“I’m so glad the medicine is working well.”

“Here, I’ve brought some snow.”

With these whispered words, something cool touched her forehead. Bella opened her eyes at the sensation. It seemed to be nighttime; the room was dark with only the fireplace crackling. Her high fever had subsided considerably, and her dizziness seemed to have passed.

The first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was Natalie and Melki placing a snow pouch on her forehead.

“Bella! Are you feeling better?”

“Your… Highness…”

Her voice came out cracked. Bella tried to sit up, but Natalie stopped her.

“Stay lying down. You still have a slight fever. They say you need to rest for two or three more days to fully recover.”

“G-Grand Duke Myers…”

Natalie laughed out loud.

“That’s your first thought? Everitt has returned. Everyone else made it back safely too, so don’t worry.”

As soon as she heard those words, the tension left her body. Thinking how fortunate that was, Bella closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, it was midday. The snowstorm must have stopped, as bright sunlight was streaming through the window. Her body felt much lighter.

This time, Natalie and Everitt were keeping watch by her bedside.

“Bella, you’re awake.”

Bella blinked several times.

“Ah… Your Highness. Your Grace.”

As Bella slowly sat up, Everitt’s face contorted. He ran his large hand down his face, then without a word, left the room.

‘Why…? Did something go wrong?’

As Bella watched Everitt leave in confusion, Natalie laughed.

“Look at Everitt. He’s been restless the whole time, worried you might not wake up, but now that you have, he leaves. I suppose he doesn’t want to be seen crying.”

“C-crying?”

“He just left with an expression like he was about to burst into tears. He may be the stern Grand Duke now, but as a child, he used to cry at the drop of a hat.”

Natalie said teasingly, unable to contain her laughter as her shoulders shook.

‘That was about to cry…?’

As Bella tilted her head in confusion, her stomach growled. Natalie stopped laughing and rose from her chair.

“You must be hungry. I’ll ask them to bring some soup.”

“Ah, I can…”

“Stay in bed. If Everitt sees you getting out of bed, he’ll make a scene.”

Soon, the inn’s maid brought a steaming chicken soup and a loaf of bread.

Natalie watched silently as Bella tore pieces of bread and ate them with the soup, then gradually began to make conversation.

“We parted in early autumn, so it’s been almost half a year. Where have you been and what have you been doing all this time?”

Natalie asked casually like an old friend catching up, and shared her own stories of where she had been and what she had enjoyed, all pleasant tales.

Then, once Bella had finished eating and regained her composure, Natalie spoke with a slightly awkward expression.

“Actually, there’s something I want to tell you, Bella. I feel like it has to be now, so I asked everyone else not to come in.”

“Yes? What is it…?”

“Well… We’ve never really talked about what happened between us. We’ve only spoken one-sidedly to each other.”

“Ah…”

Bella realized what Natalie wanted to discuss.

Natalie was right. Last summer, when Bella was bedridden and barely conscious, Natalie had visited, shared only her own thoughts, and then disappeared.

The two met again right after summer ended, when Melki came to rescue Bella. At that time, Bella told Natalie about the game “The Princess’s Summer Palace.” It was almost the same content as the letter she had left for Everitt.

Back then, Bella had been afraid to see Natalie’s reaction. She felt deeply guilty, and her mind was still unstable, not having fully recovered from her experiences at the summer palace. So after revealing everything, she begged to be allowed to live alone and part ways.

Natalie also needed time to think. Faced with Bella’s incredible story, she didn’t know how to treat her. Should she express anger and resentment for treating her life as mere entertainment? Should she express regret for Bella falling into this world and suffering terribly as a consequence? Or should she feel satisfied that Bella got what she deserved? Natalie also needed healing for her mind and soul, having barely escaped the endless loop.

So she didn’t try to dissuade Bella, who had just fallen into this world and knew nothing, from wanting to live alone. Instead, she gave her some money and cut her hair to ease her own guilt.

Now, the opportunity had come for the two to honestly share their thoughts with each other.

“I’ve been thinking while traveling around, and no matter how I look at it, I just can’t resent you. If I had been in a position to play that ‘game’ thing, I probably would have just enjoyed it too.”

“Your Highness…”

“You know how attractive those five men are. Now, well… they’re all somewhat broken from the repeated time, but they were men I wanted to marry, men I was even engaged to. I truly loved them. I don’t regret that.”

Natalie smiled bitterly.

“But to be able to see such romances from my perspective, and to cherry-pick only the sweetest parts—how wonderful that must have been. That’s not your fault.”

Bella felt something welling up from deep within her heart. She had really wanted to hear Natalie say it wasn’t her fault. But now that she heard it, she felt guilty for having shamelessly hoped to hear such words.

“Your Highness… But the fact that I controlled you doesn’t disappear. And the fact that I used you to toy with others.”

“Bella, I wish you wouldn’t think of it as just controlling me. Not everything you made me do through ‘control’ was against my will. I told you, I loved those five men, too. According to your explanation, you simply chose what you wanted to see from the things I might have done, the words I might have said. I think we just shared one body for a while. What do you think?”

Tears flowed from Bella’s eyes.

“It wasn’t just for a while…”

“Looking at the result, only one summer has passed. I realized that while traveling. The outside world hasn’t changed at all. Those years we spent repeating together are just like a long dream we all shared. We can go back to how things were before. If we want to.”

Both Bella and Natalie knew that things could never truly return to how they were before. Bella thought Natalie was incredibly strong to speak that way. Her tears wouldn’t stop.

Natalie continued speaking as she watched Bella crying quietly.

“I’m not particularly generous by nature. Of course, I’ve thought about it differently, too. You did control me, and there were probably cases where it wasn’t according to my own thoughts. I can’t know for sure. But I gained something from it as well.”

“Gained something?”

“Thanks to you controlling me, I was able to understand what kind of person you are. After all, I was the one who physically carried out what you thought and decided.”

Natalie smiled gently.

“You can’t lie, you can rarely be cruel, and you fall in love easily. How about that, am I right?”

“That doesn’t help you at all.”

“You’re not denying it?”

“I don’t fall in love easily. Just as much as Your Highness does.”

“Haha, that’s true. We loved the same people, after all.”

Natalie laughed out loud at Bella’s joke through her sniffles.

Looking at her, Bella realized something. The person she had cherished most in the game was the princess herself. Her precious princess who shone brilliantly at the summer palace. Natalie.

Bella rose from her seat and knelt before Natalie. Then, gathering her courage, she dared to ask for forgiveness.

“Your Highness, will you forgive me?”

Without hesitation, Natalie took both of Bella’s hands in hers.

“Bella, you should forgive me for leaving you in that state. Back then, I was blinded by pain and jealousy and couldn’t bear it.”

Moisture gathered in Natalie’s upturned, cat-like blue eyes as well.

“It took me a full half-year to come to understand you. Even though we shared the same body for so long.”

“Your Highness…”

“Now I understand why you and I are similar. We were born in different worlds, from different mothers, and have different thoughts, but we can understand each other better than anyone else.”

“Because we’ve been stuck together for 25 years?”

“That’s right.”

The two women held hands, looked at each other, and smiled. One was covered in tears while the other had just a slight moistness in her eyes, but their smiles were identical.