Chapter 218
Chapter 218
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 217. A Husband's Qualifications (1)
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I had lost the man who awakened me.
And I had lost Rozanna's love as well.
But I no longer turned back time.
I had protected the empire that Berti desired.
And I had preserved Rozanna's life.
On top of that, there was one fact I hadn't known: she had been pregnant before I evacuated her.
I had a son with her.
Even though she never smiled at me again, now that I had witnessed the fruit of our union.
I no longer wished to repeat the past.
"Yes, this is enough."
My life up to that point had been so profoundly sad and painful.
"This is...."
"――――――"
The emperor's tightly shut eyelids slowly rose.
Beneath the dazzling lights, someone was burying their face in his lap.
"Rozanna...?"
The emperor realized she was crying.
Her fists, placed on his thigh, were trembling uncontrollably.
The fabric of his pants touching her face grew wet, belying her efforts to hide it.
"When did you arrive? I must have dozed off like a fool...."
Leonhardt forced a smile as he spoke.
"Lately, I've been sleeping so much more. I got lost reminiscing about our memories and fell into a deep slumber...."
He made excuses like he had in his clumsy youth with women.
And just as he tried to gently lift Rozanna...
"You..."
Her voice came, far more emotional than usual.
A voice choked with tears.
"You... are truly a terrible person..."
"Rozanna...?"
The emperor looked back and forth between me and her in bewilderment.
But I merely shook my head with a solemn gaze.
"How could you do that? How!!"
Finally, Rozanna lifted her head.
Tears glistened like jewels around her blue eyes.
Like the stars over the sea.
"To keep me from dying, you killed yourself countless times... and killed my father and brother..."
The empress placed her hand on her chest.
Clutching her pounding heart, she cried out.
"What does that make me, hating you all this time...?"
"What do you mean... What are you saying, my lady...?"
I answered in place of the baffled emperor.
"In truth, I peeked into Your Majesty's memories alongside Her Highness the Empress. She recently mastered the memory-sharing spell."
I spoke calmly and truthfully to him.
Yet the emperor's face remained pale even after grasping the situation.
"What does that mean...?"
As if a shameful secret he never wanted exposed had been laid bare.
"That means you saw me kill your family dozens of times over...?"
More than any misunderstanding between them, the emperor worried about Rozanna witnessing her family's deaths repeatedly.
He seemed apologetic for the shock she must have endured.
"Why would you do that, my lady...? I was going to explain everything myself...!!"
As if tending to her immense shock, the emperor's face filled with helpless concern.
But Rozanna merely shook her head, sobbing like a young girl.
"Were you hiding it all this time because you felt sorry for killing my family countless times while turning back time...?"
"That too... And I thought you wouldn't understand my circumstances."
Rozanna clasped the old emperor's hand.
She murmured against his forehead.
"If you had just told me once... If you had let me guess, I wouldn't have hated you this much."
Like a saint in confession, she squeezed her eyes shut.
The sight of him slaughtering her entire family, even killing her pleading little brother.
Then erasing every record of Epina, her homeland.
She had lived fueled by that deep-seated hatred.
But learning it was all for her sake surged resentment, guilt, and sorrow within her.
A torrent of emotions churned her mind into chaos.
"I'm sorry..., Rozanna.... I am so sorry...."
Shadows deepened in Leonhardt's eyes.
From that pitch-black depth, transparent tears began to well up.
Seeing his wife pour out her heart and sob shook him too.
Despite vowing never to cry again in his lifetime.
"You bear no fault.... It's all my fault for failing to make the best choices...."
The emperor still harbored regrets.
For failing to protect both his loyal retainer Berti and Rozanna's love.
He still firmly believed there existed a world where he survived and Rozanna did not become a witch of hatred.
"I learned regression was possible through that child. I saw his memories too..."
"That child... you mean Veil...?"
The emperor's lips parted at the revelation that I, too, was a regressor.
He had thought me a novice who had only just reached grand master.
Yet I had already regressed.
He stared at my face, then froze as something familiar struck him in my eyes.
"I died upon reaching grand master realm. And then time rewound."
"I never imagined regression was possible even before achieving full maturity.... I hadn't considered that...."
The emperor averted his gaze momentarily.
Then, with memories sharpened by recent clarity, he inwardly compared Berti's face to mine.
"It's been decades since that happened, yet today it feels vividly clear...."
"Probably thanks to Her Highness's magic. My own memories sharpened when I shared them too."
"Yes. It's a good thing. He was a friend I wanted to remember forever...."
The emperor stared intently at my fox-like elongated eyes.
Realizing how closely our eyes matched, he swallowed deeply.
"Sir Veil...."
"Yes, Your Majesty. Speak freely."
His brows furrowed more as they fixed on me.
Finally, he asked me in a forced calm voice.
"By chance, what was your family name?"
Hearing the emperor's words, I guessed his intent.
After a brief pause, I bowed humbly and answered.
"It is Mikhail, Your Majesty."
"Yes, Mikhail...."
At my name, the emperor froze as if a dagger pierced his heart.
"I recall hearing you originated from an orphanage in Cornell...."
"That is correct. I am effectively from Cornell."
Cornell was quite distant from the knight Berti's homeland.
Thus, the emperor nodded slowly for now.
"I see...."
I gazed happily at the emperor embracing Rozanna.
And to give them their moment, I held back my words.
'Right, there's no way Sir Berti could be my father....'
"Then, I shall wait below for a while."
Suppressing my troubled thoughts alone, I headed for the stairs.
There, I halted midway and gazed down forlornly at the splendid banquet hall.
――――――.
The banquet hall brimmed with countless young ladies and gentlemen.
Among them were some chatting alongside their fathers.
In a space that might feel daunting alone, their father's sturdy presence accompanied them.
That alone brought their children great joy.
"..."
I had never once felt such emotions.
Though I had Hans, the orphanage director as a foster father, an insurmountable gap existed between us.
Moreover, Hans had countless other sons besides me.
Thinking back, I had never shared deep bonds or lived happily with anyone.
I turned to see the emperor holding the sobbing Rozanna.
At last, the two truly seemed like family.
"..."
Beneath the radiant lights, they embraced each other.
That sudden sight evoked a familiar scene.
'A scene I've seen somewhere before....'
The ruined imperial palace.
The image of someone collapsed below, held in another's arms.
That memory welled up, filling me with emotion too.
At that moment.
"Veil, what are you doing here all alone?"
Lost in melancholy, I hadn't noticed someone approach.
A faint fruity scent wafted from beside me.
I turned my head.
There stood the beautiful silver-haired imperial princess, peering closely at my face.
"Your Highness Irina...?"
"Why are you sitting so pitifully on the stairs alone?"
The empire's Second Imperial Princess.
She sat beside me, tilting her head.
As she leaned in, her dress loosened slightly, revealing a glimpse of her bosom.
"I was guarding His Majesty the Emperor and Her Highness the Empress."
I quickly turned my head and asked.
Irina grinned and playfully poked my shoulder.
"Who guards from the stairs? You look like a gloomy fox like this."
In the scene I recalled, she lay dying, bleeding out.
Come to think of it, even when His Majesty last took his own life, she had said something similar.
As expected of father and daughter....
Moreover, even after regression, loving the same person remained utterly alike.
"Your Highness."
"Yes...?"
I looked down at the banquet hall alongside her.
And asked.
"At the appointment ceremony when we met again after regression.... Why didn't you speak honestly then?"
I drew the rosario from my bosom.
Fingering it gently, I asked.
"..."
Hearing me, Irina wore the exact same expression as the emperor moments ago.
A poignant gaze of knowing yet unable to speak.
"Ah, that time..."
The silver-haired princess softly brushed her bangs behind her ear.
Revealing her pale, soft neck.
The fruity scent from my death lingered more intensely now.
"I thought you wouldn't believe me."
Irina echoed the emperor's very words.
"And even if you did, you might not like me again."
Her fresh smile faded.
Soon, her eyes grew distant, like back then.
"Think about it.... You risked your life to save me, yet I came back just to die with you."
Her elegant eyelids, like bare winter branches, trembled faintly.
Like the emperor's guilt over killing Rozanna's kin, she felt sorry toward me.
"So pointlessly..."
Her words left me speechless for a moment.
My lips parted, but no words came.
Just like Rozanna upon realizing the truth.
"I'm sorry. I could have confessed so easily like this.... I only say it now."
There had been countless opportunities until now.
When we slept together at the Second Imperial Consort's villa.
When we returned home after slaying the black knights, and so on....
Despite endless private moments to confess, she hadn't easily told me.
I hadn't known then, but now I understood why.
Just as the emperor hid his secret from Rozanna for decades, Irina must have felt the same.
"I was so afraid you'd come to hate me...."
Irina murmured quietly to herself.
"That our relationship might worsen beyond repair."
Her distant eyes.
Her subtly quivering lips.
At that, I swallowed the words rising to my throat.
"..."
Like the emperor who lived decades in agony.
Irina, too, had kept feeling sorry toward me since regression.
Witnessing it through the emperor and Rozanna made me understand her.
"No such thing would happen, Your Highness."
I clasped her pitiful hands.
"When I died resenting His Majesty back then, it wasn't because I hated you."
And whispered prayerfully.
"I merely lamented that someone as precious as you would forsake your life for a lowly one like me."
Her face close to mine.
I answered with a sincere smile.
"On the contrary, I was glad. To die in the arms of someone as beautiful as you, Your Highness."
At first, I truly had resented Irina.
But upon reuniting, I realized anew.
She hadn't shirked responsibility or her imperial duty to die with me.
Irina had simply liked me and wanted to live together.
"And I'm indescribably happy to meet you again like this now."
For the first time in ages, my chest swelled.
My own eyes began to burn.
"..."
The empire's Second Imperial Princess, hearing my honest reply, had tears welling in her eyes.
She swallowed them back and smiled once more.
"Thank you, Veil."
Yet, despite her efforts, her emerald eyes remained moist.
Like green leaves shining through sunlight.
"I.... I feel so incredibly happy right now."
Overwhelmed, Irina sniffled.
I took the handkerchief from my suit pocket and gently wiped her eyes.
"..."
I had thought I had no family, no one with a true bond.
But that was my misconception.
Such a woman who wept for me stood right here.
Perhaps I...
Had taken too lightly the precious connections that approached me.
Lea and Lydia, who watched over us.
Even senior Miya.
The three had quietly waited for us in silence.