Surely, Ophelia was not a person who cried at good moments.

She didn’t understand people who expressed joy through tears. There was a universal and typical method called laughter. Why cry on top of that?

But looking at her husband in front of her, who couldn’t even properly fasten his clothes, her vision strangely blurred. Her throat trembled, and her mouth twisted on its own.

Idren seemed flustered, realizing that her expression was unusual. Ophelia felt the man’s hand trembling as he touched her cheek.

“Oh, Ophelia, why……”

He was clearly hesitating, not knowing where to touch to comfort her. Ophelia hugged her husband tightly, who always acted awkwardly in important moments. Beneath the clothes hastily put on with moisture still on them, she felt the familiar body.

After a moment’s hesitation, Idren soon hugged her back. Though wordless, the arms tightening around her body were twice as strong as usual. It was proof that he had been just as anxious as she was.

Idren closed the tent door while embracing her as she sobbed. Ophelia just clung to the man who was taking her to a chair placed in a corner of the tent. Tears kept blurring her vision.

Thinking she was overcome with emotion because she was upset, Idren wiped her cheeks and said,

“I’m sorry for being away during such a difficult time.”

If it’s about apologizing, she’s sick of it. Ophelia grabbed the face of the man who sat her in the chair and knelt on one knee in front of her.

“Don’t say useless things.”

And she kissed her husband.

Pressing her lips against his chapped ones, perhaps from the hardships of the past days, Ophelia breathed in the warmth she had missed. Despite the urgent action, Idren matched her breathing.

The burning affection flowing from each other’s hearts flowed over their touching skin. Only after feeling that temperature did Ophelia realize how much she had craved it. And that without Idren, the subject of that affection, she had been terribly lonely.

Tears kept falling uncharacteristically. It was the heat of a love she had never shared with anyone before.

Ophelia didn’t wipe away the passion that the man sitting in front of her had made well up. It was all too precious to hide or conceal. It was a value she realized because she had lost it once and regained it forcibly.

When their breaths, which had mixed so deeply that they couldn’t tell who was shedding what, parted along with their lips, she confessed.

“I love you.”

She was still sobbing. Ophelia let the tears fall down her cheeks and chin.

“I said I love you.”

I really love you terribly. It was an emotion so clear it felt unfair.

It feels like being caught in a trap I can’t escape from on my own. Hugging the man’s neck, Ophelia buried her face in his shoulder. His hot body temperature touched her shoulder. At the temperature of that existence, Ophelia thought it would be fine even if she melted away like this. It seemed she could endure becoming any form if only she could not be separated from this man.

Originally, she wasn’t this fragile. Ophelia wasn’t afraid of being left alone. She didn’t hesitate to leave someone alone either.

But now Ophelia felt she couldn’t bear either.

“Without you, I was lonely.”

Squeezing her eyes shut, she murmured.

Idren hugged her, who was collapsed on his heart.

Ophelia entrusted her body to him like a hunted animal. Red and hot emotions flowed profusely. But she had no thought of pulling herself together.

Leaning on her lover’s body, she poured out what was inside.

“When you weren’t here, I wasn’t afraid of anything, but now that I have you, I’m scared of everything……”

What had dominated her actions all this time was longing for this man.

And wasn’t that yearning ultimately the fear of possibly losing him?

Ophelia complained in a wet voice.

“You’ve made me weak,”

What’s worse is that even that weakness was welcome.

Ophelia, who had been trying to leave marks like that, finally held on tighter to the man who had made her solidify into a form of love. In the end, there was only one thing she wanted to say.

She buried her face in her lover’s nape. The suppressed confession leaked out with a sigh.

“Thank you for coming back.”

[This is the timeline separator]

The tears soon stopped.

By the time her crying subsided, Idren slipped his hands under her waist and lifted her up. Ophelia wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck as he carried her. It was a habit of cooperating whenever he carried her.

“It’s late, so I’ll take you to the tent.”

Ophelia picked up the towel hanging in the bathroom. As if he had hastily tidied himself up after bathing, there was still moisture in his black hair.

While carefully wiping it dry, she asked.

“Where will you go?”

“I instructed them to prepare a tent for my share, so I should go there.”

That means we have to separate. Ophelia objected.

“I don’t want that.”

They were husband and wife. Husband and wife are no different from the same body. Ophelia was now ready to accept as truth those words she had dismissed as nonsense for years.

“Don’t go anywhere, stay by my side.”

Idren chuckled softly and agreed.

“I will.”

After being in a space with lingering warmth, the outside air felt chilly. Ophelia shivered slightly. Summer had now completely ended. Soon, Edegrun would have a few cold rains before the snow started.

Idren, who had received an outer garment from Hazel waiting outside the tent, covered her with it. Leaning her head on his shoulder, Ophelia asked.

“How did you escape?”

“I used the guard.”

It was an ambiguous statement.

Being a sensitive man, he must have deliberately been roundabout.

He must have known what to do. Without delving deeply into the situations that the word ‘use’ might imply, Ophelia asked another thing she had been curious about.

“And how did you cross the river?”

There was a wide river between enemy territory and where they were now. It was a river that could only be crossed by boat.

“I swam across.”

And before Ophelia could say anything, Idren kissed her cheek.

“Don’t worry, it was manageable. I’m a good swimmer.”

Even so, crossing a river of that width bare-bodied didn’t seem easy, but having never learned to swim herself, she couldn’t readily say anything.

While Ophelia was trying to gauge something she had never done, Idren opened the tent door and asked as he stepped inside.

“More importantly, did Hazel come to rescue you in time? What happened to Mahanas? I had ordered his head to be cut off and sent to Reden……”

Idren trailed off and glanced at her cautiously. He seemed to feel uneasy about having decided Mahanas’s fate on his own. Ophelia answered the man as he lowered her onto the bed.

“First, Hazel came on time. And Mahanas… I killed him. It wasn’t intentional, it was impulsive… but somehow it happened.”

And after killing him, I even brought his head and hung it up. Adding that, it seemed like she had handled it quite well, but still, there was some regret left. Ophelia slightly furrowed her brow. Mahanas should have died more painfully. Wasn’t he a man who deserved to be hanged publicly on the gallows, and even that wouldn’t have been enough?

But the man who said she could do anything she wanted seemed to think differently.

“You did well.”

Idren praised her and took the towel from her hand. Ophelia gazed up at the man who was carefully wiping away the moisture she had clumsily dried. The gap in his loosened clothes looked good.

“I thought I had to kill him no matter what. How dare he take you away……”

Idren muttered and sat down beside her.

“It’s time to sleep, let me take off your shoes.”

Ophelia didn’t refuse that offer. She was now used to her husband liking her legs.

However, when Idren lifted her leg onto his lap as he always did, Ophelia unconsciously let out a groan. Her thighs and calves were sore.

Idren frowned and asked.

“Does it hurt?”

“No, actually I went horseback riding earlier today… It’s my first time, so my body seems shocked.”

“Your muscles are stiff.”

Hazel had said something similar. Ophelia recalled the knight who had praised her, saying her posture was very good for a first-timer. Suddenly, she felt regretful that she couldn’t show that sight to Idren.

After quickly removing her shoes, Idren patted the bed and said.

“Lie down here. It’s normal for your body to hurt when you ride a horse for the first time.”

Ophelia lay down as he instructed. Soon, firm hands began to press on her back and waist.

Her lips naturally relaxed at the appropriate pressure pressing on her stiff muscles. With her eyes half-closed, Ophelia realized that he must have overexerted himself today too. She turned over to look up at her husband.

“Aren’t you tired?”

“How could I be tired when you’re by my side?”

It was an extremely illogical statement, but Idren’s face as he said it was as sincere as someone who knew no lies.

After quietly gazing at that face for a while, Ophelia reached out her arms towards her husband’s neck. Idren, who now knew how to read her intentions through actions without words, leaned down.

After sharing another kiss, Idren let out a small sigh and rested his forehead on her chest. He murmured.

“I’m really glad to see you again like this. Really……”

Ophelia gently caressed the ear of her husband who was thinking the same as her. It was an expression of agreement.

After staying still for a while as if listening to her heartbeat, Idren climbed into the bed beside her. Ophelia snuggled a bit closer to the man embracing her. Soon, a large, warm hand slowly stroked her back.

Having regained the person she wanted and feeling warm, sleep naturally came. Blinking slowly, Ophelia remembered there was a fact she needed to tell him.

“I found out what the poison I drank in my past life was.”

And Ophelia yawned softly. She added.

“It wasn’t to die, but a sleeping drug, they say.”

The hand stroking her back stopped.

“What… do you mean?”

The questioning voice trembled. It was also an expected reaction. Ophelia knew Idren would be surprised if she said such things.

But Idren had the right to know in detail what had happened to her.

If necessary, I can soothe him, can’t I? Pressing her body a little closer to her husband’s chest, Ophelia explained.

“It looks like dying, but in reality, it just makes you lose consciousness, they said. Netepel probably fed it to me. The doctor from Egelbamot at that time was favorable to Netepel. He must have obtained his cooperation.”

Hearing that reminded Idren of something. He muttered blankly.

“The Second Prince doesn’t die.”

He didn’t die even when strangled or burned.

The reason for that is unknown. Even for Ophelia’s safety, Netepel Runtalis needed to be eliminated, but Idren still couldn’t think of a suitable method.

The only thing worth trying was to put him in the royal well. Although he had no god he wanted to worship, since ordinary methods couldn’t eliminate him, the idea was to resort to mythology.

And if the current Second Prince couldn’t die, then the one from the previous life might have been the same. Idren explained these thoughts of his.

“It might have been the same in the past. The attack then was successful, but no body was found… He probably hid and tried to secretly take you away.”

It was more than enough when considering the Second Prince’s obsession with Ophelia.

According to royal custom, once a body is entombed in the cemetery, it’s not looked at for over a year, so he must have thought he just needed to wait until the funeral was over.

But Netepel Runtalis failed. Idren knew the reason. He murmured. But since I kept staying at the cemetery, he couldn’t approach.

“…So that’s why time didn’t go back.”

He lamented.

“I killed you by locking you up.”

It was strange that time didn’t go back, he had thought.

Idren remembered the conversation he had with Salode. At that time, he clearly thought that Ophelia might not have died.

But opening an already closed coffin would be defaming Ophelia’s honor, so he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Because of that, Ophelia died.

It felt like something was tightly blocking his throat. Idren took a deep breath to avoid showing his gradually choking breath.

“You were alive, but……”

I should have known.

Ophelia pushed away the chest of the man who was trembling despite it being a thing of the past. At her gesture of wanting to break free, the arms that had been tightly holding her loosened languidly.

If he had let go so easily, he shouldn’t be flustered, but the golden eyes looking up at her from a slight distance were clearly tinged with confusion.

The long eyelashes quivered finely. The upturned corners of his eyes were red, as if water would pool there soon.

It’s true that his crying face is pretty, but his smiling face is even better to look at. Before the star-like eyes could drop water, Ophelia placed her hand on her husband’s cheek.

“Now, look at me.”

Although confused, Idren did as he was told. The moist golden eyes blinked several times. Waiting for that focus to fully fix on her, Ophelia said.

“I’m alive and well, aren’t I? I’m breathing, and my flesh is warm.”

“…That’s right.”

“Yes, so don’t be scared.”

Idren nodded obediently. Ophelia moved her hand from his cheek to his hair. The now almost dry black hair scattered softly between her fingers. She said.

“And it wasn’t you who killed me, it was Netepel.”

Even if it was the doctor from Egelbamot who directly acted, Netepel must have been behind it, so it was indeed his murder.

So Idren’s shed tears should also be accounted for by him.

Ophelia promised her husband, who must have cried a lot in places without her.

“I’ll avenge that enemy in this life, so watch carefully.”

[This is the timeline separator]

The Grand Duke of Aglante escaped.

The man didn’t disappear alone. He fled with the Second Princess who was in the same carriage.

They must have fallen for each other. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken the woman beside him in a situation where his own future was uncertain, so Netepel concluded.

The feeble man escaped in a way that was just like him. What the soldiers who tracked the sound of hooves encountered were two horses with empty saddles. They must have dismounted midway and pretended to release the horses into the forest. Given the nature of horses, they would have run faster, frightened by the sounds of pursuit from behind.

But since they couldn’t have crossed the river, Netepel had the military comb the area that night as if picking lice. The two must be hiding nearby.

And soon they found traces of someone launching a boat near the river.

“The Grand Duke is on the other side of the river.”

As the sun rose the next day, the scout watching their movements reported thus.

Unable to believe those words, Netepel snatched the telescope and examined across the river himself. But truly, the black-haired man was standing on the other side of the river. Moreover, Ophelia was with him.

Though his head should have been crushed by a stone, Ophelia didn’t mind the Grand Duke putting his hand on her shoulder. No, she went a step further and stood on her tiptoes to whisper something in the man’s ear.

When the Grand Duke of Aglante kissed the woman’s cheek after hearing those words, Netepel threw down the telescope. Though he knew it wasn’t a specific action since they couldn’t confirm who was here with the naked eye, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that they were doing it for show.

He wanted to drag the Grand Duke over right away and behead him in front of Ophelia, but no suitable method came to mind. Since coming back to life, he had been able to move people around him at will, but it wasn’t something he could do indefinitely.

Moreover, the ability obtained from the god couldn’t be used recklessly. Netepel didn’t fully trust the god of Runtalis.

Even after the Grand Duke escaped last night, instead of cooperating, didn’t the god mock him?

[You must know that without me, you are nothing.]

But it is that god-like being that is parasitic on his body.

Therefore, Netepel thought those words were ridiculous, but he couldn’t express it right away because he had no good options at the moment.

But soon he would devise some method.

When that time comes, he would pay back this humiliation to all those who ignored him.

Just as Netepel was about to turn his back while glaring across the river with hatred and determination, an arrow flew with a sound of cutting through the wind and stuck into the riverbank. Tied to the long, thick-shafted arrow that could cover long distances was a piece of paper.

“Pick that up and bring it here.”

The soldier beside him immediately followed that order. At that action, Netepel was reminded of an old man who had acted like his limbs, but the association didn’t last long.

At the end of the note was stamped the seal of the Sigrasal royal family. Netepel raised the corner of his mouth as he unfolded it and confirmed the contents.

– …Therefore, we will leave the royal palace empty, so let’s settle this one-on-one.

It seemed the heavens were on his side after all.