The Goddess Tower had more steps than Dimitri had anticipated. He felt almost as if he were climbing up to the heavens themselves as he ascended the spiral staircase. The Professor had been right, though; there wasn't a soul around in this part of the monastery. For just a moment the silence allowed him to savour the respite of not having to present a façade to all the eyes that watched him.

He was, for lack of a better word, exhausted. Ever since the Blue Sea Moon—no, ever since he had met the Professor, Dimitri felt like his life had been thrown into disarray. But nothing had affected him as deeply as meeting Eve had.

Dimitri had always thought that he would never fall in love for several reasons. The first was that he simply could not imagine the type of person he would fall for. Sylvain had asked him before what kind of girls he was into, but Dimitri had never had an answer. And Dimitri believed that the second reason he thought he would never fall in love was to blame for this. Because the Faerghus Prince was acutely aware of the fact that a part of him did not want to fall in love. Falling in love meant treasuring someone, holding someone dear, opening himself up to once again lose someone that meant the world to him. He never again wanted to feel that same excruciating pain he felt after what happened in Duscur. If he never loved someone, he could never feel the pain of losing them. But the paramount reason Dimitri thought he would never fall in love was because he did not deserve to. The voices that haunted his every living moment reminded him constantly that he was unworthy of love or happiness. How could he ever deserve to love when all those that died for him could not?

But he had never counted on meeting someone like Eve. If Dimitri ever had considered the type of person he would want to love, he was sure it would not have been someone like Eve. And it wasn't as if he had fallen in love with her at first sight. It had been gradual—a creeping feeling that he attributed first to becoming her friend before all of a sudden, she consumed his heart.

He remembered fondly the time between their first meeting and when he had foolishly proclaimed his love to her. It was when she had been most open to him and he had learned the most about her. Even if she hardly said anything about her past, it was simply her demeanour that was open. She had smiled more then. And though it had been embarrassing, Dimitri missed when she used to tease him or laugh at him.

That time was over now, though. He had ruined it by telling her he loved her.

But even after he had shattered their precarious friendship, there were still moments that felt like it had before. And it was those moments that, unfortunately, ensured Dimitri only fell deeper and deeper in love with Eve.

He remembered particularly a moment during the Horsebow moon that had made his heart run wild with delusions of how Eve might feel for him.

She had asked him to join her for a late lunch, excitedly telling him she was trying out a new soup recipe for the next time she had kitchen duty. Eve had brought him to the mostly empty dining hall and placed a steaming hot bowl of whatever she had made in front of him. It certainly did not look appetising, but the smell was pleasing enough. Dimitri could pick out particular scents that he recognised but couldn't put names to. And as he took a tentative spoonful, she had watched him with such keen interest that he almost felt self-conscious.

"How is it?" She asked as soon as the liquid had passed his lips.

"It smells wonderful." He smiled in response. "And it warms me right to my core. It'll be a wonderful soup now that it is getting chillier outside."

Eve didn't say anything in response, but rather she leaned back and looked at Dimitri quizzically.

"Did I say something wrong?" Dimitri's brow furrowed with worry.

"You can't taste, can you?" Eve asked suddenly.

"I- whatever do you mean?" Dimitri balked, worried that she would be offended he had lied about the previous foods she had asked him to taste.

"I had an inkling that you couldn't taste." Eve said with a small frown. "I realised you only ever commented on the smell or texture or presentation of foods. You never talked about how it tasted."

"Those things are just as important as taste when it comes to eating." Dimitri tried to smile.

"There's no reason to hide it." Eve shrugged. "I intentionally made this soup as foul as I could without making it poisonous or having its smell give it away."

"Eve, why would you do that?" Dimitri frowned in turn.

"I don't know." She shrugged again. "I was curious to see if I was right."

It hadn't been a particularly kind thing of her to do. Dimitri shuddered to imagine what that soup would've tasted like had she been wrong. But it had made him feel seen, noticed. Eve had paid enough attention to him to notice that he never commented on the taste of food. To Dimitri, this was proof enough that she cared about him. Otherwise, why else would she take the time to notice?

All of these thoughts swirling around in Dimitri's head made it so that he did not notice the figure in the Goddess Tower until he had already reached the top of the steps.

They were standing with their back to him, palms placed on the windowsill and leaning so far forward Dimitri almost felt compelled to grab their shirt and pull them back in. Their neck was craned back, eyes closed as the moon shone its pale light on their face and the chilly winter breeze sent their hair into disarray.

"Eve?"

It was just a whisper that passed Dimitri's lips; a startled gasp as he realised who was there before him.

"Who's there?" She whipped around quickly to see where the voice came from.

But the movement threw her off her balance and she stumbled backwards. To Dimitri it seemed all to happen in slow motion; and in that moment, he threw his chivalry and his promise out of the proverbial window to save Eve from the very real one she was about to fall out of.

"Eve!" He called out to her again, rushing forward to wrap his arms around her and pull her to his chest.

For a moment, he was unwilling to let go both out of terror and out of a desire to keep her close to him like this.

"Dimitri?" Eve murmured softly into his shoulder where her face was buried.

"Forgive me." He quickly released his hold on her and took several paces back. "I lost my mind in a moment of panic."

"There's nothing to forgive." She said with a quick glance over her shoulder at the window before turning back to Dimitri. "You saved me."

"But my promise…" Dimitri trailed off, looking off to the side to avoid Eve's piercing gaze.

"Let's make a new one." She said.

At this, Dimitri snapped his head back to look at Eve. It seemed to him that she was looking at him with brand new eyes. She had never regarded him in this way; not when they first met, not after he told her he loved her, not even in Remire when she saw his most ugly parts. And as it stood, Dimitri wasn't sure how to feel about this new way she was regarding him.

Her eyes seemed hopeful, yet at the same time bound by something outside the two of them. It was as if she were saying goodbye, but not to him. Who or what was she letting go of? And why did that make her gaze suddenly so much more tender.

"I've been very unfair to you, Dimitri Alexandre Blayddid." She said softly, stepping towards Dimitri. "I've lied to you, rejected you, cruelly fallen in love with your friend. And yet you have never once faltered in your kindness for me. You truly meant it when you said that a knight of Faerghus never goes back on their word."

"Eve, I…" Dimitri's brow furrowed. Why did he feel like he was the one she was going to say goodbye to?

"One of the legends of the Goddess Tower on this night is that a promise made between two people will be bound by the heavens to be unbreakable." Eve said, turning away to glance once more out of the window towards the stars above. "So, I want to make a promise here to you."

Eve turned back to Dimitri and it seemed to him as if her resolve had faltered. When she had started speaking, she appeared so sure of herself. But now, as she wrapped her arms around herself and glanced uneasily out of the window once more, she looked anxious.

So, against his better judgement, Dimitri did what he had done so many times before to no avail.

"Eve." He said gently, holding out his hand in invitation for her to take it.

Never before did she take him up on his offer. It had often wounded him when she did not take his hand, but he had never stopped doing it. His hope had been that one day, she would accept his offer. And that perhaps her taking his hand would mean that she could take the next leap into opening her heart to him.

And Dimitri watched on, his heart breaking ever so slightly, as Eve simply looked at his outstretched hand. She seemed to be battling with something within and Dimitri wished that he could help ease the weight that she kept upon her heart.

But just as Dimitri was considering pulling his hand back, the unexpected happened. Eve closed the gap between them, reaching out to place her own hand in his. For a moment, the two of them simply stared at their interlocked hands. Dimitri felt as if his heart had stopped, but surely that couldn't be the case because all he could hear was his pulse hammering away in his ears.

"Dimitri Alexandre Blayddid." She said his full name for the second time that night, looking up from their hands to stare intensely into his eyes. "I promise here before the Goddess to learn to love you."

"What?" His breath hitched in his throat, heart beating wildly as he prayed that he had not fabricated what he heard.

"I promise to learn to love you." She repeated firmly. "I will no longer entertain my feelings for Felix. Starting tomorrow, I will be your wife and I will be devoted in that venture."

"Eve, you don't have to do this." Dimitri shook his head. As happy as this made him to hear her say this, he didn't want to force Eve to do something she didn't want to.

"I've made my decision." She said, though Dimitri thought he caught just the slightest of wavers in her voice.

"If that is so," Dimitri swallowed thickly, "then I will do everything in my power to make your life with me a happy one. I have not stopped loving you, Eve."

"I can't…" Eve trailed off, stopping to take a shaky breath. "I can't promise that this will be something that happens soon. I cannot speak to how long it will take me. But what I am promising here to you tonight is that I am going to try."

"That is more than I would ever even ask of you." Dimitri sighed, wishing more than anything that he could lean down and rest his forehead upon hers.

"I know it is unfair of me, but if I am to make this promise to you can I ask you to promise something in return?" Eve asked, searching Dimitri's eyes for any hints of aversion.

"Anything." Dimitri replied.

"Do you…" Eve trailed off again biting her lip and looking off to the side. "Do you think you could promise not to look quite so sad when you look at me?"

"Sad?" Dimitri balked. Had he led her to believe that she caused him sadness?

"I see it in your eyes, you know." Eve sighed. "You know that I could have saved your father if I was in Duscur. And whether you're cognizant of it or not, you look so sad when you look at me."

"Eve, I'm so sorry." Dimitri's features crumpled. "I would never intentionally harm you."

"I know." Eve sighed again.

"I've been unfair to you." Dimitri hung his head in shame. "It is true I have often thought about what might've happened in Duscur had you not hidden your Crest for so long. And sometimes, in moments of weakness, I have even blamed you. I promise you, that will stop tonight. You cannot change the past, and I cannot continue to blame you for something that was not your fault."

"Thank you." Eve smiled softly before turning her gaze towards the night sky. "I hope the Goddess has heard us and will bind us by our promises."

"I am certain she has." Dimitri said.

As he spoke, a particularly boisterous gust of wind howled right through the Goddess Tower where the two of them stood. Both of them shivered as their hair and clothing whipped in the wind.

"Perhaps we should return to the ball before we are missed too much." Dimitri offered Eve a small smile as she brushed her hair back into place with her fingers.

"There's one last thing, Dimitri." Eve said as he had begun to walk back towards the stairs.

"What is it?" Dimitri turned to face her.

"I want you to kiss me." Eve said with surprising certainty.

"Pardon?" Dimitri choked, once again convinced that he must have heard her wrong.

"I'm asking you to kiss me, Dimitri."