If the crown prince catches wind of these word, Iâll die instantly. Crazy! No way! Never! Eugene, who was standing as if protecting me, and Cain, who was drawing me in with his fascinating appearance, stopped at my shout. After taking a deep breath for a while, I closed my eyes and opened them and said.
âMy dream is to live freely.â
Cain opened his eyes slightly wide at what I said.
âThank you very much for your help, Duke.â
Come on, I have to convince him!
I seriously refined my expression. I slightly escaped from behind Eugeneâs back and stood alone while facing Cain in an upright posture as one does when one saw the emperor.
âSeriously, I donât desire the things that the Duke is talking about.â
Cainâs black eyes were still looking at me.
âIf you heard the rumors about me, youâd know. Iâm not interested in that position, nor doI fit into it.â
âReally?â
Eugene seemed to have decided to listen to our conversation for now. When I nodded at Cainâs polite words, he continued.
âI can vaguely understand how you feel, your Highness. HoweverâŠâ
I think he understood. I had hope, but I was nervous at the sound of âhoweverâ and I was straightening my posture and closing my lips. Cain didnât take his eyes off me for a moment.
âI donât know what other people are like, but in my eyes, you seem to have a character that suits the position more than the Crown Prince1Â does.â
ââŠâŠ.â
What?
Did you just talk about the crown prince like that? You didnât use any honorificsâŠ1
âHowever, if your Highness has no such will, thereâs nothing we can do about it. It is definitely too late for that. But I think your HighnessâŠâŠ I hope you will be a someone to the crown prince that can keep him in check.â
No, wait. Those eyesâŠâŠ. Was this in the original? Cainâs black eyes were gentle, but a little hostility was visible in them. It became clear every time he talked about the Crown Prince. I was genuinely embarrassed. Still, I couldnât say I knew it, so I desperately picked anything to argue against it.
âBut Iâll be leaving soon.â
Eugeneâs face was distorted. And at the same time as Eugene dragged me back, Cain whispered: ââŠâŠuntil then.â
âStop it.â
Eugene coldly cut off Cainâs words. And the atmosphere between the two made me shiver. Well, wasnât I just asking something that I was curious about, but things progressed differently from what I expected and the atmosphere between the two turned out like this. The tense atmosphere did not last long, because Cain apologized quietly with his eyes closed: âI made a mistake. Please forget about it, Your Highness.â
âItâs nothingâ, answered I in a hurry. Having said this much, I wondered i he would have understood now, because the relationship between the two of us should not get worse right away.
Then letâs get going now, shall we?â
Eugene sighed. Thatâs how the atmosphere got a little warmer. Although my position was moved from the center to the side of Eugene. Anyway, I confirmed one thing: Cain hates the Crown Prince very much. In the original work, he has never showed his likes or dislikes clearly. In the drug room that we arrived in after a short conversation, there was not only Rox but also one more stranger.
âMy name is Ripley. I am an expert on medical herbs. I look forward to your kind cooperation, your Highness.â
âOh? Me as well.â
The status of a Duke or that of a Free Knight was a position that even the Imperial Family could not carelessly ignore, but he was holding none of these positions, so I spoke to him after short hesitation. Ripley was an ordinary impressionable young man with grayish brown hair and green eyes. He was a bit sneaky, but his smiling face was quite friendly. That day, I took turns listening to their explanations and received a handful of medicines that I would take in the future.
Eugene, Cain, Ripley, and Rox said something about a treatment with mana, but I couldnât understand anything, so I nodded as if I understood everything. And on the spot, I felt a flood of memories coming in. Oh, crazy! Day three! It was today! I have forgotten so many times now, but next time, Iâll remember it properly and move. Ah, shoot!
âYour Highness, oh my goodnessâŠâ
When her body cooled , Eugene held out a clean handkerchief to me with a frustrated look. The three, who saw me vomiting blood for the first time in person, were just staring at me blankly.
âWell, itâs fine.â
I stood up while pulling myself together. Seriously, if it wasnât for this timing, I would welcome you with open arms. Itâs not the right situation currently, so I decided to take a closer look at the memories later.
âItâs  nothing to worry about at all, so keep going, please.â
I canât wait to finish this difficult herbal medicine class and go back! The four remained silent for a while and began explaining again starting with Eugene. I pretended to know even harder now. And my knowledge was validated here, too.
By the time Ripley returned with the medicine, what Ripley said to Rox had leaked out to my ears: âShe seems to understand everything, senior.â
âHer Highness is an incredibly clever person.â
Oh my, please stop.
âBeside that, her determination⊠Itâs truly admirable.â
Ah please! I hurried my steps while taking a deep breath.
The memory of my unnie, who was alone, looked like they were still of of a six-year-old. My unnie opened her mouth: âEmma, whatâs that?â
âItâs a gift, your Highness.â
Finally! I heard her voice! Even listening to young Emmaâs caring voice, was nice. I sighted as I looked at the small Leticia-unnie, who squeaked alone and smiled very faintly.
An angel. I saw an angel. I want to hug her!
My unnie seemed to have received a birthday present. As I got closer, I felt like I had a congratulatory letter.
[To your Highness, who passed the age of five safely: Happy 6th birthday to you â Dante Vance]
Vance. When I saw those words, I squatted down and took turns between looking at the  presents and looking at Leticia-unnie. Vance is the surname of unnieâs maternal family. I thought the communication between them and her was cut off after the death of unnieâs mother, Lysian Vance. Were they still in contact with unnie when she was still young? However, when I saw unnieâs blushing cheeks, all the ideas that came to mind felt worthless.
There, if you like it, I like it, too!
The gift was a quill pen as white as snow. Leticia-unnie was absorbed in writing dark gray letters with the quill pen. Thatâs how the memory of the six-year-old Leticia ended. I closed my eyes like a fool and smiled happily before sighing.
âI think sheâs becoming happier.â
Even if she becomes happy, it will all change one day. On the day she found out about her illness.
âI donât know when that was.â
It would be very painful to see the memory of that moment. But I decided not to pity her. Perhaps it was because it was clear that the Leticia-unnie, who I had met, would hate it to be pitied. I just decided to like her harder then. Unlike other characters who have become able to take care of her, my sister is a person who has nothing more to take care of.
âBecause I received it all.â
The more I live my life, the more beautiful the world seemed to be. Just by looking at the mixed memories of my previous life, I could see that I would not have been able to be a fan to my heartâs content in my previous life.
âThis is a life that I received as a bonus, so I was lucky.â
Well, by the way, Cain and Eugene seem to have a pretty good relationship. Although their personalities are complete opposites, I can feet how the respect each other
âI donât need to worry about it anymore.â
Itâs a pleasure. If so, I think itâs time to tackle Cainâs personal problem a little.
âAfter I got to know Cain a little more. Great!â
I hummed joyfully with enthusiasm. Today was a six-year-old memory, so it had already been 18 days since I met Leticia-unnie. So far, it was day 18 out of the 3 months that I had. On the 21st, when I find the next memory, itâll be three weeks have passed. After much consideration, I decided to meet Cain more often before that.
âEven though, there are some things that are burdensome for me.â
Still. Unlike Leticia-unnie who had died already, I cannot be caught up in the love of Ariel and the Crown Prince and become unhappy. Therefore, I strengthened my mind according to my original purpose.
When the day came, I told Eugene.
âSir Bolton, shall we go on a walk again after a long time?â
âAre you sure?â, replied he while smiling.
I suggested to him: âHow about the library?â
âI had heard that Cain was living in the library these daysâ, said Eugene while holding back his laughter. He definitely laughed a lot now and became somewhat softened. It feels like trust is vaguely contained. In fact, it seemed that Cain, Eugene, and I all had became friends these days.
âGood. Why donât we drag out someone whoâs stuck there?â
âThatâs a great idea.â
As expected, we can communicate well.
âI thought I could see him more often because he said he is on vacation. I thought Sir Bolton would have a sparring duel with him, but what do you mean a library? Itâs no different than when he is working!â
When I spoke enthusiastically half-jokingly, Eugene solemnly agreed.
âYouâre right. Then, shall we go?â
We went to the outer palace library with the same smiles.