In his previous life, Bridget Erentis returned the seal just before she succumbed to an unknown illness. That damned thing that made enduring long abuse possible. When he finally held the seal, how did he feel?

He wanted to smash it.

He wondered if his life had been such a mess because of this mere thing. So he actually smashed it.

Heirloom or not, the true significance of the family seal lies in its uniqueness. If you destroy the old seal and make a new one, that’s it. So he neatly broke the heirloom in two in front of the dying woman.

He still clearly remembers the eyes of the sick person slowly widening.

“That’s how she got me on leash.”

“That’s absurd. The seal should only be held by the head of the family.”

“Yes.”

So in this life, he decided not to care.

The future of the North, which would fall into chaos without the seal, had long since been pushed out of his concerns. After all, the North couldn’t protect him from Bridget Erentis. It had even driven Hyacinth Hener to the edge in his previous life. It was truly karma.

“It’s inevitable if the seal was taken.”

“Yes.”

“But in such cases, a slightly extreme method can be taken.”

At Hyacinth’s soft voice, Ethan nodded quietly.

He was listening. At the same time, he was focusing all his strength to remember this moment in detail. To engrave all his senses and store them deep in his soul.

Sharing an experience in the same space and time as this woman would no longer happen. So now was a precious moment, like a shower of flower petals……

“Set it on fire.”

“Yes.”

“……”

“Yes?”

Ethan understood a beat late and was astonished.

Hyacinth had given a hint about an ‘extreme method’ in advance, but it was far more extreme than he had expected. As he stared blankly at the woman, she shrugged her shoulders.

It was the same gesture he had made a few minutes ago.

“If my understanding is correct, that seal is the Duchess’s hostage, right?”

“That’s a clear interpretation.”

“Then the seal is precious not only to the Duke but also to the Duchess. Because with that seal, the Duchess can cross the line and achieve her desires.”

“……”

“Usually, when a fire breaks out, people take their most precious belongings with them. So if a real fire breaks out, wouldn’t the Duchess take the seal and come out?”

It made sense. Except for the part where there were loopholes.

Ethan muttered as he watched the light slowly tickling the floor.

“What if the Duchess doesn’t try to take the seal and just escapes with her body?”

“Well, then the seal would be completely lost. But wouldn’t your goal still be achieved?”

If no one could find the existing seal, creating a new one would ensure its uniqueness.

It was a perspective he hadn’t considered, so Ethan felt slightly bewildered.

When he stared blankly at Hyacinth, she propped her chin and smiled faintly. It was a rather triumphant smile.

“Of course, the Duchess might have chosen another location instead of hiding the seal in the castle. But in that case, she would have kept visiting a specific place to ensure the seal’s safety……”

“……”

“I believe Your Highness has followed the Duchess.”

“I have. And given Bridget Erentis’s personality, she would have hidden the seal very close to her.”

She was sensitive and sharp.

She was the type to keep building ominous assumptions and carrying worries until she exploded from the burden. In summary, a mentally unstable person. So it didn’t seem likely that she would store the precious seal far away from her……

“It’s resolved now.”

“Thank you sincerely…… I always owe you, lady.”

“Indeed. I hope Your Highness’s leash will loosen.”

Hyacinth stood up and dusted off her skirt.

It was a declaration of intent that she was leaving now that the business was done and wouldn’t spend any more time on him. Ethan could only trace her resolute figure with his eyes.

Her thin bliaut hem swayed in the sunlight.

Come to think of it, not once……. did he ever properly touch that dress. He was truly trash. An idiot and a fool. He remembered the sin of deceiving a woman who knew nothing so thoroughly, and Ethan had to smile bitterly.

Hyacinth moved lightly and gracefully. With elegant movements as if she was dancing…..

“Lady-!”

Ethan shouted. Even if he was breaking the solemn silence of the library, he had no choice but to raise his voice.

Because Hyacinth was opening the window.

He thought she would leave around the sofa, but the woman opened the window. The moment she sat on the window ledge, his mind and heart broke. No. Absolutely not!

He threw himself without thinking.

At the very moment Hyacinth turned around, startled by the loud noise from behind, he fell at her feet.

He hastily grabbed her skirt. He hugged her knees and desperately clutched her ankle with his other hand.

Something he couldn’t do in his past life……

No. Not twice.

If only I had caught you then. If I had thrown myself at you a bit sooner, you would have been alive. Even if you were a wreck, still, still……. You would have still been living, not dead. You wouldn’t have been buried as a cold corpse in the frozen ground.

“Duke?”

The day he returned after burying his child, he had to handle his wife’s corpse. The body of the woman who had fallen to the ground was surprisingly intact and beautiful. Even though she had fallen from such a height, there wasn’t a single part of her that was broken.

Tyche’s flower, Hyacinth Hener, was elegant even in death.

“Duke of Trisel?”

He had killed her. His neglect, his misunderstanding, his prejudice—had killed her. Ethan, realizing his sins deeply, wanted to tear himself apart for not catching her in time even in her final moments.

I…… I killed her.

Now that time has turned back.

The one who should die again is me, so why are you trying to die?

No. Don’t sit on the window ledge. Don’t try to fall again. Just let me fall. If you had told me to fall then, I would have died for you, so why are you……

“Ethan Erentis!”

His hand holding her skirt trembled. The hand clutching her ankle did too. It was only when his name was called in a clear voice that Ethan realized he was almost hugging her calf and burying his face in her skirt.

He was in the posture of a sinner kneeling. It was a pathetic, submissive posture, but Ethan didn’t care at all.

If he could stop the woman’s suicide, he could do anything. He could crawl like a dog, even press his forehead to her foot.

“Don’t do it……”

“No, no, Your Highness.”

“Please, please don’t do it……”

“Are you…… crying?”

“Why, why, why the window again… Why now, of all times!”

A fierce hand grabbed both his cheeks and lifted them up. Forced to raise his head, Ethan exposed his crumpled gaze. His devastated heart, his face crumbling without dignity.

It was all exposed under the sunlight.

“Uh, well, first…”

“……”

“At least you’re not crying.”

Hyacinth commented dryly. Ethan tightened his arms around the woman’s knees. She rolled her eyes at his desperate clinging.

No, absolutely not…

“If, if I cry, will you not, not fall?”

“First, let me correct something. This is the first floor. Even if you go out from here, you can’t fall. Calm down.”

When she didn’t fall, Ethan finally lost it. He turned in the direction he desperately wanted to avoid.

“You’re a lady!”

Ethan flared up.

“Then why are you going out the window!”

“What?”

“How can a lady… Ah!”

There was no mercy in Hyacinth Hener’s hands. The woman who grabbed his hair murmured coldly.

“Is the Duke really giving me etiquette lessons right now?”

“……”

“You? To me?”

Her hand, clutching his bangs, trembled violently. The tremor filled with anger was transmitted to his scalp, and the man finally came to his senses.

First floor. Even if she went out the window, she couldn’t fall. His mistake was having a fit as soon as he saw her sitting on the windowsill.

Ethan struggled to breathe as he looked up at her pitifully.

Still, still, it can’t be.

She shouldn’t be at the window.

“Let go. Now.”

Hyacinth commanded, lightly pulling his hair.

Ethan hesitantly released her knees, ankles, and calves, and only then did Hyacinth let go of his hair.

A few strands stuck to her palm. She brushed them off without hesitation and clicked her tongue. She gave him a cold look, then hopped over the sofa and went out the door.

The sound of the thick library door opening and closing.

Ethan, who had been sitting on the floor blankly watching her leave, was broken for a long time. Like a doll with broken strings. Or a toy abandoned by its owner.

Before he died, he combined the graves of the baby and the woman. Should he not have done that? The baby was a direct descendant of Trisel, so he should be buried in the frozen land, but the woman’s remains should have been sent to Tyche.

It’s too late to go back to that time and revive them, and he knew that regretting it was useless… But still, the regret surged painfully.

Ethan collapsed, lying face down.

For some reason, he felt like crying, but he couldn’t.

* * *