While Millean’s countless words pierced through me, I stood there with a stupid expression, unable to utter a sound.

I had finally faced the truth I so desperately wanted to know.

But far from feeling relieved or refreshed…

‘Good heavens.’

Cold sweat formed on my hands, and my chest felt tight as if I’d swallowed a stone.

“……”

Every word Millean had spoken was shocking, but one thing in particular stuck in my heart.

‘He did it to save me.’

If he had left me to die at Foil Viper’s hands.

If that had happened.

‘As the High Priest said, things wouldn’t have become this complicated.’

I had always stood behind Ainberg.

He had never once spoken kindly to me or shown me a gentle smile.

Yet while my heart grew cold and I came to hate him completely, Ainberg had always felt the same way.

To think that everything I had been seeing was a lie.

I tried desperately not to show an emotional reaction.

‘Phew, alright.’

Calm down.

Don’t get lost in my emotions, think practically.

As I pulled myself together, something still bothered me.

If he put me to sleep, why did I transmigrate into Leonora’s body?

“But why am I living in Leonora’s body? Does that mean Leonora’s soul is in my sleeping body?”

When I asked, Millean replied in his usual blunt voice.

“That was a kind of mistake.”

Huh?

A mistake?

“Your soul unexpectedly seeped into Leonora, who had weak spiritual energy. Actually, Leonora Chadmon was about to die.”

He shrugged once and continued lightly.

“I didn’t expect that to happen.”

“……”

“If the timing hadn’t been right, Leonora would have died.”

Only then did I begin to understand the situations and words that had occasionally puzzled me.

What he had said on the balcony when we met at the ball.

‘This is where my lover loved to be.’

The reason he was so tolerant when I acted extravagantly and foolishly, telling me to just do as I pleased.

…The reason he kept the handkerchief I gave him.

Why he took in my cat Miamo.

Even pretending to make a mistake by calling me Sienna.

“He did it all on purpose. He knew everything from the beginning.”

As I realized this, my face suddenly began to burn.

Remembering how I had occasionally asked about the Empress out of curiosity about his true feelings, I couldn’t sit still.

‘I suddenly wondered something. Your Majesty, has the Empress ever come here?’

‘Now that you’ve entered, should I say the Empress has visited?’

But above all else…

‘Did you love the Empress?’

Argh!

I covered my face with my hands and squeezed my eyes shut.

“You’ve finally lost your mind.”

No matter what Millean said beside me, my head was throbbing so badly I couldn’t bear it.

Wait, does that mean the scandals I knew about him were also…?

I carefully asked while staring at Millean through my fingers.

“Then were all the rumors about His Majesty fabricated too?”

What about the talk of hiding a lover in the temple?

And what about the claim that he couldn’t sleep without a woman?

When I cautiously opened my mouth, Millean let out a hollow laugh.

“He needed to be seen as someone obsessed with women. Wouldn’t that make his distance from the Empress appear more dramatic?”

“……”

Wow, this is maddening.

I didn’t know a single thing correctly.

I felt like a chess piece moving around on a board he had set up.

Now I was at the point of doubting everything.

“Then is His Majesty’s memory loss also—”

“No.”

Fortunately, Millean firmly shook his head.

“Sadly, that was an unavoidable accident, and it’s real. Well, now that I’m here, it will be resolved soon.”

His confident voice was annoying, but I couldn’t argue.

After hearing all this, I vaguely understood why Ainberg immediately looked for Millean when he finally regained consciousness.

“Um, High Priest.”

Of course, his existence was very important to me right now too.

I understood that Ainberg had planned this in collaboration with Millean.

But there was still something I couldn’t comprehend.

If he wanted to protect me, shouldn’t he have let Leonora live quietly?

“But why did he decide to marry Leonora Chadmon?”

“That also had several reasons.”

“……”

“The stage was set, so it was time to solve the problem. It was also a good way to provoke Foil Viper, who had been lying low since the Empress fell into a coma.”

So that’s why he acted like he would marry immediately, but never took the decisive step.

Millean stopped speaking and shook his head.

“You should hear the other reasons directly from him.”

“……?”

“I don’t need to explain someone else’s feelings, do I?”

Ah…

I nodded weakly.

Yes, Ainberg’s feelings.

What did he think when he saw me in a deep sleep?

What did he think when he faced me in a different form after a year?

Remembering our reunion at the ball that night suddenly made my heart ache. A completely different feeling from my anger and huffing that night.

I had to take a deep breath.

The conversation fell into a lull for a moment.

I watched Millean carefully before speaking again.

“I heard there was an ominous energy in the west, did you resolve that?”

Millean gave a hollow laugh and answered.

“What ominous energy?”

Huh? What does he mean?

“I visited the place where His Majesty was attacked.”

I see. He went to find any remaining evidence that might be there.

Ha, so he knew about that too.

I thought I was the only one making an effort.

In fact, Ainberg had been preparing for a long time.

“Are your questions resolved now?”

The questions were resolved, but that didn’t mean my heart was at ease.

So what happens to me now?

Can I return to my body?

As I continued standing there with a blank expression, Millean spoke first.

“There’s no need to think so complicatedly. Just accept it.”

“Accept it?”

“Is there any other way?”

His emotionless voice seeped in.

I was about to say something out of disbelief when he continued.

“Now pull yourself together and act maturely.”

Hey, listen.

“Now that you know the truth, I hope you won’t act recklessly without thinking things through like before.”

What?

Act recklessly without thinking?

Yes, I appreciate the help and I understand everything, but.

“Can a person’s heart change so easily, like cutting a radish?”

“Why are you suddenly talking about radishes?”

My true feelings burst out without me realizing.

When I spoke in a suppressed voice, Millean tilted his head to one side and stared at me.

I should have stopped there.

But seeing his shameless and arrogant face, I couldn’t hold back.

“If people could do whatever they thought, His Majesty would have used an easy and comfortable method to protect the throne. It’s because he’s human, a person with emotions, that he couldn’t do that.”

“My lady. Such stubbornness—”

“Wait! I’m not finished speaking! Don’t force me to do at once what even His Majesty couldn’t do. I can’t do it, and I can’t just be fine right now!”

All my suppressed emotions burst out at once. After I poured everything out, Millean asked without changing his expression.

“Are you done?”

I avoided his gaze while trying to regulate my somewhat rough breathing.

“No.”

“Then continue.”

“Never mind. I lose the urge when someone rolls out the carpet for me.”

“What does that even mean?”

This time Millean curled up one corner of his mouth.

I knew he was laughing out of disbelief, but somehow I felt better when his expression softened.

Just then, Millean looked at me and asked again.

“But why aren’t you asking the most important question?”

The most important thing?

Not understanding what he meant, I could only blink.

“I think I’ve asked about pretty much everything.”

“The most important thing remains.”

He stared at me with eyes sharper than before.

Only then did I truly feel how unfamiliar this place was where I stood.

“W-wait a moment.”

The atmosphere suddenly grew chilly.

As I swallowed dryly, the conversation I had first had with Millean slowly came back to me.

‘You said you’d be fine with dying after knowing the truth, right?’

I wish I hadn’t remembered.

But I couldn’t open my mouth rashly toward him.

‘I finally learned Ainberg’s true feelings, and this is how it ends?’

When I rolled my eyes slightly to look up at Millean, his expression remained emotionless.

…I still have a mountain of things I want to say and need to say.

I couldn’t put any strength into my clenched fist.

Well, it can’t be helped.

A promise is a promise.

Taking a deep breath, I felt a faint courage blooming.

Maintaining as calm an appearance as possible, I asked Millean my final question.

“So am I going to die now?”