“It felt like they were clearly heading this way…”

Lorelei looked around. At the masquerade, she had been constantly keeping an eye on Damion. Even in the moment a woman grabbed him, even in the moment Damion left the hall with her.

However, it was so dark that at some point she lost sight of the two. It seemed there was nothing more to be gained from searching here.

In the end, Lorelei turned around and left.

Damion, who had been watching her from behind a wooden pillar, let out a small sigh. He lowered his gaze to look at Ansi. Ansi, who had been quietly in his arms, raised her head.

Their eyes met.

For a long time, they silently gazed at each other. Even in the darkness, only each other’s eyes were clear.

Perhaps it was because they had imagined and drawn it countless times over. The distinct light continued from memories that had not faded at all illuminated each other.

“Ansi.”

Damion called her name. After the soft call, a calm tension circled between them through the air.

“…I missed you.”

The moment she answered, Damion lowered his head. At the same time, Ansi closed her eyes.

His dry lips overlapped with Ansi’s soft lips. The sensation of touching her was so vivid. Her lips were cold, but his body was instantly engulfed in heat.

A pain reminiscent of agony struck Damion. It was as painful as piercing the heart with a sharp spear. This feeling was never within grasp. It surged like waves, drenching him and receding again.

He was impatient.

One of Damion’s hands that had been on Ansi’s waist moved up her back. Ansi trembled slightly at the sensation that tickled her heart.

Meanwhile, Damion’s hand supported Ansi’s head. And as if he could no longer wait, he deeply delved into her.

Ansi’s hand gripping Damion’s shoulder tightened. Amid the rough, hot breaths, her mind grew hazy. Strength left her whole body.

Ansi clung to Damion and pulled him close.

Thirsty kisses continued.

In the distance, fireworks burst to signal the climax of the ball, decorating the sky.

Ansi’s eyes reddened. Unknowingly, tears flowed.

When she first kissed Damion, fireworks had also been unfolding. The flames then showed their glamorous appearance and burned up completely.

Ansi thought it was no different from her own ending.

But it wasn’t. As long as they existed, the flames did not disappear. Just as the memory of their first kiss connected to the present.

“Ansi.”

Damion called her name over her lips. His hand wiped away the tears on Ansi’s cheeks. Worry was contained in the call mixed with rough breathing.

Damion tried to pull away from her. Ansi reached out and hugged Damion’s neck.

“…Don’t let go.”

Ansi realized.

Truly, she had now become a person who could no longer live without this man.

Rather than the half year spent in Marel, it felt like she was living more vividly and longer just being with this man for a mere few dozen minutes now.

She thought the loneliness that was always present amidst stability was inevitable. She thought it natural to lose one thing after gaining another.

She thought it was something she mustn’t do, to insist on staying by Damion’s side when he had fallen into agony because of her.

She thought Damion would be happy even without her.

But it wasn’t so. Everyone had been in pain and emptiness. If she had known it would be like this, she wouldn’t have let him go. She would have insisted to the end that she didn’t want to part.

“I… was desperate for revenge against Orphe. But if losing you is the result, I will never be able to forgive myself. My life would end right then and there.”

She incoherently laid out the things she wanted to say to him.

In the unsent letters, she asked him countless times. If he ever thought of her. What his life existed for now. If their past time held any meaning at all.

But now, Ansi was throwing not questions, but conviction.

“I love you, Damion. So just stay with me. Please do that for me.”

Their lips overlapped again. They fully felt each other’s existence before their eyes. As if this moment of contact was eternity.

Damion and Ansi took a roundabout path where people didn’t pass and headed for the back door. She said her carriage was waiting there.

“Where are you staying?”

Damion asked Ansi when they had almost reached the back door. He wanted to spend the night with her if he could. However, they couldn’t be together for a long time right now.

There were already people who saw Damion leaving the ball with Ansi.

Because their faces were covered, there was probably no one who realized it was Ansi. But it was dangerous for the two of them to move together and attract attention now.

“In Marelle. It’s a small city in the south…”

Damion raised an eyebrow as if asking if she was serious. Sensing something strange about this, Ansi trailed off.

“What is it?”

“…It’s where I lived when I was young.”

“Really?”

Ansi’s eyes widened.

“The presence I felt then… it really might have been you. I went there not long ago too. To see my mother.”

Damion wore a faint smile. A certain point in time came to Ansi’s mind. It was when Delle suddenly pulled her behind a rock to hide.

Delle had probably seen Damion.

Nevertheless, the reason he didn’t say anything… was probably because Damion was still an enemy to Delle.

“I’ll come find you soon.”

Damion firmly held Ansi’s hand as they nearly reached the back door.

If Damion came to see her, she didn’t know how Delle and Sofia would react. But this was a problem she had to solve herself. There was no need to tell Damion about such things now.

In fact, after meeting Damion like this again, she didn’t even think it was a big problem. Ansi nodded deeply.

“We’re here.”

Ansi pointed to the carriage at the back door. The carriage door opened, and a woman leaned out from inside.

“Lady Roma?”

“You said to wait a bit. Aren’t you taking too long?”

“I thought you had gone home, my lady.”

“You child! There’s only one carriage, how could I go?”

“No, my lady, that’s not what I…”

“Hurry and get in!”

Ansi turned around to look at Damion. Damion nodded with a gentle smile. Ansi spoke softly in a voice thick with reluctance.

“See you soon.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Damion readily nodded. Knowing how rare it was for Ansi to express her feelings toward him like this, this moment was all the more precious.

The urge to kiss her again right away and indulge in this moment longer welled up, but he barely held on to reason thanks to Roma’s gaze watching them.

They would be able to meet again soon anyway.

He didn’t need to feel regretful.

Consoling himself like that, Damion let Ansi go.

Soon, the carriage departed.

From the spot Ansi had left, Damion narrowed his eyes, lost in thought.

The woman named Roma who took Ansi away. He had heard her name from Ansi a few times before. She was also the one who had delivered news about Ansi and Delle through mercenaries last autumn.

However, this was the first time actually seeing her.

Even so… she felt somehow familiar. Damion racked his memory at the uncanny feeling of deja vu.

It was definitely a voice he had heard somewhere before.

He could quickly realize when that was.

“Ha.”

He let out an exclamation.

On a day it poured rain. The woman who had told Damion, who was wandering in search of Ansi, her whereabouts. The one wearing a colorful umbrella…

The goddess of love, Amor.

Amor, whom he couldn’t find no matter how much he searched, he had finally discovered her.

Kardian, who had been reading the morning newspaper while savoring his tea, burst into hollow laughter. He scanned the letters printed in the newspaper again and then firmly closed it.

“It’s absurd…”

Kardian’s expression froze coldly.

Will the Revolutionary Army Become the Emperor’s New Support Base?

The title of the article was truly ridiculous.

Emperor Rudkaos had begun to implement policies that made no sense.

Suddenly bringing up reform, equality… Due to him spouting nonsensical things, Kardian had pressured him a few times. Then he began moving without informing Kardian, without a single word of consultation.

He thought it wouldn’t last long anyway.

But Rudkaos, quite impudently, drew the revolutionary army to his side. Perhaps liking the objectives of reform and equality, they began actively supporting the emperor.

Where in the world was there an emperor who took rebels as his support base?

He had made a fundamentally lacking bastard the emperor, and now he was betraying him with this kind of fundamentally lacking behavior.

It was slowly reaching the limit.

An ungrateful brat needed to be uprooted.

Kardian’s eyes shone fiercely.

That’s when it happened. Along with a knock, the butler informed him of a guest’s visit.

“Viscount!”

Lorelei entered his room with an urgent face.