The Third Morning
"Oh my God... Your Highness!"
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Have you lost your mind, Ethan?"
The Second Prince's soldiers, finally grasping the situation, pointed their weapons at me with horrified expressions.
"Release the Princess."
But as long as my gun was pressed against the prince's temple, empty threats were all they could muster.
"Back off, or the prince dies."
Realizing this truth, the soldiers began to retreat, their faces dark with frustration. It was at that exact moment.
"Cough, cough..."
Twitching as he made a wet, bubbling sound, the Second Prince spoke in a trembling voice.
"...Who sent you?"
I wondered what he was going to say, but it was a disappointingly cliché question.
"Roseheim. Did that bitch put you up to this?"
"...That is no way to speak to your older sister, Your Highness."
"Ugh, damn it...!"
Did he really think I would meekly reveal my intentions in a situation like this? Honestly, it was easy to see why he had been utterly powerless against the First Princess.
"I won't say it twice."
In any case, rather than dealing with this pathetic fool, it was better to make my objective clear once more.
"Release the Princess."
As I spoke, I tightened my finger on the trigger. The soldiers glanced at the Second Prince in hesitation before finally, reluctantly, letting go of the Princess.
"Do you think you'll get away with this?"
The moment I pulled the Princess behind me, the Second Prince glared at me, thrashing in a fit of rage.
"The Blood Moon Knights already know what's happening. They are coming for your head. No matter what you do, you and the Princess are finished here—"
Naturally, his raving was not worth listening to.
— Bang!
Fortunately, I knew exactly how to shut someone up in a situation like this.
"You talk too much, Your Highness."
"Argh..."
After I graciously lodged a bullet into his ribs, the prince kindly shut his mouth.
"Your Highness!"
"Stay back."
It wouldn't have been a bad thing to let the pale-faced soldiers kill me right then and there.
However, if I had to regress anyway, it was better to gauge the strength of the Blood Moon Knights deployed in the rear.
"Step back, or this time, I will blow his head off."
Keeping the gun pointed at the prince's head, I scooped up the dazed Princess in my arms and began to back away slowly.
To prevent anything from going wrong, I had no intention of letting her out of my grasp this time.
"You..."
"Princess."
"What on earth is..."
A trembling voice escaped the lips of the bewildered Princess as she looked up at me.
"Questions later."
But now was not the time to satisfy her curiosity.
"First, we move."
Even now, I could sense a massive surge of mana approaching from the distance.
"...The situation is not looking good."
I said those words, but for me—someone who needed to be killed quickly before the loop timing shifted—it was actually welcome news.
"Sir Ethan."
"......"
"What... did I just witness?"
As I hurried along with the Princess in my arms, her faint, barely audible voice reached my ears once more.
"...Well, I belong to Princess Roseheim's faction, after all."
"What?"
"It would be troublesome for me if you were handed over to that idiot prince, Princess."
I offered the excuse just in case, but the suspicion in the Princess's eyes had already deepened.
"And so you shot an Imperial Prince?"
"......"
"Do you honestly expect me to believe that...?"
The more she spoke, the drier my throat became.
If this continued, she would truly uncover my identity.
Therefore, I had to put an end to her memory retention in this loop. Though I wasn't entirely certain, her unique mana seemed to be the trigger. The solution was simple: I just had to be killed by someone other than the Princess to trigger the regression.
"You... who are you really?"
"Believe whatever you wish."
Having organized my thoughts, I deliberately avoided her gaze as she clutched my collar and looked up. I muttered in a low voice,
"You will forget today's memories soon enough anyway."
And right on cue, a red bullet tore through the air.
— Zzzzt!
Judging by the wave of mana radiating from it, this was no paralyzing round like before. It was a lethal bullet meant to kill.
It's starting.
And so, we finally came face-to-face with the very people that no high-ranking official of the Empire ever wanted to encounter.
"Ethan von Astrape. Halt."
"......"
"Disarm yourself and come with us."
The elite forces of the Blood Moon Knights—a unit infamous for putting down useless hounds—had surrounded us from all directions, radiating pure, murderous intent.
"Attempted assassination of an Imperial Prince and obstruction of military operations. You will have to answer for both."
"That's just a roundabout way of telling me to die."
On my own, maybe, but protecting the Princess while fighting off an elite force of this caliber was impossible.
But there was no need to worry. I had infinite regressions on my side.
The only issue now was how to get the Princess away from them, but I would find a way.
As I always had, this time would be no exception.
"Here is my answer."
Flashing a cold smile with that resolve, I raised my middle finger at the captain of the Blood Moon Knights, who was warily watching me from the front.
"Prepare to fire."
The captain's eyes flashed red as he barked the order.
"Fire!"
A hail of glowing red bullets rained down upon the Princess and me.
"Eek..."
As the volley of red bullets flew mercilessly toward them, Princess Irene squeezed her eyes shut in terror.
"......?"
Yet, even after a long moment, the expected pain never came.
"...Ah?"
Confused, she opened her eyes, only to witness an utterly unbelievable sight.
"Ugh..."
Ethan von Astrape was shielding her with his own body, absorbing the brunt of the incoming bullets.
His bloodshot eyes were wide, his lips bitten so hard they bled.
He was forcing himself to endure the agonizing pain of his flesh being torn apart.
"Y-You...!"
"......"
"What are you doing, truly?!"
This was already the third time her life had been saved by a man she was supposed to loathe.
Unable to comprehend the situation, Princess Irene struggled in Ethan's embrace and raised her voice.
"You sold out our country without a second thought! And now!"
"......"
"Do you think saving me now will wash away your sins?!"
But her cries were in vain.
"......"
Ethan remained silent, no matter how loud she yelled. The moment the gunfire ceased, his head slumped forward.
"Cough..."
Judging by the sheer volume of blood he coughed up, he had undoubtedly sustained a fatal wound. He would die within seconds.
— Slowly...
As Princess Irene stared blankly at him, her hand instinctively reached out to touch his cheek.
"Ha..."
A faint smile—an incredibly foreign expression compared to his usual emotionless face—spread across Ethan's lips.
There is something more to this.
At that moment, Irene's suspicions solidified into certainty.
Ethan... there is something about this man.
He was still a thoroughly detestable man.
Her mother's enemy. The traitor of the kingdom. The Empire's hound.
A man who carried every worst possible title.
Yet, the smile this terrible man wore for the first time today was too similar to be a mere coincidence.
It was the exact same smile her beloved mother used to wear whenever she looked after her young princess.
"Secure the body."
But it was already too late to uncover the truth.
As the captain of the Blood Moon Knights gave the order, his subordinates, their eyes glowing red, moved in perfect unison.
"Ugh..."
Hearing the approaching footsteps behind Ethan and seeing the red glint in their eyes, Princess Irene trembled in fear.
— Squeeze!
At that exact moment, the arms wrapping around the Princess tightened.
He remained silent, yet for some reason, his embrace felt incredibly gentle.
If only I had a little more time...!
If she had even a moment to spare, Princess Irene would have stayed up all night to pry the truth out of him.
But time was a luxury neither she nor the kingdom possessed.
And once again, time was not on her side.
Unless, by some miracle, she could turn back time...
"......!"
Suddenly, the Princess's eyes widened as a realization struck her.
Turning back time. If that wasn't a dream, she had literally experienced it just a few hours ago.
And in that timeline, whether it was a dream or reality, the condition for turning back time was...
— Rustle...
Frantically searching her clothes, she managed to pull out a sharp self-defense knife she had hidden in her inner pocket.
"Haah... Princess."
At that moment, a slightly bewildered voice came from right in front of her.
"Since when... did you start carrying that around?"
Ethan, who was on the verge of death, squeezed out his remaining strength to ask her that question.
"...Since today's second morning."
"......"
"My dreams were so unsettling that I brought it along with the pistol."
In that instant, Princess Irene became certain of one more thing.
"Ethan von Astrape."
What she had experienced a few hours ago was indeed not a dream.
"I will see you in the third morning."
And Ethan, too, was fully aware of it.
"When that time comes, you will have a lot of explaining to do."
The moment the Princess finished her sentence, the knife in her hand pierced Ethan's heart.
— Static...
Immediately after, the world began to spin violently once more.
"......"
After a brief wave of dizziness and nausea subsided, Princess Irene opened her eyes to a familiar sight.
"I knew it..."
Staring at the familiar bedroom she was seeing for the third time today, Princess Irene held her breath, looking around before sinking weakly onto the bed.
"...It wasn't a dream. It's real."
With a pale face, she muttered the undeniable truth.
"And if this is reality..."
It was at that exact moment that her bedroom door, which usually remained shut, slowly creaked open.
"Have you well rested, Princess?"
"......"
"Princess?"
Stepping through the door was none other than Ethan, wearing his usual, shamelessly smooth smile.
"Ah, you've arrived at the perfect time."
Sitting on the bed, Princess Irene glared at him in silence before suddenly rising and walking toward him.
"We wish to go on an outing today."
"...An outing, Princess?"
"Yes. We have been cooped up in this room for far too long, and Our body feels stiff."
At those words, Ethan's eyebrow twitched imperceptibly.
"An outing... I do not mind, of course, but..."
"......"
"The current state of affairs is quite turbulent. Why a sudden outing..."
He quickly recovered his composure, speaking in his usual nonchalant manner.
"Ethan von Astrape."
But Princess Irene had already closed the distance, standing right in front of him. She grabbed his collar tightly with her delicate hands, rising on her tiptoes to look him dead in the eye.
"You remember, don't you?"
A low, quiet question escaped her lips.
"The first, and the second morning."
And a heavy, prolonged silence fell between them.