Chapter : 14
I Thought the Original Story Was Over, but Episode 14
“What?”
I doubted my ears.
What was he talking about?
Had some assassin poisoned Leopold’s tea? Or had his brain been slightly damaged during the regression? Or maybe my ears were the ones that were broken.
No, I was perfectly normal, so Leopold must have been the one saying something strange.
When I stared at Leopold with that look, he must have realized it was a bit awkward, because he opened his mouth again.
“Sorry. That was a mistake.”
Leopold spoke with a face that didn’t look sorry at all, nor like it had been a mistake in the slightest.
That halfhearted apology only made me feel even more lost.
“What kind of slip of the tongue is that?”
“……”
I spoke as if dumbfounded.
No matter how often we’d been meeting lately and how we’d become just a little—very, very slightly—closer, still.
Leopold was a married man. Well, not right now, but to someone like me who had memories of a past life, it wasn’t something I could just brush off as a joke. It was an uncharacteristically frivolous remark from Leopold.
“What do you even think about all the time?”
“……”
I scolded Leopold the way I usually did.
But the Leopold who should have immediately argued back didn’t say anything. He just closed his eyes, pressed his lips into a straight line, and silently listened to my reproach.
“…?”
This was getting suspicious. I stared at Leopold intently. His expression as he listened to me definitely looked troubled.
Leopold, who had been wearing an oddly awkward expression, suddenly opened his eyes and spoke.
“…I should go.”
“Huh?”
I thought he was just trying to change the subject, but Leopold actually hurriedly tidied up around him and stood up.
“Well then.”
He said goodbye in a voice that sounded completely free of lingering attachment and started to walk away.
Left alone, I blankly stared for a moment before snapping back to my senses and calling out to Leopold.
“Huh? You’re leaving?”
This was the first time Leopold had stood up first.
I reflexively started to stand as well, a bit surprised, but our eyes met.
At the look in his golden eyes—like he was asking if I still had something to say—I slowly sat back down.
“No… well, take care.”
There wasn’t really any reason for me to stop him. As soon as I realized that, I decided to let Leopold go without hesitation.
“You too.”
Leopold replied briefly and hurried off. Somehow, he felt oddly cold. Was he shy?
“……”
Left alone, I took a few sips from my teacup before standing up as well.
It was uncomfortable to be with Leopold, but it was even more uncomfortable to drink tea alone in a room without its owner.
Just as I was about to leave without regret, I hesitated.
“……”
This was Leopold’s private detached palace. Before leaving the room, I glanced around.
Aside from the bare necessities, there wasn’t a single decorative item—surprisingly simple for someone of the imperial family.
“Just as I thought, he’s such an inhuman guy.”
They say a room resembles its owner.
Muttering as if fed up, I left the room without a backward glance.
There was no one outside the door.
“Huh? Where did he go?”
The count’s attendant who usually waited outside during my meetings with Leopold was nowhere to be seen.
Was it because Leopold had left early and I came out much sooner than usual? Had he gone to the restroom or something?
In any case, he must have just stepped away briefly. If I waited, he’d probably come back soon.
“……”
As I leaned against the wall, that was when it happened. In the previously empty corridor, a human figure appeared in the distance.
Had the attendant finally returned after finishing his business? Feeling relieved, I walked toward them.
“Huh?”
Looking closer, it wasn’t the attendant, but a boy with red hair.
Even from behind, I could tell at a glance he was a noble. His clothes were high-quality, and he looked young. But why was a noble child wandering the imperial palace alone?
“……”
As I watched him, he kept circling the same spot over and over. It was exactly the behavior of someone who was lost.
It reminded me of the day I first came to the imperial palace… I’d gotten lost too.
Back then, Leopold had mistaken me for an assassin and pointed a sword at me right away. I shouldn’t do something that brutish.
Having made that decision, I put on the friendliest smile I could manage and approached the boy.
“Hey, did you get lost? I can—”
I was about to say, “I can help you,” but my smiling face froze the moment the boy turned around at my words. His face was far too familiar.
“……”
Shimmering, vivid red hair. Bright blue eyes that contrasted sharply with it. Slightly upturned, fox-like eyes that gave him a sharp yet attractive impression.
If you asked anyone, they’d say he was a beautiful boy—one hundred out of one hundred times. He was undeniably handsome, but to me, he wasn’t attractive at all.
The moment I recognized his face, my expression slowly hardened. He looked much younger than I remembered, but there was no mistaking it.
He was my ex-husband from my previous life—Asad Winterchester.
It felt like my breath caught in my throat.
Right. Around this time, he’d first entered the imperial palace too. Was today that day? I’d been so focused on Leopold that I hadn’t thought about it at all.
Without realizing it, my face had turned into one that couldn’t hide my discomfort and confusion.
“Huh?”
In contrast to me, Asad’s expression brightened instantly, as if he’d found a savior.
“Really? Perfect timing. It’s my first time here, so I got lost.”
He spoke as though he was genuinely relieved and happy to have met me when he was in trouble.
When he smiled, the harmless curve of his eyes was charming enough to captivate anyone. It was exactly how Asad looked when I first met him in my previous life.
I was thirteen at the time, which meant he was fourteen. He looked pure enough, but to me, he didn’t seem that way at all.
Even though I was the one who’d stopped him first, I couldn’t say anything back. Instead, I stared at him with wary eyes.
“……”
Did he not recognize me? Then maybe, unlike Leopold, he didn’t have memories of his past life…
That was at least a relief. If Asad had remembered too, things would have become complicated.
After all, if he did remember me, there was no way he’d greet me so cheerfully.
How long had it been since I’d last seen him smile like that? Before our marriage, he’d smiled fairly often, I think. But after we got married, I never saw him smile even once.
And yet, to run into him like this out of the blue.
“This place is ridiculously huge, and there’s not a single person in sight. Hey, where exactly is the training ground?”
“……”
Asad kept grumbling, but none of his words reached my ears.
Before I knew it, I was instinctively stepping backward.
“……”
“Huh?”
Asad, who had been muttering complaints to himself, finally noticed something was off and looked at me with his blue eyes.
“…Why?”
He stared at me suspiciously at my reaction, then suddenly narrowed his eyes and asked,
“…Have we met somewhere before?”
“……”
What an outdated pickup line.
I reflexively stepped back again. Asad’s smug face gradually grew farther away. I didn’t let my guard down, retreating like I was facing a wild animal.
“…Hey?”
Once there was some distance between us, I suddenly turned my back on Asad. I could hear his confused voice calling out from behind me.
But I didn’t look back and started walking away quickly.
“Wait!”
At his shout, I hurried my steps even more.
I was already running down the corridor. Asad, who’d only been calling after me, finally seemed to snap to his senses and shouted,
“Hey! You said you’d tell me the way!”
I didn’t answer and turned the corner to hide.
From far away, I heard a sharp voice yelling, “I saw your face!” He probably thought I’d pulled a nasty prank and run off.
Whatever. I was too busy running for my life.
If he caught me, he definitely wouldn’t let it go easily. Asad at that age had a terrible personality—whether because of puberty or something else.
“…Huff, huff.”
Even after turning the corner, I kept running until even his voice couldn’t reach me. Then, in a deserted place, I finally came to an abrupt stop.
Wait. But why was I even running? It’s not like he remembered anything anyway.
“……”
Once Asad was out of sight, my thoughts calmed down again. With a clearer head, I recalled how Asad had looked just now.
Actually, when I’d first possessed this body, my relationship with Asad hadn’t been that bad. If he hadn’t stupidly lost his memory, we might have maintained a decent relationship.
But after he decided to become Eveline’s knight, it was like he turned into a completely different person—cold-blooded.
Add a political marriage on top of that, and our relationship only deteriorated further.
The last Asad I’d seen basically had no interest in anyone except Eveline, and especially toward me, he kept such distance that it was hard to believe we were married.
He constantly radiated an aura of “don’t come near me,” so we could barely even have a proper conversation. Even now, just thinking about that icy gaze made my body tense up first.
That was why I’d completely forgotten what he’d been like when we first met. I never imagined I’d meet Asad again from before he lost his memory.
“…Sigh.”
The sudden flood of memories from the past made me feel a little gloomy.
…Whatever. It’s not like I’ll run into him again anyway.
Thinking that, I decided to erase what had just happened from my memory. Then, with familiar steps, I left the imperial palace.
