“Was the person who gave me this…… Could it possibly have been Your Majesty?”

When Amy asked in a trembling voice, Noah reacted before Elei. He sharply turned his head and stared at the brooch Amy was tightly holding. His face instantly changed to a fierce expression.

Noah slowly turned his eyes to glare hostilely at his uncle, who was the king of the Southern Kingdom and a man with an unknown past with Amy.

“……Yes.”

Elei smiled faintly. He knew his nephew was wary of him. But putting aside his guilt towards him, he wanted to purely rejoice in his reunion with Amy for now.

He rose from his seat and approached Amy. Amy stared at him with wide eyes, and beside her, Noah tensed his body. He looked ready to punch Elei at any moment.

“Amy, step back.”

Noah grabbed Amy’s arm and pulled her behind him. He didn’t doubt for a second that Amy would follow his words. But surprisingly, Amy didn’t budge at all. No, rather, she gently shook off Noah’s hand.

“!”

To Noah, who was frozen in shock, Amy whispered.

“It’s alright, Your Highness. He’s your uncle, after all. And……”

Amy trailed off and took a step forward. Noah’s heart sank as he saw her eyes fixed on Elei.

“And…… what?”

Noah’s hand reached out to grab Amy but weakly grasped only air. He clenched his fist and thought.

What could be the words she was about to say? Could it be about their past? Noah was desperately curious, yet at the same time, he didn’t want to hear it.

“Amy……?”

“……”

Noah’s voice caught in his throat. Amy…… was looking elsewhere even though he called her. She gazed at his uncle, whom he had resented all along, with sparkling eyes as if seeing him from before.

How…… should he take this?

Darkness fell before his eyes at the realization that he was nothing to Amy. Unaware of Noah’s heart crumbling miserably, Amy blankly looked up at Elei standing tall before her.

“You weren’t this tall before, were you……”

“Haha, well, I was just a teenage boy back then.”

Elei covered his mouth with his fist and laughed as if he had heard something very amusing. Amy blinked her eyes.

‘He was like this before too, but how can his actions be so graceful?’

His smooth, fluid movements naturally drew one’s gaze. It was also fascinating how he paid no attention to it at all.

“So you were royalty. No wonder your demeanor seemed different.”

As Amy grumbled, Elei smiled with his eyes as if he would melt.

“You thought that, and yet you still scolded me?”

“Well, you were dressed as a servant, so of course. I thought you were some stupid apprentice.”

“Ah, I returned the servant’s clothes properly.”

“Of course you should have. If you lost them, you’d have to pay for them yourself.”

Amy smiled, seeming glad that no harm had come to a servant she didn’t even know. Seeing this, a cold wind blew through Noah’s heart once again.

“Let’s not do this……”

As Noah slowly spoke up, the two who had been staring at each other as if they were the only ones in the world turned their heads. Noah swallowed the large lump blocking his throat and forced a smile as if nothing was wrong.

“Why don’t you sit comfortably…… and continue your conversation?”

“Oh, look at me losing my mind.”

Amy startled suddenly and quickly rang the bell. As Rita, who had been waiting outside, entered, Amy asked her for refreshments. Rita withdrew, glancing between Elei and Amy smiling at each other. The last place her gaze lingered was on the dark face of the Grand Duke.

Thump, the door closed and Rita exclaimed inwardly while biting her nails.

‘This is an emergency!’

The three of them continued their silence over the well-prepared refreshments. The reasons were different for each of them.

First, Amy was surprised by the fact that the man before her was someone she had briefly met in her childhood, and she couldn’t easily speak up because he might remember his life before the regression like her. It was also in front of Noah.

Noah, for his part, was feeling a sense of crisis due to their seemingly close shared past. In his view, his uncle was a man overflowing with charm, and above all, he was older than Amy.

This was the most powerful threat to Noah, who had been so desperate to avoid being treated like a younger child that he sought guidance from those around him. Noah was anxious, but he decided to wait and see how they would act for now.

Elei was the most stable among the three. To him, Amy could be considered a benefactor, but it was such an old memory that apart from the pleasant surprise of this unexpected meeting, he didn’t feel much else.

Rather, he was more interested in her current appearance. And above all, he instinctively knew that he was becoming a threat to his nephew.

Amy put down her teacup and looked at Elei.

“First of all…… I heard you helped the Grand Duke’s knights. It’s late, but thank you.”

“Ah, that. I’m actually a bit embarrassed to receive such excessive thanks……”

Elei raised the corners of his mouth, then tilted his head. A puzzled yet sharp light entered his face.

“I became curious about the reason.”

“!”

For a moment, Noah’s eyes flashed. Though it was just for an instant, Elei noticed it and inwardly clicked his tongue. His nephew was still too young.

“Is there any special reason? When subordinates receive help, it’s only right to express gratitude.”

Noah said with furrowed brows, as if chewing on his words. Regardless, Elei just kept smiling, which made Noah’s mood sink even further.

“The Southern Kingdom must be quite busy too…… Is it alright for the leader to be out here like this?”

Amy cut in, as if trying to interrupt their conversation. Elei only turned his eyes to look at Amy and calmly replied.

“There’s a capable regent.”

Regent? Amy frowned. Why would a regent be necessary when the king was not a minor but a proper adult?

“Well, it’s not like this side helped entirely out of goodwill either, so I’d like to just call it even and forget about it.”

Elei gently returned to the main point. Amy quickly accepted it.

“That sounds good. Given that the principality has just been established, such consideration is appreciated.”

“You’re thanking me again, Amelia.”

Elei chuckled softly. The low laughter and her name spoken in a gentle Southern accent seemed to tickle Amy’s insides, making her rub the back of her hand for no reason. Both then and now, she didn’t know why this person so easily disarmed her.

‘At this rate, I might have my insides eaten too.’

Amy sharply focused her attention. She was working now, and she despised neglecting her duties.

‘Anyway, the fewer debts, the better.’

Although Elei said he had received help too, that was probably just humility. If she had really done him a favor, Dwayne wouldn’t have kept his mouth shut.

The same would go for Jack. Noah seemed to agree on this point, as he too remained silent, disliking being indebted.

Then Elei spoke affectionately to Amy.

“So…… You remember everything?”

“Ah…… More or less.”

Amy mumbled awkwardly, fiddling with the brooch again.

“I was too rude back then.”

“No, you were honest. That’s why I really liked it.”

Elei said rather firmly. Amy, feeling embarrassed again, chewed on her lip. Noah slowly opened his mouth.

“What happened?”

“Ah……”

Amy glanced at Elei. He nodded as if to say it was okay to tell. Only then did Amy relax her expression and begin to reveal what had happened in the past.

‘You must pressure your sister to somehow obtain the Empire’s gold mine!’

The fierce voice of his father, the king, filled his head, but in the end, Elei couldn’t utter a word to his sister. How could he ask for help from someone who was clearly ill?

‘Father is still the same.’

His sister smiled weakly with a gaunt face where bones protruded. Then she whispered that she was happy to see her only brother even like this. He felt the same, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

His sister had suffered a lot since she was young. She was smart, and the tutors in the palace unanimously persuaded the king that she should go to university. She barely managed to enroll, but that only lasted for 2 years.

Leaving behind her dreamlike school life, his sister was married off to a king of a foreign tribe across the sea. It was because that foreign tribe promised to supply the drugs that his father loved.

But whether it was fortune or misfortune, internal strife broke out among the foreign tribe just a few months after she was married. Taking advantage of this opportunity, their mother was able to bring her daughter back to her homeland. However, she lost her life when her husband discovered this fact.

Perhaps due to guilt for taking their mother away from me, my sister became extremely devoted to me. So when our father threatened her using me as leverage, she willingly endured everything.

When the Emperor of the Empire showed interest in his sister, she followed the humiliating order to cling to him and secure a marriage proposal in order to obtain the gold mine.

His sister was the greatest sage of the Southern Kingdom, but to the world, she was known as a foolish woman blinded by love. But his sister said she felt rather relieved.

‘He is kind, so don’t worry about me.’

And she whispered in my ear.

‘Trust Porsha. He will protect you from father.’

Porsha was the son of the nanny who grew up with his sister. He was the person who helped me at my sister’s request. Porsha was the only person I could trust.

Perhaps the two of them liked each other. At least Porsha did. But in the end, my sister went to the Empire following our father’s will, and now she was wasting away.

The Emperor, who was so foolish that he didn’t even know that my sister was smarter than anyone else, didn’t even look in on her as she was dying, even though he had called her the flower of the Southern Kingdom. As I had heard, his affection was extremely shallow and short-lived.

He ignored her until the end, even though she was within reach – the very person Porsha would have given everything to have.

‘Don’t hate your nephew. He is innocent.’