I wonder why I’m thinking like this when the person concerned isn’t even here.

Feeling embarrassed for no reason, I hurriedly opened and read the remaining letter.

This time it was a letter from Closet.

Are you doing well?

After you left for the empire, I thought I was going to burst watching elder brother Herald sigh and worry about you every hour.

These days, whenever I miss you, I go to see the ugly statue in your room.

……(omitted)……

Oh, that’s right!

Recently, something interesting has happened to me.

I’ll tell you in detail when we meet in the empire.

The royal palace feels a bit lonely without you.

I miss you.

I’ll come see you soon.]

Somehow, it felt like I could hear Closet’s cheerful voice from the letter.

It even felt like Closet was reading it to me directly.

‘Something interesting happened, she says. I wonder what it could be?’

Closet was interested in many things here and there, but it was rare for her to express interest so directly like this. Whether it was because she was too smart or not, even when she became interested in something, it would quickly cool off.

“Hehe. She really is such a funny kid.”

Even though she was my sister, how could she be such an interesting child?

I wanted to spend more time with Closet.

In my previous life, I was always holed up in the library reading books, so I didn’t spend much time with Closet. We weren’t on bad terms, but we weren’t very close or affectionate either.

Yet Closet always liked me.

“The ugly statue… Maybe I should have brought it with me?”

Bellia muttered.

“What’s that?”

Callid, who was entering the room, asked about Bellia’s mumbling.

An ugly statue? It sounded cute.

“Oh? Callid.”

Bellia turned around and greeted Callid.

“Are you not going to explain what the ugly statue is?”

“Ah…”

Bellia recalled that statue in Ronica Royal Palace.

At a glance it looked like a statue, but when you didn’t know anything about it, it just looked like a lump of stone.

“Do you remember the stone statue that was on the terrace in my room?”

At Bellia’s words, Callid thought back for a moment.

Thinking carefully, it seemed like there was something similar.

“I remember.”

Though he didn’t remember clearly, Callid pretended to roughly remember as he sat down in the chair in front of Bellia and continued speaking.

“But was that a statue?”

“Ahaha.”

At Callid’s question, Bellia couldn’t stop laughing for some reason.

“Don’t just laugh by yourself, tell me the details so I can laugh along too?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Actually, it was a gift from Closet and elder brother Herald.”

“The ugly statue?”

“Yes. That ugly statue.”

Bellia traced back to an old memory.

“So…”

Around the time when Bellia was about Closet’s age.

Her elder brother, who had just come of age, was getting busier with his heir training, and the youngest, Closet, had finally started learning letters. But that wasn’t very important to Bellia.

At that time, Bellia was going through puberty and was a somewhat overly sensitive girl.

“When I was young, I thought Closet and elder brother Herald were just annoying existences.”

I just thought they were frustrating and foolish people. So I found their affection towards me annoying and irritating.

But even as they watched me being so prickly, Closet and Herald never once turned their backs on me…

“One day, I saw Closet running towards me, falling down, and crying loudly, and I got angry for no reason. So I left that child there and went back to my room alone, and from the next day, Closet stopped coming to find me.”

One day, two days, a week.

Closet and Herald, who had always been by my side no matter how much I pushed them away, no longer appeared.

Bellia said with a faint smile.

“I thought, they must be completely fed up with me now.”

Bellia vividly recalled the emotions of that time, tracing back the hazy memories.

The image of Closet crying and calling “elder sister”, and after pushing that away and leaving, not seeing even a strand of hair from Closet and Herald.

At first, I thought it was comfortable.

Because there were no more people bothering me.

But before I knew it, I kept thinking about them, and when I discovered them playing happily without me, a bitterness and sadness welled up in a corner of my heart.

Even though it was I who had pushed them away and rejected them.

“Then on my birthday, they gave me that ugly statue as a gift.”

To be precise, I discovered the statue in Closet’s arms as she tried not to show it.

The image of Herald’s hands covered in wounds and Closet crying loudly, saying this wasn’t a gift, was still vivid.

“They hadn’t been avoiding me because they were ostracizing me or couldn’t stand the sight of me, but because they were secretly preparing a gift…”

Due to their lack of skill, it ended up being an ugly statue that only vaguely resembled a human shape, but that gift they had prepared for me for days was still so precious and touching.

Callid, who had been gazing intently at Bellia whose face had softened without her realizing as she talked about past memories, pulled up the corners of his mouth.

“What an affectionate family.”

“That’s right. They’re a family too good for me.”

As she was telling the story of what happened in the past, Bellia suddenly looked at Callid and burst out laughing.

‘Come to think of it…’

Bellia couldn’t help but laugh at the thought that suddenly crossed her mind while reminiscing about her younger days.

The romance novels that Bellia, who was going through puberty at the time, enjoyed reading featured various male protagonists, and like other girls, Bellia used to imagine her ideal type through them.

‘My ideal type was quite similar to Callid, wasn’t it?’

But Callid, who had no way of knowing Bellia’s thoughts, asked kindly.

“Why are you laughing while looking at me?”

“It’s nothing. Something just came to mind suddenly.”

But I can’t tell you that.

Looking at Bellia like that, Callid stroked his chin and spoke in a voice tinged with laughter.

“By the way, when you were young, you were quite…”

“Quite, and then?”

Callid just laughed without answering.

But Bellia immediately realized what words he had swallowed, and spoke the answer herself.

“I know. I was really awful back then.”

Bellia let out a deep sigh.

“Thinking I was so great all by myself… I must have been really unpleasant to look at.”

If it had been then, you and I probably wouldn’t have met at all.

Callid asked, not even hiding his amusement.

“Then did that statue help you become the Bellia of today?”

“Well. I can’t say it was entirely because of that, but it did serve as something of a catalyst.”

It seems it was a more precious statue than I thought.

Callid tried to recall the statue he barely remembered.

‘Thinking about when I was young, somehow I miss them even more…’

Bellia gazed warmly at the letters neatly stacked on the desk.

She had a feeling that her reply to her family would be quite long.

That made her feel so good that Bellia smiled very brightly, closing her eyes.

“Is it time to write replies to your family now?”

I feel a bit awkward, like I’m interfering?

Callid took Bellia’s hand and raised her up.

Bellia stood up in a daze and asked.

“Are you telling me to write the replies quickly?”

But Callid pulled Bellia to the bed, hugged her, and lay down.

“Haha. What is it? Didn’t you raise me to write replies?”

“No. If you were going to write replies, I was going to tell you to stop and play with me instead.”

Callid hugged Bellia’s waist tightly and lay down with his face on her shoulder.

It looked as if Callid was the one being hugged by Bellia.

“I was just about to discuss something with you anyway.”

“What is it?”

“It seems His Holiness is really coming to our wedding.”

Callid raised his head abruptly at Bellia’s words.

“Did he really say he’s coming to the empire?”

“Yes. Mother said so in her letter.”

Callid seemed perplexed by the sudden situation.

Of course, it was a good thing. The fact that the High Priest of the Holy Kingdom was visiting the empire in person to attend his granddaughter’s wedding would change Bellia’s status.

But because it was an unexpected visit, they had to revise all the preparation processes accordingly.

Not stopping there, Bellia cheerfully delivered more shocking news.

“Moreover, it seems Her Majesty is also thinking of visiting.”

“The Queen of Ronica as well…”

Callid became lost in thought.

Watching him, Bellia gently grasped Callid’s hand.

“Honestly, I’m too confused. Are you too?”

“Are you confused because things have changed from what we talked about before?”

As expected, Callid immediately realized even without Bellia saying it directly.

The fact that Bellia was very flustered by the reality that differed from her previous life.

“Don’t worry too much. The things we’ve been doing must have gradually changed the future.”

“Won’t the information I know become completely useless now?”

She had been confident she could beat Raul because she knew the future. But the future keeps changing.

She became afraid that she would only talk big and be of no help to Callid.

If even revenge fails at this rate…?

As if reading those inner thoughts, Callid turned over his hand that Bellia was holding and grasped it back. As if to say everything was alright.

“Don’t worry about that either. The reason I’m by your side is for times like this.”

Bellia had always wondered why she came back in time.

But maybe it was to meet this person…

Otherwise, how could she be this happy?

How could her heart be overflowing like this?

“So you just move as you want to.”

Callid smiled with his eyes as he neatly arranged the hair stuck to Bellia’s forehead as she lay down.

“I’ll take care of everything, whether it’s going ahead or cleaning up after.”

At those infinitely affectionate words, Bellia closed her eyes with a relieved expression.

Callid’s hand slowly moved down from her round forehead to caress her cheek.

How could she not have a single unattractive corner?

He gently stroked her soft skin with his thumb.

“Bellia.”

Bellia slightly opened her eyes that had been closed.

Callid’s face had already come close enough to touch.

“Are you going to write the replies now?”

Callid’s eyes curved mischievously.

It was incomparably beautiful yet dangerous.

Bellia couldn’t take her eyes off him.

“…What if I say I need to write the replies?”

“The letters might shake a lot, would that be okay?”

Bellia’s face instantly turned red as she caught the implied meaning of those words.

So, now…

“I’ll do what I have to do, and you can do what you have to do.”

Callid said shamelessly as he moved his hand again to fiddle with the back of Bellia’s neck.

“Ah…”

Bellia’s eyes trembled slightly.

What happened after that was instantaneous.