“Isn’t this rather a good thing? Everyone will believe that we got engaged because we truly love each other, not because of some marriage arrangement.”
It felt like the point had shifted a bit from what he first brought up, but it wasn’t wrong either.
‘Besides, among unmarried noblemen right now, there is no one better than Rastan. It’s actually harder to believe that the Imperial Family never had him in mind as an Imperial consort.’
And it wasn’t as if Rastan would gain anything in particular from telling such a lie.
“So you will also have to do a good job acting like you are in love with me in front of others.”
I decided to trust Rastan, who had been a precious friend since my previous life, rather than an Imperial Princess I had only met twice, and nodded.
“Haam…”
Perhaps because I was very tired, a yawn escaped me. Seeing that, Rastan moved to sit beside me.
“Lean on my shoulder and get some sleep.”
“No, still, how could I… haam…?”
Even as I tried to refuse, I was already at the point of yawning, so there was really nothing I could do. I tried to force my eyes open to hold out a bit longer, but my heavy eyelids sank down.
As my consciousness began to fade, I felt a hand gently pull my head toward his shoulder.
Just like that, the world went dark, and then after a moment, my vision brightened again.
‘I thought I just dozed off for a moment, but I even came into a dream.’
I looked around to figure out where I was, and I saw Rastan.
‘Huh? Is this Rastan’s dream? What, he told me to sleep, but did he fall asleep too?’
As I chuckled to myself, my eyes widened the next moment.
“Huh? That’s me?”
If I had entered Rastan’s dream, there couldn’t be another version of me inside it. Which meant…
‘This is not Rastan’s dream, then. In that case, this must be a scene from Rastan’s memories.’
Was it because my body was in contact with the sleeping Rastan that I ended up accessing his memories or subconscious?
‘For now, let me observe what’s going on inside here.’
After watching for a while, I realized something.
‘This is… something that happened in my previous life.’
‘The me of my previous life’ met Rastan to discuss business and even had meals with him together. I could also see myself frequently pulling down my sleeves or adjusting my collar to hide the bruises I had gotten from being hit by Gerald.
All of these situations were unfolding from Rastan’s point of view, as he watched me.
Seeing my face grow darker by the day and the injuries I tried to hide, Rastan’s heart ached.
“If she had come to me, she would not have lived like that. If I had been given the chance, I would have given Evelyn nothing but happiness…”
‘Huh? This is definitely something from my previous life, so why is Rastan saying something like that?’
In my previous life, he had treated me only as a friend and hadn’t shown feelings like that. That was certain.
‘Could it be… that he had feelings for me back then?’
As I was thinking that, the scene suddenly changed. This time, I saw him and myself sitting across from each other in his office.
‘Ah, that day. I remember.’
It was the moment in this life when Rastan first proposed a contract marriage to me.
“As you have probably guessed, it is a contract marriage. The term is one year.”
“Why do you need that?”
With a slightly pained expression, Rastan answered slowly, as if hesitating.
“It seems that a marriage proposal will soon come to me. …For some time now, His Majesty the Emperor has been subtly sounding me out.”
‘Ah.’
Seeing it now, much later, from a third person’s perspective, it was painfully obvious. Obvious enough to wonder how I hadn’t realized it back then.
‘Rastan really did lie to me at that time.’
That was clearly meant to give justification to that proposal, to attach a reason I could understand to a sudden marriage offer.
‘Why?’
Did he really fall for me after seeing me only once or twice?
Even if he truly had fallen for me, it made no sense for a high-ranking noble of his level to propose so hastily. I wasn’t someone worth a political marriage, and at the time, he didn’t even know about my ability.
Then suddenly, the dream I had just seen came to mind.
‘Right. Unless Rastan remembers our previous life… huh?’
As I thought that absentmindedly, I startled myself.
Could it be… could it be?
‘Could Rastan have regressed too, like me?’
In my previous life, hadn’t he said that he wanted to make me happy as he watched my unhappy self?
‘But…’
Frederick, the ghost in the underground crypt of the Lansval estate, had said that I was the reason for this regression. That would mean I was the only one who had regressed in this world.
It felt like one piece of the puzzle was missing. Why had Rastan gone so far as to lie to me just to propose a contract marriage?
‘I should watch the situation and ask him properly before long.’
If it were about Rastan’s identity, I could refrain from prying if it put him in a difficult position, but there was no reason I couldn’t ask about the proposal itself. It concerned me as well, all the more so.
***
After the tea party ended, Selene and Ifrit were sitting across from each other in the tidied reception room of the Princess’s Palace.
“…With this principle, pressing this part allows the product to recognize a user who has been registered in advance. This is still a prototype, so that function is not active yet, but…”
Ifrit had come to show Selene a new product under development using magic.
That was because she had said several times that she wanted to be the first to see the Pavel Trading Company’s ambitious new product.
“It is most impressive that even those without mana can use it.”
“That is precisely why magic tools exist. If only those with mana could use it, how many of these hard-developed products do you think we could sell?”
When Ifrit smiled faintly, it felt as if a spring breeze carrying a pale green fragrance was blowing in.
“Th-that makes sense. Then I will place a pre-order for four units.”
“It is an honor to present a new product to the Imperial Family first.”
Selene looked for a moment at Ifrit’s clear grayish-brown eyes and the pale golden eyelashes fluttering above them, then withdrew her gaze. Despite his kind-looking impression, he somehow gave off the feeling of someone from a different world.
‘It feels strange, keeping a distance like this, and yet he is so popular among the young ladies. Is it really just because of his looks?’
Even as she tried to think objectively, she couldn’t help her eyes being drawn again and again to his unrealistically handsome face.
‘It’s human nature to be drawn to beautiful things.’
As Ifrit put the prototype he had brought back into its box, he suddenly spoke as if something had just occurred to him.
“I saw Lady Krone and Duke Blake earlier as I was coming in.”
Selene turned the gaze she had withdrawn back toward him. He hesitated slightly before continuing.
“…The two of them were leaving Your Highness’s Palace hand in hand.”
It was practically the same as asking when and how the two had become that close.
“I heard that the Duke and the Young Lady are engaged.”
At her reply, Ifrit’s eyes widened slightly for a moment. He quickly erased the startled expression from his face, but there was no helping the way his complexion darkened.
“…I see. I did not know.”
Recalling how the two of them had drawn all the attention at her tea party, Selene let out a long sigh.
“Duke Blake made a surprise announcement without any warning, so the tea party earlier was in quite an uproar.”
Whether he was listening to her words or not, Ifrit’s eyes sank into darkness.
“…”
He seemed to fall into thought for a moment, then cautiously opened his mouth.
“Could it be that Your Highness does not find Duke Blake to your liking? In every respect, is he not the Empire’s finest match?”
“Well, you are also widely rumored to be a top-tier groom, Marquis Pavel, so that is an excessive show of modesty.”
“How could I possibly compare my humble House to that of Duke Blake?”
Ifrit’s words were both true and, as Selene had said, an excess of modesty.
There was certainly a clear difference between the two Houses, but that was because the wealth and power of House Blake were overwhelmingly dominant. House Pavel was also one of the Empire’s most distinguished families.
Selene smiled faintly and gave a light shrug.
“No matter how outstanding he may be, he is already engaged. What could I possibly do about that?”
She had intended to brush the topic aside lightly, but it seemed Ifrit had something slightly different in mind.
“It is not even a marriage, just an engagement.”
Selene, catching the implication behind his words, arched one eyebrow.
“Are you suggesting that the Imperial Family should use its power to break that engagement?”
