Harbor train station.
Two men wearing fedoras were sitting on a bench, newspapers spread open, conversing.
“He’ll be arriving at the station soon. We got information that he’s taking a ship from the harbor. He’s got guts, thinking of traveling alone in the middle of the night.”
“Indeed. Did he have a fight with his wife or something?”
The two men were moderates among the anti-royalists, lying low and biding their time after Count Queensguard massacred the hardliners.
“After Princess Cynthia, it’s the former Duchess. I thought she’d hit rock bottom, but she’s showing signs of recovery.”
People still believed that Helene and Edford were royalty.
Another man, who had been listening intently, pointed to a train visible in the distance.
“There, the train is coming. Since it’s a night train, there won’t be many passengers, so we should be able to find her easily.”
With a loud hiss of steam, the train pulled into the station.
The two men waited behind their newspapers for Cynthia to disembark, but the woman with silver hair was nowhere to be seen.
“That’s strange. Considering the departure time, it can’t be the next train…”
The two men mingled with the disembarking crowd, checking each face one by one.
Then, they spotted a black-haired woman in an officer’s uniform and tilted their heads.
‘Red eyes?’
With her exceptionally pale face, red eyes, and cute features, it was undoubtedly Princess Cynthia.
Realizing she was in disguise, one of the men nudged his companion as a signal.
Leaving the station and heading towards the harbor, the two men quietly followed her as she walked alone.
Soon, she entered an alleyway dimly lit by streetlights.
“Now’s our chance.”
“Wait a minute, for her to be walking alone in such a secluded place without any guards is a bit…”
Besides, hadn’t the information about her travel route been leaked rather openly?
Just as one of the men realized something was amiss, the click-clack of her boots stopped abruptly.
Under the streetlight, which shone like a stage spotlight, Cynthia stopped and turned to face them.
“I’ve noticed you following me for a while now. No matter how interested you are, following someone at night is just threatening, you know? Besides, I’m already married.”
As the men saw her red eyes narrow slightly, they were overwhelmed by a strange sense of pressure and froze for a moment.
“P-Princess Cynthia. We’re sorry, but everything is for the greater good. Unlike the barbaric hardliners, we have no intention of harming you. If you come with us willingly…”
One of the men said, sounding utterly intimidated. It was more of a plea than a threat.
In response, Cynthia tilted her head and shrugged.
“Are you worried that I’ll use the Empire’s support to strengthen the monarchy and swallow up Rutemia? You don’t have to worry. That’s the Empire’s intention, but I’m against it too.”
“Ha, do you think we’ll fall for such sweet talk? Haven’t you already been to the Lumantis Empire to inherit the throne?”
The man shouted, his voice filled with resentment.
“The monarchy and royalty are evils that must be eradicated! If we can’t reason with you, we’ll take you by force!”
As the man made a gesture to draw a gun, Cynthia raised one hand high.
The two men recoiled in horror as they saw what looked like a grenade in her hand.
“I understand the suffering caused by incompetent leaders all too well. But that doesn’t mean I’m willing to die for it. As someone who has experienced the future, I’m just trying to correct the mistakes of the past.”
“What on earth are you talking about? And I thought you said you weren’t going to kill-!”
Before the man could finish speaking, Cynthia threw the object in her hand.
“Abracadabra!”
With that bizarre incantation, a flash of light erupted.
What she had thrown was none other than a flashbang.
“Agh! My eyes!”
After the light that seared their corneas subsided, the two men, who had fallen on their backsides, rubbed their eyes and looked around.
Then, as soon as they spotted several guns pointed at them, they raised both hands in surrender.
“Are you guys stupid? There’s no way our Boss would be walking around alone.”
Repentant members of the Organization, who had become her subordinates, surrounded the two men.
Cynthia smiled brightly and gave an order.
“Take them alive and send them to Nadia’s dessert tasting squad. They’ll have to eat and evaluate 30 madeleines.”
“Are you planning to send us to a biochemical experiment! How cruel!”
“Yes, we’d rather die honorably for our country! Kill us now!”
Cynthia shook her head as she watched the man shout as if in despair.
“No, just do some taste-testing. If you realize my great purpose in the future and still hate me, you can request a one-on-one duel separately. I’ll let you fight my husband.”
After the two men were dragged away, she walked through the night streets towards the harbor again, admiring the star-filled night sky.
“Wow, there are so many stars.”
When she was young, she used to think that the night sky was made by collecting people’s wishes and turning them into star candies, then putting them in glass jars.
She flinched slightly at the sight of a shooting star, but now she knew that it was a piece of star, not a cruise missile, so she wasn’t afraid.
‘Please make everyone happy. Except for the mean and bad people.’
This was a beautiful era where you could make wishes while watching shooting stars.
“Rom-com transmigration changed my life~”
Behind Cynthia, who was humming as she walked, the remaining anti-royalists who were following her either slipped and fell, got hit on the head by falling flowerpots, or were caught by Stan and the Village Chief and forced to participate in the dessert tasting squad.
“I’m working so hard to get the position of director of the giraffe sanctuary.”
Stan rubbed his forehead and sighed.
“I decided to become the head of an animal protection organization. I realized that the animals that ruin the fields are actually hungry during the cold season. Instead of buying guns, we can solve the problem by feeding them until they’re full.”
The Chief straightened his shoulders and laughed heartily.
“They said they’d make me the team leader of the cat care alliance.”
“I’m the team leader of the stray dog adoption committee. I took care of the Organization’s guard dogs.”
“Show-offs. I’m an amazing Popcorn cart owner, with a spot in front of the theater! I decided to do it with my mother, who grows corn!”
It was Cynthia’s self-serving personnel arrangement because she wanted to eat popcorn.
The members of the Organization, who had come out into the light and found new lives, laughed heartily.
The powerful sound of a ship’s horn echoed, announcing its docking.
Masera finished his long journey and finally arrived at his destination.
Standing on the deck of the passenger ship, he sighed and looked out at the harbor that stretched like a mountain range.
Beyond the morning sunlight that had already risen, he could see people at the harbor entrance holding flags and flowers, welcoming someone.
Among the crowd of welcomers, he immediately recognized a woman with black hair.
“…Cynthia?”
Cynthia, wearing a black wig and a Medea military uniform, was smiling brightly and waving her hand.
Masera quickly descended the embarkation stairs.
The crowd parted like the Red Sea, clearing a path for him.
People said something to him and handed him bouquets of flowers, but his attention was focused only on Cynthia.
“To find me right away, you really have amazing eyesight?”
He pulled Cynthia, who was speaking cheerfully, straight into his arms.
Amidst the cheers and applause of the people, as if in the middle of a festival, flower petals fluttered down on the embracing couple.
“But what is this, exactly…”
After a long embrace, Masera finally noticed the flags waving everywhere. Then, he widened his eyes as he saw the words written on one of the flags.
[The Spring of Liberation of ‘Mare de Veldetta’, the Day of Declaration of Autonomous Independence]
Mare de Veldetta was a place that had been conquered by the Defeated Empire in the past, its national sovereignty taken away and destroyed.
And after the war, it was common for the liberated country to be incorporated as a protectorate of the victorious powers or for a royal family of the same lineage to take over.
‘Could it be…’
‘Autonomous independence’ meant that the people would become the masters of the country.
Cynthia, standing on her tiptoes, whispered to Masera, who was lost in thought.
“Princess Margarita promised. That I would come back and give you a gift someday.”
“A gift?”
“I kept my promise.”
Cynthia gave him a warm smile as she looked at him, who was silently staring at her.
“I’ll give you the memory of spring from your childhood that you talked about as a gift. This is a country with spring, isn’t it?”
“Spring is here.”
The memory of a kind mother kneeling down to a child and embroidering a handkerchief originated from this very place.
This was the last legacy left by the Bariesa Royal Family.
Cynthia had reclaimed Masera’s homeland, which he had lost.
Masera didn’t know what to say and could only look at her. His heart was so full that it was almost painful.
“Finally, the last test.”
Cynthia cupped his cheeks and gave him a peck on the lips.
There were far too many eyes watching, but she didn’t care.
The exclamations and cheers of the people faded away beyond the sea.
The scent of spring could be felt in the still-chilly breeze. It meant that spring was coming across the sea.
Masera, who had parted his lips slightly, whispered in a low voice.
“I trust you, forever.”
“Correct.”
It was the moment when the two of them found their own spring.
