Reiner pulled on her arm with a clumsy gesture, as though they were close friends, as though he meant to give her a heated embrace.
Then, when their bodies touched and their lips nearly brushed, just as Reiner was about to say he was glad to see her again, a few people from Winzerton rushed over. In their confusion, they did what they had to do: they pulled Reiner’s body away as though separating a rabid dog.
When several people from Reutlingen joined in, Winzerton’s procession quickly retreated. A harsh order to settle this mess before the Emperor arrived hit Reiner’s ears.
He thought that perhaps he would get beaten again today. Yet he was no longer afraid of a beating worse than death.
For one thing, that girl, who had vanished over there to hide herself, wouldn’t step in and die in his stead. Even if she came here again, even if she saw Reiner being beaten, she might just think a lunatic got what he deserved.
Thinking that was good enough, Reiner laughed like a madman.
The princess of Winzerton looked at him with her face scrunched up. Even with such an expression, that single swaying strand of red hair in the breeze felt somehow warm.
Although he had tried to pull her into an embrace and had been blocked right away, although what touched was only their fingertips, Reiner thought he understood. Perhaps this was the feeling Martin had when he was held in his mother’s arms, the feeling of something warm worrying over him, caring for him, cherishing him.
Before he could savor that wonderful feeling, the mad Emperor appeared.
The beating began again.
But now Reiner was not so scared. Even getting beaten bloody did not matter anymore. That was because a true desire had replaced his desperate wish to return to before his birth.
He wanted to see what kind of smile might appear on that pale face, framed by fluttering red hair. A smiling face—he wanted to see a smiling face next time, no matter what. And he wanted to feel those warm fingertips again.
For that, he had to survive today.
If he could not, then even at the brink of death, he would have to use every ounce of strength to turn back time.
He had to live and see her again.
And if by chance she came here and tried to intervene again, this time he would turn back time before his father’s blade reached her.
Until the very moment his life ended, he had to keep her alive.
Thinking that, Reiner closed his eyes.
02. The Warmth at His Fingertips
“His Highness really has a knack for troubling people.”
When Madame Luiche said this, Martin merely laughed.
“That’s what I always say.”
“Yes, Martin. And you’re absolutely right. He’s been shut up in there for days now, not coming out at all. If he collapses like that, we people in his service are the ones in real trouble.”
Madame Luiche glanced at the firmly closed door of the little room where the Prince was and went on:
“He’s truly someone who needs a lot of care.”
She barely swallowed the words, ‘And strangely enough, he doesn’t grow on me at all.’ It had been fourteen years since she became the Second Prince’s wet nurse, and to Luiche, Reiner remained a child who did not satisfy her.
On the day Luiche Kaestner, the lady of Viscount Kaestner’s family, gave birth to her eleventh son, Martin Kaestner, the Emperor gained his second son. Thus, Luiche easily secured the position of wet nurse to the Prince.
Viscount Kaestner thought it a stroke of good fortune. Not just anyone was chosen as a royal wet nurse. Now, the Viscount would surely walk the path of advancement. For his eleven children, losing their mother’s presence had gained them a decent connection at the palace.
Luiche believed that was a fair trade for leaving her own child to nurse someone else’s.
She had no idea that the Prince would become the royal family’s ne’er-do-well. For fourteen years, whenever her father or her husband came to see her at the palace, Luiche had been cursed as an “unlucky wench,” scolded for catching a rotten rope of all ropes.
Though Martin was still young, he knew this well. So instead of chiming in on his mother’s grumbles, he only smiled.
“But our Prince does have a kind heart, right? Thanks to him, you were able to raise me in the palace.”
Indeed, that was how it was. Because she was Prince Reiner’s wet nurse, she could bring the child Martin, not yet weaned, as his bedroom page, letting her see him every day.
Luiche knew that if she had been the First Prince’s wet nurse, she might not have seen Martin even once in those fifteen years. Taking occasional breaks to return to the Viscount’s manor and spend time with her children would have been impossible. So it was only right to feel grateful to Prince Reiner for helping forge those memories with them.
“Even so, I can’t get attached to him for some reason. He doesn’t feel like a child.”
In Luiche’s view, that was indeed the case. Prince Reiner was not childlike; he was deep. When he turned thirteen and no longer needed a wet nurse, he transferred Luiche to the position of chambermaid. That alone was not the sort of consideration one expected from a boy his age.
Not only that, the young Prince possessed an uncommonly persistent determination for someone of his years. It was different from the useless stubbornness younger children, like Martin, used to display. It seemed more like the focused mindset of a man who had staked his life on achieving a grand goal.
Sometimes, when she caught a glimpse of his extraordinary cleverness, she thought perhaps he was just too smart. But strangely enough, the Prince seemed unwilling to show his parents this side of himself. Luiche found it all vaguely unsettling.
Did he not trust his parents? Could it be inevitable that, as a royal, he had been raised apart from his mother and father since childhood? Even so, he withdrew himself in a strange way.
He kept his distance not only from the mad Emperor or his half brother but also from the Empress, who cherished him. For many reasons, Luiche felt that Reiner truly did not act like a child.
“The only thing he has in common with you is probably his utter dislike of reading.”
“Pardon? What was that?”
Martin asked when he heard the words tumble straight from her thoughts. Luiche smiled and shook her head.
“Nothing, it’s just a figure of speech. Children ought to be clingy and act as they please sometimes. Prince Reiner never shows that side.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? You sound like you’re complaining too much… Mother?”
Martin glanced around to check if anyone could overhear them, then whispered “Mother.” That in itself felt perfectly age-appropriate for a boy like him.
“Yes, a child should have that sort of adorable quality.”
“Pardon?”
“Martin, I wanted to say you were exactly the kind of fifteen-year-old every mother hopes for.”
“But you always tell me to grow up already.”
“That’s just talk. In truth, I wish you would grow more slowly. It wouldn’t be any fun if you were too grown-up, like His Highness, would it?”
Martin finally caught on to what Luiche meant and gave a bright smile.
“Even so, I think His Highness does act his age. Actually, sometimes he behaves even younger. He still occasionally begs you to hold him, right? I don’t even do that.”
“You’re right. It’s a very childish thing to do. Though, in a way, it’s a bit odd.”
It was true. It was different from a little child whining to be held by his nursemaid. At times, he demanded a hug like a starving man asking for food. Other times, as if needing confirmation of something, he carefully took her hand and asked, “Could you hold me just once?”
What sort of child in the world asked their nursemaid to hold them in that manner?
Even so, at such times, Prince Reiner looked truly forlorn. That was why Luiche pushed away her reservations and embraced him wholeheartedly. The Second Prince was, at least on the outside, a more lovable child than anyone.
Indeed, he was an angelic boy, with pearly cheeks, gentle eyes, and that soft blond hair he kept long rather than cutting it according to custom.
Yes, what kind of nonsense had she been spouting about a child like that?
Luiche let out a small laugh and reflected on herself for once.
“Yes, Martin, I think you’re right.”
“Pardon?”
“His Highness is far too kind, and here I was uttering nonsense out of comfort.”
“Exactly, right?”
“Yes, now that I think of it, Prince Reiner is a little unusual, but he still has signs of being a boy his age. For instance, remember that time he met the Princess of Winzerton?”
Luiche recalled the strange commotion from not so long ago, which she had almost forgotten.
Looking back, it seemed to have started the day the princess of Winzerton and her party arrived.
That night, Prince Reiner paced anxiously all day in his room and did not come out until late. Only at bedtime did he ask Martin, who was tidying up, “Have all Winzerton’s hostages arrived safely?”
Martin replied that he wasn’t sure and would ask Luiche in the morning. But Reiner’s reaction was strange. Uncharacteristically, he pressed Martin, ordering him to ask right away. It was as if he could not wait even until morning, oddly on edge in a way he had never been before.
Eventually, when Luiche herself returned to confirm that the princess and her people had all arrived safely, he posed a strange question.
“None lost their lives on the road?”
“I haven’t heard anything of the sort.”
If there was no such news, it must mean nothing happened.
That was how Luiche saw it, and she answered casually. If it had been Prince Niklas, the First Prince, he would have been furious at her nonchalance, but this was Prince Reiner. Surely he would let it pass.
Yet Luiche’s prediction was entirely wrong. Reiner responded in a firm voice:
“That is no proper answer. Go back and check again, Martin.”
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