“Hello, Amelia.”

As soon as the door opened, what appeared was the bouquet of flowers his sanctuary had once given him.

Though completely withered and now unsightly and dried, to him it was always as fresh and alive as a living flower.

He looked at the withered bouquet that symbolized her, then turned his head to the other side.

Everything he had was like that.

Withered or broken, or no longer used, yet to him still sparkling and vivid as when he first received them.

To him, Amelia was also such an existence.

Sparkling and vivid like never before, but already broken once.

He sat on the bed and looked around the room filled with traces of her.

From the first time he saw her, Amelia was someone who sparkled excessively, enough to make anyone covet her.

Sparkling so much that it seemed she would break at the slightest touch.

Yet still desirable to possess.

Amelia was someone worthy of such greed, and she acted as if she knew it all too well.

Anyone would have.

Anyone, seeing her smiling brightly from the highest place, would have wanted to possess her by any means.

They’d want to make her look only at them thoroughly.

I did, and so did my damn cousin.

“I wonder if it’s still like that now, Leoprick.”

The name he muttered while blankly staring at traces of her evoked more diverse emotions than expected.

His cunning, vicious, and scheming cousin.

Yet shamelessly hovering around Amelia.

Trying hard to gain her favor.

……Pretending not to care while paying attention.

He tried so hard to please Amelia in any way possible.

Even to the point of sacrificing his life.

Recalling that time, Lloyd’s gaze sank coldly.

Amelia, who never gave Leoprick the slightest bit of attention.

From some point, she seemed to give him her heart little by little.

Most regrettably.

Was it because he treated her a bit more harshly from then on, upset that someone else had entered her mind, which had always been only for him?

She had a somewhat pure side, so he shouldn’t have treated her that way.

He lay down on the bed, blankly recalling Amelia.

He wanted to grasp her in his hands again.

As always, but now he definitely needed her.

In the past, he would have gone to find her right away, but lately Amelia wasn’t very kind to him.

No, forget kindness, she didn’t even welcome him.

Cold and chilly, strangely drawing a line.

He put his arm on his forehead and let out a long sigh.

Amelia was like a sunflower.

Always living looking only at him, like a sunflower that always looks at the sun.

She should have been like that for life.

What changed?

What’s the problem?

Because he didn’t stop her marriage?

But that was unavoidable because he had come back further than that moment.

Or is it because he visited her on the way to Waynes?

No matter how much he pondered, nothing came to mind.

That’s because his relationship with her was wrong from the very first button, so to speak.

He had tried to button that first button well, but he didn’t expect things to turn out like this.

To make her perfectly his person, the most important thing was restoring their relationship.

He was confident he could treat her exactly as she had always said she wanted.

But the person in question didn’t seem to want to make time.

Yet she was absolutely necessary for the perfect future he wanted.

She who was much more capable and much more sparkling than he had known.

And that would be the best choice for a more distant future.

Lloyd looked at the pitch-black ceiling, thinking about the many things he would do in the future and the opportunities to meet her within them.

Come to think of it, wasn’t the Empress’s birthday coming up soon?

Wouldn’t there be a chance to face her again, even for a moment?

Lloyd thought for a while and then closed his eyes.

Thinking that he would surely reclaim Amelia Vermerian, who perfectly fits by his side, in the near future.

[This is the timeline separator]

“The Empress’s birthday is coming up soon.”

And this occasion was also one that didn’t exist before the regression.

I thought to myself as I sat across from the Emperor, Empress, and Leoprick, eating dinner.

Is this how much influence not going to meet Lloyd and spending time with Leoprick has had?

While cutting celery on my plate with a knife, I wondered exactly what to accept and pay attention to from where to where.

And in doing so, I missed what had just been the topic of conversation.

“…lia, Amelia?”

“Huh? Ah.”

I came to my senses after Leoprick called me.

When I suddenly looked up, I saw the Emperor, Empress, and Leoprick all looking at me.

……A mistake.

I hurriedly bowed my head and apologized.

“I’m sorry. I was momentarily lost in thought…”

“It’s alright. It happens.”

“You’ve been spending a lot of time in your office lately, are you not tired? Don’t overdo it.”

The Emperor and Empress spoke in turn after my words, and then Leoprick smiled gently and told me what they had been talking about.

“We were talking about how Mother’s birthday is approaching.”

“Her Majesty the Empress’s birthday? We should prepare a banquet.”

I responded almost reflexively to his words.

The Empress’s birthday banquet.

There was also an Empress’s birthday banquet before the regression.

But it wasn’t a party I prepared, and since I didn’t want to be too friendly with the imperial family, I just made an appearance.

And even there, I was busy recruiting nobles to Lloyd’s side.

Of course, that won’t happen anymore.

“I’ve already arranged to prepare it as usual. Don’t worry too much.”

“Your Highness, you’re preparing the banquet?”

And ‘as usual’ at that.

I opened my eyes wide at Leoprick’s words and looked at the Emperor and Empress, asking if this was true.

They both nodded with a smile.

“Since no one else takes particular interest, and preparing banquets is the inner palace’s job, many people think I prepared it.”

“Oh my, then…”

“Everyone says that, so I just let them think that way, but Leoprick has prepared it every year.”

The Empress smiled and explained, understanding the meaning of my gaze.

Soon after Leoprick became Crown Prince, he saw the Empress preparing the banquet and took it over, saying why should the birthday person do such a bothersome task.

Since then, he’s been doing it all along.

“We can’t let the person celebrating their birthday do bothersome tasks.”

“You’re working too hard.”

“Instead, I don’t give any other gifts, do I?”

A warm exchange between mother and son took place.

Leoprick, who had responded playfully, turned his gaze to me.

“This is the gift I give to Mother every year. So don’t think otherwise, and leave this to me.”

How did he know?

I was just thinking about what the Empress’s birthday banquet was like before the regression.

All palace banquets are the inner palace’s responsibility.

But as Leoprick said, we can’t make the Empress do such a bothersome task on her birthday, so I was thinking I should take it over this year.

Leoprick shook his head firmly, as if he had read my thoughts from my surprised eyes.

“This is my job, Amelia. This will be my job until Mother passes away.”

“Oh my. Are you sending me off already?”

“It means live long if you want to use your son for a long time.”

The Empress opened her eyes wide at his words and joked, and Leoprick responded with a smiling face.

The table quickly became warm with the affectionate conversation between mother and son, but I smiled awkwardly and continued thinking in my head.

What happened at the Empress’s birthday banquet before the regression?

[This is the timeline separator]

Only after promising Leoprick that I absolutely wouldn’t do anything related to the Empress’s birthday banquet could I return to my office.

I was thinking of not paying attention to it anyway since I had plenty of other things to do, so this worked out well.

As I entered the office, Betty, who had been reading something, stood up from her seat.

“Did you have a good meal, Your Highness?”

“Yes. I ate well. Did you have your meal?”

“Yes. I went down to the kitchen and ate.”

Betty nodded.

“Was there anything unusual?”

As I crossed the office towards my seat, Betty brought me the paper she was holding.

“This arrived just before you came in.”

“Oh? What is it?”

I sat down and took the paper Betty brought.

“It’s a message from the merchant guild?”

“Yes. It seems to have arrived from Waynes. I haven’t read the details yet.”

“From Waynes?”

I wondered why they would send a message from Waynes.

I lowered my gaze to the blue paper symbolizing a message from the west.

And.

“Hah.”

“What is it, Your Highness?”

I had been feeling a bit uneasy lately because things I didn’t know well kept happening, but this came at a good time.

I handed the paper I had finished reading to Betty.

[The movements in the North are not normal. Merchant guilds operating from the North are buying up grains of all kinds recently. I hear the North has been hit by an unprecedented cold wave this year.]

“Your Highness. This is…”

Betty looked up with a surprised face.

The news of the cold wave in the North and the story of buying up grains must have been too sudden for her.

But for me, who had directly ordered the work and knew what had happened before the regression, it was just welcome news.

“Betty. Could you contact His Highness? Tell him I’d like to see him right away if possible.”

So now it’s time to move.

I smiled slightly and asked Betty.

I needed to meet and talk with Leoprick.

About how to support the North, which would soon face a severe food shortage.

“I’ll go right away. Oh, are you going to talk about the East this time too?”

Betty, who seemed about to rush out at my words, suddenly stopped and asked that.

The matter of the East.

I recalled Hayley saying yesterday that she would send doctors to the East, but shook my head.

“I think it’s still premature. For now, we should talk about this first. If he’s busy, I can go myself, so just ask his intention and come back.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After Betty left the room, I read Jennifer’s letter once again.

Yes. Even before the regression, the Northern incident happened right after the Empress’s birthday banquet.

No, to be precise, it ‘became known’.

It was a little earlier than the epidemic in the East, but still, the North asked for help after the incident had already occurred.

Daeymar, the leader of the East, is terrifyingly thorough and stubborn, and he’s used to going out in person when something happens.

That’s why he learned about the existence of the epidemic relatively quickly in the process of regularly inspecting his territory and listening to stories from each region.

But Jerome of the North was, frighteningly, the exact opposite of Daeymar.

He spends more time traveling to various regions than staying in the North, that says it all.

He was still a novice who had only recently received his title, finding riding horses more fun than inspecting his territory.

That was the reason.

The record-breaking cold wave that hit the North caused all the crops to freeze beyond repair.

The merchant guilds in the North ran short of goods and had to reach out to guilds in other regions.

All of these facts were discovered long after they had occurred.

Because the leader who should have received reports and handled the affairs had been absent for a long time.

After this incident, the leader of the North changed, and before the regression, I had maneuvered to have a nobleman who swore loyalty to Lloyd fill that position.

Of course, this time I’ll make sure a family friendly to Leoprick takes the position.

I was thinking about this and that, fiddling with the paper in my hand, when it happened.

From the paper that should have only been one sheet, there was a rustling sound.

……A sound like this from a paper that should only have one side?

At this sound that absolutely shouldn’t occur, I hurriedly examined the sent letter thoroughly, and finally…