The walk that gave me so much more to think about was not very long.

To begin with, it was already after sunset when we entered the village, and I was bothered by Leoprick constantly following me.

He said he would just escort me without saying a word if I was uncomfortable, and he was actually doing that, which made me worry.

I wished he would go in first and go to bed, but it seemed he would never go if I told him to go in first……

“Let’s go now, Sir Leo.”

Eventually, I turned my head first and told him we should go back.

On the way back, the three of us walked side by side.

I was a little worried about what to talk to him about, but fortunately, Betty was between us.

Betty, who was good at striking up conversations with anyone and livening up the atmosphere.

Throughout the short walk back, Betty chattered about this and that to Leoprick.

From the obvious fact that the knights were very good at riding horses, to asking about tomorrow’s route, to expressing how much she enjoyed this trip.

Leoprick also carried on the conversation in a calm voice and occasionally chimed in with Betty in an amused tone.

It was a comfortable and warm atmosphere.

So much so that it seemed out of place for our situation where we had to continue another long journey tomorrow.

“So I…… Lady Mer?”

Perhaps if I hadn’t discovered something.

And if I hadn’t stopped in my tracks, that atmosphere would have probably continued until we returned to the inn.

Then sleeping with Leoprick might have been a little more bearable than before.

But there was no way everything could flow so smoothly.

Especially when there was such a dangerous element existing prominently in the same space.

“……”

It might have been a distance we could have just passed by.

A distance where neither he nor I could see each other and just pass by.

Or a distance where even if only one of us saw the other, we could have just turned away pretending not to notice without any issue.

But coincidentally, our eyes met, and we stopped right there.

“……”
“……”

Betty and Leoprick, who were walking a few steps ahead of me who had suddenly stopped, turned around and followed my gaze to see what I was looking at.

And then.

The gazes of the four of us met in midair.

If I had to pick the most breathtaking moment of this trip, I would choose this moment without hesitation.

Betty with a flustered face, Lloyd with an inscrutable expression, and Leoprick whose face instantly hardened.

I prayed and prayed in my heart for this moment to pass quickly.

A few seconds passed where I couldn’t do anything and no one did anything.

It felt like several minutes had passed even though it was just a few seconds.

Surprisingly, the first one to move in that situation was Leoprick.

He lightly waved his hand towards Lloyd who was standing some distance away, then reached out his hand to me who was standing there as if frozen in place.

“Let’s go back now. It’s late at night.”

His demeanor was as courteous as if escorting a precious person, but his expression was still stiff.

With a tense face, he reached out his hand as if to say:

Lloyd and I should no longer have any relationship, so give up and come to him.

The path we must take is different from where Lloyd intends to go.

The moment I turned my gaze towards that hand, I could feel Lloyd’s eyes fixed on me.

And the message those eyes wanted to convey.

“Lady Mer.”

When I stood still without taking Leoprick’s hand, Betty called out to me in an anxious voice.

It was accompanied by a reproachful gaze, as if asking hadn’t we agreed not to meet anymore.

Why was I hesitating when we shouldn’t meet anymore, as our relationship had changed.

Now that I was married to Leoprick, Lloyd could be nothing more than a cousin to me, and nothing else should happen between us.

To avoid arousing Leoprick’s suspicion, it was right to turn away from Lloyd now.

But the sight of Lloyd looking like he had something to say stuck out in my mind.

A strangely uneasy feeling.

I even wondered if Leoprick had called him here to test me.

“……By any chance, did you have an appointment to meet here today?”

After hesitating for a moment, I carefully spoke to gauge Leoprick’s expression.

There was no answer to the words I threw out lightly on purpose.

There was only Leoprick with a face that looked hurt.

No matter how I looked at it, it didn’t seem like a situation he had orchestrated.

I quietly looked at that face and added a word.

“I didn’t ask him to come, Your Highness.”

At my words, Leoprick relaxed his stiff expression and smiled very slightly.

“I know, Mer. I know it’s not like you.”

“I’ve never asked to meet here either.”

“Yes, I believe you.”

I spoke each word emphatically to instill confidence in him.

In that brief moment with Lloyd in front of me and Leoprick by my side, I put a pause on my agonizing so far.

Whether he turned back time to take revenge on me or not, what’s important is that this time that has returned is also an opportunity for me.

So even if Leoprick says he will take revenge on me, I should also be able to give him a chance.

In that sense, I willingly intend to take his hand.

“I won’t meet separately without you in the future, Your Highness.”

“If you say so, then that’s how it will be.”

“……The things you are worried about won’t happen either, Your Highness.”

“I have no worries about you at all.”

Leoprick, who was smiling faintly, answered carefully to all my words with a gradually deepening smile.

I should have gladly taken that hand in response to him constantly answering that he trusted me and had no worries at all, but……

“So please understand my choice now, Your Highness.”

I politely bowed my head to him and took a step back from him.

My instincts, my intuition were telling me.

That what I needed to grasp now was not Leoprick, but Lloyd.

That I had to stop him and ask and confirm something.

So now was the time to ask Leoprick for understanding.

“It will only take a moment, and if you want, you can watch what I do here. But taking your hand now and going back……”

It might be a little difficult.

As I spoke to him and turned my gaze, I saw Lloyd standing there the whole time.

He also seemed to expect that I would come to him.

Either that, or he was still under the delusion that Amelia Vermerian, who had been madly in love, would never turn her back on him.

I had to go, if only for that reason.

“It won’t take long. And I’ll say it again, if you want, you can watch what I do.”

Silence followed.

Even though I finished speaking, Leoprick stood there frozen with his hand outstretched, saying nothing.

Betty was looking back and forth between the two of us with a flustered face.

She probably never expected that I would choose Lloyd over Leoprick in this situation.

I can’t say I don’t understand that look, but……

After looking at the silent Leoprick for a moment, I slowly turned my body.

I wasn’t really asking for his understanding with my words anyway.

What I needed was not his understanding or permission.

I had merely laid the groundwork to talk to Lloyd in the safest and cleanest way in this situation.

After all, Leoprick was my husband.

And what stopped me as I turned around like that was Leoprick’s quietly ringing voice.

“I will wait here.”

“……”

“It’s not because I can’t trust you. I just think I will feel more at ease that way.”

Leoprick gave me an answer in a gentle tone.

That it was okay to do that, so he would wait here with peace of mind.

But that absolutely did not mean he couldn’t trust me.

I was about to turn around and go meet Lloyd, but I turned my head again to smile at Leoprick.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Yes. I’ll be here.”

He even smiled faintly at me.

Turning my back on him, I quickly walked towards Lloyd.

I could feel Leoprick’s gaze behind me.

It felt like a newfound sense of responsibility to quickly finish my business and return to him.

But unlike my feelings, Lloyd seemed to have a different thought.

Seeing me getting closer and closer to him, an irrepressible smile hung on his lips.

It seemed he thought things were finally going his way now that I was coming to him, leaving my husband behind.

Even though before the trip, he had rambled on about how he would leave everything up to my choice, which didn’t even suit him.

……Even though he had said I wouldn’t be in the future we would share together.

As I approached him step by step, I clenched my trembling fists tightly.

Unfortunately, I had no intention of doing as he wished.

I just needed confirmation of my hypothesis.

“I didn’t expect to meet you here, Amelia. Are you on your way back to the capital?”

“I know, right. I’m also curious as to why someone who should be in the capital is here.”

As soon as he saw me, a bright smile bloomed on Lloyd’s face.

It was the expression I could see when I brought him good news or when I granted his wishes.

Now that I had come back in time, I could see it so clearly.

Why couldn’t I see it back then?

When I answered him with a different question instead of replying, he looked a little taken aback.

He would also be puzzled that I, who had always listened to his stories as if they were not very important, was not acting like before.

Rather than giving him time to answer my question, I decided to continue resolving my doubts.

“Didn’t you definitely go back on the day we met? Don’t tell me you’ve been following me all the way from there to here?”

“That’s…… No, Amelia. I definitely went back to the capital that day.”

“Waynes is absolutely not close to the capital. But now you’re in a village on the way back from Waynes to the capital. And you’re telling me to believe that in this situation?”

“I don’t know how to explain this, but I definitely went back to the capital. I even have people who can prove that I was in the capital.”

“And then?”

“……I opened my eyes and found myself in Waynes. Very suddenly.”

Lloyd muttered with a helpless face.

He repeated several times that he had definitely returned to the capital.

He said he was living with a somewhat desperate feeling, then suddenly, as if struck by lightning, he opened his eyes and found himself in Waynes.

“I know it sounds absurd. It might even sound a bit crazy. But I really have nothing else to explain it.”

“And now you’re on your way back.”

“……Yeah.”

Lloyd had a slightly doubtful face even as he spoke.

An face that said he was being honest, but found my reaction of nodding my head readily even more untrustworthy.

But whether he felt that way or not, I had resolved everything I was curious about.

“I see. Be careful on your way up, and if possible, I hope we don’t run into each other in the future.”

I was about to turn around after finishing my words like that.

He probably would have if the surprised-looking him hadn’t grabbed my wrist.

“The end? Is this the end?”

He seemed to find it unbelievable that I had simply come to ask that.

Otherwise, there was no way he would be grabbing me with such an dumbfounded face.

“Let go.”

But unfortunately, that was really all I had come for, and now it was time to go back.

I forcefully pulled my arm out of his grasp and turned my steps without lingering.

To the person waiting for me.