Lloyd submitted a business plan.

And under his own name, quite in detail.

It even seemed similar at a glance to what Hayley had submitted.

For someone who had been living under the skirts of young ladies, it was quite feasible.

Lloyd, who had always neglected his education despite being the only son of Duke Alois and the one to inherit the duke’s title from his father.

It was so detailed and valid that one could not believe it was a plan written by him.

How could someone who absolutely refused to learn more no matter how much I told him before the regression, be able to submit such a high-level plan?

“Betty. Did you see this?”

And if she had seen this, there’s no way Betty would have stayed quiet.

Didn’t she just criticize people with me earlier for being too unconscionable?

If she had seen this plan similar to Hayley’s, there’s no way she could have said that.

I handed Betty a summary of Lloyd’s plan, and Betty slowly began to read it.

And, she was shocked.

So much so that she jumped up on the spot.

“What’s going on, Your Highness? Is this possible?”

“Hmm. You think so too, right?”

Lloyd was always the type to say, ‘You can just do it for me.’

He would say that since he doesn’t know much, can’t do much, and still has a lot to learn, I could just do everything he couldn’t do or didn’t know.

Betty always got angry at such shameless words and constantly said that I was too good for him.

For such a person to submit such a decent and even outstanding plan.

Betty, looking at the plan and then at me, muttered with an expression of disbelief.

“Your Highness, you’re not still meeting him secretly without me knowing, are you?”

“…Have I ever been able to do anything without going through you?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

It doesn’t make sense otherwise.

Betty added with an unbelieving face.

It doesn’t make sense that someone who was always busy whining to me could have done such a thing without me, but…

“Still, he is the young duke, Betty.”

“Hasn’t he been acting in a way that made us forget that fact all this time? My suspicion is justified.”

Betty made an aggrieved face at my point.

Well, I can’t say she’s wrong.

“Anyway, the important thing is that Lloyd submitted an excellent business plan. As good as Hayley’s.”

“And this business seems quite feasible too. It’s a bit annoying that it’s similar to what Lady Hayley wrote, but it’s much better than those who just want to repair useless roads, isn’t it?”

Betty nodded, still with a face of disbelief.

Somehow, she also looked a bit angry.

“You look angry, Betty?”

“Oh, yes. I’m suddenly getting angry thinking about how this person has been bossing Your Highness around all this time?”

He could have done it himself all along, right?

Betty glared fiercely at the document as if it were Lloyd himself, letting out small huffs.

I chuckled at her reaction and took the document from her.

As I listened to Betty’s words, something occurred to me.

Perhaps he had done the same thing to someone else this time as he had done to me.

And in that process, someone might have been sacrificed like I was.

I tried to soothe Betty, who was still huffing.

“Stop thinking unnecessary thoughts and quickly go find out. Check if it’s really true that Lloyd conceived and applied for this business.”

“What? Of course…”

Betty, who was about to refute my words, soon nodded her head with an “Ah.”

“I guess he could have done the same thing he did to you, Your Highness.”

“Right. If that’s not the case, things could get complicated. I thought it would be fine since Hayley’s was superior, but now we don’t know what might happen.”

“I’ll go find out right away.”

Betty nodded fervently, understanding my words.

Although the signature on the submission is Lloyd Alois, it’s possible that someone else did it on Lloyd’s behalf.

Betty left hurriedly, saying she would find out quickly.

And I, left alone.

“Lloyd again…”

I frowned at Lloyd moving differently from what I knew again.

It doesn’t make sense.

How can he move so differently every time, not just once?

No, come to think of it, it wasn’t just Lloyd.

Even before Lloyd, it was Leoprick first.

He was the first to move differently from what I knew, and then as if on cue, Lloyd kept showing unexpected movements.

Even Father was a bit strange yesterday.

Even the way I found out about the epidemic in the east was a bit different from before the regression.

I felt uneasy about people constantly moving differently from my expectations.

What if this changes even the future I know?

What if the future I really want to change doesn’t change in the end?

Changing one by one like this, and in the end…

‘Are you confident you won’t regret it?’

Leoprick’s last words echoed in my head.

I also recalled Lloyd smiling at me as I hung at the edge of the terrace.

And even myself, falling with regret for everything.

…I can’t let it happen like that again.

I realized that I needed to move more proactively and actively rather than relying on what I know.

Just because I know the facts from before the regression doesn’t mean it will always be the right answer.

Wasn’t Leoprick himself a prime example of this?

He was already not the Leoprick I knew, and as time passed, he was becoming increasingly distant from what I knew.

So rather than just leaving things be, it’s better to deal with each situation as if it’s the first time I’m encountering it.

I pushed aside some of the documents filling the desk and made some space.

Then I put a sheet of paper on it and started writing down what had changed, what hadn’t changed, and what I knew, in order.

The ball at the Perje Marquis’s house, the tea party of the Duchess Alois, and the epidemic in the east were things I already knew and hadn’t changed.

But Leoprick’s changed attitude, Lloyd’s incomprehensible actions, and Father’s meeting with the Gilloyte Marquis’s daughter were clearly things that hadn’t happened before the regression and had definitely changed.

As I quietly looked at what I had written, I discovered a common point between each item.

The things that haven’t changed are isolated incidents.

‘Events’ that don’t change just because someone does something, that can’t be changed by human power.

But the things that have changed?

Most were interpersonal relationships.

Leoprick wanting to get along well with me, Lloyd uncharacteristically saying he would wait for me.

Becoming close with the Gilloyte young lady whom I had never even spoken to before the regression, even Father advising me to take the initiative in bringing in an empress.

Is it because I’ve changed that people are treating me differently?

Or are these simply things I didn’t see in my past life now being revealed?

Only I should have changed, but can so many things change just because I alone have changed?

And I thought that as these relationships change, future events might change as well.

If that’s the case, is it okay to leave things like this?

Lloyd thought he was smart.

Not in the academic sense of smart, but in the sense of being good at reading people and finding what was needed.

Ah. In the world, people might describe such a person as ‘perceptive’.

Being perceptive, he always knew what people wanted.

And he knew all too well how to fulfill those needs of others.

People with great ambition moved according to their ambition as they wished, and those with great material desires wasted their lives chasing only those desires.

People who value emotional games are so busy struggling with those emotions that they can’t do other things and always remain losers in new emotional games as well.

So he always had to observe people carefully.

What they want, what they’re good at, how they will achieve it.

That’s why he was confident that he could use his abilities to the fullest this time as well to return everything to its original state.

“The results will be announced in a month, right?”

“Yes, young duke.”

This business plan was also like that.

In the end, it was all a move to return everything to its original state.

Lloyd quietly pondered as he fiddled with the pocket watch in his hand.

He, who was so good at reading people and pinpointing what they wanted, had once failed greatly.

And that was in a matter where he couldn’t afford to make even the slightest mistake in his life.

Of course, since he’s not a god, he couldn’t do everything perfectly, but he should have at least managed that one thing.

An even bigger problem was that at the time, he didn’t even know he had failed.

Not knowing it was success when he had it in his hand, and not knowing it was failure when he let it go…

So in the end, things ended up like this.

Lloyd looked gloomily at the pocket watch in his hand and let out a small sigh.

It was because he couldn’t bear the image of the woman constantly turning her back on him that kept flickering before his eyes.

If he could, he would like to turn back time much further and put everything back to its original state, but…

Unfortunately, this is our time, and all we have.

Lloyd looked at what he held in his hand and stood up from his seat.

“Has the Valois young lady arrived today?”

“She hasn’t arrived yet.”

“Really? It’s about time she should be here.”

He clicked his tongue softly as he looked at the clock on the desk.

This woman never keeps time, as always.

Lloyd put the watch he was holding into his pocket as he stood up.

“Let’s wait just 5 more minutes, and if she doesn’t come, we’ll move on to the next schedule.”

“Yes, young duke.”

His assistant nodded slightly and looked at the watch.

“Shall I tell the lady to wait a moment?”

“No need. Mother will enjoy this time anyway.”

Lloyd said indifferently, shaking his head.

Mother is the type of person who would be happy just with the fact that she came out to enjoy tea time with her son.

Whether that happiness was due to the fact of spending time with her son was unknown.

He smiled self-deprecatingly as he put his hand on his assistant’s shoulder.

“I’ll be resting for a while, so call me when the young lady arrives.”

“Understood.”

Leaving the assistant behind, he left the room and headed for the bedroom.

The more he moved to regain what he had lost, the more he felt a constant fatigue.

No matter how much he slept and rested his body, there was a feeling of something unresolved remaining.

So today too, he sought out his bedroom.

“…”

To the place where his only solace existed.