretty cute. "You're very handsome, you know that?" The girl said with a gentle smile.

Sage hummed lightly and rested his head against her, more than happy to let her play with his hair....it felt nice. He snorted in amusement at her comment about him being handsome and shook his head. "You know what? I think you're just crazy," he joked lightly. He wasn't handsome.. he had too many scars for that.

Aria didn't say anything to Sage's comment. He was very handsome. Very handsome. Why would he think that? Aria had told him that so much, he should know it's true by now. The girl just frowned and looked down at the blankets over her lap.

Sage frowned slightly when she didn't laugh at his joke and he sighed, resting his head against her and closing his eyes. "Sorry," he muttered. "I'm just still not used to all this," he whispered, almost ashamed to say so. She was so good to him....he wished he could believe everything she said. But his entire life he'd heard the opposite. He'd grown up believing he was ugly, useless, awful. Unlovable. He was trying to belive, trying to understand why she loved him. He really was. But sometimes it was hard.

Aria knew Sage was better than what he thought. It made her sad just knowing that Sage didn't think he was loved. She loved him more than anything in the whole world. Even if Sage wasn't the King... she would've still married him. She could fall back in love with him a million times. Her eyes welled up with tears. Why would Sage have fallen in love with her if he didn't think someone would love him? It all didn't make any sense.

Hey! I just wanted to let you know that I am leaving for vacation tomorrow around noon and won't be back until the 7th! Just wanted to give you a heads up!)

(no worries! Have fun!)

When she didn't respond, sage couldn't help but frown more. He wanted her to be happy, and he seemed to be doing an awful job at it. 'sorry," he muttered again, not really knowing what else to do.

Aria couldn't do more than just stare into space, thinking about all of this. Why did Sage think that? Did he not love her? Did she do something wrong to hurt him? The girl wiped her eyes, not wanting Sage to know she was crying over this. The girl just wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his chest. "It's alright..." She whispered softly.

(Thank you!!)

(Ofc xD)

Sage sort of just curled up into the girl he felt her put her head on his chest. "Its not you, its me," he whispered softly to her, in case he'd gone and messed more up somehow by apologizing. But he was able to calm down and get out of his head, a bit, now that he was curled up with Aria. He visibly relaxed more as time went on, until he eventually dozed off, curled up with her happily.