Larisa earnestly requested Guinevere to never invite Her Highness the Princess again.

“Why? Did she bully you?”

“No, it’s not that…”

“Then? Did she ignore you?”

“No…”

There wasn’t any particular malice felt. The Princess seemed to genuinely want to become friends, asking many questions about Larisa and showing interest. Larisa, unsure how to explain, quietly whispered.

“It’s just uncomfortable.”

“Hmm.”

Guinevere became uncomfortable seeing Larisa’s dejected face.

‘Dejected?’

“What did you talk about with her?”

“Her Highness talked about her trip to Cadia and her visit to Laran…”

“We should go on a trip.”

“Pardon?”

Guinevere thought Larisa envied the Princess.

“There’s nothing to envy. We can go too.”

“What?”

Guinevere took Larisa’s hand. Strike while the iron is hot, they say, and the two suddenly found themselves on the beach of Laran.

“Huh? What?”

Larisa looked around with a bewildered face, having suddenly arrived in an unfamiliar place.

“Now, what shall we do?”

Larisa, who had turned pale, asked.

“Wh-where are we?”

“Laran.”

Larisa was startled. And she held Guinevere’s hand tightly as if it might disappear if she let go.

“Please don’t leave me here…”

As Larisa started to whimper, Guinevere was taken aback.

“What are you saying? Why would I abandon you?”

“Waaah, I’m scared!”

The flustered Guinevere quickly picked Larisa up.

“There, there. Be a good girl. Stop crying.”

Guinevere said, breaking out in a cold sweat. She thought Larisa wanted to go on a trip, so she brought her here, but she didn’t expect her to suddenly cry.

“Oh, right! Look, there seems to be something delicious over there!”

Guinevere teleported while holding Larisa. The street vendor was startled by Guinevere’s sudden appearance, but she spoke confidently.

“Two skewers. Quickly. Do you have any drinks?”

“Huh? Ah, yes. Yes, we do.”

Guinevere held up one skewer and waved it in front of Larisa’s eyes. Larisa never refused food. The whimpering Larisa opened her mouth.

“Aah~”

Larisa biting into it in one go and eating diligently was quite cute. Guinevere couldn’t help but smile. However, she had to be startled again by Larisa’s crying.

“Waaah, it’s spicy~”

“Drink! Quickly!”

“Oh my, we do have some, but…”

Guinevere didn’t even listen to the vendor’s explanation and hastily handed the drink to Larisa. And after drinking it, Larisa exclaimed.

“Ah! It stings!”

It was carbonated water.

“It’s carbonated water, so I wonder if the little one has ever tried it before, haha.”

The vendor laughed desperately. It was because Guinevere was glaring at him with a terrifying look.

Larisa, despite her tongue being spicy and her throat stinging, kept an eye on Guinevere. She was afraid Guinevere might get angry if she wasn’t careful.

“But it’s sweet.”

Larisa continued to sip the carbonated water.

“It’s delicious, right? That’s because my wife put her homemade lemon syrup in it, so it’s very tasty!”

The vendor desperately promoted his product. Guinevere’s raised eyebrows lowered a bit.

“Haha, the little one knows how to eat.”

As the vendor kept praising Larisa for being cute, Guinevere’s mood completely softened. Unfortunately, only Guinevere understood, as Larisa couldn’t understand the Laran language.

Larisa, who had saved the vendor’s life with just her intuition, began walking along the beach, holding a non-spicy skewer given by the vendor in one hand and tightly grasping Guinevere’s hand with the other.

“Please don’t let go of my hand?”

“Alright.”

Understanding the fear of abandonment, Guinevere didn’t let go of Larisa’s hand. She intended to wait until the child could let go on her own.

As they walked along the beach together, Larisa finished eating the skewer and began drawing in the sand with the remaining stick. Looking down at the indecipherable drawing, Guinevere asked.

“What did you draw?”

“It’s William and Mother.”

Guinevere, who had been quietly looking down at the sand, said.

“Let me see that.”

Then she drew two small circles between William and Guinevere, like a snowman.

“This is you.”

“Pardon?”

“You should be here too. This tiny thing is Larisa Rodante.”

“But why am I the only round one?”

“I hope you’ll grow round from eating well.”

“Hmph.”

Before long, Larisa had let go of Guinevere’s hand and started playing with the sand using both hands.

Guinevere sat down casually on the beach and watched Larisa play. Larisa adapted quickly. Her fear seemed to have disappeared somewhere, forgotten as she concentrated on building a sand castle.

Larisa burst into laughter rather than pouting when the waves kept destroying the sand castle she had worked hard to build.

The tower of sand that Larisa quickly built up was repeatedly destroyed by the waves and rebuilt. It was as if she was competing with the waves.

‘No wonder William likes her.’

Suddenly, that thought occurred to her. Larisa was a lovable child. Even to her eyes, she already looked adorable.

Most of what she knew about Larisa were images of her like a corpse. Because she hadn’t paid much attention after the marriage, most of her close observations were after Larisa had fallen ill.

So she didn’t know. That she was such a lovable child.

Perhaps the reason William kept turning back time to when they first met was because he wanted to preserve this loveliness until the end.

‘I’m sorry, Larisa. To you too.’

Especially for the past 10 years, she had done terrible things to Larisa.

‘Please let me go, Lady Rodante.’

A faint voice came to mind.

‘For William’s sake.’

Larisa, who uttered each word with difficulty, was continuing to die. While holding onto her, who had been dying for 10 years, Guinevere coldly said.

‘I can’t do that. Because my son wants you.’

She remembered the look in her eyes, fading with despair at those words. In a hell where she didn’t know how long the pain would continue, Larisa couldn’t offer any resistance.

‘I made you spend 10 years in hell, so I hope you’ll be happier than anyone else in the world for at least 10 years.’

It might be a meager sense of guilt, but Guinevere was sincere. Larisa didn’t beg William to kill her.

It must have been because she knew it would hurt William. That’s why she must have made the difficult request to her. But she had coldly refused such a request. For William’s sake, she said.

‘Thank you. For loving William so much…’

Tears welled up again.

“Oh? Mother, are you crying?”

“Sand got in my eye.”

Guinevere tried to make an excuse.

“Sand?”

“It’s because of you.”

A flustered Larisa brought some seawater in her hands.

“You want me to wash my eyes with this?”

“Yes!”

“You still don’t know what the sea is, do you?”

“Pardon?”

Larisa looked confused. Guinevere said with a smile.

“Try drinking it once.”

Larisa cautiously brought the water cupped in her hands to her lips.

“Ugh, it’s salty!”

Guinevere burst into laughter.

“The water is salty, Mother!”

“Seawater is naturally salty.”

Guinevere summoned a water sphere with magic. Then she held Larisa’s hands and had her rub them inside the water sphere.

All of these experiences were fascinating and beautiful to Larisa. The sea she was seeing for the first time, the sandy beach, the mysterious water sphere, and… Guinevere smiling beautifully for the first time.

But the sun was setting. Now she wanted to go home.

“Today was so much fun.”

“Really? I’m glad.”

“Thank you for playing with me even though you’re busy.”

Larisa bowed deeply. Guinevere gently stroked Larisa’s head and said.

“Shall we come with William next time?”

“Yes! I’d love that!”

“Alright. Let’s go back now.”

“Wait a moment!”

Larisa quickly called out and then filled the glass bottle that had contained lemonade with seawater and closed it with a cork.

Although it was murky seawater mixed with sand, Larisa hugged it tightly as if it were a treasure and took Guinevere’s hand.

After returning, Larisa unconsciously let out a sigh of relief. Seeing this, Guinevere realized that Larisa was still afraid of being abandoned.

‘I should spend more time with her.’

She hadn’t known that William had lived so timidly. Because she hadn’t spent time with William. To think he was even being disrespected by the Rodante family’s physician.

If innocent Larisa hadn’t relayed Doctor Frosch’s words exactly, she probably wouldn’t have noticed even now.

After that, she observed other employees and found out that William was being treated like a mere fixture.

‘None other than I was treating him that way.’

Guinevere waved goodbye to Larisa and as soon as she returned to her laboratory, she sat down.

‘How much pain do I need to endure to understand your pain, William?’

Once again, tears flowed down like a reflex.

‘What’s so great about that magic?’

It was magic and research she had been doing tirelessly all her life, but why did she push that child so hard for it? Guinevere wanted to tear apart and kill her past self.

But even so, she must continue her research. Even in this moment when she wants to throw everything away, the fact that she needs to complete the time regression magic remains unchanged.

She gritted her teeth and stood up, looking at the golden sphere floating in the center of the laboratory.

‘I will definitely complete this and protect you both. William. Larisa.’

Guinevere believed in her ominous premonition. It felt like the children would be in danger someday if she didn’t complete this.

Even if Siod told her that she was the culprit behind the time regression magic as she had asked, it was up to her to prove it. Moreover…

‘If there comes a time when we need to turn back time, I should be the one to do it.’

William poured all his magic into turning back time. That’s why he couldn’t protect his own mind and lost all his memories.

If William had been able to turn back time without losing his memories from the start, there wouldn’t have been repeated tragedies. William is a wise child after all.

When that time comes, the dragon Lord will try to eliminate her, but what does it matter? Guinevere has lived long enough. And she believed in William.