Leoprick said.

In principle, he shouldn’t have recognized that he had regressed.

He said it was impossible unless there was something related to magic.

“As far as I remember, you didn’t have any artifacts imbued with magical power. How you escaped from the influence of magic…”

Leoprick sighed softly with a puzzled face.

He said that originally, it didn’t make sense for me to have memories of the past.

But he said he felt a sense of discomfort every time I acted differently from his memories.

And he worried that I might go back to Lloyd.

He said he tried hard not to break the big flow he knew, while being anxious.

So he kept an eye on things but couldn’t bring himself to speak up.

“I spent time trying to figure out why the situation was changing, and wasted time trying not to disrupt the flow.”

“…”

“I spent time confirming your feelings.”

So he said he kept pondering while watching what I was doing.

He pondered for a long time, but the moment I realized his feelings, he was so happy that he couldn’t think of anything else.

“I’ve had thoughts about dealing with Lloyd for a long time. He was bound to be a problem someday. But I never thought you’d be part of that process…”

As he said this, he paused for a moment, seemingly overcome with emotion again.

After exhaling softly, he continued speaking, still unable to meet my eyes.

“This is the answer. There’s nothing more to hide or conceal.”

“Can I trust you this time?”

“…I promise, Amelia. I won’t do anything to hurt you anymore.”

Leoprick nodded with a gloomy face.

Then he bowed his head deeply.

Seeing him like that made my heart ache, and as I had a lot to think about too, I paused for a moment.

The silence continued for a while.

When neither he nor I could find words to say, each lost in our own thoughts.

“Actually, I was afraid.”

In a low voice, Leoprick spoke first.

“What if you left me, what if I couldn’t bear the consequences of not telling you anything.”

“…”

“The person I wanted to hold onto even after returning to life, what if I lost her like this…”

As he continued speaking, his voice sank deeper and deeper.

As if sinking little by little into the abyss he had created, he muttered like that in a daze.

“I thought a lot while you were lying down. At first, the thought that I couldn’t live without you was dominant, but since I had already given up my life for you once, it wasn’t difficult to think of the best solution.”

Still wanting to know what he was thinking, I listened quietly, frowning slightly at the somewhat strange content.

“I thought a lot about what was truly best for you. When I considered what you wanted… The answer came easily.”

Leoprick smiled self-deprecatingly.

As he was about to continue speaking, I could somehow predict what the next content would be.

It was the moment I opened my mouth to stop him.

“If you want, I’ll let you go, Amelia. I’ll accept the divorce papers brought by Viscount Vermerian.”

“…What did you say?”

This is another sound hitting the back of a person’s head.

I froze at the shocking words.

The first thought I had was ‘Is this person crazy?’

How could he come to such a conclusion without being crazy?

Then I got angry.

After all that talk about passionate love, now he says he’ll let me go?

Now he says it’s for my own good?

Without asking for my opinion even once or seeking my consent. How can that be for my sake?

I frowned and looked at him, still bowing his head.

“Fine then. Let’s divorce, Your Majesty.”

“…”

“I’m disappointed that you’ve been trying to manipulate my life without telling me anything, and I’m angry that you seem to have tried to control me by bringing in Lloyd too. So let’s divorce.”

“…Yes, Amelia.”

Leoprick kept talking like that.

Without raising his head once, without meeting my gaze once.

That sight made me even angrier, and I continued with the words that kept bursting out.

“If you think so, then everything Your Majesty has said so far is as good as a lie, right? After all, you said you tried not to break the big flow.”

Since you said that me loving Your Majesty didn’t exist in that big flow, then everything Your Majesty has been saying to me is all lies?

I spoke deliberately in a mocking tone.

I couldn’t contain the anger that was increasingly filling my head.

What the hell is this flow.

What the hell is this divorce.

If you wanted to protect me so much that you gambled your life on it, then you shouldn’t give up so easily.

If it was affection that you wanted to obtain with all your heart, you shouldn’t throw it away like this.

I was very angry at him for trying to discard so easily the love he had struggled and fought so hard to obtain.

“I feel rather relieved. I thought I had to repay the feelings Your Majesty gave me, but now I don’t need to.”

How could I repay feelings that were false? When there were no feelings to repay in the first place.

I could see him clenching his fists tighter under his bowed head, but I pretended not to notice.

Pretending not to see, pretending not to notice anything, I continued speaking.

As if all the affection he had given me was fake.

With the hope that he would taste even a little of the emotion I had just felt.

As expected, he seemed to be enduring what I was saying.

He was enduring me denouncing all his words as lies, all his emotions as false.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. Thanks to you, I can leave you without any sense of debt.”

“Why are you going this far?”

It was when I was continuing to speak like that.

He raised his head and met my gaze.

A face full of anger, full of resentment.

I hesitated seeing him like that, but tried not to care and continued speaking.

“Why? Suddenly feeling wronged?”

“Amelia. Did the feelings I gave you seem so insincere?”

At those words, I let out a frustrated sigh.

He wanted to feel that his feelings were sincere, while treating my feelings as if they weren’t.

“You didn’t see my feelings as sincere either, Your Majesty.”

“Me?”

Leoprick looked bewildered at my words.

His eyes shook wildly, as if he hadn’t expected me to say such a thing.

“Amelia. I’m talking about my feelings now.”

“Yes. And I’m explaining to Your Majesty how I felt when you ignored my feelings.”

When I spoke while looking straight at him, he visibly began to flounder.

His face color changed as if he hadn’t expected me to say that much.

“Amelia, I…”

“Divorce? If you were going to say let’s divorce so easily, why did you hold on so desperately all this time? Is it because the fish that was hard to catch is now in your hands?”

“That’s… that’s not what I meant, I thought you might be very upset…”

“No one in the world lets go of someone so easily just because they’re upset!”

Why does this man become such a fool only in front of me?

Looking at how he speaks, it’s obvious he won’t be able to live comfortably even if we divorce.

“Who is this divorce for? Do you really want me to abandon you?”

“…”

When I poured out words as if cornering him, he completely closed his mouth.

I looked at him quietly for a while and then let out a long sigh.

“Your Majesty. It’s true that I’m angry you didn’t tell me the truth, but I didn’t tell you about my regression either.”

“…Amelia.”

“…I felt betrayed and angry, but that doesn’t mean I never want to see you again.”

Even as I said this, I wondered if this too might be his scheme.

Because if he goes this far to the extreme, I naturally can’t get too angry.

I can explain my feelings to him in return, but I can’t really pursue an end like he did.

At least I still have enough reason not to make such a decision in the heat of the moment.

I tilted my head back, leaning against the bed headboard and closed my eyes.

I had no more energy to speak, and I didn’t know what else to say to make him come to his senses.

While I was resting for a moment, thinking he must have had a lot of thoughts while I was unconscious.

“…I’m sorry, Amelia.”

He quietly opened his mouth.

Looking thoroughly repentant, he looked up at me with tears in his eyes and a reddened face.

How pitiful and miserable he looked.

I had to try hard not to smile at the sight of him.

“What are you sorry for?”

“For judging your feelings on my own.”

And he apologized to me with a gloomy face.

A pitiful face that would surely captivate anyone who saw it.

Looking at him, I pondered for a moment whether to forgive him or not, and then had a good idea.

“Then, I have a request.”

“I’ll do anything.”

Although my feelings weren’t completely sorted out yet, I had no intention of getting any angrier.

I didn’t want him to notice anything more or create a situation where he would keep watching my mood.

I came up with a way to start our relationship anew.

“I want to go to the slums together. And do volunteer work like before.”

The place where I first met him.

And also a place where we can show the strength of the imperial authority.

I suggested volunteering in the slums to him.