I loved the name as it clung to Teriella’s lips. It felt as if my name became valuable only when she called it.

“Do you even know?”

That the whole world shines brightly, as if being saved, when you smile at trivial things. That meaning is born only when my name rises on your lips.

That I want to keep every strand of your windblown hair by my side, they’re all so precious. That your exhaled breath is so sweet it melts.

Do you truly know?

When you left me. That even the longing you gave was sweet.

“Don’t worry, Levanfell.”

Teriella, nestled in my arms, muttered and slapped Levanfell’s cheek as if to awaken him.

“I…!”

Levanfell’s involuntarily smile appeared at the twisted pronunciation. The guilt towards Clint that had filled his head moments ago had long since vanished.

“My love…!”

Teriella pounded her chest with her palm.

“My love! I’ll take that Clint guy! I’ll take him away!”

“Really? How, Your Majesty?”

Levanfell supported Teriella to the bed, playing along with her drunken state.

“Trust me! My love!”

Teriella’s voice boiled from deep within as she hit her chest again. Startled, Levanfell quickly blocked Teriella’s hand with the back of his own.

Thump! Thump!

Teriella, who had forcefully struck Levanfell’s hand, said with a trustworthy twisted voice,

“My love! Levanfell! I won’t make you lonely!”

Levanfell’s foot halted as he supported Teriella. She couldn’t remember, but those words were very familiar to Levanfell.

“I’ll make sure you’re not lonely! I’ll come to play often while you stay here! Promise!”

Levanfell softly closed his eyes. It wasn’t an intentional remark. Because that memory was something only Levanfell held onto.

The memory of the young girl fluttered before his eyes. The pink flower that flew to him, alone and trapped in darkness, was still beautiful even now.

“…I wasn’t lonely, Teri. Because you were there.”

You always shone like light in my memories.

I was never lonely, even in the bloodstenched darkness. Because when I close my eyes, you were always smiling there.

So how can I resent you for not remembering me? How can I push you to remember quickly?

Your very existence, your reappeared existence itself, is already my salvation.

“…Teri.”

Levanfell rested his head on Teriella’s shoulder.

It’s enough that you’re within reach when I reach out. If I ask for more, God might punish me.

But still.

“…Remember me someday.”

The day I survived for you.

The day I sat on the emperor’s throne, staining both hands with blood to protect you.

The day I can give up everything I have for you in the future.

(This is a time separator.)

My stomach hurts.

It’s painful whether I roll to the right or left. I thought I had a stomachache, but then I remembered the alcohol I drank last night with Jaerim.

“Ah… the alcohol…”

I held my aching stomach with both hands and slowly opened my eyes. Blinking, I saw the room of the inn.

My last memory was shouting Levanfell’s name and drinking with Jaerim. But since I’m properly lying on the bed, it seems I somehow made it to the bedroom.

“Hahaha. Crazy homing instinct.”

Did Jaerim get home alright? Hopefully, I didn’t leave Jaerim at the restaurant and come back to the inn alone?

“It’s entirely possible…”

I guess I should go and check if Jaerim got home safely.

“Ugh… my head hurts.”

As I rose, a severe headache attacked. What kind of alcohol was that to be so toxic?

I grabbed my head with both hands, and water was quickly handed to me. I accepted the glass of water with a grimace.

“Ugh… thanks, Phibi.”

I gulped down the sweet and cool water, and my spinning head seemed to come back a little. But it was not enough to recover to move, so I laid back down on the bed, powerless.
“……Phoebe. Can you check if the poultice is well applied?”

I groaned weakly, pressing hard on my throbbing temples. Opening my eyes was too much of a struggle, so I gave up on sight altogether.

“Phoebe……?”

But the response that should have come didn’t. Instead, a firm hand pressed down comfortably on my temples.

But that too was strange. The hand pressing down on my temples so refreshingly was far too big to be Phoebe’s.

It was too big, far too big. And it was too solid.

‘……Come to think of it, I didn’t bring Phoebe here.’

So, who gave me the water? Who’s this hand pressing down on my temples now?

“Ahhhh!”

I screamed, sitting up abruptly. There was no time to care about the headache or the nausea.

And what I saw was Levanfell, who had stopped, still calmly pressing on my temples.

“Your, Your Highness?”

Oops. We’re outside. You never know who might hear, so be careful.

“Ahem. Why are you here, Levanfell?”

“Why am I here, you ask?”

“Perhaps yesterday…….”

Did something need my help while I was drunk and asleep yesterday? Like my hair changing color!

“Ah. So you needed my help yesterday?”

“It was the other way around. It’s not that I needed your help, but that you needed mine…….”

“But waiting in my bedroom like this, what should I do? I was really surprised.”