“Even without that, I had invited Count Bardel, but he said he had some business in his territory. It’s a pity, but he said he would visit next time.”
“Is that so? If Count Bardel is not attending to that extent, it must be something big, right?”
“Well, Your Majesty. As you know, most of the eastern nobles do not talk much about their territory’s affairs. There are many nobles who don’t even come out from the east at all, so we can’t know everything.”
The Countess of Perze shrugged her shoulders as if to say, ‘Don’t you know?’
Indeed. The eastern nobles were known for being closed off.
I don’t know why, but they had a strong bond among themselves and often hid their territory’s affairs from nobles of other regions…
Wait, why didn’t I think of that?
When my thoughts reached that point, something came to mind.
The eastern nobles basically have a closed-off tendency.
It was partly because their territory was isolated unlike other territories, but their strange bond that only they had couldn’t be ignored either.
For some reason, they stick together like one family, protecting and defending each other in a strange bond.
So even if an epidemic broke out among them, they would have kept their mouths shut.
The fact that an epidemic broke out itself is not a good thing, and if rumors spread throughout the empire, the east would inevitably be blocked off.
It’s a barren area to begin with, and if a region that’s already half-blocked off gets completely cut off, it’s as good as telling the people trapped inside to just die.
So they would have focused even more on keeping it hush-hush and gathering necessary supplies.
It was the same back then.
They kept their mouths shut until the epidemic spread throughout the east, and only when commoners and even nobles started collapsing one by one did they finally send a communication to the capital.
Supplies and people rushed over belatedly, but most of the east had already died from the epidemic.
Most of the people had given up hope, and some of the nobles who had lost their families to the epidemic were facing the fear of death approaching every moment.
In such a situation, it was only natural for Lloyd to be treated like a god when he arrived riding a carriage loaded with supplies and medical personnel.
Yes, now I remember.
Why the epidemic in the east was further back than the other events I remember.
After exchanging a few more words with the Countess of Perze, I pretended to mingle with another group in the party hall and looked for the lounge.
I had to tell Hayley through Betty.
To leave for the east right now.
That it’s not a situation to wait for contact with Daymar.
The epidemic in the east took the lives of more than half of the eastern population, and it took a very long time for the east to recover.
In the meantime, even the nobles who supported Leoprick had their heads cut off or were exiled to other regions.
After that, no notable leader emerged in the east, and they failed to restore the previous command system.
It was a period when the struggle for the throne intensified, so neither Leoprick nor Lloyd could pay attention to the east.
The remaining nobles fighting to take the position of leader only made it harder for the people.
If it weren’t for the capital project carried out in Lloyd’s name, people might have starved to death or another epidemic might have emerged, and the east would have almost collapsed.
Perhaps it really did collapse after I died.
But it’s different this time.
I can protect the east, and in the process, I can raise Leoprick’s authority by putting his name forward.
So it would be best to hurry as much as possible.
I told a passing maid to call Betty as I searched for an empty lounge.
And as soon as that maid left, I entered the lounge next to it, and,
“…Amelia.”
I encountered a face that was not at all pleasant there.
***
Before the regression, this ball was a place where I brought Count Perze, a moderate, to Lloyd’s side for his sake.
Despite the threats approaching every moment from the countries surrounding the empire, the current emperor refused to engage in war, let alone launch a proper attack.
It was a place where I subtly criticized that complacent emperor and drew Count Perze, who was a moderate, to the noble faction.
Not only Count Perze but also the other moderate nobles present at that occasion were subtly brought in and won over.
The stories that others would have scoffed at and passed over if told by someone else, they all took at face value because I was the crown princess and the daughter of the chancellor.
And to those people, I subtly introduced Lloyd and set the stage for them to accept him.
So it wasn’t that strange for Lloyd to be here.
It’s just that I didn’t know he and I would meet alone like this.
“I didn’t know someone was here. I’m sorry for disturbing you.”
“No, Amelia. I just came in too… You didn’t disturb me at all.”
Rather, I’m glad to see you.
Lloyd smiled brightly.
As if he was really happy to see me.
If it were the old days, I would have responded to that smile with equal joy and tried to spend a pleasant time with him, but…
“I appreciate that. Then.”
I’m not like that now.
How could this situation be pleasing to me when I no longer have any affection or lingering attachment to him?
I gave a brief greeting and tried to close the door again.
“Wait, wait a moment, Amelia.”
He got up and approached as if he had been sitting on the sofa fiddling with something.
I froze in place as I was about to leave through the door, startled by how quickly he approached.
I tried to close the door as if he was going to grab me and do something, but Lloyd was faster.
“Can we talk for a moment? It’ll only take a short while.”
He grabbed my hand as he took a big step closer.
I looked down blankly at the hand he had grabbed by a narrow margin.
It’s the first time I find it so unpleasant to be caught by him in a way that I would have shyly smiled and nodded to before.
When I just stared at him without saying anything, he looked down at me for a moment, then stepped back and released my hand.
At the same time, he naturally reached behind his back and closed the door.
The sound of the door slamming resonated in the room.
I don’t know why that sound gave me goosebumps, but I averted my gaze from him, who had a somewhat desperate look on his face, and walked into the room.
“It would be best if you could tell me your business as quickly as possible. I need to go back.”
In times like this, it’s better to keep some distance rather than being close.
I calculated the shortest distance from him to the door while moving away from him as much as possible.
If worse came to worst, I was going to throw myself and run out into the hallway.
Even if everyone ends up seeing him and me together because of that, it’s still better than giving him another excuse to pick on me.
While contemplating various possibilities like that, I noticed the watch in Lloyd’s hand.
Did he have such an accessory?
It was too trivial, but the past Amelia, who didn’t want to miss even such trivialities, raised her head.
I should be thinking about other things, but my thoughts are drawn to something useless.
Lost in my subconscious thoughts, I didn’t get to check what expression Lloyd was making.
“…That’s a face I don’t know, Amelia.”
And when I raised my head at those words, the face I discovered was rather filled with an expression I was seeing for the first time.
If it were the old days, I would have checked and reacted sensitively to whatever expression appeared on his face.
But now, I didn’t really care what came up on his face.
His emotions are his responsibility to deal with.
It’s not something I have to take responsibility for.
I took my eyes off him and responded indifferently.
“Isn’t there always more that you don’t know than what you do know?”
It was absurd.
Lloyd always had more that he didn’t know about me than what he did know.
I shrugged my shoulders as if it wasn’t anything new.
“Is that your business?”
At the same time, I wanted to get away from him quickly.
This is a waste of time.
There’s no reason or need to find meaning in his expression one by one, which is no longer important.
Even if he has some business with me, does it matter?
The moment I was about to turn around.
“Amelia. I…”
Knock knock.
At the same time as his voice, there was a knocking sound.
“Your Highness, are you in there?”
The maid from earlier must have done her job well.
I looked at Lloyd, who was about to say something, at the sound of Betty’s voice outside the door.
There was hesitation in his gaze.
He seemed to be contemplating whether he could continue speaking or should back down here.
I stared at him silently and spoke first.
“Whatever business you have with me, I’m not really curious about it anymore.”
The person is Lloyd.
If I don’t cut off the bud, he will endlessly try to contact me and say something like now.
It didn’t matter whether it was an important story or a trivial one.
Because I no longer needed to listen to his words.
“So I’d appreciate it if you don’t try to hold me like this in the future. Anyway, we’re legally blood-related now, aren’t we?”
If people see a sister-in-law and a cousin-in-law together like this, they’ll misunderstand.
I looked at him while deliberately emphasizing each syllable.
I could see the color draining from his face at my words.
There are only two occasions when he makes a face like that.
Either he felt insulted, or he was so flustered that he couldn’t find the words to say.
But regardless of that, I stepped away.
“Ah, and. I’m the crown princess now. I’m no longer Lady Vermerian, whom Viscount can treat as he pleases.”
To him, who was looking at me with a very complicated gaze, thinking who knows what, I left my last words.
Then I opened the door and left the room.
______
In This Life, I Won’t Be Foolish To Lose You Again (Female-dominant)
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]