Leonhardt’s frozen eyes turned not toward Elise, but toward Demian.
‘He looks at Demian instead of me?’
One of her eyebrows arched slowly.
It seemed his pride was wounded because she had brought up breaking up right in front of him.
Feeling a surge of irritation at being so thoroughly ignored, Elise unwittingly knitted her brows.
“Your answer?”
“…I don’t understand. To talk about something like this in a place like this…”
His eyes blazed with fury, still unable to tear his gaze away from Demian.
“Must you say such things in a place where a person like that is present?”
Frustration leaked subtly from the edge of his low, growling voice like a snarl from a beast.
Holding back the urge to click her tongue in utter disbelief, she opened her mouth.
“What does the location matter? The only thing that matters is that I want to break up with you. Why do you keep missing the point?”
Looking at Leonhardt’s face brought the events of the future rushing back, making anger well up inside her again and again.
However, letting her emotions loose would only obstruct the flawless revenge she planned to execute.
‘I must stay calm.’
Forcing her wildly thumping heart to settle, Elise let out a cold, mocking laugh.
“In any case, I’ve said my piece. We are finished.”
Glaring heavily at him one last time, she gestured with her eyes toward Demian.
“Let’s go, Demian.”
“W-Wait a moment, Lady Elise!”
Uncharacteristically, Leonhardt had lost his composure entirely.
Stammering over his words, he grabbed hold of her once more as she tried to step out of the garden.
“Agh…”
He held on so tightly that a groan leaked out against her will.
At that moment, Demian, who had merely been watching them until now, stepped forward.
“Isn’t this the exact reason she wants to break up with you, Sir Gelina?”
Using the hilt of his dagger, he struck sharply down at Leonhardt’s wrist, which was gripping Elise’s hand.
“Ugh, what do you think you’re…!”
“That’s exact amount.”
Before anyone realized it, all traces of laughter had vanished from Demian’s face, leaving only a frigid coldness.
“That’s exactly how much pain Elise just felt. The Ariaton Empire certainly fails to train its knights properly.”
Returning to his usual self, he shook his head, exaggeratingly scanning Leonhardt up and down.
“Ha…!”
Only then did Leonhardt turn his eyes toward Elise’s reddened wrist.
In that instant, the startled hero’s lips parted slightly.
He hadn’t realized holding her wrist would cause it to swell like this.
Thoroughly shocked, he stammered incoherently, unable to utter a proper sentence.
As a knight who had mastered aura, he knew his strength was far greater than ordinary people.
Yet to think that merely holding her wrist a bit firmly would leave it swollen to this extent.
“That’s right, you were always this kind of person.”
Only now did Elise look properly at the side of Leonhardt she had turned a blind eye to all this time.
She could finally see him for who he truly was.
The Golden Lion of Ariaton. Leonhardt von Gelina.
He bore the face of a man who had never once loved anyone other than himself.
That was why he had lit the fire to the very end while keeping the words of love on his lips.
A man like this, a hero?
She withdrew her gaze from Leonhardt and turned away coldly.
“However, we cannot end things like this. Without a valid reason…!”
His voice, filled with a sense of injustice, echoed behind her. Yet Elise did not even look back.
“Does a couple need a grand reason to break up?”
She merely murmured in a low voice.
“It’s simply because I no longer love you.”
With those final words, holding Demian’s hand, she swiftly left the garden behind.
As he was dragged along, the corners of Demian’s lips remained curled into a beaming, cheerful smile, thoroughly pleased.
Glancing sideways at Demian, Elise suppressed a laugh and whispered quietly:
“Let’s go to the temple.”
“Right. That place is far better than here. Excuse me for a moment.”
He lightly caught the sleeve of Elise’s dress.
“Huh?”
“Let’s make it quick.”
At that moment, a floating sensation enveloped her body, and before she knew it, she was standing inside her bedroom in the temple.
“Ah…”
Only then did Elise recall that Demian possessed magic power on par with Ian, the Tower Master of the Ariaton Empire.
‘A man like that came to save me, even as he was attacked until his entire body was drenched in blood.’
Without her realizing it, a tender look settled in her eyes as she looked at him.
“Ha, Elise.”
“H-Huh?”
“What’s with that look? It’s as if you’re asking me to kiss you…”
“…It is not.”
At his playful courtship, Elise let out a small laugh.
Perhaps because she was with Demian, the sickening feeling caused by Leonhardt was gradually fading away.
“Your gaze was so intense that my hair flushed bright red. Elise.”
“Pfft…”
Hearing his relentless banter, she finally burst into a loud laugh.
Even while laughing for a long time, a feeling of apology welled up in her heart as well.
He must have been a person with such a sense of humor all along.
‘Even though my rose-tinted glasses are gone, I still have to confirm what needs to be confirmed.’
Her mind set, Elise led him over and had him sit at the table.
“Demian, listen without taking offense.”
“I’m already offended.”
Demian kept cracking jokes out of a desire to make her laugh more, but Elise wiped the smile from her face and looked at him with gravity.
“I’m joking. There’s no way anything you say could hurt my feelings. Go ahead.”
Quickly catching onto the atmosphere, Demian finally clamped his mouth shut.
Elise let out a gentle sigh and spoke:
“Did you… ever kidnap children?”
“Kidnap?”
He tilted his head slightly, then answered as if something had come to mind.
“Ah, do you mean those filthy, grimy children living in the borderlands between the Ariaton Empire and the Devlun Empire?”
“…Yes.”
It didn’t matter if he was a villain. Since she had promised to love him, she intended to keep that promise.
However, she had to verify the facts properly.
Whether the rumors about Demian were true, or merely malicious fabrications spread by someone else.
“They were so filthy that I washed them.”
“…What?”
“I had them washed. They said they wanted to defect to the Devlun Empire, and I absolutely detest filthy children roaming the streets.”
He even furrowed his brow and shook his head as if the mere thought displeased him.
“So you didn’t kidnap them, but…”
“Why on earth would I? I washed them, dressed them in new clothes, built a new orphanage, and kicked them straight over there.”
Regardless of his intentions, it meant he had ultimately done a good deed.
“…Then what about killing the nobles of Northern Ariaton?”
“That’s a filthy reason I’d rather not tell you.”
“Tell me.”
“They tried to violate women of the Devlun Empire.”
“…What?”
Her voice rose against her will.
“As you know, the Devlun Empire was a vassal state of the Ariaton Empire until a hundred years ago. For that reason, some Ariaton nobles still look down on citizens of Devlun as beneath them.”
“Such a thing happened…”
“They already had a string of concubines, yet seeing them try to take a married commoner woman as another concubine was disgusting, so I simply drove a sword into their backs.”
Elise’s eyes narrowed.
Having never lived as a noble, she had never imagined such circumstances were hidden behind the rumors.
Yet the three men must have known that Demian had built an orphanage to send the children to, and that the Ariaton nobles had targeted the citizens of Devlun first.
Knowing all that, they had undoubtedly spread malicious rumors to the citizens of the Ariaton Empire and to her.
“I knew it.”
Learning the full truth, she patted her chest in relief.
Even if he were a villain, she would have loved him, but good deeds were certainly better than evil ones.
“I’m really… so relieved.”
“About what?”
Demian looked as though he didn’t care about his rumors in the slightest. Elise looked at him with envious eyes.
‘Is he just thick-skinned, or has he reached enlightenment by now?’
Then again, being the Crown Prince of an empire, all sorts of rumors were bound to follow him.
Elise stood up abruptly and began searching the cabinet. She then brewed her favorite tea leaves herself and set a cup before him.
Demian simply stared at the steaming teacup.
Without drinking it, he lightly held the handle of the cup and said:
“You said you had something to tell me.”
“Yes. But… you might not believe me.”
“Even if you told me strawberries grew where you planted blueberries, I’d believe you.”
“Ha, thanks for the sentiment, but…”
Demian had said the reason he loved her was because she was perfect.
Yet she herself knew best that she was far from perfect.
Otherwise, wouldn’t she have noticed the foreshadowing of betrayal they had been displaying so carefully for a very long time?
“Tell me. I’ll believe anything.”
As if to demonstrate his trust, Demian adjusted his posture and stared fixedly at her.
Gaining a bit of courage from his demeanor, Elise slowly parted her lips.
“…I saw the future.”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t know whether I saw the future or returned from the past. In any case, in that future…”
Slightly nervous, she swallowed her dry saliva.
“The two of us died together.”
“Died?”
Demian asked back in utter disbelief.
“Yes.”
A low, heavy voice followed, directed at him.
“At the hands of Leonhardt, Ian, and Eshit.”
Upon hearing Elise’s answer, Demian’s pupils dilated widely, then contracted tight like a cat’s.
