"Welcome back."

I nodded at my wife, Edelgard, as I slid off my leather jacket and made to hang it up on the rack. She moved forward quickly, like a cat, and glanced at it.

"It's a little worn." She told me, pointing out a bright white splotch on there. "You should get yourself a new one."

"Not now." I told her shortly. "We have our family to consider."

She blinked at me softly with her violet colored eyes. "I don't want you going out looking like we're poor."

Before I could answer, she folded the jacket in her hands and made her way to the bathroom.

"I will try to fix it, but it's going to need to be replaced soon." She called after me. The tea kettle began to whistle. She hurriedly made her way back, and turned off the stove.

"I made us some tea." She said breathlessly. "So we can talk about your day."

She hurriedly made her way back to the bathroom. I watched her go, her long white hair swinging back and forth as she walked. It made me think back to that day I found her… wandering around my property with no idea of where she was.

She returned, smiling at me a little, as we sat down at the table and faced each other.

"You're in a good mood." I told her. "Did something happen?"

She smiled and shook her head.

"No…" She said. "It was just an ordinary day."

She took a sip of her tea and let out a blissful sigh. I watched her carefully. She had adapted well, I thought. I had feared that her past traumas of fighting for the freedom of all of Fodlan would follow her throughout her entire life, but looking at her now…

"That's how you know you're truly happy." I said. "When an ordinary day makes you feel like this."

She set the glass down and looked at me. She nodded slowly.

"Yes." She said, slowly. "I… I have never felt this way before. Not ever." She looked almost troubled. "I was so pre-occupied with my goals and ruling my country that I never really thought about it… how unhappy I really was."

She stared down at her tea. "I saw all those around me as enemies or useful pawns." She said. "I tried to convince myself I cared about them, but…"

Her entire body trembled. "One cannot love her subordinate." She said. "People come, and people go… I myself am no different."

A part of her was concerned that she would never see Fodlan again. She would never get to see her vision for the Empire realized, and that things would decay further. She had been so strong, for so long, that she had completely lost sight of what it meant to be human.

I knew how she felt, because I felt the same way.

"But in their place new people come, and new experiences are born." I told her. "In a way no longer being Emperor is liberating for you. You can pursue other interests… other passions. You can live your own life."

She smiled at me. She looked a little bit sad. "And what do I have to live for?" She asked. "What else is there?"

It was such a strange thing to do. I had not been planning to do it until the right time came. I had always thought it would come after a magical night on the town, not sitting here in my own kitchen. But I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.

She said yes.

…

It was all very sudden: The date was December 21st. Those in my immediate circle had no idea that Edelgard was even in my life, let alone that I intended to marry her. I received many befuddled congratulations to my engagement. Even my own parents, who I did not speak to, were flabberghasted. Edelgard herself, of course, had no family.

"There's a holiday coming up, isn't there?" She asked anxiously. "Christ-mas."

She had been, to put it in terms that the average reader could understand, isekaied into the real world. A lot of concepts in our world were still alien and foreign to her, as someone who had been born into the fantasy world of Fodlan.

"Yes." I said. "On the 25th. It's supposed to be a time for family."

"Oh." She said. "You don't like your family."

It was a statement of fact.

"I'd like to spend it alone with you." I told her, half-apologetically. I had always assumed that my wife would have a family of her own to spend time with. I had never thought that I would end up spending the holidays with a video game character living an isekai plot.

"That's a shame, isn't it?" She asked.

"It is." I admitted to her. "We're going to have to start our own family."

She went bright red.

It was fun, trying to teach her Christmas carols and how to prepare traditional holiday meals. She was a surprisingly good cook, considering her background, but a lot of modern appliances and traditions still befuddled her. I worried at how well she would integrate into modern society… but she assured me that she would be fine.

"I'll have you." She told me, as she neatly placed the icing on a cake. "You can guide me through anything."

That was true, but I would have said that was extraordinarily quick on the uptake. In public she had a very stony, cold expression… most people were put off by her. No one realized that she often had no idea what anyone else was talking about. Still though, she had improved leaps and bounds over the past year, and she was determined to join me in some kind of public event.

"We should at least go to a dance." She said.

I took her hands and spun her around.

"We can dance here."

She laughed and shook her head. "We need to show off." She said. "Let people see how happy we are." Most of the people we had told about the engagement seemed to think that Edelgard was a poor choice for me. She wasn't great at being herself in social environments.

In the end we decided to go out for the evening for Christmas Eve, and then spend Christmas Day in each other's company. I told her it was pretty typical to spend Christmas Eve with friends and then the day with family.

"We haven't any friends either." She commented.

"We'll make some of those too." I told her. I took her hand, and she tried to sing along with the Christmas Carols she had learned as we drove.

We had the time of our lives, though no one around us seemed to agree. People shot us disgusted looks as we spun around the dance floor. Edelgard worried briefly that we were doing something wrong, but I shook my head.

"No." I said. "They're just jealous."

"Jealous?" She repeated. "Of what?"

"That we found each other." I said. "A lot of people are lonely and miserable… and they just blame everyone else other than themselves."

She pursed her lips, casting another look around the room. It seemed as if we were the only couple in our twenties there. Everyone else had shown up alone, and when they weren't browsing their phones looking at social media they were watching us. They spoke to each other little.

"Everyone is like this." I said, in disgust. "They're just waiting… they're waiting for someone to come along and just fix all of their problems."

She looked at me then.

"You fixed my problem." She said simply. "When I was brought here, to this world…"

I shook my head. "That was different." I said. "You were in real trouble. These people… their problems are all self-inflicted. You can't help that."

"Can you?" She asked coyly, tilting her head to the side. I looked at her, frowning.

"I don't know what you mean."

"There's always something you can do." She said to me. "Even if you think it's impossible… good things are always worth doing." I looked at her darkly, my brow furrowed. A man near us got to his feet, yawned, and stepped across the dance floor… not even looking up from his phone.

"Hey!" I said sharply to him. He turned, eyes narrowed. Clearly he was looking for a fight. "No phones on the dance floor!"

He gave me an appalled look, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Edelgard gave him a look, and he folded: placing the phone in his pocket before sauntering off.

It was unbelievable… every time we crossed paths with someone using his or own phone, we reminded them of the rule that I had completely made up on the spot. Somehow over time the rule morphed from 'no phones on the dance floor.' To 'No phones at all.' In a matter of hours the people who were sitting in the corner, thinking about people who were nowhere near them were laughing and dancing on the floor with us.

"You see?" Edelgard told me, as we stopped to have some drinks. "All we had to do was be ourselves."

Be ourselves… I struggled with the thought a little.

"I'm not sure quite sure who I am." I admitted to her quietly. She stood up on tiptoe and leaned in closer to me.

"Hm." She said. "I suppose we'll have to figure it out together."

I leaned in and kissed her.

The party ended right at midnight. We bid our good-byes to our new friends… several of whom couldn't stop gushing about what a stoke of genius not having phones at a party was… as we left for home. Edelgard had been drinking quite a bit, and was singing softly to herself in the dim light of the car.

"Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!" She murmured. "What are we doing on the New Year?"

"Something different, I would say." I told her. "Fireworks, perhaps. Or…"

She had fallen asleep. I said nothing more as I drove. I hadn't the heart to wake her when we pulled in, so I ended up carrying her to bed. I tucked her in, and then went downstairs for a bit of last minute preparations.

She came downstairs, rubbing her eyes tiredly, as I handed her hot chocolate. "Merry Christmas." I told her gently.

"M-merry Christmas." She said, a little taken aback, as she took in the tree in front of us. "W-wow… it's so pretty."

Her eyes flickered to the presents under the tree. "Oh…" She cast a look towards me. I nodded at her, and she bent down to get a better look at them.

"To Edelgard…" She murmured, as she traced her finger along the packaging. She opened it up, and gaped. A beautiful battle axe was laying there, in an ornate case.

"No…" She whispered, as she took it out of the case. "You shouldn't have…"

"You've been wanting one for a while." I told her. "Let me know if it's useable or not. I'm not a soldier or a blacksmith, so I-"

"It's perfect…" She murmured, as she swung it. "Thank you…"

"There's this, as well." I said. SHe opened the much smaller present to reveal a copy of Sun Tzu's Art of War.

"It's a classic that's studied in military schools today." I told her. "I thought you would appreciate its insight."

"I will…" She breathed, as she flipped it open. "Thank you…"

She looked up at me, her eyes shining. "Your turn."

I looked at her blankly. "What?"

She reached under the couch and pulled out a present I had never seen before. I gaped at her.

"You're supposed to put it under the tree!"

"You would have seen it if I had done that." She told me flatly. I gave her a dark look and took it.

Inside was a brand new jacket, exactly like the old one.

"I bought it by being frugal with grocery money." She told me. "I was going to buy it anyway, but because of the holiday…"

"I love it." I told her. She beamed at me, and I knew then that this Christmas was going to be one of many with the woman I loved.