Then Idren looked at her with eyes still wet and said,

“There were more than just one or two things I said to you.”

That’s right. Ophelia cleared her throat softly and added an explanation.

“I had asked. Why do you love me?”

It was a time when she felt helpless, as if she couldn’t do anything on her own.

At that time, only the immediate situation was visible, so Ophelia didn’t think about what meaning her words would have for the other person.

Probably more words than she remembers became wounds for Idren.

Time has turned back, but memories don’t disappear.

Even if that weren’t the case, Ophelia had no intention of telling him to forget those things. There was no need to.

On top of painful and difficult memories, they could just pile up new good ones.

Since Idren had poured out things warm and soft enough to cover her past, now it was her turn.

If such a confession was needed for that, she would do the same thing as many times as necessary.

“I actually thought you were a fool. For liking someone like me who had nothing special.”

Idren’s lips quivered as if he wanted to refute that statement.

Ophelia placed her finger on the lips of the man who could not bear an honest assessment of her, even though he would rebuild his own self-esteem no matter how many times it was shattered.

Shh. Listen quietly.

“So I asked for the reason, and you said then. That you liked me because I made you ordinary.”

It was a reason he had given while mentioning his own past, which he surely didn’t want to bring up.

For something like that, far from resonating with her heart, it was also words that made her think the other person was being deceived.

Ophelia explained why she had thought that way.

“Honestly, I didn’t understand that either. There must be women in the world who could make you special, so why be satisfied with mere ordinariness.”

And she added. But seeing today, I think I might understand.

“You made me look forward to tomorrow.”

It was true that she had been quite anxious about Idren while coming from Reden to Edegrund, but the main emotion among them was the expectation of seeing his face again.

That’s how the man made her look to the future.

He revived hope that she didn’t even know existed because it had been unused for so long.

So Ophelia thought that the current Idren might be thinking the same way she did in the past.

He was proud, but because he put her before that pride, she thought he might believe she should meet a man who makes her want to live not just tomorrow, but a lifetime.

But just as ordinariness was special to Idren, the tomorrow she wanted to look forward to was no different from eternity.

Looking at her own image filled in the teary gold, Ophelia spoke with the clearest conviction she had.

“So believe me. Just as you came to love me because of ordinariness, I will stay by your side even if only to want to live tomorrow.”

In the end, the fever spread.

Idren became fine the next day as if he had never been sick, but the fever he had suffered immediately transferred to Ophelia like a cold.

It wasn’t severe, but she couldn’t go outside with an illness, so Ophelia was experiencing exactly what he had gone through.

In other words, she was confined to the bedroom. It was a confinement that would end in a day or two because the illness wasn’t deep.

There was quite a bit left to do, but it didn’t seem bad to take a short break on this occasion.

Lying in bed, Ophelia looked up at the ceiling. While resting, she could also organize her thoughts on what to do next…

It was then that Idren, sitting beside her, grumbled.

“I told you the disease would spread.”

He looked quite prim, holding in one hand the work that had piled up during his absence.

Ophelia said to the man who was pretending to be chaste alone while they had shared the benefits together.

“Then take it back.”

Idren paused at those words and took his eyes off the paper to look down at her intently.

Ophelia didn’t avoid his gaze.

Of the two who were silently staring at each other, it was Idren who broke the silence first.

“That would be better.”

The man who answered put down the papers. When he leaned his upper body over her, Ophelia grabbed his clothes string.

It was then that the sound of knocking on the door was heard.

Separating the lips that were just about to meet each other, the man buried his face in her neck.

Making a displeased sound for a moment, he straightened his waist again.

“I’ll go check who it is.”

The fact that someone came despite it being a bedroom where it was obvious what would happen inside meant it was quite urgent and couldn’t be ignored.

Because she could hear the conversation through the open door crack, Ophelia could tell who had come without hearing Idren’s report. It was Salode.

Soon, Idren came back in closing the door, holding a small envelope sealed with wax in his hand.

“A wedding gift and letter have arrived from Egelbamath.”

Idren said as he sat by the bedside and broke the wax seal.

Looking up at him lying down, Ophelia reached out her hand to him.

If it was a letter from Egelbamath, she needed to take a look at it too.

While Idren was away, there had been a letter containing restraints disguised as concern from the Runtalis side, perhaps worried about the unsettling situation in Aglante.

This time was not much different. Ophelia read the phrase written below the generic pleasantries.

– Being newlyweds, it wouldn’t be bad to focus on the family for a while.

If you’re not harmonious inside, you won’t hear good things from the outside either.

And below that was the seal of the Empress’s palace.

However, the content would have been handled by the Crown Prince of Orien.

Because the Emperor of Egelbamath paid quite a bit of attention to his successor.

Handing the paper back to Idren, Ophelia asked.

“Will there be a war?”

“No, that won’t happen.”

Idren answered definitively as he placed the paper on the bedside table.

“The Crown Prince is a moderate, and the Emperor is old and wants to avoid noisy affairs.”

In fact, after Ophelia died, there had been times when he did even crazier things than now.

Even then, letters like this had come from Egelbamath a few times, but war had never broken out.

Moreover, if they went to war with Aglante now, it would cause great damage to Egelbamath as well.

Orien, who would inherit the throne smoothly without competitors, wouldn’t take such a risk.

“That’s just a warning.”

And Idren lightly brushed the edge of the blue eyes looking up at him.

Ophelia blinked a little but didn’t stop him.

Idren, who had been looking down at that sight he had dreamed of for so long, lowered his head.

Ophelia, who was naturally accepting his kiss, whispered.

“Did I tell you I bought candy?”

“What candy are you talking about?”

“The one you bought me, around when we crossed the canal.”

Ah. Only then did the memory come back, and Idren raised an eyebrow. Ophelia lifted her arm and said.

“The yellow ones were just as sweet.”

And she caressed his eyes just as he had done a moment ago.

“Come to think of it, you only ate the blue ones then. Right?”

“You remembered…?”

There was a hint of surprise on his face as he asked back, as if it was unexpected.

It was closer to remembering while trying to find clues from the past as she followed Idren, whose thoughts she couldn’t understand, rather than remembering from the beginning.

But Ophelia answered shamelessly. Of course. And she pulled his neck before the man could find any loopholes.

Idren, who had propped his arm next to her to maintain balance as she clung to him recklessly, sighed softly.

Don’t do this either, it’s dangerous. Instead of answering the man who was worrying unnecessarily as he had once done, Ophelia said something else.

“In this life, I’m going to do everything I want.”

This man, and Reden, would all be hers.

Mahanas wouldn’t even get near the throne. Ophelia recalled her older brother who had recently sent a letter asking when on earth she would lower the canal fees.

There was no mention of Netepel’s body being found among them, so it seemed they still hadn’t found the body.

Suddenly she wondered if the cape hidden in the royal forest was such a remote place, but Ophelia soon erased that question from her mind.

It wasn’t the first time Mahanas had been careless, and she didn’t want to be distracted when her lover was right in front of her.

Idren, who lay down next to her as she pulled him down, answered.

“Do as you please.”

I knew you’d say something like that. Ophelia said.

“You do everything you want too.”

And Ophelia recited something like wishes that had once come from his mouth.

“Shall we go on a trip? I think you said you wanted to go on vacation to the south.”

Idren answered as he put his hand under her waist to untie her clothes.

“Alright.”

“I’ll go on inspection tours with you too, and keep dancing with you at banquets.”

“I don’t enjoy dancing… but I do want to do it with you.”

While answering, his hands were busy untying all the clothes strings. He briefly separated his body.

Idren, who had put his own clothes in a similar state, bent his waist.

Ophelia continued speaking while receiving kisses climbing up from her feet.

“If you like red clothes, I’ll wear red clothes too.”

“Ah, that’s really… just imagining it is good.”

Red suits you well. The man who whispered kissed her knee.

When the other person climbing up little by little touched her fingertips, Ophelia recalled one more thing.

“The villa in Galisa… if you want, I’ll redecorate it for you.”

“I think it’s okay not to do that.”

The returning answer was firm.

Bursting into a small laugh at that response which felt like some kind of will, Ophelia agreed with those words.

“Yes, I think we don’t need to do that either.”

Not long after that, news came that nobles in the south had died from an unknown disease.