Sunlight streaming through the leaves, creating a play of light, and a gentle breeze blowing. The path to the Matop was still quiet and mysterious. Outside the Matop, the snow piled up, but here it felt like entering a fantasy world with warm breeze and sunlight.
Even the sound of the wind was blocked by magic in this place, leaving only silence.
“You’ve unnecessarily dressed up. Tsk.”
Erlington Duke, who joined the news of going to the Matop late, looked around incessantly, shaking his head with a displeased expression beside Belia.
It was a very unpleasant tone.
Belia mentioned something she had read in a book.
“This forest is enchanted by the chief Matopju. I heard that this enchantment detects the Matop’s visit and blocks intrusion.”
The Duke waved his hand in the air several times. Then, with a fist clenched as if grabbing something, he said to Belia with a puzzled expression.
“Reach out your hand.”
Belia extended her hand as the Duke instructed.
Then, Erlington Duke put what he had in his hand on Belia’s palm.
“Huh?”
It was a very glittering strand of golden thread.
“This is part of that enchantment.”
“Yes? But then…”
Belia, who was worried that there might be a problem with the enchantment, saw Erlington Duke brushing off his hands and said.
“It won’t be a problem even if you take a bit off like this, so don’t worry.”
Soon, the golden thread shattered into small pieces and disappeared.
“In the first place, there’s no one to operate the enchantment now, so it’s just for show to ordinary people who don’t know anything. It’s just a stunt to look cool. Surely it’s better to have such a perception to some extent.”
With a sarcastic evaluation from Erlington Duke, Belia swallowed her surprise, covering her mouth with her hand.
“It’s probably to enjoy the gaze of those who see the Matop and wizards as mysterious. I can understand the inexplicable feeling. It’s better to have such a perception to some extent.”
Belia nodded in agreement with a face that also showed agreement.
At that moment, Erlington Duke, who was choosing his words for a moment, whispered quietly.
“Although it might be uncomfortable for you to hear that I suddenly said I would go with you… I studied magic on my own, so I wanted to see the current state of wizards. I also wanted to talk to you.”
To Erlington Duke’s words, Belia asked with a strange expression.
“I know that there is also a Matop in the north, so have you not visited there?”
Erlington Duke smiled bitterly.
“The Matop in the north is the emperor’s eye to watch me. From one day, it seems that they started to doubt me a lot because I look like I haven’t aged like Raoul. The wizards at the northern Matop are spending all their time investigating me.”
Belia looked at the Duke in surprise at the story she heard for the first time. The Duke smiled with a faint smile.
“Well, it’s strange. Like a younger brother who looks like my son. It seems like I have some mysterious power.”
The Emperor has been steadily monitoring Erlington Duke for decades. Although he held the most massive power in his hands, he seemed to be worried about losing it.
Belia estimated the distance from the knights following her to see if she could hear any sound around her. Then she carefully opened her mouth.
“This is a story I heard about the future, but may I ask if it’s okay?”
Erlington Duke nodded in agreement with her meaning.
Belia asked with a serious expression.
“I heard a story in my previous life that the position of the emperor originally belonged to the Duke through Raoul. Is that true?”
Erlington Duke did not speak for a moment at her question. His eyes deepened as if recalling the distant past.
“…Ultimately, I didn’t take that position, so it’s not mine.”
The Sun Emperor granted the title of Duke to Duke Erlington, who had willingly declined the position of Crown Prince, and bestowed upon him a territory in the northern region.
After that, during the time the current Emperor was alive, all the arrangements, including sending him to the North, were made, perhaps out of concern that he might cause trouble for his younger brother.
“He was a person with many worries. To the point where he couldn’t sleep at night, fearing that I might die at the hands of my brother.”
Duke Erlington’s faintly smiling face looked desolate.
“He was an affectionate person.”
“Yes, he was. My brother had many ambitions, and I, relatively, seemed less ambitious, so he may have felt that way even more.”
“How about now?”
Belia’s question, spoken gracefully, was sharp.
In the future she heard from Khalid, instead of sending Khalid back to the past, he became the Emperor.
Perhaps Duke Erlington is hiding his ambition for the throne.
“To become the Emperor with a body that doesn’t age… If nothing unexpected happens, I will probably live much longer than others. People will think of me as a monster when they see me like that.”
Belia, about to say that it wouldn’t happen, closed her mouth. She couldn’t be sure.
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
