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The hallway of the darkened Count’s residence.

At this late hour, the servants dwelling in the castle had all returned to their rooms and drifted off to sleep. In the shadowy corridor, a small flame flickered and moved. Hailey, Elena’s dedicated maid, was walking somewhere with a lit candlestick in hand. Naturally, her mistress, Elena Edelweiss, accompanied her.

What could they be up to at this late hour? Surely they weren’t attempting to steal anything from the Count’s house. The Duke House of Edelweiss was quite wealthy, boasting a level of affluence that could make a noble envious.

The two paused in front of a room door, carefully opening it and entering, making sure no one would hear them. The room was cozy, devoid of windows, consisting only of bookshelves, a fireplace, a few plush chairs, and a desk.

One of the chairs was already occupied by the Count Kraus, the one who had called them to this place. Beside him stood Ken, the elderly but amiable housekeeper with a wrinkled face, and a middle-aged maid with gray hair.

“You must have had a hard time finding this place since I turned off all the lights, but you made it well,” he remarked.

“Hailey has keen night vision. Plus, with the Count’s clear description and the light seeping in from under the door, it wasn’t too difficult,” Elena explained.

In truth, it was simply a matter of locating the room with the strongest presence in this mansion, so the darkness of the night posed no issue. No matter how thoroughly Count Kraus controlled his aura, as a transcendent being, he could never escape her senses.

“The Count… How formal. Just call me father or simply father-in-law. After all, we’re going to be family soon.”

“Yes, father.”

The two exchanged smiles, and due to the Count’s youthful appearance, it seemed a bit odd; however, only Hailey, who was still getting used to the Count’s youthful visage, paid attention to this peculiarity.

Joachim Edelweiss, the head of the Edelweiss family known to be of the same age, was also quite youthful, yet the Count appeared as a man in his twenties. Moreover, he resembled Damian, Elena’s fiancé, quite a bit. That might have added to the strangeness.

Count Kraus pointed at those beside him and introduced them to Elena one by one.

“This is Ken, and the lady beside him is Maria. It was these two who practically raised Damian, more than I did. They’re likely to know more about him than I do.”

“Come now, it’s quite the opposite. Young Master Damian was certainly more independent. All we did was stay by his side,” Maria replied modestly.

“I barely did anything to be present for him, even at the moment he lost his mother.”

At the Count’s self-deprecating words, both Maria and Ken found themselves at a loss for words. Although he was a good father in Damian’s eyes, he saw himself simply as a flawed father who had failed in many areas. However, Elena was aware of what Alphonse and Damian thought of Count Kraus from her previous life.

But for now, there was nothing she could say to ease the Count’s burden. The experience of regression was hers alone, and only she remembered that time. In the present, Elena Edelweiss was just a half-hearted fiancée meeting her half-hearted fiancé, bound by the arranged marriage of their fathers.

“Oh dear, I must have shown an embarrassing side of myself momentarily. Please forget about it.”

After that, raising a few words of consolation seemed reasonable enough. The internal debate didn’t last long.

“I met Prince Damian for the first time today, but it didn’t seem like he held any resentment toward you. Even at the dinner, which noble family can afford to treat each other so casually?”

Did my words provide him with some comfort? A softened expression broke through his earlier tension as he thanked me.

“Yes, if that’s how it appeared to you, then so be it. Thank you for telling me. I feel like, perhaps because of my age, things have changed from how they used to be.”

“If you keep speaking like that, my father will be quite angry.”

“Let him be angry as he likes! If he’s upset, tell him to work on developing a youth-restoring magic or something. Is he venting his frustrations on some poor soul again? Tsk, tsk. Still, it’s a relief that you, Elena, resemble your mother so much and not my features. Thank goodness for that.”

As the Count smiled, the atmosphere in the room lightened once again. Particularly, Hailey seemed to express the feeling of being alive with her entire face. The Count, noticing this, barely suppressed a chuckle before continuing.

“Ahem! Now, shall we get to the main subject?”

Count Kraus, Ken, Maria, and finally Elena, with Hailey following along, made a group of five. The sole reason they gathered was simple: to bridge the gap between Damian and Elena. The Count had sent a message to Elena after dinner, summoning her here solely for this purpose.

“Seeing you at dinner today, it appears that you already have feelings for Damian, Elena.”

Was it really that obvious, even without saying it directly? Though I was aware of it, hearing it confirmed from a third party made my face flush.

“Y-yes, um…”

Anticipating whether the Count might pursue this inquiry, I had prepped several responses. However, he waved a hand, signaling I didn’t need to say anything more.

“No, there’s no need to say anything. There are countless reasons why people fall in love, even with those they’ve only just met. So, if the time comes when you want to share later, then do so. And on this note, my son is quite lucky, isn’t he? To have such a lovely and decent girl like you showing him interest but unable to reciprocate. Really, who does he take after?”

“Well, he certainly doesn’t take after you. Your face gives it all away.”

“That’s right. This is all Ken’s fault! If you hadn’t kept Damian by your side since he was little, he wouldn’t be as dense now. You’re the reason he’s become so wooden! How could you hinder my son from marrying at this rate?”

“Why am I being blamed for this? It’s just his innate nature.”

“What nonsense! In his younger days, he was just like me, overflowing with emotion! You’ve pushed him too hard, and now he’s grown up too soon.”

“Really, it was you, Count…”

“Nonetheless! Do any of you have any ideas?”

At the Count’s statement, no one offered an immediate reply.

As the one directly involved, I had no clue how to navigate romance, while Hailey had never experienced any sort of relationship being so close to me. Trusting the Count and Ken, I looked for answers, but their conversation quickly revealed the futility of that.

Now, there was only Maria left whom I could rely on. After a moment’s contemplation, she spoke up.

“Um, young lady, why not try crying a little?”

““Huh?””

*

Time fast-forwards to the next morning.

Count Kraus arranged breakfast so that it would be just the two of us, and his devoted butler Ken selected the location. The dining setup was in the eastern annex, Isilia Pavilion, a garden once meticulously tended by his mother, Arwen Kraus, where he often visited.

Indeed, unlike the main building, the fragrance of flowers wafting through the garden directly touched my heart.

Before long, he arrived, and as we shared our meal, we merely retraced our conversations from the previous day without progressing further. It was precisely because I continued to talk incessantly that he couldn’t move beyond those topics. I figured what I said during that time might be only a quarter of the conversations we’d had in my past life.

However, that wouldn’t hold indefinitely, and eventually, he brought up the topic of our engagement.

“Elena, we haven’t clearly discussed our engagement yet. More importantly, the timing seems premature…”

And I realized it was the moment to act as Maria had suggested yesterday.

“Prince Damian said he would respect my choice. And I chose my engagement with you. Isn’t that enough?”

I needed to call up the feelings of disappointment and sorrow directed at him.

This was something I was confident about. I just had to recall events from only a few hours ago.

It hadn’t even been 24 hours since I regressed. It was merely just over 19 hours now.

That meant that only 19 hours had elapsed since he breathed his last in my arms. It was easy to forget the pain, albeit temporarily, given that he still stood alive in front of me. However, the time that had passed was too short to dismiss those moments entirely.

Recalling a past just hours ago was not a difficult task. The vivid shards of that intense memory began to surface.

The warmth of his slowly fading body was felt through my hand.

The rhythmic beating of his heart that was growing faint echoed in my ears.

The silence that surrounded his gentle smile reflected in my eyes.

With all those memories flooding me, I felt a warm stream flowing from my eyes. Through the blurry vision caused by the tears, I saw his perplexed expression. My hand, perhaps as a reaction to recalling his previously cold body, instinctively began to emit a cold magic.

“Then why say such things?”

After spilling those words, I lost track of why I had spoken them or the painful memories I had evoked. At that moment, only sorrow and bitterness filled my mind. Gradually, the present began to fade from my memory, and only the past started to fill the emptiness within me.

Now, even I, serving as a medium for this, felt a chill deep within and I unknowingly reached out to hold his hand.

His hand, which should have felt cold, now felt wonderfully warm.

“I’m sorry.”

In front of me stood the one who apologized, wishing to wrap me in warmth with an embrace.

“I didn’t mean to cause you anxiety with my words. It was simply unexpected. I just wanted to say we need time to understand each other. That’s all.”

Honestly, I couldn’t quite catch what he was saying.

What I could feel at that moment was that he was speaking to me, the warmth of his body, and the rapid beating of his heart. Finally, that living figure before me repudiated all the sorrowful thoughts I’d gathered.

Did I feel relieved because of that?

I burrowed deeper into his embrace, forgetting my original purpose.

 

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