For a moment, I couldn’t believe my ears.

He said that this was where we first met.

The first time I came face to face with him was after our marriage was decided.

I had seen him before at the Imperial Palace balls or large banquets, but only from afar, knowing that he was the Crown Prince. Many times, I passed by without much thought.

Even though I was the daughter of the Prime Minister’s family, I was receiving training as the family head and working in the merchant guild.

I knew well how despised it was for a woman to work in aristocratic society, so I never thought I would have a connection with the Crown Prince.

That’s why I was so obsessed with Lloyd.

But now there’s something else I can’t remember.

Surprised, I could only blink without being able to answer.

Leoprick turned his head to look at me and smiled faintly.

“I thought you wouldn’t remember.”

“What? No, when did……”

I was so flustered that I couldn’t even speak properly.

I clearly remembered most things before and after the regression.

Even though my memories differed after the wedding in the regression, I was certainly aware of those differences.

Could it be that my regression was not after the wedding, but much earlier?

And I don’t remember that?

Confused by the fact that there was a past I couldn’t remember, I even had some absurd thoughts.

Even though I killed him before the regression, the reason he’s being so kind to me now is perhaps…

Perhaps it’s because he has memories of me that I don’t know about after the regression.

Something I can’t remember.

I stopped speaking, unable to hide my confusion at the unexpected situation.

“You probably won’t remember. You didn’t even recognize me as the Crown Prince back then.”

“I… didn’t recognize Your Highness? That can’t be possible.”

Seeing me like that, Leoprick laughed warmly.

As if it was okay, as if he understood everything.

His voice reassured me, naturally making me feel calm.

But at the same time, I was also curious.

Really, there’s no way I wouldn’t have recognized him as the Crown Prince.

From the time I came of age, I followed my father into high society and practically lived there after my debut.

As someone who didn’t earn the title of the flower of high society for nothing, there were hardly any names or faces I couldn’t memorize.

If I met him in this slum, it would have been around the time I was doing volunteer work, before my debut in high society.

After my debut, the frequency gradually decreased due to various schedules as I built connections through volunteer work.

If he met me, it would have been before my debut.

When I was about twelve, thirteen, or fourteen years old.

If it was before my debut, when I had practically memorized the latest aristocratic directory, I didn’t recognize him?

I looked at Leoprick with eyes full of questions, and he laughed as if I was cute.

…Cute?

“That’s right, Amelia. I wondered if I should tell you since you seemed clueless until the end.”

He lightly brushed my hair as if patting it.

It was such a brief and natural moment that it was ambiguous to say anything.

Trying not to be awkward, I asked him.

“But Your Highness. Unless you came in disguise, there’s no way I wouldn’t have recognized you……”

Disguise.

As I uttered that word, something flashed through my mind.

The moment I first met Lloyd.

The magical moment I encountered while doing volunteer work in the slums.

“Your Highness. Don’t tell me you often came to the slums in disguise?”

“Yes. And the day I met you was also a day when I visited in disguise.”

…And that made me think it was fate for the two of us.

“No matter how I looked at it, you were clearly a girl, but it caught my eye that you were doing volunteer work in men’s clothing.”

He confessed in a gentle voice that he had come to see me on many of the days he visited like that.

Seeing him bring up those memories with a look that seemed fluttering…

Why did it feel so desperate?

“If I had known from the beginning that it was you, Your Highness……”

“Pardon?”

If I had known it was you from the beginning.

That thought filled my mind, and I couldn’t hear what he was saying anymore.

If I had known it was him from the beginning.

If I had known it was Leoprick, not Lloyd.

If I had known from the beginning that my destiny was not someone so greedy and self-centered, but a kind and warm person like this.

Then everything would have been different.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Your Highness. I… I think I need to go back first.”

With that thought, I couldn’t stay here any longer.

Because those thoughts were growing and gradually consuming me.

I let go of his hand without being able to look at his face.

“Amelia. What are you……”

I heard him calling me from behind, but I didn’t stop.

I kept walking.

Because I thought that way, I could at least get away from the memories of my younger days that made me resent myself and him.

I, once again, left regret behind without looking back.

The first time I went to the slums for volunteer work was purely because of my father’s orders.

It was partly because my mother often went there when she was alive, but it was largely due to my father’s teaching that a noble should know how to give and look after others.

As part of my training as the family head, I regularly went to the slums until my debut in high society.

I cleaned the streets, distributed bread and soup, and sometimes supported medical volunteer work.

Following Hayley’s advice that something might happen if a girl goes out on the streets alone, I dressed as a man.

I usually did volunteer work with people from the merchant guild.

Since the merchant guild people moved together with the security forces or the local office managing the slums, there was little chance of me catching anyone’s eye as a young child.

I was often with Betty or Hayley, so people thought I had come out with my elder sisters.

But honestly, for a curious and confident young me, it was a bit boring to stay in one place and keep doing the same thing.

I lacked the patience to do something for more than half a day that didn’t involve reading a book or having a meaningful conversation with someone.

So, sometimes I would sneak into a quiet alley to avoid Betty or Hayley’s eyes.

It was on one of those days that I met that unfamiliar boy.

On a day when my father was particularly strict, Betty’s nagging was severe, and Hayley was too busy to listen to me much.

On a day when I unreasonably resented my mother who passed away early, and envied the children in the slums who came to receive food holding their mother’s hand.

On my birthday, when I just wanted to spend time with my father like a normal person.

As I was sneaking into that alley alone to pass the time like usual, someone suddenly appeared in front of me.

“Hello?”

“Eek!”

“Aah!”

I was so startled by the sudden face and voice that appeared in a place where I thought no one but me ever came, that I literally jumped up from the spot.

So I forgot that I was supposed to act like a boy and screamed like I usually do.

“Oh, you scared me. That surprised me.”

Perhaps because he was also surprised by my sudden appearance, the boy who appeared also screamed with me.

We looked at each other and laughed, “Haha.”

“You can’t just appear like that and surprise people.”

“Sorry. I thought you knew there was someone here.”

The boy who appeared and surprised me looked about the same age as me.

His face, which was not clearly visible under the hat he was wearing pulled down, had soot stains here and there. Despite his shabby appearance, there was something extraordinary about him.

I think I smiled back at him because his face was pretty as he grinned at me apologetically.

“Since you apologized, I’ll forgive you. Next time, don’t surprise people.”

“Okay. I’ll do that.”

Even the way he obediently nodded his head was cute.

I smiled at him and asked.

“Do you live here?”

“No. I came to play for a bit. You don’t live here either, right?”

“How did you know?”

“You come here often. I’ve seen you many times coming and going with those people over there.”

The boy grinned, saying he had seen me often.

The more I looked at him, the more I thought he was really handsome. I leaned against the alley wall and crouched down.

“Then do you come here often too? Why have I never seen you?”

“I come at different times each time. Not at the same time as you.”

Then he also crouched down next to me and replied.

“Today, I came at the right time to greet you before leaving.”

“To greet me?”

He nodded at my words.

“Just… It’s interesting to see someone my age here.”

“There are a lot of kids our age living here, you know? Oh. You said you don’t live here either.”

“Yeah. Where I live, kids our age are always stuck at home. They don’t go out much and just study cooped up at home.”

Studying while being cooped up at home.

With those words, I immediately thought this boy must be a noble too.

Usually, before their debut in high society, girls study for refinement to enter the marriage market, and boys study to inherit the family.

I was a little excited to think I had made a friend in an unexpected place.

“Me too, me too. My father won’t allow me to go anywhere else and only allows me to come here.”

“Really? I’ve been to other places sometimes too. My father keeps pushing me out to experience more.”

The boy made a gloomy face, saying he really hated being kicked out of the house.

But for me, the idea of being able to go here and there was just enviable.

“Wow. You’re so lucky. I want to go to other regions too. A while ago, I said I wanted to go see the ocean in Waynes, but I was rejected and told no.”

“Hmm, maybe your father is worried because you’re a girl?”

“…How did you know I’m a girl?”

Gasp. I gasped as soon as I blurted out those words.

Usually, when someone figured out I was a girl, I would have firmly denied it.

But I had so easily revealed that I was a girl.

While I was rolling my eyes, surprised at myself even after opening my mouth, the boy’s voice was heard.

“Just… Because you’re pretty.”

He said.