During the time Leila went to see Elaina.

Sinclair was meeting with a member of the imperial branch family in another reception room.

“…So, Lady Anelli has requested an audience with Your Highness.”

The man sent by Anelli was from a relative family of the Hayworth house, a branch of the imperial family. He was one of the candidates she had been considering to place a branch family bloodline on the throne.

“It seems there has been a significant change in her state of mind. I am not aware of the exact circumstances, but if Your Highness meets her directly, you will be able to find out.”

“……”

“Your Highness?”

In any case, the branch family’s assistance was very good news for Sinclair.

They all harbored ill feelings towards Yuria, including Anelli, without exception, and were forces trying to prevent Hister from becoming emperor by any means.

Nevertheless, strangely, there was no response.

The man cautiously looked at Sinclair, and Sinclair, who was lightly touching his forehead with his fingers, met his gaze with incomparably sharp eyes.

“Go and tell her.”

“Pardon?”

“When all the nobles were moving, you remained a bystander, so why are you suddenly taking my side? I will need reasonable proof for that.”

“Your Highness, Lady Anelli is…”

“You must know as well. Anelli is someone who never moves unless there is a clear benefit.”

The man, at a loss for words, closed his mouth.

“So, rather than welcoming the branch family’s move, I find it suspicious.”

“……”

“They wouldn’t have sent someone stupid enough not to understand what I mean. Isn’t that right?”

“…I understand well what you are saying.”

The man slowly opened his lips with a troubled face.

“It was just as abrupt and confusing for us as well. But you know, don’t you? It’s no exaggeration to say that Anelli holds all the authority of the branch family.”

The man was right. Anelli, who had been driven out of the capital by Yuria, had somehow become the most powerful person among the branch family. To the extent that the entire branch family would move at her single word, at her single gesture.

“We simply follow Lady Anelli’s decision.”

“I see.”

“Pardon?”

“It means I understand well that Anelli is no different from the emperor to you all.”

“……”

“It’s also like saying there would be no such threat if I become emperor.”

Anelli had said that Sinclair’s reaction would not be as good as she had expected. She was right.

The man looked at Sinclair with a very startled face, and Sinclair continued speaking without flinching an eyebrow.

“I will not move.”

“……”

“If she has something to say to me, if she wants something from me, tell her to come directly. Formally request an audience. If her intention to take my side is genuine, she should naturally be able to take that much trouble.”

On the surface, it sounded like there was nothing unusual, but in the end, it meant that they had to bow their heads and come to him first.

Despite knowing that such an action could hurt Anelli’s pride, Sinclair never backed down.

“Otherwise, there will be no way to meet me. I only let you in today to hear what you were trying to convey, but there will be no next time.”

“…Yes. I understand. I will relay it to Lady Anelli.”

“Then the conversation is over.”

With that, Sinclair stood up from his seat without any lingering feelings. He knew the man left alone in the reception room was looking at him with a pale face, but it was a matter of no concern.

“……”

The place Sinclair’s footsteps were heading in the corridor filled with silence was none other than the bedroom where Elaina would be.

[Then can you promise me, Sinclair? That you will always be truthful in front of me. So that I can trust you. So that you can answer all my questions honestly, without a single lie.]

Sinclair could not forget Elaina’s face as she said those words.

[I see. I understand well, Sinclair.]

Also, the expression she had when facing him, unable to give any answer…

…That day, upon receiving the report that Elaina had entered the room with the portrait, Sinclair checked once again to make sure the portrait he had hidden was still in place.

In the end, Elaina was a step too late. The meticulous Sinclair had already moved the portrait to another place to avoid revealing his anxiety.

The portrait was in the same place, and Sinclair let out a sigh of relief, cowardly and miserably. That was just yesterday.

So, there was no way for Elaina to know the truth.

…But why did he feel so anxious and afraid?

“……”

Suddenly stopping in his tracks, Sinclair blankly stared at the endless corridor.

Ever since Elaina entered the prince’s palace, he thought. Now I also have a place to return to. This corridor of the prince’s palace is no longer frightening. It’s not lonely or solitary.

However, strangely, the corridor reflected in his golden eyes did not feel as kind or gentle as it did then.

Rather, it felt colder and more eerie than before…

Perhaps it was because Elaina’s attitude towards him had changed.

Or it could be because his guilt was slowly but surely eating away at himself.

No. It’s just unnecessary anxiety.

Elaina is still by my side.

Sinclair slightly bit his lip, closed his eyes tightly, and opened them again. Then he started walking quickly once more.

…Until he met Judith, who looked unusually pale, unlike usual.

“Judith?”

Sinclair unknowingly hardened his face upon noticing Judith rushing towards him from ahead.

There was only one reason why Judith or Anna would move so hastily inside the prince’s palace.

Elaina’s safety.

“What happened?”

Sinclair grabbed Judith’s shoulders as she approached him.

“Y-Your Highness.”

As if forgetting to be intimidated by Sinclair as usual, Judith spoke quickly.

“That woman came.”

“That woman?”

“Elaina’s… No, Leila Aswald!”

“…What?”

“We all tried to drive her out, but Lady Elaina said she would meet her. So I saw her entering the reception room, but Sir Schuler had to keep watch, so… I thought I should at least inform Your Highness first…”

For a moment, it felt as if his heart had sunk and made a sound as it rolled on the dirty floor. Sinclair started running quickly without giving any answer.

“That wench dares to set foot in the prince’s palace, Schuler!”

In front of the reception room, Schuler was standing with an uncomfortable look on his face. Perhaps out of concern for Elaina, Chads also remained in his position with Schuler.

“I apologize. I tried to drive her out, but Lady Elaina insisted on meeting her, so there was no way to stop her…”

“Elaina, where is Elaina?”

Could it be that the woman named Leila approached Elaina with a grudge? No, she must have. Why else would that woman come all the way here?

“She’s still in the reception room.”

There was no need for an answer. Sinclair headed straight for the reception room and swung the closed door open without any hesitation.

And…

“…Elaina.”

He faced Elaina, whose face was drenched with tears.

Something must have happened after all. For a moment, he felt dizzy. Sinclair hurriedly approached Elaina, embraced her shoulders, and opened his lips.

“What on earth…”

But Sinclair could not finish his words.

Because he saw it too.

The portrait of his mother and himself placed on the table.

“……”

Why is this here?

How, why, here?

Sinclair looked down at the portrait, unable to even breathe properly.

The guilt and regret that he had been hiding for a lifetime, constantly haunting him like an evil spirit, had materialized and revealed itself in front of him.

As if receiving divine punishment.

“El…aina…”

She just silently looked at Sinclair, who was struggling to utter her name. Her black eyes, still filled with tears, looked utterly empty.

“It was you.”

After a considerable amount of time had passed, she moved her dry lips with a pathetic, hoarse voice.

“Ren.”

“……”

“It was you.”

There was no imperial prince or princess in the reception room.

Only a young girl and boy who had returned to that time remained.

Thus, the emotions from that time were also vividly revived.

Resentment towards Ren. Anger. Longing.

Guilt towards Eli. Regret. Remorse.

All of it.

“In the end, from the beginning, you hid everything, and you…”

“El…”

“…Despite abandoning me and running away like that.”

Although her voice was monotonous, Elaina’s words became incomparably sharp daggers that pierced the very center of Sinclair’s heart. So deep that they could not be pulled out or undone.

“And yet… you… once again dragged me into your life… without any guilt…”

No.

That’s not what I intended to do.

The excuses he couldn’t utter were ringing in Sinclair’s chest.

“If you had even a little remorse for me… No, if you had even thought about me a little, you wouldn’t have done that. You wouldn’t have appeared in my life again and shaken me.”

“Eli, I…!”

“Both then and now, I… was still just wandering on your palm, Ren.”

“…I never forgot for a single moment.”

Sinclair uttered the difficult words as if exhaling his last breath.

“I always thought of you, always missed you. To the extent that I could sell my soul if I could go back to that time.”

“……”

“I was never insincere in front of you. Neither when I was Ren, nor after I reunited with you…”

Sinclair, who was about to continue his words, faltered for a moment and looked at Elaina.

“Ren.”

Elaina, who was gazing at him, had an expression as if she were looking at a stranger for the first time.

“Do such words…”

“……”

“Have any meaning now?”

Her black eyes seemed to be saying.

I don’t forgive you. In the end, it was you who ruined me. It was also you who abandoned me and left.

No matter what excuses you make, that is an unchanging fact.

…The words that the Eli created by his own guilt, which had always followed him like a ghost since parting with Eli, had uttered.

Sinclair blankly looked at Elaina’s empty eyes.

And then, for a very long time, he couldn’t move.

Until Elaina opened her lips again.