“No matter how much we publicly declare ourselves lovers, it’s not real, so I wish you wouldn’t come to me in the middle of the night like this.”

Diana let Ian into her room because of prying eyes, but she showed clear signs of discomfort.

“I’m only here to fulfill my duties as your aide. It seems you’re more concerned about me as your ‘fake’ lover than as your aide, Your Highness.”

“Stop with the pointless talk and just say why you’re here.”

Diana replied curtly.

“Is something bothering you lately?”

Ian asked, sitting on the edge of her bed.

“I don’t know what you mean. And don’t sit on my bed.”

“You looked pretty troubled back in those kids’ hut, all alone. You had the face of someone with something weighing on their mind.”

“When did you see that…”

Diana muttered.

“…And what are you doing now?”

“You told me not to sit, so I’m lying down.”

“Are you kidding me? Don’t lie down either!”

But Ian didn’t budge, lying on his side with his head propped up.

“If anything, Your Highness is the one playing too many games with me.”

“What did I do?”

“What did I do, you say? Telling me to share a room with that brat is a bit much, don’t you think?”

Ian, rarely, sounded genuinely upset.

“I can’t just leave those kids sleeping next to a dangerous factory.”

“But why did you have to shove that rude brat into my room?”

“The inn said there were no spare rooms.”

Diana shrugged deliberately.

“Hah. I see. Fine.”

Ian, who had been quite annoyed, suddenly gave a short laugh and nodded.

“Well, if there are no rooms, I suppose there’s nothing to be done.”

“Thank you for understanding. Now go back to your own room.”

“My room is gone now. I’ll have to rely on Your Highness for a bit.”

Diana frowned in disbelief at his words.

“There’s a perfectly empty room next door, so what do you mean your room is gone?”

“I just gave it to that brat. He’s so rude, he wouldn’t let me stay with him.”

Then Ian flopped down on the bed as if to say he wasn’t moving.

“Seriously, why are you acting like this?”

“I’m just too tired. From worrying about a certain princess who insists on carrying the weight of the world alone.”

“…”

“If you’re not going to tell me anything, then at least listen to me tonight.”

Ian lay back and, staring at the ceiling, suddenly began to talk.

“I told you before that I have nightmares.”

“…”

“I used to think they were prophetic dreams.”

Taken aback by the unexpected topic, Diana clenched her fists.

Had he realized? That those nightmares might be reminders of his past mistakes?

“Recently, I’ve started to think maybe I’m not seeing the future. I have fewer nightmares than before, and not all of them come true. Lately, I keep having the same strange dream.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I expected you to reject me. I’m being honest here.”

What was behind this change? He was truly impossible to read.

“When you open up, I always suspect you have some ulterior motive.”

Diana said, sitting in the chair opposite him.

“That’s disappointing.”

“You don’t look disappointed at all. Look at your face.”

Just as she said, Ian was smiling.

“In other words, I’m charming. Men with secrets are always charming.”

“Enough nonsense. You’re only opening up because you want something from me in return, aren’t you?”

“Well, if you want to think that, I don’t mind. Hearing your story isn’t so bad.”

Ian smirked and sat up.

“Anyway, if I’m not seeing the future, then it’s all just my imagination. But that makes even less sense. So there’s only one logical conclusion.”

“…”

“The future is changing.”

His sly smile vanished, and he looked at her seriously.

As if he were swearing to stand by her side.

“Why…”

Diana’s voice was filled with confusion.

“I really don’t understand. Why are you telling me this? What do you want from me?”

“I don’t understand you even more.”

Ian frowned in frustration.

“What am I supposed to want?”

“It’s strange for you to say things like that for no reason. Saying you don’t have nightmares anymore, that the future is changing… those kinds of…”

“Those kinds of?”

“Those kinds of…”

‘Don’t say things like that with a face that looks like you want to help me’.

“Your Highness. I’m the one who doesn’t understand. I’m your aide. Why do I have to want something, to have some ulterior motive? I just… you’re trying to shoulder too much on your own…”

Ian got up from the bed and approached Diana.

“Enough! I don’t want to hear it.”

But Diana jumped up and glared at him, pointing at the door—a silent order to leave.

“…”

Ian looked at her coldly, then let go of the doorknob and said,

“I can’t leave.”

“…”

“I told you, there are no rooms.”

His sarcastic tone was tinged with anger.

“I won’t take a single step until I understand. Why do you always act so hostile toward me? You’ve done that since the beginning.”

“I don’t like you. I’ve hated you from the start! That’s all.”

“…”

Ian’s eyes turned cold at her words.

“…Don’t lie.”

He spoke through clenched teeth.

“Is this the look of someone who hates another?”

He grabbed her chin and forced her to meet his gaze.

“I thought… we were finally starting to work together. I guess I was wrong. You still don’t trust me.”

His eyes were those of someone wounded.

And Diana’s gaze, glaring back at him, was also full of deep scars.

“The future is changing…?”

Diana barely managed to whisper.

“Why are you telling me that? Why you, of all people?”

“…”

Ian’s eyes wavered as he stared at her. He couldn’t understand what she was saying.

“You have no idea how desperately I’m struggling to escape that future.”

She was crying silently, her eyes full of resentment toward him.

“Why do you always look at me like that…”

When his grip weakened, Diana slapped his hand away from her chin.

“Leave. If you don’t go now, I’ll strip you of your position as my aide.”

“…”

Ian stared at her for a moment, then silently left the room.

After he left, Diana’s legs gave out and she collapsed onto the floor.

Outside the door, Ian heard the sound of her collapsing inside.

“…”

He didn’t understand. Why did she resent him so much?

Ian wandered the village outside the inn.

“I know she doesn’t want help.”

But it wasn’t just that she didn’t want help.

She didn’t want “his” help.

“I’m gambling too, Princess…”

‘Every moment with you, I…’

“You don’t know anything either, Diana.”

Ian, walking aimlessly, looked up at the night sky with a pained expression.

—I’ve hated you from the start.

Those words. That face.

Exhausted, he sat in the grass and let himself fall back.

He covered his eyes with his arm and muttered,

“…Liar.”

***

“Sweetheart! Are you keeping up?”

That night, Ian had a different dream for the first time in ages. It was a dream he’d never had before.

“Mother, where are we going?”

Young Ian asked, and Lea, pushing through the cold, bare branches, shouted,

“We’re crossing the Karsan Mountains!”

“…So, you mean we’re going to the Kargen Empire?”

It was a strange dream.

Not a nightmare, not a prophetic dream, and not a memory.

But somehow, it grew clearer, as if it was something he’d experienced long ago.

“Get lost, will you?”

A man shoved Lea.

Young Ian rushed at him, but he was no match.

“You cursed things. Ever since you arrived! That’s when everyone started getting sick!”

It was a village they’d stopped at briefly.

But an unknown disease had spread, and rumors said it started the day they took in the wandering mother and child. Because of that, Lea and Ian were chased out of the village.

And from the next village. And the next.

“Mother… it’s so cold…”

“Just a little farther, and we’ll cross the border. Let’s leave this country, sweetheart. We’ll never come back.”

On the snowy mountain, the only warmth he felt—

Was his mother’s tears as she held him close.

***

The next day, Diana, Ian, and Medenta headed back to the Lepri Factory to meet the manager.

“He’s absent again today?”

“I’m sorry… But we really don’t know anything…”

“The manager wouldn’t be gone every day. Are you deliberately keeping us from meeting him?”

Diana pressed the staff, but they only looked troubled. They seemed to genuinely know nothing.

Without the manager’s official permission, it was hard to search the factory. Diana could have used royal authority, but decided it wasn’t time to escalate things yet.

“They know we’re here. Let’s find where the manager is hiding. Someone might be helping him.”

Diana said as they walked back toward the village.

“Yes!”

Medenta answered energetically, though still looking puzzled.

“…But why do you two keep making me walk between you?”

It was because Diana and Ian, since earlier, had been walking far apart on either side, not saying a word to each other.

“…”

Thanks to Medenta, Diana and Ian’s eyes met for a moment.

“Hmph!”

Like sulking children, both turned their heads away in opposite directions.