A scathing look flew his way, suggesting he was voluntarily choosing hardship at his age. But the owner was so delighted even by this look that he just laughed heartily. In his youth, he had been quite rebellious, boldly demanding proper justification for orders he couldn’t understand, but now he had become an old man who laughed off everything with such ease—it was hard to believe even seeing it directly.

“To be honest, I had almost given up. The day I would face Your Highness again…… You wouldn’t even let us in when we begged to see you, yet here we are, meeting with you alongside this Miss. If the vice-captain knew, he would already be a sea of tears from feeling neglected.”

“Can I ask a question?”

A voice suddenly interjected, sounding softer than usual. Looking back, her face was also notably redder than normal. Alois checked her temperature by gently rubbing her cheek, then alternately looked at her empty wine glass and the owner. As his mood visibly worsened, the owner hurriedly explained his innocence.

“I served what Your Highness ordered. The wine in this region tends to be stronger than wine of the same name from other regions because of the hot weather, but has she already gotten drunk?”

She normally didn’t get drunk easily on ordinary wine, yet somehow she was already intoxicated after just a few glasses of this unusually strong wine. Her drunken speech rolling around in rounded syllables was cute to hear, but the fact that he had to share this with someone else wasn’t particularly pleasing. Alois moved his chair closer and sat right next to Olivia. She naturally clung to his arm and leaned comfortably against him, raising her hand once more to shout ‘Question!’

“Feel free to ask anything you’re curious about.”

“Did Alois hate humans this much back then too? Was there a woman you met……”

Wondering what kind of question it would be, Alois laughed with a sigh at her trivial curiosity. Seemingly unhappy with his reaction, Olivia rubbed her head vigorously against the arm she was leaning on. The hand that gently smoothed her hair, disheveled from static electricity, was quite affectionate, making the owner, who was watching the entire scene, wonder if what he was seeing was real. Our Highness is gazing at a woman with that kind of look?

“What on earth happened during all this time? I was already surprised to see you appear in this form. Could it be that the curse has been lifted……”

“I abandoned such futile hope long ago. Let’s just say this is like a dream that might disappear at any moment.”

The owner, who had been filled with expectation, repeated only words of apology, disappointed by Alois’s self-deprecating response. As one of the direct witnesses to the incident that day, this level of reaction wasn’t particularly surprising. Perhaps the shock was even greater for those who had to watch everything vividly than for himself, who had lost his reason and transformed into a monster.

As they talked, the owner seemed to crave a drink himself, so he finally closed the shop door and poured himself a glass of whiskey. For a long while, the two men exchanged drinks in silence. The sound of Olivia’s gentle purring breaths as she slept soundly mixed with the calm music.

“I didn’t know you would miss the time you spent with me.”

He spoke calmly while looking at the flag and shield that had been proudly displayed. He had never once thought there would be someone who cherished the now-faded glory of the past that he himself barely remembered. On that day when Alois was betrayed by his most trusted younger brother and mother, everything he had accomplished instantly lost its glory and fell to a position worse than a pebble rolling underfoot. The same was true for his knight order.

“Not all of us thought the same way. To be honest, some fled out of fear, and others betrayed and turned their backs. But there were certainly those like me who believed in Your Highness and waited. Of course, you wouldn’t see us.”

When he first secluded himself in the ducal mansion, there were people who asked to meet him. But when he showed no response, the number of visitors gradually decreased, and when that number dwindled to just one, Alois finally built a thick wall of thorn bushes around the forest. A clear sign of rejection, saying he wouldn’t meet anyone no matter how many times they came. The last subordinate to visit, who wept and turned away when faced with the high thorn bushes, was the owner standing before him now.

“To be honest, I felt quite hurt at the time. I understood you not opening the door, but to build thorn bushes? That was like Your Highness personally driving thorns into my faith.”

As the alcohol took effect, the owner recalled that day’s vivid wounds in a more casual tone, complaining like a child. Alois smiled faintly and awkwardly voiced what he couldn’t say back then.

“Because in the end, if even you stopped coming, I thought it would be harder for me to endure.”

“……”

“I wanted to believe that at least one person was still looking for me until the end, so I rejected you before you could leave me.”

“You’re truly consistently selfish.”

Despite being bewildered by Alois’s honest confession, the owner felt somewhat relieved about that day and lightly laughed it off while still chiding him. The owner pleasantly shared stories of other subordinates he knew. Some had continued living as knights and died early, while others, disillusioned with politics, left the imperial capital to return to their territories and lived ordinary noble lives.

“And then there are loyal subjects like me who traveled everywhere trying to find a way to break Your Highness’s curse.”

“So those antiques……”

“I’ve been everywhere looking for a way to break the curse. Don’t be surprised. When I was young, I even crossed to other continents.”

He understood why only he remained exactly as he was that day, unlike others who had accumulated wisdom with age. While everyone else moved forward from the past in their own ways, he had simply stayed in the mansion, neither hearing nor seeing anything, trapped in that day and spending meaningless time—it was only natural.

“I…… have been living a more pathetic life than those who followed me.”

Looking back, he had constantly lived a life of running away. Because one wound was so painful, he couldn’t face it, fight it, or even move forward on a different path, so he kept hiding in a world where he could ignore reality.

“Why is that pathetic?”

Olivia, whom he thought was dozing, mumbled in a thin voice. With a face still covered in drowsiness, she looked around and, upon finding Alois, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. Alois, who awkwardly bent his waist toward her, froze in surprise at Olivia’s sudden action.

“If it hurts too much, you can hide for a while. Everyone heals at different speeds and needs different medicines. Feeling upset because others have healed while you haven’t is the most meaningless thing.”

It wasn’t clear whether she was responding to what Alois had said or just sleep-talking, but he understood what she meant.

“But you met me because you stayed there. That’s a huge blessing.”

“Is it? Is meeting you a blessing for me?”

“Of course! Like me, right? Kind and pretty and capable and skilled, and also, also, can talk to animals, oof!”

Alois hastily covered Olivia’s mouth as she started to reveal her secrets, apparently still drunk. After shaking her head and vigorously refusing, Olivia soon calmed down again and began to doze off. Seeing her uncomfortable dozing posture made him uneasy, and he thought it would be better to take her back to the lodging to rest, regardless of dinner plans.

As Alois put down his glass and adjusted Olivia’s body, his subordinate quietly poured more alcohol into his own glass. He felt a ticklish sensation and wanted to cry, but he held it back. He sensed Alois might say something about him being old and sentimental.

“Did you meet this woman in that forest?”

“Yes.”

“She must be extraordinary to have broken through the thorn bushes.”

“…… That’s right. And she didn’t run away even after seeing all of me.”

“Is she the one who helped Your Highness come this far?”

He showed no hesitation in checking Olivia’s complexion with a worried look and pulling her close with his arm around her waist. The care with which he examined the floor, concerned she might trip on something, revealed the answer without needing a verbal response.

“Suddenly, I feel like I can search more diligently for a way to break Your Highness’s curse.”

“At your age? There’s no need for that.”

“No. What exhausted me wasn’t the fear that there might be no way to break the curse, but the fear that perhaps Your Highness had forever missed the chance to be happy. But after experiencing the luck of meeting Your Highness today, I feel it’s not too late after all.”

Alois, who had risen from the bar almost carrying Olivia, quietly gazed at his old subordinate’s face. Though none of that youthful face remained, the steadfast gaze that still showed trust in him hadn’t changed. The realization that he had missed all these connections—people who continued to search for ways to break the curse despite multiple rejections—cut him to the bone once again.

“Will I be able to see Your Highness again?”

“Yes. Seron, I promise not to reject you first if you come looking for me again.”

“Somehow I feel like crying. Perhaps people become more tearful with age.”

When Alois patted the owner’s nostalgic shoulder, the owner firmly grasped Alois’s hand in return, his eyes shining with the same light as when he first joined the knight order and greeted him.

* * *