The man helping Riga tread through the fractured time grumbled with an endlessly serious face.

“Not that you seem like someone who would weigh lightly.”

“Why do you keep saying that? Who’s going to hear?”

“What does it matter if someone hears? I can’t get married to anyone but you anyway. And you have to take responsibility for me. Let’s get the facts straight, you were the one who charmed me first.”

“Who’s falling for who? His Highness also came to see who the next Caletta project manager is, right?”

Riga, his face flushed, finally spat out the words he’d kept deep inside. He never thought he’d say something like this to Hayden. Not so quickly, and not on a horse.

But Hayden slightly widened his gray eyes in surprise and slowly nodded his head.

“It’s true I knew about you when I went there, but that’s not why I went.”

“I’m not blaming you. It’s natural to gather intelligence.”

“No, really, it isn’t. I went to get you. I mean it.”

Hayden looked at Riga, his expression one of considerable confusion.

“You didn’t even give me a second look because you thought that way.”

“That’s not the only reason.”

Hayden, who had been stroking his lips, nodded his head.

“Fair enough. I never clearly revealed who I am.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

He meant to say ‘so stop talking,’ but Hayden had no intention of doing so.

“But if I suddenly told you there, beyond the barrier, that I’m the emperor of the empire and your parents are here, would you have believed me?”

“I wouldn’t have.”

Who would believe that? Riga had decided to see the broken barrier for himself only after verifying it from multiple people.

“See.”

“If you put it that way, there’s no way I would blindly follow someone I don’t trust.”

“I slept with you, so I trusted your sense of responsibility. I should’ve trusted what was trustworthy.”

“Are you blaming me now?”

“I didn’t expect it would be like this either.”

He rubbed his face. His expression was extremely uncomfortable, and awkward.

“I didn’t expect to fall so easily either.”

There was a hint of grievance in his tone.

“Who said you should fall? Who wouldn’t fall for your charm? You should know better, having never failed.”

Riga, who was playing with fire for the first time, could only look at Hayden in extreme embarrassment.

She had men who liked her, but she loved her goal of meeting her parents more than she loved them. She had never been too interested in romance, but what was this emperor talking about now?

Feeling utterly wronged, he looked at Riga once and said dejectedly.

“Any sane person would naturally fall for you if you smile so enchantingly.”

The listener’s face felt hot, as if it was on fire, even up to the nape of the neck, making it impossible to raise the head.

“If they don’t fall, then there’s something wrong with them. Either they’re impotent or complete fools who don’t recognize an opportunity.”

“Th, thank you for the compliment.”

Riga tried to steer the conversation away somehow, but couldn’t think of what to say.

Just as Hayden said, she had never been so confused in male-female relationships before. She had never had much to give, or much to ask for, in the first place. She tried to let go of his hand, but he didn’t let her.

“Think less of the emperor from the other country now. I understand your thirst for revenge and resentment, but to think of such a lowly person more than me who’s right in front of you, it’s a waste of time when there are better things to consider.”

The self-confident man who called himself a ‘better thing’ faithfully assisted her as she took another difficult step.
“Revenge is, of course, necessary. But this isn’t the end of Momentum, Lady Countess Flache.”

Far from a has-been who lost everything, Lady Countess Flache had a family and a home to return to; she was someone’s daughter and sister. Hayden had completely changed the adjective that described her in just a few days.

“I’d be delighted if you’d also look forward to dancing with me at the upcoming formal ball, now that your steps feel lighter after slashing Carlos’s throat.”

Unable to turn her head anymore, Lu stared intently at the ground beneath her feet.

“I very much look forward to seeing how lightly you’ll float about, now that the curse on your ankles has been lifted.”

Just beside her feet, which seemed as if they might snap at any moment, were Hayden’s large and agile ones.

Hayden wasn’t exaggerating when he told Lu he was busy.

Imperiale had been coming and going to the tower repeatedly; preparations for the national banquet in Shalea were rapidly underway.

Hayden, who had been calculating the timing for concluding the monster subjugation while observing the Eastern nobility, determined that now was sufficient.

“I am returning.”

No sooner had the words fallen than Imperiale made a final sortie, cleaning up all the monsters that had been left somewhat unchecked.

After swiftly clearing both the Northern and Western monster waves, the Emperor even recovered the imperial family members’ remains that had been kidnapped 430 years ago and returned to the capital.