MB 059

After some time of merely twitching his fingertips, the man’s eyes opened. Tears, which had been trapped beneath his eyelids, flowed down the deep lines of his face.

Staring blankly at the familiar ceiling, Terio absentmindedly sat up. It wasn’t until he leaned back against the headboard that he realized something was strange about the room he was in.

The room he was currently in was the one he had used before inheriting the dukedom.

Why am I here?

Grabbing his throbbing head as if it were empty and numb, he tried to recall his memories. What should have been clearly ordered memories felt oddly confused.

In his memories, he was both the twenty-nine-year-old Duke of Alte and the twenty-three-year-old heir apparent.

The sequence of events—getting married, inheriting the dukedom, learning the duties, and mourning his father’s death—kept blurring and sharpening repeatedly.

As if things he had already experienced, now part of his past, had yet to happen, or perhaps would never happen at all, the very concept of time grew vague and indistinct.

Terio Alte squinted as he sank into thought. This couldn’t have happened without a reason, so there must be an explanation for why his memories had become like this.

Sifting through his chaotic thoughts, he tried to find the cause.

He recalled seeing a man’s face in the midst of flickering light. Annecy Bethelgius. That man must have done something. 

With an instinctive certainty, Terio ground his teeth. Then his eyes flew open wide.

‘What about Goyo?’

A shiver ran down his spine as he straightened his body, which had been leaning against the headboard.

What happened to Goyo?

Now that he had identified the cause, his memories started to fall into place. He recalled Goyo’s death and how Annecy had taken her body. And, just recently, he had locked eyes with the living Goyo.

Instead of digging into these uncertain memories, he rushed to the mirror in the room to confirm his suspicions. His body creaked from the sudden movement, and the blankets tangled around his legs fell into disarray.

Gripping the sides of the mirror, he pressed his face close.

The first thing he noticed was his stubble. But, considering that he hadn’t trimmed it once during the mourning period, it was in relatively good shape. Then, his eyes caught sight of his pale, youthful skin, not the face of a twenty-nine-year-old he was used to seeing.

The immature, inexperienced face staring back at him was undeniably closer to twenty than thirty. This was the face of the twenty-three-year-old Terio Alte. Familiar, yet unfamiliar.

With the strange mix of recognition and unfamiliarity swirling inside him, he pressed his forehead against the mirror and shut his eyes tightly.

‘What on earth is happening?’

If he was really twenty-three, why did he have memories of events that had yet to happen? Why were memories of the future—both important and trivial—so vividly etched in his mind?

For a moment, he wondered if the constant headaches and visions had driven him mad. But then he considered the possibility that all the suffering had been leading to this moment.

There was something else that struck him as odd. All of Terio Alte’s memories—from the age of twenty-three to twenty-nine—were astoundingly vivid, as if they had just occurred. It was as if the memories had been inscribed directly into his brain.

If he wasn’t insane, if he truly knew what would happen in the future, no—if he had already lived through the future—then had he somehow traveled back in time?

Had he traveled back six years, to a time before Goyo had died?

“I can’t believe it. I have to confirm it.”

No sooner had he thought this, than he abruptly pushed himself away from the mirror, which he had been leaning on helplessly.

Just then, the door opened, and a maid entered to check on his condition. “Young Master!” The maid’s eyes widened, and her mouth gaped open.

Even though she called his name loudly, Terio didn’t acknowledge it. Without a word, he grabbed his coat and slipped his arms into the sleeves.

The only thought in his mind was that he needed to see Goyo alive with his own eyes.

Terio, who had clumsily dressed himself, brushed away the hands trying to stop him and opened the door. He was about to step outside when he halted.

Where should I go? 

According to his memories as a twenty-nine-year-old, Goyo would be at the Rubiette Ducal Estate right now. But if he followed his memories from when he was twenty-three, Goyo would be at the Marquisate of Bethelgius…

The realization hit him, and Terio Alte’s face turned pale.

Why did Goyo marry Marquis Bethelgius?

*    *    *

“Marquis!”

Annecy had just returned to the capital after a brief outing. Upon opening the door and seeing the face before him, he immediately felt like leaving again, but the serious expression on Kolabe’s face made him stay to hear what was going on.

“Where on earth have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

“Be quiet. Get to the point.”

“News from the estate. Terio Alte has stormed in.”

Annecy’s face twisted instantly. As soon as the words hit his ears, he began drawing up his magic power.

The marquisate was fortified with multiple layers of magic circles to defend against intruders. Even Annecy himself couldn’t break through easily, so it would take time for anyone else to breach it.

Kolabe flinched at the sudden menacing aura Annecy exuded. He hadn’t seen such intensity from him since they came to the capital, and now Kolabe was genuinely concerned for Terio Alte’s safety.

“Aren’t the soldiers doing anything? What about the knights?”

“Since his status makes it difficult to handle him recklessly, they were trying to restrain and send him away, but it seems he overpowered them. To avoid escalating the commotion, they allowed him inside and asked the madam for her wishes. He was shown to the parlor, and we contacted you immediately, though you were out.”

“You let an intruder into the parlor? You all must be out of your minds.”

“It’s the Duke of Alte. We have to be mindful of the Emperor’s eyes. We assigned several secret guards just before letting him in, so the lady should be safe for now. But there’s something strange.”

“Enough. I’ll deal with this myself when I return.”

Terio Alte’s skills have strangely improved…

Kolabe sighed as his superior disappeared in an instant. 

Even if Terio’s skills had improved, unless he’d been reborn a hundred times, there’s no way he could do anything against Annecy.

Shaking his head, Kolabe took out some paper from the drawer. He began writing up a report in advance, knowing it would soon be needed.

*    *    *

“So, what brings you here?”

Terio snapped out of his daze after staring blankly at Goyo’s face for a while.

A rush of emotions surged up in his chest. Her appearance was unfamiliar, and the way she looked at him was cold, but there was no mistaking that the person before him was Goyo.

Goyo is alive.

Alive and speaking to me.

He had never imagined there would come a day when he’d be overwhelmed simply by the fact that someone was alive, but now his throat tightened, and he felt on the verge of tears. Terio swallowed down the rising emotions again and again.

He had thought he would never see her again. He had believed he would never again witness her open eyes, see her breathing and moving, or hear that soft voice for the rest of his life.

That’s why, afraid he might forget, he had called an artist to paint a portrait of her corpse.

He etched into his mind the smiling face that could no longer be drawn and the gentle voice that could no longer be heard, looping those memories over and over.

In his memory, Goyo was always kind, and his remembered self was always cold. Just recalling it was painful, though perhaps not as agonizing as forgetting.

Even so, he was terrified of forgetting, so he continued to think of Goyo, even as he fell asleep. Naturally, he wandered through nightmares every night.

But even nightmares were fine. Even dreams were fine. If it were a dream, he almost wished to wander within it forever.

“Didn’t you hear me? State your business.”

The cold, sharp tone in Goyo’s voice stung Terio, even in his state of awe. He had only just been gazing at her, yet her voice seemed to reproach him for how long he had waited. It made him feel sorrowful, but the chill in his heart helped clear his mind. Lost in emotion, he finally remembered why he had come.

On the way to the Bethelgius estate, he had thought about many things. At first, his memories were a jumbled mess. But once he assumed he had traveled back in time, his thoughts strangely began to sort themselves out.

With his now clearer mind, he carefully compared the past and the future.

In doing so, Terio Alte realized that the only thing that had truly changed was Goyo Rubiette.

Everyone else had simply reacted to the circumstances as they naturally would, in line with their personalities. So why had Goyo’s behavior changed?

Terio began to connect Goyo’s change to the cause of everything that had happened.

To put it bluntly, he believed that everything—Goyo breaking off their engagement and marrying Bethelgius—was the result of Annecy Bethelgius’s manipulations.

He had no idea why Annecy had gone to such lengths, even marrying Goyo, but for someone who had annihilated the Rubiette family, it couldn’t have been for a good reason.

Though Terio wasn’t sure what Annecy had done, or whether Annecy also had memories like his own, the circumstances led him to believe Annecy was behind it all.

The possibility that Goyo might also have memories of the future never even crossed his mind. The thought briefly flickered, but he quickly dismissed it. If Goyo remembered, she never would have married Marquis Bethelgius.

He couldn’t allow himself to entertain the thought that marrying him might have been worse for her than marrying an enemy.

Completely ignorant of Goyo’s own suffering and resignation, Terio made his superficial conclusion.

Clearing his confused thoughts, he tried to appear as calm as possible. Whether it was due to the prolonged silence or her displeasure with the situation, Goyo’s usually expressionless face was already frowning.

“You didn’t wait for permission and barged in without warning. Do you think Bethelgius is a joke, or do you think I am?”

“It’s not like that, Goyo. I came because I have something important to say.”

“I have nothing to hear.”

“Goyo…”

Terio’s face contorted as if he was about to cry. Goyo, who had expected him to be angry, narrowed her eyes slightly in surprise at his unexpected reaction.

“Please, just listen. I beg you.”

“That’s not like you. What are you talking about?”

“I need to speak while the Marquis isn’t here. We don’t have much time.”

Terio glanced at the clock with an anxious look. Due to his blurred memories, which spanned both the future and the past, he knew all too well the monstrous strength Annecy Bethelgius possessed.

If Annecy caught him, he wouldn’t be able to say what needed to be said.

This only heightened his anxiety, and without giving enough explanation, he blurted out his next words.

“Goyo, you need to divorce the Marquis.”