Chapter ss 02
Side Story: Words That Were Never Easy
“It is an honor to receive Your Majesty in our home.”
The young duke and duchess, Wilson and Monica, warmly welcomed Yurik, who had appeared without warning.
However, Yurik merely cast them a brief, uncomfortable glance before fixing his gaze solely on Linea, whom he had stubbornly insisted sit with them.
Linea sat far away on the sofa opposite Yurik, her head lowered as she stared at her teacup with a dark, withdrawn expression.
“What brings Your Majesty here today?”
“I came because I have something to discuss with Linea.”
Yurik answered simply. At those words, not only Wilson and Monica but Linea herself looked at him in shock.
Though Linea had once been Yurik’s playmate in childhood, they had had no contact since then. The idea that the Emperor would suddenly ride out alone just to see Linea was hard to believe.
Yet Yurik remained perfectly calm.
“So I would like everyone else to excuse us.”
“Your Majesty, has our daughter committed some sort of offense?”
Monica asked anxiously, panic rising in her voice. Wilson’s expression was no different.
From a parent’s perspective, it was only natural to react that way when the Emperor appeared without notice and asked to speak alone with their daughter.
But strangely, to Yurik, it looked as though they were concerned only for their own safety.
“Please forgive us, Your Majesty. That child has been dull since she was young, so perhaps she committed some grave mistake without realizing—”
“That is not the case.”
Yurik replied while forcibly suppressing his revulsion. The only reason he endured it was because he feared startling Linea.
“That is not the case, so leave.”
The Emperor’s order was clear. Left with no choice, Wilson and Monica exited the drawing room.
Even as they left, they cast several stern looks back at Linea. Yurik noticed, but judged it best not to scold her parents in front of her, and restrained himself once again.
After Wilson and Monica departed and the servants were dismissed as well, Yurik carefully spoke to Linea.
“Linea.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Her voice was flat, devoid of emotion, and her face completely blank. As Yurik quietly studied her slightly shadowed features, he struggled to suppress the ache tightening in his chest.
“Why haven’t you become independent?”
“…I beg your pardon, but I don’t quite understand what you mean. I am soon to be married, and I personally hold neither title nor property. Even if I wished to live independently, I cannot.”
“Married? To whom?”
“To Marquis Ramburn.”
Linea answered earnestly, though she clearly didn’t understand why he was asking. Yurik’s face drained of color.
“That man should be… by now…”
“He must be busy with his duties as a marquis. If you are asking where he is—”
As Linea began to speak, she noticed Yurik’s deathly pale expression and fell silent.
At this point in time, Cadill should have been in prison. The fact that he was not—and that Linea was still Cadill’s fiancée—meant—.
“So… the spirits saved me. They said they wanted me to live this life without giving up.”
Yurik remembered every word of Linea’s confession. Not a single syllable had been forgotten.
If time could be rewound, it did not necessarily mean everything would return to a better state.
In other words, this was before Linea had died and regressed—before she had attempted suicide as Cadill’s fiancée.
“…Your Majesty?”
Linea called out to him cautiously. Gritting his teeth, Yurik organized the situation in his mind.
Linea still loved Cadill. She did not know that he had betrayed her. Yet he was a man who had continually deceived and exploited her.
The red pendant hanging around Linea’s neck was proof of all that truth.
Yurik wasn’t angry because everything he had done, or the feelings he had shared with Linea, had come to nothing. Nor was it because the present Linea disliked and distrusted him.
Leaving Linea in Cadill’s grasp was never an option to begin with. He had to save her. But to do so, Linea’s heart would have to be wounded deeply once again.
That was what made him furious. He could not understand why such things kept happening to her alone, why she had to suffer the same wounds over and over again.
Even so, being hurt was better than being left to die. Anything was better than a future where she gave up on everything and died broken beyond repair.
“Linea.”
Yurik straightened and looked directly at her.
“You won’t be able to believe what I’m about to say, but please, I beg you to trust me.”
“…What?”
“The voices you heard were not those of evil spirits. They were the voices of spirits.”
Starting from there, based on the confession he had once heard from Linea, Yurik explained her situation piece by piece.
As he spoke, it was Linea whose face gradually grew paler.
With each passing moment, the color drained from her face until she was as white as a sheet of paper, her hands trembling violently.
“Th-that… what are you saying…?”
“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Linea’s voice shot up sharply as she sprang to her feet.
Her eyes were red, as though tears might spill at any moment. Her hands shook so badly she had to clasp them together. From head to toe, her slender body trembled as she desperately tried to deny Yurik’s words. In a voice strained as if she were being strangled, Linea cried out.
“Why—why would Your Majesty say such things? Is my—my marriage an obstacle to the Imperial Family? Is that why you want to stop it—”
“The Imperial Family is the guardian of the spirits. There’s nothing strange about me knowing these things.”
Not wanting to further confuse the already distraught Linea by telling her that he had returned from the past, Yurik spoke evasively. Even so, Linea showed no sign of believing him. She shook her head violently.
“That can’t be true. Cadill—he is…!”
“How long has it been since he last made time to see you? Hasn’t he postponed the wedding, saying he’s busy? Has he ever told you exactly what he’s busy with? Has he ever opened his heart to you? What do you really know about that man?”
Linea was left speechless. Slowly, tears began to fall from her eyes.
Even Linea could not deny that some of what he said rang true.
She knew that her love for Cadill was, in reality, one-sided.
Of course she knew. She was intelligent and perceptive.
But she must have been driven so far into a corner that she deliberately covered her eyes and turned away from the truth. That illusion had likely been her only refuge.
Yurik bit his lip.
He had never wanted to hurt Linea’s heart like this.
“If you want to know whether what I’m saying is true, the method is simple. Take off that necklace. If the voices are truly those of evil spirits, they’ll try to devour you this time. Though that won’t happen.”
“……”
“Or you could ask Duke Shuheburs, the very man who took a great spirit as his spouse—”
“Stop it!”
Linea screamed, squeezing her eyes shut.
Her tears dripped down her cheeks and splashed onto the floor. Her lips trembled, then were bitten down hard, before she cried out as if spitting the words.
“In the first place— in the first place, Your Majesty— you— you didn’t even believe me back then…!”
“I did believe you.”
Yurik forced himself to speak calmly.
The sight of Linea’s violet eyes staring at him in stunned confusion was agonizing.
But this, too, was something they had to confront between them.
“I believed you. I never told anyone your secret. The things people said to you when you were a child were lies.”
“…What… what do you mean…?”
“I endured watching you become engaged to another man because I wanted you to be happy. But that man is deceiving you and intends only to use you. Now that I know that, do you expect me to stand by and do nothing?”
After a brief pause, Yurik shook his head.
“No. I can’t do that. Even if you hate me, even if you resent me, I can’t watch you become unhappy. Even if you don’t permit it, I will save you.”
“…Why… why would Your Majesty…?”
“Because I love you.”
It was a phrase he had said countless times before—yet this time, it was the first.
Linea stood there, unable to accept his words. Yurik did not expect her to accept his feelings so easily, or so soon.
As expected, Linea let out a hollow laugh and hurriedly wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
“What… what are you saying? We haven’t met even once since childhood…”
“I’ve loved you ever since then.”
“…What on earth are you talking about…?”
He knew she could not accept his love right now. It was painful, but he could not say that pain was greater than the sorrow Linea was already enduring.
“I’ll take my leave for today. I’ll come again.”
“…No. You don’t need to.”
“I will. As many times as it takes, until you accept reality.”
As Yurik turned to leave, he hesitated, then spoke once more in earnest.
“Value yourself. Throw that necklace away. If you do even that once… you’ll see whether he values the necklace or you more.”
“……”
“If you need help, call for me anytime.”
In truth, he intended to help Linea even if she never called for him. He had no intention of leaving her to handle all of this alone.
He was no longer the man who knew nothing.
Now, he was someone who knew Linea better than anyone else in the world—even if Linea herself denied it.
If not him, then who else could possibly save her? That lonely woman.
“Your Majesty, are you returning to the palace?”
“We heard raised voices—did our foolish daughter perhaps offend you? If so, what measures will you take—”
Waiting near the drawing room entrance, the young duke and duchess rushed to speak the moment Yurik emerged. He looked at them quietly, then spoke.
“Do nothing.”
“…Pardon?”
“Do nothing for her. Not for her sake, not to discipline her—nothing at all.”
Leaving behind the bewildered couple, who blinked in confusion, Yurik turned away.
The Linea he knew had said she could only give up on her parents’ love after dying once. But even without dying, she could still give it up.
Because those people would never love Linea for as long as they lived.
