It was absurd no matter how she thought about it.

‘Did Lionel order this?’

If that was true, he must have been quite desperate.

Considering he called his already busy son and asked for something like this. He must have wanted to sever any connection between himself and the Artzen imperial family by any means.

Even so, this kind of coercion……

‘Who do you think you are?’

What right did Edgar Shortiras have?

Though they were pretending to be lovers, Melissa clearly thought she wasn’t that meaningful to Edgar. He, of all people, couldn’t tell her what to do like this.

“Why His Highness?”

Moreover, thinking about it now, Edgar had tried to prevent her from meeting Lloyd in this way before.

On the day of her mother’s funeral, the last time she saw her.

When Melissa, who had just regained consciousness, said she would go out to talk with Lloyd, Edgar insisted it was absolutely not allowed then too.

Even though he knew his behavior would seem suspicious.

‘It’s definitely not just because he doesn’t like Lloyd.’

There must be some other reason.

A reason why Edgar had to do this.

“I’m asking what the reason is, Edgar.”

Melissa asked once more.

Edgar seemed hesitant to answer.

Well, of course, I was right then. Melissa thought somewhat cynically and slowly shook her head.

“Fine. You don’t have to tell me. I’ll try to do as you say if that’s what you want. We are lovers after all.”

Anyway, having decided to become Edgar’s lover and use him, she had already thought she should reduce the number of times she met with Lloyd.

That way Edgar wouldn’t become suspicious.

She hadn’t even solved the magic contract problem yet, so it would be troublesome if he already discovered she had other intentions.

“Thank you, Melissa.”

Edgar smiled gently.

“His Highness the Crown Prince is untrustworthy. You know well that His Majesty the Emperor is trying to exploit you somehow because of your power of precognition.”

Those words.

They were words you, at least, should not have said.

The words she wanted to say rose right to her lips, but Melissa deliberately held back and changed the subject.

“What’s the other condition besides this?”

“The second condition is that you don’t tell anyone that I’ve agreed to break the magic contract. No one else but me.”

Edgar said in a firm voice.

She had no intention of telling anyone about the magic contract in the first place, since doing so would violate the contract itself, but his insistence made her curious.

Edgar’s current behavior seemed as though he wanted to keep this situation secret.

While she needed to keep this hidden from Lionel to proceed with her plans, why would Edgar?

‘He has no reason to.’

It wouldn’t harm Edgar even if it became known.

Perhaps he was concerned that if the magic contract became known in any way, it would damage the reputation of the Shortiras ducal family, which had carefully looked after the Lucid clan.

That possibility was highly likely.

Until evidence of Melissa Lucid’s abuse at the ducal residence was discovered, the Shortiras ducal family had maintained quite a good image within the Artzen Empire.

With people still talking about the abuse suffered by the last remaining member of the Lucid clan, if the matter of the magic contract also came to light, the image of the ducal family would plummet uncontrollably.

So Melissa asked somewhat sarcastically,

“Does that ‘no one else’ include Duke Shortiras?”

She asked, thinking the answer would obviously be no.

There was no way.

If Edgar Shortiras was the person she had known all this time.

‘You’re that kind of person.’

Someone who could abandon long-standing relationships for his own benefit, who could ignore countless desperate pleas for help.

Melissa waited for his answer with a composed face.

But this was clearly a misjudgment.

She had momentarily forgotten that in life, there comes a moment when what you believed to be certain gets denied.

Despite being betrayed by the same mistake in her previous life.

“Yes.”

Edgar answered in a low voice.

His tone was so resolute that it made her disbelief seem foolish.

“Especially not Father. This condition was primarily with Father in mind.”

“……”

“Promise me, Melissa. That no matter what happens, you will never tell Father.”

The grip on her hand tightened.

Melissa lowered her gaze to look at her tightly held hand.

She could feel Edgar’s hand trembling.

Like someone desperate and urgent.

Melissa could recognize he was sincere because she had vividly experienced such emotions herself.

“Prioritize this over the condition I mentioned earlier. Otherwise, breaking the magic contract might fail. Understand?”

What kind of person are you really?

“I just want you to be happy.”

Melissa understood him less and less.

* * *

In the end, that day concluded rather ambiguously.

Melissa let out a small sigh while recalling the day that had already become a week ago.

Her mind felt complicated.

‘Things seem to be getting more tangled.’

Afterward, Melissa spent almost the entire day with Edgar. Whispering affectionate words and expressing affection according to the mood, like ordinary lovers.

What began as physical contact to prevent the pain from precognition naturally continued even when it wasn’t necessary.

Because of this, Melissa now recognized her condition.

She couldn’t help but know.

She kept wavering toward Edgar.

[Perhaps this life could be different?]

This thought had crossed Melissa’s mind dozens of times already.

Despite knowing better than anyone how futile such belief was, she kept harboring such hope.

Because Edgar looked genuinely concerned about her, because he acted like he loved her, because he spoke as though he would always be by her side.

Because he smiled in a way Melissa had never seen before.

If not for the memories of her past life that surfaced whenever she started to forget, she would certainly have been in big trouble.

‘Whether I trust Edgar or not, what I want is to be with him.’

What a terrible connection this truly was.

Did Lord Hagios designate Edgar Shortiras as her savior knowing things would turn out this way?

After pondering briefly, Melissa left her house.

Today she was supposed to meet Edgar at the library.

‘He said new books would arrive today.’

She planned to observe Edgar’s reactions while looking at the new magic books. To see if he truly had no issue with her researching magic.

Melissa walked with a somewhat light heart.

Not knowing she would soon meet a familiar person.

‘Lloyd?’

Melissa stopped in her tracks when she spotted the golden hair not far away after entering the library.

She wondered if she had seen wrong since it had been a whole week since she last saw him, but the person she saw was indeed Lloyd. When she turned her head slightly, she noticed someone walking alongside him.

‘He must have found a guide.’

Well, she wasn’t an official guide anyway, and he had mentioned he was still looking for one, so it wasn’t strange that Lloyd had found a guide by now.

They had parted that day without completing the tour, which had bothered her, but seeing him being guided properly now made her feel somewhat relieved.

Just as Melissa was about to move away, Lloyd turned his head toward her, perhaps sensing her gaze.

Their eyes met in the empty space.

“Ah.”

An awkward atmosphere flowed between them.

While she hesitated, not knowing what to do, the guide beside Lloyd noticed the situation and spoke up.

“Shall we take a break, Your Highness?”

“……I would appreciate that.”

The guide quickly retreated at Lloyd’s words.

He didn’t forget to greet Melissa before leaving.

“Have you been well, lady?”

Lloyd spoke once the guide disappeared.

Melissa hesitated momentarily.

She suddenly remembered what Edgar had said.

‘He told me to avoid associating with Lloyd.’

However, for Melissa, Lloyd wasn’t someone she could cut off so abruptly. She never intended to stop meeting him completely.

‘Besides, I need to resolve what happened last time.’

Since she had arrived earlier than the appointed time, it seemed fine to chat for a while.

Having made up her mind, Melissa bowed slightly.

“I’m truly sorry about last time, Your Highness. I think I was too sensitive that day. I shouldn’t have acted that way.”

“What fault does the lady have! I was the one who should apologize.”

Lloyd waved his hand and came closer.

His face, which had shown discomfort, only relaxed after Melissa straightened her back.

“During the time we haven’t met, I seriously thought about what I said and did. Then I suddenly realized. Under the pretext of caring for you, I was just pressuring you too much.”

“Your Highness……”

“Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ve completely removed my suspicions about young duke Shortiras. I’ve just decided to trust that you’ve made a good choice. So……”

Lloyd paused as if contemplating something.

After moving his lips silently, he soon raised his voice.

“So if anything happens, I hope you’ll tell me anytime. If you want, I can……”

“Your Highness.”

Melissa urgently called out to Lloyd.

She felt she shouldn’t hear any more.

But situations rarely go as desired.

“What are you doing here, Melissa?”

Edgar said as he entered the library.

His gaze fell on Lloyd.