Seeing Bella walk in steadily on her own, Florian spoke with tears welling in his eyes.

“Ah, Bella. I’m so glad you’re safe. I thought something terrible was happening when your fever was so high.”

Now she could respond to Florian’s words with a calm, faint smile. Though she couldn’t go as far as telling him to take better care of himself.

Everitt barely managed to say “Bella” and gave a slight bow. He appeared expressionless at first glance, but now Bella seemed to understand. He was exercising patience, holding something back. What was he restraining?

Blake looked at Bella and Natalie alternately with a pained expression, but kept his lips tightly sealed without uttering a word.

And Leon. Leon’s expression was the most dynamic and varied. He brightened when he saw Bella and Natalie enter together, then immediately stiffened his face, and shortly after, glared intently at Bella. Rather than showing hostility, he looked angry.

“Having everyone gathered like this makes it feel like we’re back at the summer palace.”

Natalie smiled brightly.

No one smiled in response. Among them were people who desperately wanted to forget everything and return to the beginning of summer, and others who, for different reasons, wanted to forget everything and live out their remaining lives. But for everyone, the summer palace was equally a place of mixed emotions.

Perhaps it was the same for Natalie, as she added:

“Though I no longer have any desire to find a fiancé.”

At this, Leon’s expression became indignant. Natalie turned her gaze to him.

“Oh, Prince Leon. You look like you have something to say.”

Then, Natalie linked arms with Bella and continued.

“I’ve just heard quite a lot from Bella about what happened. Now, go ahead and say it again in front of both of us. That we both belong to you.”

Melki’s incredulous laughter could be heard. Leon exclaimed with an air of injustice.

“Isn’t it true that Your Highness chose me as your fiancé?”

“Leon, if I belong to you because you became my fiancé multiple times in the past, then the reverse should also hold true. By the same logic, all five men gathered here would belong to me. Haha! That doesn’t sound bad.”

Natalie laughed as she approached Leon and lightly lifted his chin with her fingertip.

“Then shall I create a harem with the five most outstanding men from the summer palace? How about it? I’ll treat you all fairly. One person each night, taking turns.”

Then, glaring into Leon’s eyes with a cold expression, she said.

“Ah, I have no intention of spending the night with multiple people at once, so don’t even dream of it.”

At these words alluding to that incident at the summer palace, Leon’s expression crumpled miserably. Before he could say anything, Natalie removed her hand from his chin and stepped back a couple of paces.

“But after this incident, I’ve become weary of men. I’m tired of love now. I’ve already used up a lifetime’s worth of love.”

Natalie spoke lightly with a shrug of her shoulders, but some men didn’t take her words as a joke. Melki looked at Natalie restlessly, and Blake’s face also showed cracks in his composure.

Natalie placed her hand on Bella’s shoulder.

“Bella, what about you? You must have something to say.”

Bella hunched her shoulders. She wasn’t sure where to begin, but once she opened her mouth, all the words she had been suppressing would pour out. But was it right to speak them aloud? Natalie would hear everything, too.

As Bella hesitated, Natalie smiled gently and whispered quietly.

“This is your chance. He’s tied up, what’s there to worry about? Go ahead and say everything. If you don’t speak now, it will just build up inside you.”

She was right. When else would Bella have the opportunity to freely express everything that had accumulated inside her?

Having made up her mind, Bella took a step toward Leon.

“Your Highness treated me as a substitute for the princess. You never once tried to hear what I was thinking. You acted as if I should naturally comply with your demands for affection and open my body to you.”

Bella was speaking to Leon, but in reality, her words applied to all the men who had touched her. Except for the part about being used as a substitute for the princess, the same was true of Everitt.

The male leads each reacted by irritably rubbing their faces, hanging their heads, or showing expressions of regret.

But Leon looked straight at Bella and curled up the corner of his mouth.

“So what?”

Seeing Leon’s response, Bella no longer had any desire to hold back.

“Those days will never return. If those memories were pleasant for you, then live off them and leave me alone. Try living the rest of your life cherishing only those memories.”

“I…”

“I’m not finished yet. After decades have passed, you can regret it thinking, ‘Ah, I should have listened to Bella then, she might have stayed by my side.’ Try to forget me if you can! You’ll look back on it like a nightmare you wake up from every day.”

Leon merely furrowed his brow, but Everitt clutched his chest. With a pale expression, he stared at Bella’s face without offering any excuse.

Bella glanced at Everitt. It was obvious. The day when Everitt could forget Bella would never come.

Just as Bella had been unable to forget Everitt despite trying for half a year.

Bella turned her gaze back to Leon and continued.

“If you don’t like that… if you can’t bear to spend the rest of your life ruminating on just one summer that has passed, then beg for my forgiveness. If you actively cooperate in resolving the war and abandon your obsession with the princess and me, then what you did to me… I’ll forget it.”

“Who decides that?”

Leon snorted.

“Who decides that you’ll forget? That you’ll forget me? That you’ll forget what I did with you? No. You must always have me engraved somewhere in your heart! And in your body too, mmph!”

Blake, who was standing right beside him, hastily covered Leon’s mouth.

“There’s no need to try to persuade someone who doesn’t understand human language with words.”

Blake looked at Bella and Natalie alternately with a pained expression.

“I… dare to ask for forgiveness.”

He briefly met their eyes before lowering his head.

“Even if His Highness doesn’t want to, I must. I want to ask for forgiveness, and to do so, I need to use you. His Highness is now a joint prisoner of Floransia and Windswell. As I have come to mediate the war according to His Imperial Majesty’s wishes, I must use him to somewhat lessen my sins and, at the same time, end the war.”

After finishing his words, Blake knelt before Bella with an expression that suggested he was seeking an answer. But Bella stepped back and said:

“Lord Rowell, the conditions I proposed don’t apply to you. I don’t feel inclined to grant you forgiveness in that way. Do you know why?”

“…Please tell me.”

“Because the person you truly want forgiveness from isn’t me, but the princess.”