Love Me Just Once - Chapter 28

On the day Netepel disappeared, the second prince of Aglante asked her to dance. Ophelia accepted his dance invitation.

Throughout the ballroom, the second prince complimented her appearance. And he said congratulations on finally coming to her senses and associating with a fine young man like himself.

In the end, as soon as the dance ended, Ophelia ran into the lounge and emptied her stomach completely.

The following summer, at thirteen, at the conference held again, Netepel was not seen, and Ophelia saw a new boy. She heard he was a child of the royal family, not a child of the Queen Consort of Aglante.

Mahanas, perhaps worried she might associate with that child, assigned a separate attendant to watch her.

However, even without him doing so, there was no chance of her associating with that child. Because that child was holed up in the quarters and didn’t come out. Moreover, Ophelia no longer had any desire to be close to anyone.

And the Crown Prince of Egelbamot, who led the group as the eldest among the children of the three families, called her separately and said that Netepel would not be coming to the conferences anymore.

“I think the princess is smart enough to understand what I’m saying.”

Seeing the Crown Prince looking down at her with gentle eyes and saying that, Ophelia had to feel the disgust she had felt last year again.

Because she had been feeling unwell ever since seeing the Crown Prince, Ophelia had told the attendant that Mahanas had assigned as her eyes and ears that she wasn’t feeling well.

However, the attendant still pushed her into the ballroom. It was because Mahanas had emphasized several times that she needed to build relationships with the core members of the next regime.

Entering the ballroom all dressed up, Ophelia decided to dance as soon as the music started.

Since she had to dance at least once if she attended the party, she planned to finish her duty quickly and rest.

It was at that moment. The doors of the ballroom opened, and the three princes of Aglante rushed in noisily. Ophelia noticed that something was in the hand of the oldest prince among them.

“Now, is there anyone who would dance with this poor fellow? Although he’s uneducated, showing a bit of sympathy would be a lifelong honor for this filthy boy!”

When the first prince shouted that while pushing forward his half-brother, Ophelia realized that they had found a new plaything after Netepel disappeared.

It felt like something hot was surging up to the top of her head. The first prince of Aglante was enjoying oppressing a child who had no power to resist, while not throwing stones at his own father.

When she came to her senses, she was standing in front of the first prince of Aglante.

That day, after dancing with a boy whose name she didn’t even know properly and sending him away, Ophelia stayed on the balcony without holding anyone’s hand.

On the balcony, she endlessly repeated to Netepel, who was nowhere to be found. See, Netepel. They found a new child when you disappeared. But were you really the problem?

But Netepel, who should have heard those words, was not in front of her.

While she was doing this, one of the princes of Aglante was pestering her to dance just once, but Ophelia never took his hand. She didn’t want to associate with those who could only find joy by sacrificing someone.

When she recalled up to that point, Ophelia felt a strange sense of déjà vu. The boy who had fled the ballroom that day had black hair.

And suddenly, another memory came to mind.

Two years later, on a summer day at fifteen, Ophelia met the boy who had been bullied by the first prince of Aglante once more.

The boy, who had grown much taller than her, seemed to be receiving better treatment unlike Netepel. Ophelia thought it was fortunate that he had grown enough not to remind her of her childhood friend who no longer appeared.

And that boy’s eyes,

“Indeed, that’s right. Your eyes are golden. Anyone would think you’re a descendant of Sigrasal.”

Weren’t they as bright as the morning star?

Ophelia opened her eyes wide as she realized what she had been missing all this time. She turned to look at the man across from her.

Black hair and golden eyes as wide as hers came into view.

“Ophelia, what’s wrong……”

“You,”

And Ophelia pulled out the most important key that she had been missing for over ten years.

“You’ve seen me when I was young, haven’t you?”

Idren blinked as if surprised and asked.

“……You remembered?”

“I just recalled.”

And Ophelia let out a deep sigh at her own stupidity. She murmured.

“……So that boy I saw at the conference was you.”

It was a mistake not to have made the connection because his height and build had changed a lot, and he was someone she had briefly met long ago.

Too much had happened to her since the conference at fifteen. In her first life, Ophelia had almost forgotten even Netepel’s existence after Haslen’s death.

How could she remember a boy she had briefly encountered when young?

Still, she should have recalled at least once after living together for three years, but she hadn’t because she thought he was the groom Mahanas had found.

Because Mahanas had spoken as if the marriage talks with him were all thanks to him, Ophelia thought Idren had agreed to marry based only on her brother’s words. She thought he was someone who had judged her worth solely based on her portrait.

So naturally, she hadn’t been curious about him. She never had any interest in someone who had decided on a major life event just by looking at a portrait.

Now she saw that’s where things had gone wrong.

Ophelia let out another deep sigh. She felt pathetic and frustrated with herself for realizing all this only now. A long-accumulated fatigue washed over her like a tide.

After rubbing her face once, she asked the man who was looking at her with expectant eyes.

“Don’t tell me you wanted to marry me because of that meeting?”

Her voice came out sharper than expected due to fatigue. Perhaps sensing the unfavorable atmosphere, the man blinked at her. His mouth remained tightly shut.

In such a situation, silence itself is an affirmation.

Ophelia pressed the person looking at her with a confused face again.

“Really?”

“……Are you getting irritated right now?”

Idren’s voice asking that had a slight tremor in it. Ophelia read the fear and tension underlying it.

She wanted to ask the man who had grown up splendidly to the point where his past appearance was not even reminiscent, yet still acted like a child.

If he were in her position, would he be able to understand her?

They were not fifteen, but twenty-three. Before time turned back, they were twenty-six.

To be honest, until this moment, she hadn’t even remembered their first meeting. It was natural, as it was from a distant past.

So this marriage had always been a conundrum to her. In a situation where not marrying anyone was the surest solution, she was set to take a long detour, and she was always frustrated not knowing the reason.

To think that what had frustrated her so much was something this small.

She felt deflated yet angry. Idren had even threatened her using Mahanas and Reden as hostages. He had treated her desire for revenge against them as a tool, solely to make her cross the Reden border with him.

Ophelia knew all this, yet had been swayed by him because she had no other choice.

But, but……

It seemed it would have been better if he had said it was because of her appearance. At least that wasn’t something she had chosen, so she could have just thought his thinking was peculiar and moved on.

Realizing that she herself had caused all this made her feel dizzy. Her head burned hot.

Ophelia took a deep breath. Anyway, pouring out what was inside her to Idren now wasn’t a wise choice.

Suppressing the stirring emotions, she opened her mouth.

“Did you propose to me just because of that?”

“……Did you say ‘just’?”

And the man furrowed his brow. Ophelia saw his reddened ears and eyes, and his tensed jaw.

To prevent tears from forming in his eyes, she softened her voice.

“Listen, you. I don’t know what that day meant to you, but I really had no intention. I was just dancing.”

The two dances that day were too short compared to the overall length of a lifetime.

Yet this man was clinging to it, staking his all on it.

Thinking that, Ophelia felt her irritation subside a little. Instead, a slight pity arose. It was the feeling she usually had when seeing people struggling to hold onto something meaningless.

Perhaps Idren might think she was doing this to hurt him. Seeing the pain clearly visible on his face, such a thought suddenly occurred to her.

But Ophelia didn’t dislike Idren.

Objectively speaking, he was really a good person. He could be annoying and childish at times, but people without such flaws were rare in this world.

So, she wasn’t doing this to deliberately trample on him.

It was then that the man looking at her with trembling eyes opened his mouth.

“……Should I have done nothing at all that day?”