Feeling disillusioned by Ernant’s words that he came because he was worried about me, I asked back.

“Were you that worried about me entering the rift alone with the Commander? Did you really believe that the Commander would forcibly embrace me… or that such a thing would happen?”

“There’s no law saying it can’t happen.”

“……”

The Commander was a man who would blush and not know what to do even if he just saw my underwear.

A man who had lived wielding only weapons inside rifts and knew nothing about women.

Therefore, Ernant’s idea that the Commander might try to forcibly embrace me was nothing more than a delusion.

However, Ernant seemed to firmly believe in his delusion.

He approached closer and whispered as he tucked my stray hair behind my ear.

“You don’t know men well, Yulia. So you need to be careful. Try to avoid being alone with Martin as much as possible.”

“I may not know men well, but I do know what kind of person the Commander is. He’s a more noble knight than anyone else I know.”

“……”

“And that kind of worry… makes me a bit uncomfortable. I’d appreciate it if you could refrain from saying things that damage the Commander’s honor in front of me from now on.”

Ernant’s hand that was tucking my hair behind my ear suddenly stopped.

That hand that had been tickling my ear stayed suspended in the air for a while, then slowly moved away from me.

Ernant removed his hand from me like that and stared at me for a long time.

“Ha.”

A twisted laugh flowed from between Ernant’s lips.

The gentle and affectionate smile he had shown me had already disappeared.

Ernant spoke in a tone of bewilderment.

“I’m curious now. How did Martin manage to sway you to suddenly change your attitude like this?”

Sway…

It would have been better if the Commander was that cunning.

If he had lured me in and made me his person, I wouldn’t have been betrayed by Ernant either.

So I let out a laugh filled with bewilderment.

“It wasn’t the Commander who changed me.”

“…Then who?”

“Are you curious?”

I took one step closer to Ernant, who looked confused after hearing my question.

When we were close enough that our bodies almost touched, I stretched out my head and whispered in his ear.

“Your Majesty, it was because of you. The reason I changed.”

I slowly distanced myself from Ernant again.

Ernant raised his arm as if to grab me as I moved away, but my steps were faster.

Thanks to that, I was able to completely move away from him before his fingertips could reach me.

When our distance had widened again as if nothing had happened, Ernant asked.

“Did I do something wrong to you? If there is, tell me now.”

“…Even if I tell you, you probably won’t understand.”

How could I say that you killed me, and because of that I came back 5 years into the past?

I’d just be called crazy.

So I had to swallow my disappointment and anger towards Ernant alone.

When I closed my mouth, Ernant let out a deep sigh.

“I don’t know what you’re upset about, but let it go. I’ll choose you as my partner for the upcoming Founding Day event.”

Come to think of it, the Founding Day event was coming up soon.

The most important event commemorating the founding of the Empire.

It was customary for young nobles attending the event to choose a partner to accompany them, and Ernant was saying he would choose me as his partner.

If it had been the past me, I would have accepted it as an honor that he chose me, but not now.

“I already have a man I’ve agreed to go with for the Founding Day event. I’m afraid I can’t be Your Majesty’s partner.”

“What? Who is that? You… it’s not Martin, is it?”

“……”

If I said I was attending with the Commander, Ernant would probably give up on me, but I couldn’t tell such a lie just to avoid a momentarily awkward situation.

The current Commander doesn’t even like me very much.

If he found out that I had made up a lie about agreeing to be his partner, he would certainly think it was ridiculous.

For that reason, I decided to borrow the name of someone a little more familiar than the Commander.

“I’ve agreed to go with one of my subordinates. A guy named Karl.”

“Karl…? Ah… that guy?”

“Do you know Karl? I thought you had never met him.”

“…There’s something like that. Anyway, you’re going with a guy like that? I wonder if he even has a carriage to take you to the banquet hall. Is he going to carry you there on his back?”

Although I had only borrowed the name to reject Ernant’s offer, Karl was being ridiculed because of it.

For his sake as well, I couldn’t listen any longer, so I looked straight at Ernant and warned him.

“Karl is my precious subordinate. He’s not so poor that he doesn’t have a carriage. So please don’t speak of him that way.”

“Anyway, to reject my offer because of a guy like that, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that joke.”

“Your Majesty! I’m not joking right now…!”

“Enough!!”

Just as my anger was about to explode, Ernant raised his voice first.

He approached me with long strides and warned me with a cold face he had never shown before.

“I don’t know why you’re angry with me. Maybe I made some minor mistake. A mistake so insignificant that I don’t even realize it was a mistake. But even so, you have to attend the Founding Day event with me.”

“……”

“It’s not a request, but an order as emperor. Know that there are no other options.”

No matter how informally he was acting, Ernant was still the emperor after all.

Even if I had to prioritize the Commander’s orders in matters related to rifts, in all other matters, Ernant’s orders were absolute.

Since he had clearly stated that this was an imperial order, I had no way to refuse.

“……”

As I reluctantly kept my mouth shut, Ernant finally showed a satisfied smile.

“I’ll send you a dress soon, so wear it to the event. Your taste in choosing dresses is… honestly not that great, right? I can’t let you come wearing something weird and make me a laughingstock too.”

Though he was speaking in a gentle voice, the content of his words was enough to hurt me.

I remembered that Ernant was still somewhat affectionate around this time.

It seems he was cruel even back then.

When I didn’t answer, Ernant soon left the tent.

The stifling feelings were left entirely to me.

Under the darkened sky, Martin sat quietly polishing his weapon.

Although he had been polishing for a long time and his face was clearly reflected on the halberd blade, his hands did not stop.

It was because his mind was filled with thoughts of only one person, to the point where he couldn’t stop this meaningless task.

“Yulia…”

In the end, was she Ernant’s person? Swallowing the rest of those words, Martin recalled what had happened earlier.

Just a little while ago, Yulia had accepted Ernant’s support even though she knew that Martin himself was keeping Ernant in check.

Because of that, Martin couldn’t send Ernant back to the imperial palace.

Just as he was about to tell Ernant to go back now that he had seen the rift, Yulia’s intervention had eliminated any reason to send him away.

Of course, such behavior from Yulia wasn’t particularly new.

The fact that Yulia was Ernant’s person, and moreover, that she had feelings for him, was already widely known.

So it was natural for Yulia to follow Ernant rather than Martin.

Martin knew that too, but—

“Haa…”

He didn’t feel good about it.

The image of Yulia’s back as she moved away leaning on Ernant kept coming to mind.

He had no choice but to try to erase that scene from his mind by vigorously polishing the innocent halberd blade.

It was then.

“So this is where you were hiding. I found you.”

Ernant’s voice suddenly came from behind Martin.

Lost in thought, Martin only then sensed Ernant’s presence and turned to look at him.

For some reason, a sardonic smile was on Ernant’s face.

Feeling a slight displeasure at that fact, Martin responded.

“Were you looking for me? I’m honored.”

“As if it’s an honor. I just came to tell you I’m returning to the imperial palace now.”

“You’ve made a good decision. You should go back now. This place isn’t very comfortable for Your Majesty to stay in anyway.”

“You’re not even pretending to be disappointed that I’m leaving? If I had stayed one night, you would have rolled out a red carpet towards the imperial palace telling me to get out quickly.”

Martin didn’t refute those words.

In reality, he did want Ernant to disappear as soon as possible.

However, Ernant didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving right away, as he opened his mouth again.

“Send Yulia to the capital a week before the Founding Day event.”