Even if it wasn’t okay, it had to be.

Isabelle knew that no matter how much she protested or refused to go through with the marriage, it would only end with her entire family being dragged to the execution grounds.

“The man I’m going to marry—he’s young, handsome, and wealthy.”

It was something she could only say because Tenetta happened to be absent the day her family arrived at the estate.

In this life, Isabelle had already decided that she would not praise him in his presence. Even if it was close to the truth, he would only use those words later to provoke her.

Raymond looked incredulous.

“You think those three things are enough?”

In truth, there were more problems in the world than one might expect that could be solved with just those three things. It might have been an uncomfortable reality for someone like Raymond, who still believed the pen was mightier than the sword.

Like any ordinary older sister, Isabelle ignored her younger brother’s defiance.

“He’s of high status, and his position within the Order is solid.”

“…Sometimes, you can be really detached, you know.”

No—she was capable of feeling deeply.

It was just that when her family’s lives were at stake, she wanted to focus only on what was right in front of her.

For now, she just had to get through this marriage safely.

After that… somehow—

As Isabelle drifted into thoughts unfit for a bride-to-be, Raymond, who had been watching her, muttered,

“You look paler than the last time I saw you.”

“And you’ve gotten quite tan. Anyone would think you spent your time farming instead of studying.”

“That’s because I learned how to swim over the summer break—! Whatever. Why am I even talking to you? I was worried about you for nothing…”

Despite his grumbling, relief showed clearly on Raymond’s face. Seeing that she hadn’t changed, he seemed to feel that, at the very least, things weren’t completely out of control.

Isabelle was glad her brother had taken the situation well.

For all their bickering, the siblings cared for each other deeply. Just as Isabelle was willing to marry a madman for the sake of their family’s safety, Raymond would not hesitate to do something dangerous for her.

And Isabelle wanted to protect him from ever having to face such a situation.

Following behind their parents, who were walking ahead with the butler, the siblings continued the conversation they hadn’t been able to fully have through letters.

“Oh, right. Father signed the prenuptial agreement.”

“A prenuptial agreement?”

“Yeah. It looked like it came from your future husband’s family. Since he didn’t say anything about it, I guess it’s just a standard one.”

When there was a large gap in status, such contracts were not uncommon. In her first life, they hadn’t done one—but back then, there had been things they had skipped over, trusting in love alone.

She could ask her father about it later.

With that vague trust in her parents, Isabelle tucked the matter away in her memory. But as she was dragged here and there by preparations that were not yet finished, she eventually forgot about it altogether.

The hectic days passed so quickly that she barely had time to properly look at her parents’ and brother’s faces. And before she knew it, the morning of the wedding had arrived.

***

Perhaps the most hurried wedding among the nobility in nearly a decade.

Standing alone in the waiting room after dismissing everyone, Tenetta looked into the mirror.

A face that felt increasingly unfamiliar the more times he crossed between life and death stared back at him.

And yet, no one noticed.

How many times had he awakened in the winter of his twenty-fourth year now…?

As he tried to count, Tenetta closed his eyes.

Eternal youth felt like sugar forced into his mouth—overly sweet, cloying, to the point of nausea.

To others, this might look like his first marriage.

But in truth, he was about to enter his seventh.

And if one counted his lives… it was his tenth.

“Cats are said to have nine lives.”

In his fourth life, Isabelle had said that.

Her cheek had been resting lightly against his hand, her eyelids lowered. Her small face, pale with illness, felt rough beneath his touch. Her slender chest rose and fell as she struggled to breathe.

That autumn, the physician had diagnosed her with a cold.

By winter, it had become pneumonia.

They had searched desperately for a cure—but all they found was one more problem that money could not solve.

“Do you think… we’ll have another chance?”

When Isabelle looked up at him with tearful eyes, Tenetta thought the lamplight by the bedside was too bright. The dried tracks of tears stood out starkly against her pale cheeks.

He hoped she could not see him the same way.

A wife might seek her husband’s shoulder when she wished to cry—

But the reverse should never be allowed.

Even knowing that, Tenetta couldn’t bring himself to look away from Isabelle. His hand searched along the edge of the bed until his fingers brushed against her cold hand.

He grasped it tightly—

And drew in a short breath.

“Don’t worry. We’ll have more chances than nine.”

The words left him—and only then did Tenetta flinch.

Aside from the very first time, it was the only moment he had ever even come close to revealing the truth behind their repeated returns.

A faint sense of guilt stirred within him. His lips parted, but no words followed.

Then Isabelle’s weak hand closed gently over his.

A faint smile touched her pale face.

“That’s a relief.”

That night, Isabelle fell into a deep sleep.

Tenetta held her hand for a long time—waiting, even as the slow, fragile rise and fall of her chest came to a quiet stop.

At dawn, he cradled her face in his hands and lowered his head. Gently brushing his lips over her cold forehead, he kissed the place where death had already touched her.

The lover who had died young met him again—still just as young.

In that life, too, they loved fiercely, pouring everything into the brief time they were given. It felt as though they would remain that way forever.

Wasn’t that so?

When youth alone repeats itself without end, how could one ever come to know anything else?
How could one ever learn… anything beyond it—

“You’re a terrible man.”

Anything else—

“In the next life, don’t propose to me. That’s my only request.”

Each time he returned to twenty-four, she had seen him changing.

Leaving behind words like a curse, she vanished into forgetfulness.

At first, Tenetta had intended to honor her wish.

“If I’m truly given another chance… I want to love someone like you.”

He had meant to.

He truly had…

The remnants of the past—the ones that had shattered all his resolve in an instant—seemed to ripple across the mirror.

The more Tenetta dwelled on them, the more certain he became that he was losing his mind. He dragged a hand down his face.

The Isabelle before him remembered nothing.

She might resent him, but it was a shallow thing—nothing compared to the depth of what they had once shared. She had fought to cut him out of her life—and she had succeeded.

And now, he was the one reaping the result of that success.

Even so, he felt no satisfaction.

He had brought her exactly where he wanted her, yet the joy was gone. When he first began that quiet, peaceful life with an Isabelle who remembered nothing, he had truly believed—

‘Even if I lived like this for fifty years, it would be enough.’

Was it because it was winter?

Searching for something to blame, he remembered—he had never liked holding weddings in this season.

It was too cold.

There was nothing more miserable than the woman sharing his bed falling ill with pneumonia.

Or perhaps it was because winter made a honeymoon difficult. This time of year was always unbearably busy.

The wedding he had liked the most had taken place in summer.

***

Back then, they were living through their second return.

In that life, Tenetta had decided not to waste his time on meaningless things.

He did not inherit the family.

Isabelle loved indulging in small, pretty things—pearl earrings, satin shoes—and he already had more than enough money to buy her whatever she wanted.

He abandoned knighthood as well. The weap*ns and medals he had received for his achievements in war, he returned to the one who had granted them. The Emperor, who had given them to him, was far from pleased—but Tenetta couldn’t have cared less.

Once he had roughly settled things, he packed his belongings and went straight to Attley Castle.

Not like a lover seeking affection, but like someone slipping away to die, he climbed the castle wall in secrecy and entered the room of the woman he loved.

Sitting on the windowsill, he was met by Isabelle, who rushed to him without hesitation. He pulled her into his arms, and they exchanged breathless kisses.

Like him—

She, too, remembered everything.

Burying his face against her, relieved to find her uninjured—no torn flesh, no broken bones—Tenetta drew in a deep breath.

Then he spoke.

“Come live with me.”

It was the voice of someone who already knew—

There was no other choice.

By then, news of the commotion he had caused—refusing the title and abandoning knighthood—had already reached her, and Isabelle let out a small sigh.

She understood why he had gone that far.

But the world was not as understanding as she was.

“I have more than enough money to provide for you. I’ve never been seriously ill, and I’m not so weak that I’d die at someone else’s hands.”

Leaning in, he whispered those words to reassure her, pressing a kiss just below her ear, at the back of her cheek.

“I’ll take responsibility for you for the rest of your life.”

“My father won’t allow it.”

“If I have to, I’ll kneel before him and beg.”

Tenetta did not consider his pride something to be thrown away lightly.

But if it would put her at ease, he would do it without hesitation.

“If it’s what you want, I’ll do anything.”