Chapter 42

—

In front of Ophelia, who would not wake up, Alei was no different from Ian. He was drowning in grief.

This fact made Ian uncomfortable.

It was something involving Ophelia, but why was he so miserable about the misfortune of another man’s wife?

Just by looking at him, it even looked like he was ready to bring her back to life right then.

‘Does he know or not.’

Ian clenched his empty hand into a fist, then he opened it again.

In any case, he also needed to move as fast as possible because he had returned to the past.

‘And I’ll also need to get rid of Alejandro.’

His intuition told him to be wary of Alei.

He wouldn’t have been so wary of him before, but the moment he saw Alei coming out of Ophelia’s room, he changed his mind.

Just thinking about the time Ophelia and Alei spent together there made his blood boil.

‘There’s nothing I could say right now, but I wish I had someone I could use.’

If there was something he wished for, it was this.

As he thought about this, he opened the door. And it was then—

“…Grand Duke?”

An unfamiliar voice called to him. As he looked towards that direction, he saw a woman whose eyes were wide open.

“It’s really you, Your Grace! You don’t know how surprised I was to hear about it! I heard you were shipwrecked!”

A woman with light, wheat-colored hair.

It was Lilith.

* * *

A while ago—

“So what you’re saying is that Her Highness saved the… saved that person from the coast?”

“It seemed like he had been shipwrecked.”

Hearing the head maid’s words, Lilith’s mouth gaped open.

No. Actually, she had been in this state ever since she saw Ian.

She saw Ian walking up the stairs after she had returned, and he passed by her.

Black hair, pale skin, noticeably handsome features that wouldn’t be seen in the south. So, she did a double take at him without realizing it.

The problem was that the man’s face was familiar.

Ian Carle Ronen.

Just in case, she asked a passing maid.

“I’ve never seen a person from the Ronen Principality before, but he’s really handsome.”

Her eyes weren’t wrong.

Under her breath, Lilith muttered unconsciously.

“I can’t believe the Grand Duke of Ronen had been shipwrecked.”

And what did they mean the person who saved him was Ophelia, who got into a scandal with the Grand Duke before this?

“I heard that it isn’t anything serious for someone who frequently travels by ship, but I’m glad he was saved.”

The head maid said this as though it was something trivial, as though this matter was something big.

Lilith was certain.

She knew that this was something that Cadelia would consider important.

‘I have to hurry up and tell Her Highness Cadelia about this!’

And from there, it was clear that Cadelia would definitely go crazy about it, but then she would also praise Lilith for a job well done. Then, Cadelia would finally get Lilith out of this job position.

Just thinking about it made her hands clammy.

Clenching her hand into a fist behind her, Lilith spoke.

“Then I’ll have to tell the Imperial Palace about this. Did Her Highness Ophelia go ahead and report this?”

“No. She said it’s better if the Grand Duke woke up first. Perhaps it’s because it’s better to ask for his opinion first.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Rather than how cranky she usually was, Lilith spoke politely now.

Of course, she wasn’t like that inwardly.

‘Ask a doctor? Please.’

She was probably just trying to steal the Grand Duke for herself.

Lilith became worried.

Ophelia was acquainted with the Grand Duke. And the rumors between them weren’t entirely groundless.

At that time, public opinion against Ophelia made it seem like she was wagging her tail at Grand Duke Ronen.

So if that was going to happen this time as well, Lilith quickly drew up a conclusion—she couldn’t just leave it at that. She slowly stepped back with a smile on her face.

“Then I should get going. Do you know which room he’s staying in?”

“He’s in the room at the end of this floor.”

Lilith nodded and said, ‘I understand,’ then she hurried to Ian.

‘If I let Lady Cadelia know about this without fail, I’ll be free from this countryside!’

With grand expectations.

* * *

And, back to the present—

Ian was staring at the woman who was blathering nonsense in front of him.

“Do you perhaps remember me? We met once at the Imperial banquet.”

A face with strange anticipation.

A gabbling chatter that acted familiarly.

Ian narrowed his eyes thinly, and he eventually recalled her name.

“Lilith Meiley.”

“Oh my, you remember!”

Of course he remembered. She’s Ophelia’s direct subordinate.

Ian also remembered Ophelia’s voice as she talked about Lilith.

—Lilith is the Imperial Family’s watchdog. They say she’s my subordinate, but I’m nothing but a thorn in their eyes.

—Really? Then we’ll have to sever that link.

Ian replied in that way before. As long as Ophelia was his lover, he had no intention of staying still in the face of the contempt that Ophelia had received thus far.

And Ophelia seemed to have smiled back then.

‘I didn’t know I could use you like this.’

Ian recalled those peaceful memories for a moment, and soon, he drew a friendly smile on his face.

“I’m glad to see you again. There’s no way I won’t remember you. Can I talk to you for a second? I want to contact the Imperial Palace, but the fastest way to do that is through the Fief Lord.”

“Yes, of course. I happened to have something to send as well! If Your Grace wants the fastest method, it’s better to use a carrier pigeon. The people here are slow.”

“Do go ahead then.”

With a well-tailored smile, Ian let Lilith into his room.

Soon after, a carrier pigeon flew from one window of Ladeen Castle.

* * *

Later that afternoon—

“You’re asking me if I’ve met the Grand Duke of Ronen before?”

“Yes. Do you know him?”

When asked this question, Ophelia blinked.

She didn’t know what to answer. But with the silence that followed, an answer was surmised.

‘You must be acquainted, then.’

It wasn’t that surprising. That man seemed very used to calling Ophelia’s name.

As he rested his chin on the back of his hand and moved his fingertips, Alei waited for Ophelia’s lips to open again.

Somehow, he felt uncomfortable.

After the uninvited guest went back, Alei returned to the desk, not the bedside.

After that man had wrenched Alei’s heart and turned it upside down, Alei did not dare go back to the bed.

—If you’re really curious, why don’t you ask Ophelia. What relationship I have with her—what you don’t know.

Those words kept lingering at the back of his mind. He wanted to grab that man by the collar and ask him right away. However, Alei was someone who was far removed from the word ‘impulse’.

He liked rationality. Even if he couldn’t remember his past, his inclinations remained firm, and it might even be because of a reflection of this tendency that he sought to master magic.

Everything about magic was standardized and could be expressed solely through the organized framework of a formula.

It didn’t need complicated emotions or conversations with other people. If one could work out the formula, anyone could see through what the spellcaster would do.

Alei liked this very much, even the sense of immersion he felt during research.

Now, as the two people faced each other, between them on top of the table were several papers with symbols that not everyone would be able to recognize.

All of them were papers that Alei wrote on with magical formulas.

‘But I’m still far away from figuring out the terms for the conditional magic.’

There was only one branch of magic that Alei researched.

The conditional magic that took away his memories.

He hadn’t told Ophelia yet, but strictly speaking, the conditional magic he had explained to Ophelia before and the conditional magic that was on him were a little different.

Ordinary conditional magic could make wishes come true, but if the spell ends without achieving its conditions within a time limit, rather than returning to the original state, a price would be taken in return.

But unlike other conditional magic, the spell hanging onto Alei had no time limit.

Instead, if the conditions could not be met, then he would stay in this state forever.

‘It’s not a typical case.’

After he had cast several detection spells on himself, he found out that it seemed to be a refined kind of punishment.

And since it could end only when the conditions were met, it’s still under the category of conditional magic.

‘And it’s not that different in the sense that there’s still a price to be paid.’

Because it was important for him to find his memories, Alei tried to find a method to break the spell through studying magical formulas.

The problem was that it was no different than trying to build a house over sand.