“Are you not going to ask how the construction progressed?”
“I already saw how sincere you were about this task from what you just showed, so no need for further explanation.”
“No, Your Majesty. That’s…”
“I thought that since your goal was to earn merit and get permission to marry, you wouldn’t have been distracted by love games.”
“…That’s a misunderstanding.”
“Then, are you saying you were distracted?”
“That’s not it!”
Litania felt her face burning hot and wanted to fan herself, but being in front of the Emperor, she bit her lip hard and endured.
“During the construction period, I truly focused only on the assigned task. Just now, I was simply excited because I thought the work was finished…”
“Be careful, getting excited twice might get you arrested for indecency.”
“…Yes.”
Litania wanted to explain her actions, but feeling that any explanation would only deepen the misunderstanding, she decided to just keep her mouth shut.
In some sense, it wasn’t a misunderstanding either.
“Anyway, you’ve worked hard. You’ve accomplished something no one has been able to do for decades, ensuring that people outside the capital will no longer suffer from flood damage. Your contribution is truly great.”
Ferus gave a few words of formal praise, then adjusted his posture.
When their eyes met, his unpleasantly distorted expression softened slightly.
“What reward do you want?”
“…I gave Orbis a new name. So please allow me to marry him.”
“Won’t you regret it?”
Ferus’s gray eyes were serious. It wasn’t just a question asked because he disliked sending his younger sister to an ominous and prickly man.
Even if you could turn back time, if you remember the past, regretful things that can’t be erased remain as scars.
Because he had suggested sending a bride to the dragon god, resulting in Litania becoming entangled with Orbis and becoming unhappy, he had repeated this terrible memory so many times that he still seemed to have an aversion to it.
“It might be lingering attachment because you were forcibly divorced. If you remarry this time, it will be difficult to separate from that guy again.”
“That’s not for Your Majesty to worry about.”
“Litania.”
“And I like Orbis.”
“…”
“There was never a time when I didn’t like him.”
Even at that moment when everything she believed in turned out to be fake, Litania liked Orbis. Because she liked him terribly, she couldn’t stand that situation.
Wanting to end things properly and say goodbye might have been just an excuse, now that she thinks about it.
Even after being hurt so much, she still sought him out, was drawn to him even while pushing him away, and her heart still raced the moment they faced each other.
“Litania. People’s hearts change. You might get hurt again someday.”
“Your Majesty. I have never started over before.”
“Hm?”
That’s right. Orbis always turned back time. So their love was always the first in that lifetime.
Neither he nor she had ever started over after love ended.
The end of love was always a terrible parting.
She thought she would be satisfied if she could replace it with a beautiful farewell.
But even that was self-deception. Litania became greedy. She wanted to love again, overcoming those wounds and pain.
“There was a time when I only thought about avoiding an unhappy future.”
When she thought this world was inside a novel, there was a time when she dreamed of escaping from the mad dragon god and living in hiding.
But looking back now, that too was an unrealistic dream.
“I can hardly think that a future without him would be happy. It might even be unhappy.”
“But that guy has… to you, several times…”
“Yes, because I’ve been unhappy several times, I can avoid repeating the same mistakes.”
A future without Orbis is unpredictable.
But a future with him is predictable.
Although the correct answer is unknown, if you know the wrong answers, you won’t make the worst choice.
“I’m not saying this just out of my own desire. As Your Majesty said, I am now the princess of this Verivervirum, and as an imperial descendant, I have a duty to strengthen the empire’s foundation through marriage.”
Litania didn’t want to abandon her duty.
“I want to protect this country in the way that only I can.”
“That…”
“And Your Majesty too.”
At these added words, Ferus’s expression changed strangely. He opened his eyes wide in surprise, then immediately frowned, and soon covered his mouth and turned his gaze away.
His furrowed eyes reddened.
“How impudent. You have no filter in front of the Emperor.”
“Isn’t it an expression of loyalty?”
“I’m not such a fool that I need you to protect me.”
Ferus cleared his throat with a few coughs, then picked up a scroll placed on the writing board beside the throne and handed it to Litania.
A marriage contract with the Emperor’s seal.
It was very much like Ferus to have prepared everything to this extent and still try to persuade her until the very end.
“Litania.”
“Yes.”
A brief silence followed.
Perhaps it was long. He looked straight into the eyes of his sister, which he had been unable to properly face all this time.
In her pink eyes, there was no longer any resentment towards him.
…That’s enough.
“May you… be happy.”
Her eyes widened round, then narrowed as a bright smile appeared.
He felt as if a thorn that had been deeply stuck in his heart was finally being pulled out.
“Thank you, elder brother.”
Litania carefully put away the scroll tied with a red string, stood up from her seat, and bowed politely to Ferus.
Until the heavy doors closed after Litania walked out of the audience chamber, Ferus watched her disappearing figure without blinking once.
With the closing of the doors, his long anguish also came to an end.
“Yes. When sending someone off, it should be done cleanly.”
He picked up a black scroll placed on the writing board.
“It’s better for her to leave without knowing Herna’s story.”
Princess Herna passed away in the underground prison the day before Litania arrived at the imperial palace.
The cause of death was a heart attack. According to the guard, she suddenly had a seizure while seeing hallucinations.
She screamed and flailed about, saying that a pack of beasts suddenly appeared in the empty underground prison and rushed towards her.
She scratched her skin so much that blood and pus flowed, and she went into a frenzy, hitting her head against the iron bars, and died before the doctor could arrive.
Coincidentally, there were countless marks on her skin that looked like beast bite marks, but their size and shape varied.
It was impossible for dozens of beasts to enter the heavily guarded underground prison, and since there were only marks that looked like tooth marks without the flesh being bitten or infected, the incident remained a mystery.
In the end, it was concluded that they were traces of self-harm, possibly from a weapon Herna had hidden.
“Since she’s a serious criminal, there won’t even be a funeral.”
Her body will be quietly cremated and buried together with the late emperor who loved his daughter the most.
It will probably be a very long time before Litania learns this fact.
Ferus closed his eyes with a deep sigh.
A time full of wounds was flowing into the past.
[This is the timeline separator]The heat of summer subsided, and a cooler wind blew from the west.
Bain became the captain of the imperial palace guard. To celebrate his promotion as the youngest captain in the history of the imperial knight order, Litania sent congratulatory gifts using all the treasures she possessed, but Bain firmly refused to accept them.
“I want to continue serving the princess.”
“Bain, you are an excellent knight. You should have been working for more people in a higher position originally. You’ve finally found your rightful place.”
“But the one I swore loyalty to is you, Princess Litania.”
“That’s why I’m saying this.”
“Pardon?”
“Verivervirum is the country where I was born, and where I will continue to live. I want Bain to protect this country that is precious to me.”
“Princess…”
As Bain still looked perplexed, unable to accept it, Litania took a step closer to him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder.
“I like you, Bain.”
“…Pardon?”
“So I want the Bain I like to be loved by more people as the best knight.”
Bain was a good person. He was the first person to show kindness to Litania without conditions.
She wanted such a person to be happy.
Although she couldn’t respond to his true feelings, even if she rejected his heart, he was still her precious knight.
“My knight has gone to the most brilliant position a knight can reach. I’m proud of you.”
As she smiled with a bright face, Bain slowly lowered his gaze and opened his mouth.
“…It’s a great honor.”
[This is the timeline separator]The sky became higher. A white horse with wings crosses the blue sky that holds only the shining sun.
Soft brown hair fluttered. Litania could now handle Lapis with one hand on the reins.
“The wind feels nice. It would have been good if Snow came along.”
Litania galloped towards the dragon castle riding Lapis. Since Lapis refused to carry anyone other than her, Snow was to come separately.
Although not as fast as Lapis, Snow is quite agile, so he will arrive at the dragon castle not too late.
“That cliff is still the same.”
The cliffs surrounding the dragon castle were still high, but for the winged Lapis, the tall cliffs were no obstacle at all.
“Can you go? Lapis.”
Neigh.
The white horse let out a long neigh, then leaped up as if shooting an arrow towards the sky, drawing a long parabola and jumping over the cliff.
The scenery that looked as small as a model garden carved out after hollowing out the rising peak gradually grew larger as Lapis descended, and soon gently swallowed up one person and one horse.
The scenery of the dragon castle, no different from when they left.
“Madam… Princess!”
“Oh my, Lady Litania!”
The gardener Rico and the cook Pepper, who was picking apples next to him, called out to Litania and ran over. Soon, the doors of the main palace opened and familiar faces rushed out.
No one was surprised or wary of the unexpected visitor’s appearance.
“What is this?”
A low, heavy voice resonated.
The servants surrounding Litania parted on both sides, and a tall figure crossed between them.
Long flowing golden hair. And the owner of the dragon castle with blue eyes.
Under the sky as blue as those eyes, Litania boldly said to Orbis.
“My name is Litania Verivervirum.”
Just like when they first met.
“I am your bride!”
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
