Opening her eyes, the first thing Ophelia saw was a man standing with his head turned away from her.

Realizing that the tall man with black hair was Idren, she frowned.

“Why are you standing like that?”

His body was turned towards her while his head was turned away, which looked uncomfortable no matter how she viewed it.

Normal people don’t stand like that. As she blinked to drive away her sleepiness, the man cleared his throat softly and handed her something. His head was still turned in the opposite direction.

“What is this?”

Idren didn’t answer. Since she could see for herself without his answer, Ophelia opened the paper bag he had given her.

Inside the bag were three or four glass bottles about the size of her fist. Ophelia took one out. The bottle contained colorful bead-like objects wrapped in thin paper.

“They’re candies.”

Idren, who had now sat down in the chair beside her, said. Ophelia glanced at him. Except for his slightly reddened ears, the man’s face was the same as usual.

“Why did you buy candies?”

“…Is it so hard to say thank you?”

What context did that come from?

Ophelia said to the man whose train of thought she couldn’t understand.

“Thank you.”

The man cleared his throat once again.

Ophelia briefly considered telling him not to view everything in the world so crookedly. It was bad enough that he cried easily and blushed readily, but if it was this difficult for him to hear a simple thank you, it was quite troublesome.

But wasn’t it a bit much for her to lecture a fully grown man?

After a moment’s hesitation, Ophelia decided to keep her mouth shut and opened the glass bottle. She picked up a light green candy and unwrapped it.

The finely colored candy was just the right size and a bit sweeter than expected. After rolling it around in her mouth for a moment, Ophelia offered the bottle to him.

“You eat one too.”

As if that simple statement was something significant, the man looked at her with surprised eyes before doing as told. Ophelia watched as he chose a blue candy and put it in his mouth.

After rolling the candy in his mouth for a moment, he asked.

“…Is it to your liking?”

And the boat slowly began to move. Looking at the parting water’s surface, Ophelia answered.

“It’s sweet.”

“So, what I mean is…”

But the man didn’t finish his sentence. He sighed softly and grumbled. Fine. If you didn’t like it, you would have spit it out already.

Ophelia didn’t bother to respond to the man who seemed unsure whether he wanted to be kind or argue with her. His emotional changes were too varied to keep up with.

Sure enough, he said something out of the blue again.

“Don’t misunderstand.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I said earlier. About your appearance being…”

And Idren blushed again.

There he goes again. Glancing at his reddened ears, which were no longer surprising, Ophelia tilted the bottle slightly. A light green candy was at the bottom.

“…I don’t like you because of your appearance.”

Then the man added. Do you dislike yellow candies?

Instead of responding to him, Ophelia unwrapped another light green candy and put it in her mouth. Rolling one slightly smaller one and a new one in her mouth, she said.

“Then is it because of my personality?”

“…What are you talking about now?”

Ophelia read shock in his furrowed brow. If that expression wasn’t an act, Idren seemed truly shocked by what she had said.

There he goes again, again. Thinking this, Ophelia rolled the candy somewhat indifferently. The sweet taste rolled over her teeth.

Idren turned to look at the woman who was calmly staring ahead after saying such an outrageous thing. He couldn’t tell if she was joking or being serious.

But one important thing was that he needed to correct the misunderstanding immediately.

Even though he tried to interpret most of Ophelia’s actions positively, Idren knew when something was wrong.

It was just like her to stay quiet after hearing such words, but if she said such things in front of others, Ophelia would be rightfully criticized.

He looked at the woman gazing at the flowing water and said sincerely.

“Your appearance is a hundred times better than your personality.”

Ophelia put the glass bottle she had been fiddling with back into the paper bag.

…Although what he said wasn’t far from the truth, it strangely upset her.

“Then why on earth do you like me?”

And the woman returned the bag of candies to him. Accepting the bag reflexively, Idren blinked.

“You’re not going to eat more?”

Ophelia replied without looking at him. It’s sweet.

That “it’s sweet” seemed to mean both that it suited her taste and that she didn’t want to eat more. Idren sighed softly and placed the bag on his side.

Now Ophelia had her eyes closed. Golden sunlight shone down on her face, which wore slightly heavier makeup than usual.

Idren quietly observed this peace. Ophelia with her eyes closed looked much gentler than he knew her to be…

But Ophelia didn’t let him remain lost in contemplation for long.

Still with her eyes closed, she persistently asked.

“Are you not going to tell me why you like me?”

The man was silent for a long while before saying something unexpected.

“…I didn’t know you had this kind of personality.”

Ophelia let him know that it wasn’t just him who had learned something new.

“I didn’t know you had this kind of taste either.”

At that, Idren let out a deep sigh. Though she couldn’t see his face with her eyes closed, Ophelia could tell. The man would be looking at her as if he didn’t know what to do with her.

Some people would make such an expression, as if blaming others, when they wanted to avoid answering. It was to shift the focus to the other person and escape from a difficult situation.

Even though she knew this clearly, Ophelia didn’t ask him further. After all, what mattered wasn’t his feelings.

She took a deep breath in the sunlight that warmed her entire body.

“Don’t you know why we keep returning to the past?”

And the woman added before he could answer. I know, you said you didn’t know last time.

“But don’t you have any guesses at all?”

“…I’m not certain, but there is one point I’m curious about.”

Ophelia brightened immediately. She opened her eyes wide and looked at him.

“What is it?”

Sunlight entered her deep blue eyes. The color, as beautiful as a clear sky, held undeniable expectation.

Seeing that made him feel strangely twisted inside. Idren frowned deeply.

“Why should I trust you enough to tell you?”

“What do you mean?”

“If you learn the reason why time is turning back, won’t you just eliminate it and die again?”

And Idren became a little depressed.

Though he had momentarily forgotten, intoxicated by the sunlight and the sweetness of the candy, the essence of their relationship remained the same.

Ophelia would leave him whenever she felt like it, and he was threatening her with all sorts of things as hostages because he couldn’t gain her attention through normal means.

It was true that he resented the woman who treated him as worthless, but Idren didn’t want to treat Ophelia that way. This wasn’t the married life he had hoped for. He had always wanted to be on her side, to be her friend…

Not this petty man who sharpened his blade over every little thing.

But Ophelia wouldn’t even glance at him when he behaved kindly.

So what was he supposed to do?

An overwhelming sense of helplessness that he couldn’t even voice filled him. Idren turned his head away from those ocean-like eyes.

But the waves were spread all around, so he became even more depressed. Meanwhile, Ophelia wasn’t even denying his words…

Ophelia looked with bewildered eyes at the man who suddenly sulked in the middle of speaking.

“What do you mean, why should you trust me enough to tell me?”

Had this man wanted to whisper secrets with her?

But they weren’t children. Both she and that childish man had grown old enough.

Yet Idren was acting as if he were a friendless ten-year-old boy.

“This might seem like a game to you, but to me, it’s a disaster.”

It was natural, since the tower she had worked so hard to build kept crumbling endlessly.

However, Idren didn’t seem to understand her words properly. He immediately sneered.

“You don’t know anything. The more disastrous the situation, the more trust is needed.”

“So that’s how you’re going to be? But there’s something you’ve overlooked. You clearly said you wouldn’t care whether I killed myself or not. Don’t you remember?”

How could he not remember?

Turning his back to avoid the woman who was now glaring at him with her whole body turned towards him, Idren recalled the events of just last night.

“Do as you wish. If you want to kill yourself, do it. If you want to run away, do it.”

Right after that, he had added that it was fine if she didn’t marry him.

And then he threatened her by mentioning all the things that would happen if she didn’t marry him.

As a result, Ophelia had come this far with him. Although he hadn’t heard her exact words, Idren knew that she would go with him to Castle Sigrasal like this and hold the ceremony.

Ironically, it was the only action among all he had done that bore the fruit he wanted.

Nevertheless, while he was drowning in self-loathing for acting against her will, Ophelia seemed to have no qualms about mentioning it. Idren frowned deeply.

“I said I wouldn’t care, not that I would condone it.”