217. Qualifications of a husband (1)
I lost the man who enlightened me.
And, Rosanna’s love was also lost.
But, I no longer turned back time.
He protected the empire that Berti wanted.
Because Rosanna’s life was also preserved.
Moreover, there was one thing I didn’t know: she was actually pregnant before I evacuated her.
I had a son.
Even though she never smiled at me again, now that I have witnessed our fruition.
I no longer wanted to repeat the past.
「Okay, this is enough.」
Because the life I lived was very sad and painful.
「If this is….」
「――――――」
The emperor’s tightly closed eyelids slowly rose.
Under the dazzling lights, someone is burying their face in his knees.
「Rosanna… ?」
The emperor realized that she was crying.
Because the Empress’s fist on her own thigh was shaking like crazy.
The pants that were in contact with her face were so wet that it was pointless that she had tried so hard to hide her face.
「When did it arrive? I fell asleep for seven days….」
Leonhardt smiled and said.
「I’ve been sleeping a lot these days. I fell in love with my memories with you….」
The emperor treated the woman like he did in his clumsy youth.
And, the moment he tried to wake up Rosanna….
“You…” .”
Unlike usual, the empress’ very emotional voice was heard.
A voice filled with tears and crying.
“You…” He’s a really bad person….”
「Rosanna… ?」
The Emperor looked back and forth between me and her with a puzzled expression on his face.
However, I also just shook her head with solemn eyes.
“How can that be? How!!”
Rosanna finally raised her head.
Soon, tears sparkled like jewels around the empress’s blue eyes.
Like a cluster of stars in the sea.
“He committed suicide so many times to keep me from dying…. You killed my father and brother….”
The Empress placed her hand on her own heart.
And then, clutching her pounding heart, she let go of her neck and cried out.
“If this happens, then what happens to me who has hated you until now…? .”
「What can happen…? . What do you mean, ma’am….」
I answered the emperor’s puzzled look on his behalf.
“In fact, I had a glimpse into Her Majesty’s memories with Her Majesty the Empress. “His Majesty recently learned the memory sharing technique.”
She calmly told him the truth.
However, the emperor’s expression, who understood the entire situation, was still pale.
「What does that mean….」
It’s as if secrets that I didn’t want to be exposed have been revealed.
“What that means is that I saw her kill her wife’s family dozens of times… ?」
Rather than misunderstanding each other, the Emperor was more concerned that Rosanna had seen her own family die countless times.
As if he was sorry for the shock she must have received.
「Why did you do that, ma’am…? . I tried to explain everything myself… !!」
As if trying to take care of her as she must have been in great shock, the emperor gave her a helpless look.
However, Rosanna just cried and shook her head like a little girl.
“Are you feeling sorry for killing my family so many times while turning back time, so you hid it all this time…? ?”
「There is that too…. “I didn’t think you would understand my situation.”
Rosanna held the old emperor’s hand.
And then, she muttered while resting her forehead against it.
“If only you had told me once…. “If you had told me so I could guess, I wouldn’t have hated you so much.”
She closed her eyes tightly, like a saint making a confession.
She killed her entire family and even killed her younger brother who had begged for his life.
She later destroyed all records of Epina, her home country.
Living with a strong hatred for that image has been the driving force of her life.
Her resentment, guilt, and sadness soared over the fact that she had done all this for herself.
Countless emotions flooded her mind, making her dizzy.
「I’m sorry… , Rosanna…. I’m sorry….」
Leonhardt’s deep eye shadow.
In the pitch-black darkness, transparent tears gradually began to flow.
I was shaken by the sight of my wife crying as she poured out her feelings. Even though she vowed never to cry again in her life.
「You are not guilty at all…. It’s all my fault for not making the best choice….」
The emperor still regretted it.
Failed to protect the love of his loyal subjects, Berti and Rosanna.
I still firmly believed that there would have been a world where he would have survived and where Rosanna would not have been transformed into a witch of hatred.
“I learned from that child that regression is possible. Because I also saw that child’s memories….”
「If it’s that child, you mean the veil…? ?」
The Emperor’s lips parted when he heard that I was also a returnee like him.
I thought you were a newbie who had just become a Grand Master, but you’ve already gone through a regression.
He stared at my face and was speechless as his eyes seemed to resemble someone else’s.
“He died at the same time he reached the level of Grand Master. And, time went back.”
「I never thought it would be possible to return even before reaching maturity…. I didn’t think of that….」
The emperor avoided my gaze for a moment.
And, thanks to his memories becoming clearer after a long time, I compared Berti’s face and mine in my mind.
「It was already several decades ago, but it comes to mind especially clearly today….」
“It’s probably thanks to Her Majesty the Empress’s magic. “When I showed him my memories, they became clearer.”
「Okay. It’s a good thing. Because he was a friend I really want to remember for the rest of my life….」
The emperor stared into my fox-like long eyes.
Afterwards, I swallowed deeply as I realized that the eyes of the two people were almost identical.
「Lord Veil….」
“Yes, Your Majesty. “Please feel free to speak.”
His eyebrows began to frown as he looked at me.
Soon, he asked me in an effortlessly calm voice.
「By any chance, what was your last name?」
I listened to the emperor’s words and guessed his intentions.
After a brief pause, he bowed his head and answered humbly.
“Mikhail is coming.”
「Okay, Mikhail….」
When the emperor heard my name, he paused as if a dagger had been stabbed in his heart.
「I once heard that you came from an orphanage in Cornell….」
“Yes. “I’m actually from Cornell.”
Cornell was quite far from the home of a knight named Berti.
So, the emperor nodded slowly.
「I understand….」
I looked happily at the emperor who was hugging Rosanna.
And, for the sake of the two of us, we tried to save words.
‘Yes, Sir Berti can’t possibly be my father…’ .’
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“Then, I will wait below for a moment.”
I suppressed my distraught feelings and headed towards the stairs.
And then, alone and lonely, I stopped in the middle and looked down at the gorgeous banquet hall.
――――――.
The banquet hall was filled with many young ladies and men.
Among them, there were some who accompanied his father and chatted with him.
If you arrive alone, a strong presence called your father will be with you in a space that would have been overwhelming.
That alone was a great joy to the children.
“….”
I have never felt anything like that before.
I had an adoptive father, Hans, who was the director of the orphanage, but there was an unavoidable big difference between him and me.
Besides, Hans had many sons besides me.
When I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever had a deep relationship with anyone and lived happily.
She turned her head to look at her Emperor, who hugged the sobbing Rosanna.
Now the two truly felt like one family.
“….”
The image of them embracing each other under the brilliant lights.
When I suddenly saw that image, a familiar scene came to mind.
‘It’s a sight I feel like I’ve seen before….’
The imperial palace was in ruins.
The sight of someone collapsing underneath him and being held by someone.
When that scene came to mind, I felt overwhelmed for a moment.
That moment.
“Bale, what are you doing here alone?”
I was so absorbed in the rain that I didn’t even know someone was approaching me.
A faint fruity scent began to emanate from the side.
I turned my head.
Then, a beautiful silver-haired princess looking closely at my face caught her eye.
“Her Highness Irina… ?”
“Why are you sitting on the stairs alone and pitiful?”
The second princess of the empire.
She sat next to me and tilted her head.
Because her body was tilted, her dress was loose and a little of her chest was visible.
“I was protecting His Majesty the Emperor and the Empress.”
I turned my head and asked.
Then, Irina smiled and playfully nudged my shoulder.
“Somebody do the security by sitting on the stairs. “You look like a depressed fox when you’re like this.”
She was bleeding to death in the scene I recalled.
Come to think of it, I think she said something similar to Irina when Her Imperial Majesty committed her final suicide.
Are they really her father and daughter? .
Moreover, after her return, she was truly the same, even loving the same people.
“Your Highness.”
“Yes… ?”
I looked down at her banquet hall side by side with her.
Then, she asked.
“At the appointment ceremony when we met again after returning…. “Why didn’t you speak honestly then?”
I took out the Rosario stuffed in my arms out of my clothes.
Then, he gently touched me and asked.
“….”
When Irina listened to me, she had the same expression as the emperor from a moment ago.
With a sad look in her eyes that she knew but could not say.
“Ah, that’s when….”
The silver-haired princess gently tucked her own bangs behind her ear.
Thanks to this, her white and soft neck was revealed.
The fruity scent I smelled at the time of my death seemed to become stronger.
“I didn’t think you would believe it.”
Irina said she said the same thing as the emperor.
“And, even if you trust me, you might love me again.”
The princess’s fresh smile stopped.
Soon her eyes became as faint as they were back then.
“If you think about it carefully…. “I risked my life to save you, but you came back and died with me.”
Her beautiful eyelids, like the tree branches on which her eyes rested, trembled gently.
She felt sorry for me, just as the emperor felt guilty for killing Rosanna’s relative.
“It’s so vain….”
After hearing her words, I was speechless for a moment.
With her lips parted, she could not say anything.
Like Rosanna who realized reality.
“I’m sorry. I was able to confess so easily…. “I finally said it.”
There have been many timings so far.
When we fell asleep together at the second empress’s villa.
When I returned home after killing the Black Knights, etc….
Even though we had countless moments alone where we could confess, she couldn’t easily tell me.
I didn’t know it in the past, but now I know the reason.
Just as the emperor could not tell Rosanna her secret for decades, Irina must have felt the same.
“I did it because I was so afraid that you would hate me….”
Irina muttered quietly as if she was talking to herself.
“I’m afraid that our relationship will get worse than it is now.”
Her faint eyes.
Lips trembling slightly.
Then I swallowed back the words that were welling up in my throat.
“….”
Just as the emperor lived in pain for decades.
After Irina regressed, she continued to feel sorry for me.
Because I realized that through her emperor and her Rosanna, I also came to understand her.
“Is that possible, Your Highness?”
I held Irina’s poor hands together.
“At that time, the reason I died blaming you was not because I hated you.”
And, she whispered quietly as if she was praying.
“I just lamented that you gave up your precious life for a lowly person like me.”
Her face close together.
I responded with a sincere smile.
“I was rather happy. “Because I was able to die in the arms of someone as beautiful as Your Majesty.”
At first, I really resented Irina.
However, after meeting her again, I realized something about her.
Because she did not give up her duty as a member of the royal family and die with me without any sense of responsibility.
Irina just liked me and she wanted to live together.
“And, you have no idea how happy I am to see you again.”
For the first time in a long time, her heart swelled.
The area around my eyes started to get hot before I knew it.
“….”
When the Empire’s second princess heard my honest answer, her eyes twitched.
Then, she swallowed back her tears and smiled again.
“Thank you, Veil.”
However, no matter how much she swallowed, her emerald eyes were still moist.
Like green leaves shining through sunlight.
“I…. “I feel so happy right now.”
Irina cried because of her overwhelming emotions.
I took out the handkerchief that was in her suit and wiped her eyes.
“….”
She thought she had no family or a sincere relationship with anyone.
However, that was my mistake.
Because there was a woman nearby who cried so much for me.
Maybe I….
I felt like I was taking too lightly the precious relationships that came to me.
Leah and Lydia were watching.
And even senior Miya.
The three people waited silently for us for a while.