Somehow Walter’s voice sounded a bit angry. Is he a heaven-sent gentleman who considers and cares for others’ feelings?

Unsure of what expression I was making, I lightly brushed my cheek with my gloved hand.

“If my expression seems unclear, it’s… probably because I feel sorry.”

Would he understand if I sincerely felt sorry for the inconvenience and trouble Ricardo had to endure because of me?

“It’s because I’m quite considerate.”

Walter, seemingly uninterested in continuing this conversation, stood at the balcony railing looking at the courtyard. Maintaining some distance from him, I also looked in the same direction. Although I should have left immediately, the thought of resting for a moment took precedence.

Thanks to the onset of summer, even at night, a warm heat was mixed in the wind.

“Then why were you out here? It can’t be because you felt sorry for young master Rochester.”

I chuckled at his casual remark. Perhaps because I had heard such terribly blunt criticism along with it? Somehow, it felt like I could be a little honest with him.

“To be frank, I can’t dance.”

His turquoise eyes, which turned back to me, wavered a bit, as if this was unexpected.

“While the young master was briefly away, some gentlemen around asked me to dance.”

“……”

“No matter how polite, a refusal is still a refusal. I can’t reveal everything about myself, but I didn’t receive a noble’s education. So the only dance I know is the sarabande.”

Silence lingered for a moment. Was this somewhat shocking to him, being at the pinnacle of nobility?

“And I dance that quite awkwardly, as if stumbling. If I had danced here, I would have become a laughingstock.”

Walter chuckled. It was quite a self-deprecating laugh.

“The reason I was out on the balcony is the same as yours.”

“What… do you mean?”

“I can’t dance either.”

“That can’t be.”

“Though not for the same reason as you, not having received a noble’s education, the clear reason I’m hiding on this balcony is because, like you, I cannot dance.”

His words, spoken with a bitter smile, didn’t feel like a joke or a lie.

“Perhaps this is something I’m telling someone for the first time.”

“……”

“Aren’t you going to ask why?”

“Well, there could be various reasons for not being able to dance. It’s a personal matter, so I don’t want to pry. Rather…”

I trailed off momentarily, buying time. I needed time to decide how much I could share.

“I want to answer the question you asked in front of the Crown Prince’s garden last time.”

Of course, I knew Walter had some idea about that night, but it was merely his speculation.

“The reason why I entered the young master’s bedroom holding a yellow rose.”

I explained the events of that time in quite detail. How I happened to pick up the yellow rose and how Walter bumped into me at that moment.

“This is the truth of that day.”

“……”

“I don’t know why the young master urgently used his power. Other than the fact that some woman called out to him loudly from behind, and the young master was backing away.”

“Was Count Parquin involved as well?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Why… are you telling me all this?”

I started this conversation half in doubt whether he would believe everything I said. But seeing his sincere attitude, I felt it was good to have revealed the truth.

“Because I know well what it’s like to lose memories. Though I haven’t experienced it myself, I’ve observed it very closely.”

“……”

“I can’t tell you in detail what happened at the Chaplin house, but I assure you, I didn’t do anything that would harm the young master’s family.”

“I know that. In fact, nothing happened.”

“Then you’ve clearly resolved your misunderstanding about me? Especially regarding the yellow rose.”

“Of course.”

We stood facing each other with smiling faces for a moment. I felt we had resolved the big misunderstanding from our first meeting quite well.

It was a night when the summer full moon seemed much closer than on other days.

Neither I nor Walter knew then what could grow in the place where misunderstanding had disappeared and understanding had arisen.

It was a night when the moon rising in the pitch-black sky was unrealistically large. Ricardo had momentarily left Lienne’s side, summoned by the Crown Prince. Thinking that the royals were calling for him quite frequently today.

“The reason the Emperor called for you is probably because of the sacred sword.”

“That’s right.”

He deliberately told Lienne to stay on the balcony where he could see her well from where he would be. He felt uneasy if he couldn’t keep an eye on her. Especially in the imperial palace.

Unease… It was a rather unpleasant emotion he had come to know recently.

“I’ve just been told to exercise restraint. I merely won a bet, that’s all.”

“If only father had exercised that restraint as well.”

Today, the Emperor appeared with the Second Prince by his side. It was quite a ridiculous sight to see him arrive with his incompetent son, whom he had never paid attention to before, now dressed up splendidly.

The imperial regular banquet is held four times a year. Three of them are held on fixed dates, but one, like this time, is declared by the Emperor himself when necessary.

The Emperor prepared a place not only for the Crown Prince but also for the Second Prince right below where he was. The meaning of placing his two sons side by side was clear.

It was natural for the nobles to be stirred, and that was the reason the Emperor held the banquet.

“Everything else was fine, but it was a bit hard to see Mariette gritting her teeth, trying not to be shaken.”

When it became known that the Crown Prince would appear with Schneider’s sacred sword, the Emperor was the first to realize whose it would be.

He summoned Ricardo and warned him, but in the end, the Crown Prince appeared with the sacred sword. Just as the Emperor had given it in that case.

“How can your actions be so identical then and now.”

The “then” the Crown Prince spoke of referred to the time before he used his power to turn back time.

“A grand banquet like this when your son can barely stand. But isn’t it funny? Back then, even though I could stand perfectly well on my two legs, father held a banquet with the Second Prince.”

“Back then, the Emperor knew as soon as you fell ill.”

“Yes, it was around the same time. When this banquet was held.”

It must have been no different for the Emperor. Whether his son’s legs were broken and collapsed or not.

Exactly ten years, it was exactly ten years ago that the Crown Prince turned back time with Ricardo.

And just as much time had passed again.

At that time, the Crown Prince fell ill at the age of 25, but after turning back time, his illness started five years ago.

The royal power was to turn back time, and the price paid for it was about half the lifespan of the time reversed.

“If father hadn’t moved so quickly back then, I wouldn’t have followed your words.”

“So… do you regret it?”

“Not at all, I turned back 10 years and lived that time again. I lived 5 more years at the most brilliantly shining age of my life. It wasn’t a losing deal.”

Ricardo looked down at Stuart, holding his glass. When Ricardo returned from the war that was like a trap and found the Crown Prince, he was this age.

The twenty-five-year-old Stuart became a fifteen-year-old boy again because of Ricardo. Perhaps that’s why the Crown Prince always gave off a more mature impression than his age.

At 20, signs of the illness appeared without fail, but he desperately hid that fact.

“I just feel sorry for Bee. Knowing that I would fall ill and die, I still took her as my wife again.”

“Do you regret it?”

Even knowing he was repeating the same question, Ricardo couldn’t help but ask. To him, who had no memories left, everything was just an excess of incomprehensible emotions.

“Of course not. There wasn’t just love between Bee and me. Knowing all the facts, she willingly took my hand. She’s the bravest woman I know. Mariette.”

The Crown Prince, like in his past life, had a son with the Crown Princess. The scene of him holding his newborn son in his arms and crying as if he would vomit his heart out was not easily forgotten by Ricardo either.

“All I did was turn back time. And I loved just the same. I saw my wife walking towards me in her wedding dress twice. I thought the shock would be less the second time… but it wasn’t.”

‘She was more beautiful. Unbelievably so.’ The Crown Prince’s voice scattered in the moonlight as he spoke.

Was she more beautiful? She who looked at him with a dazed face, holding an egg to her chest.

Ricardo briefly recalled Lienne, whom he met again, or rather, met for the first time. It was an infinitely foolish question to ask himself, who had no memories.

Lienne, young Lienne, Lienne Lowy Pennel, who kept popping up in his mind.

A name that evoked the sensation of pain before the appreciation of beauty.

Ricardo knew why she remained as an afterimage in his memories.

Memories lost through manifestation and awakening can never be recovered. But he himself turned back time.

Like a memory that remains in his body like blood, circulating hotly and suddenly imprinting on his retina, she suddenly came to mind. Her name lingered here and there like pain engraved in his bones.

A face that wouldn’t be forgotten even if all his blood drained out. A name that wouldn’t disappear even if his bones crumbled.