My breath was caught. As expected!

If there was a reason for Lord Joseph to break his promise, that was the only one. Sweat gathered on my fingertips. How…

“When such a thing happened, was there nothing I could do? Did my future self tell Lord Joseph to pay such a cruel price again?”

The anger I had felt towards Lord Joseph just moments ago instantly changed direction.

I clearly said that we should work together to prevent Lord Joseph from using chronomancy. But to end up like this!

How can I be so powerless…

“No, my lady, you did your best. This was entirely my own decision.”

Suddenly, both my shoulders were grasped.

Lord Joseph was holding my body that was about to collapse.

Only then could I calm my trembling chin and listen to his words again.

“I won’t make excuses for breaking my promise to you. However…”

He continued slowly in a plain tone.

“I judged it right to seek a way to create a happy future with you… and the children, even if I were to lose all my memories.”

“Ah…”

“We can’t choose the past, but we can change the future, can’t we?”

The back of my neck felt chilly. I…

“…”

After only moving my lips, I soon came to my senses. If his words were true, now was not the time to be dazed like this.

“First, please explain in detail what kind of incident it was. Since we’ve prevented a big accident through Lord Joseph’s sacrifice, we need to know what will happen from now on and prepare for it.”

“Sacrifice…”

A strange smile briefly lingered on Lord Joseph’s lips.

“Wouldn’t it be better to explain the details tomorrow morning after Lord Sergei wakes up?”

“Ah.”

That was a fair point. There was no need to make Lord Joseph repeat the same words unnecessarily.

Then my gaze and Lord Joseph’s turned to Sergei at the same time.

He was still asleep, breathing evenly.

Suddenly, I had such a thought.

‘It’s fortunate, though.’

That Lord Joseph used chronomancy.

I was aware that I was being selfish.

Sacrificing Lord Joseph’s memories to save the children and my life, and now even resolving my heart’s debt towards Sergei…

It felt like everything was flowing only in my favor.

To the extent that I thought I had never experienced this in my life.

Especially…

‘I felt guilty just looking at those eyes anyway.’

Seeing Sergei’s eyes, I felt like the lump in my chest was completely dissolving.

The scars that were painful just to look at were now completely gone.

As if Sergei’s body had returned to before the fire incident.

No, that is the accurate expression. Chronomancy is such magic, they said.

“By the way, his eyesight should have improved too.”

“Pardon?”

“Those uncomfortable glasses.”

Lord Joseph tapped his own eyes.

“He won’t need to wear them anymore.”

To that extent?

My eyes widened in surprise, but Lord Joseph’s face was nonchalant.

Right, let’s hear the details later. There must be a reason.

We got up from our seats, leaving the sleeping Sergei. Lord Joseph, who stood up before me, escorted me.

This too was after a long time.

Since seeing Sergei propose to me, Lord Joseph had been childishly avoiding me…

“Come to think of it.”

As we were leaving Sergei’s room, I turned to Lord Joseph.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“…”

He, however, did not answer.

I gripped his arm tightly, which I had been holding onto to prevent Lord Joseph from running away this time.

“I told you. Nothing gets resolved by just avoiding it like that.”

And then, while firmly holding onto Lord Joseph’s arm, I headed outside the hotel, pulling his body along.

“My lady…?”

“Take a walk with me until dinner is ready. That is, if you don’t intend to leave your ‘fiancée’ alone in an unfamiliar city at this late hour.”

“…”

Only then did Lord Joseph follow me as if he had no choice.

Spring in the central part of the continent is warmer compared to the north, but even so, it’s quite chilly in the mornings and evenings around this time.

“Thank you.”

“Not at all.”

Lord Joseph draped a coat over my shoulders.

I felt a bit sorry since I had insisted on going out, but he said he doesn’t get cold easily, so…

Besides, I’m being escorted anyway. If it seems cold, I can give it back later.

“By the way, I noticed this last time we visited, but this hotel really has terrible walking paths.”

“Is that so? It seems like a normal hotel to me. Hotel Chronos is a bit unique… huh?”

Chronos, come to think of it, it was a name I had heard often somewhere.

When I looked up, I saw Lord Joseph smiling meaningfully. Now that I think about it, it seems that’s where it came from.

“Did you know, my lady? My Hotel Chronos business is actually modeled after a venture you started first in a now-disappeared timeline.”

“…Pardon?”

“Not just that. The racecourse and opera house too, were businesses you had ventured into before me. Of course, you always succeeded.”

And so the following story was quite interesting.

The protagonist in Lord Joseph’s heroic tale was me, but it felt strange since I didn’t know about these events at all.

“In particular, the business you ventured into that yielded the biggest profits was the hotel. Do you remember the old hotel before the current Hotel Chronos was built? When you acquired that hotel, a hotel craze swept through the empire enough to cause an uproar in the imperial capital. In the end, we decided on an expansion in just 3 months, and in fact, you came up with the elevator idea at that time.”

But as I kept listening… there were some points that were difficult to just laugh off.

“…In the end, it sounds like Lord Joseph stole all my ideas that came from my head.”

Just like my late husband had taken all the credit from me.

“…!”

At that, Lord Joseph stopped walking and gasped.

“I had no idea you would take it that way. And that wasn’t my intention when I started this. I just needed qualifications to be hired as a tutor for your children and a status that Wilhelm York Baden would recognize…”

“I understand, Lord Joseph.”

Seeing Lord Joseph flustered with even his face turning pale, I couldn’t help but smile because he looked oddly cute.

“Honestly, it’s not a situation I’m particularly fond of, but.”

I interrupted him, pulling his arm as I continued walking.

“It’s not like I put in any effort right now anyway. I don’t even remember trying to come up with ideas, so it’s awkward to claim it entirely as my own work now.”

Still, I had to make sure of one thing. I concluded firmly even in the midst of this.

“But don’t forget about the profit distribution from the hotel, Lord Joseph.”

“Ahaha.”

Lord Joseph, whose expression had finally relaxed, lightly tickled my hand that was linked to his arm.

He seemed to be in quite a good mood, which made me feel relieved as well.

What a shame though. If I had known about this situation earlier, I would have made the profit distribution 9:1 instead of 8:2.

As we chatted like this, Lord Joseph and I had already come quite far from the hotel.

It was a very small town. Even the place called a hotel was actually an unremarkable lodging facility hardly different from an inn.

As such, there were no proper walking paths to speak of in the surroundings.

Nevertheless, walking along the lit streets was quite a romantic date.

Late March, before the end of the social season in the imperial capital.

The provincial town far from the capital was extremely leisurely and the streets were quiet.

And I was strangely excited about accompanying Lord Joseph.

The warmth of his coat wrapped around my shoulders, the stability of his firm elbow intertwined with my hand, even his consideration in matching his pace with mine – it was all peaceful.

In this atmosphere, I felt I could tell him.

‘That I have no intention of marrying Sergei.’