“Your Excellency, Duke Lewayne Blueport.”
After the meeting, a voice caught Lewayne as he left.
Lewayne looked back slowly with dead eyes. It was Adrisha who was there.
“Yes, Miss Adrisha Beniter.”
“I know this is an unreasonable question, but there is something I want to ask you.”
“Please go ahead.”
“……I’ve asked you before. I had doubts then, but now I’m convinced. Have we ever met like this before?”
“…….”
“No, it was several times.”
Adrisha furrowed her eyebrows and touched her forehead. Thinking about it deeply gave her a headache.
“Strangely, whenever I see Your Excellency, I feel a sense of deja vu. Somehow, it feels like this is not the first time.”
Adrisha, in fact, has been in a strange mood since the last time she met Lewayne at the ball. For some reason, she had the feeling that things were not in order.
Originally, Lewayne, he……how did it go?
She didn’t know why she felt this way about someone she didn’t even know.
However, Dalia herself said.
That she was from another world, in which (horrible) Hikan, (even more terrible) Meldon, and (without any need to speak) Lewayne were obsessed with Adrisha. And Lewayne said that he repeated the same time endlessly.
Adrisha came up with a hypothesis that combined the two facts.
Perhaps, what Lewayne said about him repeating the same time period endlessly is true. And that time period may have been the various worlds that Dalia saw.
However, Lewayne’s gaze was too dry for someone who was once obsessed with her.
Just blank and empty eyes like a dead lake in winter.
He spoke coldly.
“Looks like it’s slowly coming back. Your memory.”
That was the same as acknowledgement. Adrisha held her breath.
“But I don’t know either. It’s a long time ago.”
“Try to remember it well.”
“Truth turns to dust in the face of time. None of that means anything.”
“……I’m asking because I want to help Dalia.”
Adrisha spoke full of emotion.
The name brought light back to Lewayne’s eyes for the first time. He looked at Adrisha.
“Dalia said this was the last time. If this is really over, can Dalia be happy?”
Adrisha bit her lips nervously. She continued as if urging.
“Is there anything I can do to help her?”
“…… Miss Adrisha.”
Lewayne lifted his heavy head and looked down at Adrisha. As expected, it’s not unfamiliar.
Adrisha was convinced.
She must have experienced similar moments like this hundreds or thousands of times before.
Nevertheless, she has never been more desperate for others.
Unlike in the past when they looked at each other, now both of them were thinking of the same person.
Lewayne’s mouth moved.
“His Highness Prince Cedric’s fate has not been broken yet.”
“What does that mean?”
“He always died throughout the hundreds of regressions that I’ve experienced.”
“…….”
“It is you, Adrisha, who hold the only way to save him.
Can you help me?”
There was no way she could refuse. Adrisha nodded.
* * *
Before she knew it, the ball would be on the next day.
The people of the Holy Empire said they would arrive at the Imperial Palace tonight. The Emperor ordered the royal attendants to closely monitor their movements.
In the afternoon, Dalia began to get nervous as she looked out the window where the sun was beginning to set.
‘Aceras is here. I’ll see him again tomorrow.’
What expression should she make when she sees him again? No, will she be able to do it?
Will she be able to forgive him?
‘Can Sir Cedric live? No, can everyone be happy?’
The meeting is not over yet. When it’s over, he’ll call Dalia and she will explain everything.
Since there is Lewayne who has regressed countless times, there is no way this plan will fail.
Even though she knew that, she kept worrying and was distraught.
It might be because of what Lewayne said when they last met.
No matter how this ends, someone will die and get hurt. No one knows who it will be. It could be Cedric.
The thought that he might die kept getting stuck in the corner of her mind and didn’t go away.
Is it because it bothers her that she still hasn’t answered him yet?
Cedric said he would wait until Dalia is ready. But she had too many things to think about besides Cedric.
Therefore, she kept delaying something that she could have answered with a little thought.
Dalia thought of Cedric.
She wanted to tell him everything.
That he might die tomorrow, and she wants to protect him. And she doesn’t want him to die.
Because, because…….
Cedric is a precious person to Dalia. Because he’s someone that Dalia likes.
Then she belatedly realized.
Why it was only Cedric that reacted sensitively to Dalia’s ability.
That’s because Dalia likes him. He’s special.
From the moment they first met, everything that has happened so far came to her mind.
The first time they exchanged greetings.
The two of them watched Aceras from the tree.
When he came to look for Hikan and saved Dalia.
The day he made the absurd confession that he had a crush on Dalia.
The day they met in the library after writing a book report together.
Letters they exchanged when she traveled to Vesta.
The day he saved Dalia from being abducted by the Holy Empire.
The day they searched for the Empress’s letters. Even the confession she received while eavesdropping on the conversation between the Emperor and Lewayne.
All those moments permeated her, and from some point on, she fell in love with him too.
When she thought about it, her heart raced and her face turned red. The feeling of her heart sinking down like when she was on a dangerous ride.
“Oh no……”
Dalia cupped her blushing cheeks with both hands and squatted on the floor.
She closed her eyes tightly and murmured.
“I must really like him…….”
Then what is she going to do now that she realizes it?
At the same time, someone knocked on Dalia’s door.
“Miss, everyone is back. Would you like to go down?”
It was the butler.
Dalia straightened up and hurriedly fanned her face to cool it down.
“Y, yeah. I’ll go down.”
Dalia put on a shawl and hurried downstairs.
* * *
“Dalia, come here.”
Hikan was right in front of the drawing room waiting for her.
She’s going to see him when she goes in anyway, but maybe it was hard for him to wait, but his expression was hardened for some reason.
As Dalia was led inside by Hikan, the people gathered there turned to look at Dalia.
Dalia’s gaze automatically wandered in search of Cedric. Then she made eye contact with him sitting on the sofa.
Cedric smiled as always. For some reason, he looked like he didn’t have as much energy as usual.
When she saw his face again, she couldn’t continue to act as before.
Dalia clenched her fists, desperately holding back her cheeks from blushing with her willpower and effort.
‘……I haven’t answered Sir Cedric yet.’
When should she answer that?
Cedric said he would wait, but she can answer it now.
Dalia’s mind was in a mess.
Adrisha was also sitting on the sofa opposite Cedric. She also had a very dissatisfied expression.
Only then did Dalia realize that Hikan and Adrisha were all in a bad mood.
‘……Did the meeting end badly?’
However, the expression of the three of them was more like an upset rebellious child.
Meldon, on the other hand, was standing, and the only one of the four who looked in a good mood. As soon as he saw Dalia, he came over with a smile.
‘What’s going on?’
Dalia soon found out the reason.
It was because Meldon casually smiled as he kissed the back of Dalia’s hand.
Hikan explained, grinding his teeth.
“He’ll be your partner at this ball.”
