“Even if you dislike it…”
“When are we leaving?”
Someone sighed. Charlotte turned her gaze to find out who it was.
Aster took a breath and moaned softly.
Charlotte’s eyes met it.
Something slightly.
Yes.
Although we did not intend it, everything around us seemed to conspire to divide us.
Leandro’s fingertips trembled. He concealed the trembling by grasping his wrinkled hand.
“It is today. Leave straight away this afternoon.”
So it was.
Charlotte looked down at her luggage in dismay. There was nothing to pack personally.
A few personal belongings were taken care of.
The rest was to be packed by the maid.
Leaning against the bedroom window, looking out, she heard a voice from behind. It was Uncle Aster.
“Have you said goodbye to His Majesty?”
Charlotte gave a faint smile.
“I didn’t see him.”
“Why?”
“He seemed busy. I’m leaving without seeing him.”
Benjamin, who visited last night, seemed to have done so, knowing that we would not see each other for a while.
“Is everything packed?”
“Yes. The maids took care of the heavy luggage, and I had nothing to pack.”
“Though it’s called convalescence, just consider it a vacation.”
“You know your uncle’s mind, so don’t worry.”
It was this time too, Grandfather’s advice to go down to the convalescence car for a few days and rest.
‘I do not want to lose you too, child.’
Charlotte smiled faintly.
“I realize now, I’m powerless. I didn’t know I was so powerless.”
Although once dead and thought to have changed, there was little change. I must change from now on too.
“Even coming from my father’s hand, this is still my limit.”
“Don’t talk like that.”
“……When I return, everything will have changed.”
“It’s as if you’ll be away for a long time. It’s just a brief moment.”
It was just meant to be a few days.
To be apart for just a moment. But that moment was not just a moment. Regrettably.
“Take care.”
“What?”
“Stay healthy.”
Charlotte knew this parting would be long.
(This is a time separator.)
The Emperor’s life is ending. The Emperor’s life, barely sustained over a long period, is nearing its end.
“It will end soon.”
Benjamin went to the slums, predicting the end of the Emperor. He was on his way to meet an old friend.
“He doesn’t seem to have much time left to live. He requested to clarify his position and meet His Majesty before dying.”
“……He’s hidden in the slums.”
“Shall we walk there?”
Benjamin gestured somewhere instead of answering.
“Lead the way.”
The knights headed towards a dilapidated wooden house. An old man with white hair was lying down.
‘White hair?’
Dressed in ragged clothing, his hair had turned white, but he had barely passed fifty.
“Did I come to the wrong place?”
“Please come inside first.”
Soon, a thin voice was heard from inside.
“……Is it Your Majesty?”
Even hearing that voice, he could tell it was a voice of fifty.
“You’ve been running away, and you’ve hidden in the slums…….”
The man suddenly opened his eyes.
“You, my friend, my teacher, my family, and my person, who used to boast, you stabbed me in the back and hid in a mere slum?”
The pitchblack eyes and black hair stood out, even in the pitchdark darkness.
“Meeting after over a decade, and it’s quite a dull encounter. They say you hid for nearly 20 years, and you’ve even hidden in such a rundown place like this.”
Once he was his knight, his confidant, entrusted with his protection, and was like a guardian appointed by his birth mother.
Now he was a fugitive criminal, a traitor, and the executioner who personally led the empress to the execution block.
“If you stabbed a knife into my lord’s back, you would have at least lived well as a traitor, not holed up here like a beggar. You dragged me here to show me this state, telling me personally that you were here?”
The greeting exchanged after nearly 20 years was dry.
“What life have you lived?”
“…….”
“Was your past life peaceful?”
The man’s jaw trembled and quaked.
“Not a day went by that was comfortable. Every day was hell, and I realized how insignificant this life was, how great the sin of betraying you both was. I realized death was approaching, but I guess I wanted to see you here.”
Benjamin Visennov smiled with squinted eyes. It was a harmless smile, though whether one could call it harmless was ambiguous. To call it harmless, everything surrounding him was harmful from the outset.
“I am a sinner. Ah…… I’m facing death soon, and I have committed an unforgivable sin against Your Highness. I will pay for my sins in death…….”
The man burst into tears as if something was pressing on him. His hair was white, his wrinkles deep.
His complexion was like that of an old man facing death. Yet this man had only just passed the age of fifty.
“Listen carefully to my story from now on. Even if you question this sinner’s sins, please listen to my story. Your Highness, be careful of the Empress. Something is there with her. I couldn’t resist. I couldn’t.”
Benjamin Visennov narrowed his eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“The day I saw Her Majesty the Empress…… I felt something was wrong. Be careful. Please take care of yourself. It’s there. Your Highness, remember my story. There…… something is there.”
Benjamin Visennov received a sword from Roskella.
“Your Majesty the Empress, Your Majesty, please forgive me. I will repay this sin with my life. I believed that one day you would come to claim this life.”
The man cut off his speech.
“Your Highness, please kill me. Please, relieve my guilt with your hand. This may also be my greed.”
He licked his trembling lips.
“Forgiveness……. please, forgive this foolish man.”
He cuts away the rotten flesh. Before the rotten flesh rots further.
He cuts away the rotten bone. Before it crumbles away like this.
“Close your eyes.”
He doesn’t blame it as his sin.
Incompetence is also a sin. He was incompetent in those days, and that’s my sin. The man’s neck fell.
“Bury the body and tidy the place.”
“Are you alright?”
“……Light the incense. Honor his death in a simple ceremony.”
Benjamin Visennov’s eyes slowly dried up. His expression cracked like parched earth.
“News that the young lady has left the institution.”
Benjamin Visennov scraped the floor with the tip of the sword as he walked.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
