The princess revealed her petite figure, entering with a sparkle just like in his memories. However, Kaiden noticed that her face was not smiling. Unlike the face he remembered, which beamed brightly with dimples, the princess walked into the ballroom with a calm expression. It wasn’t the innocent look of the seventeen-year-old he recalled. This unfamiliarity led him to a startling assumption.

‘Could it be…?’

As he pondered, the princess began to play an instrument, producing a sound that resonated just as he remembered.

Like a shining star in the deep blue night, the princess once again filled his heart with light. She took root in the empty space within him, where everything had been uprooted and poured out, filling it with new white light as if it were fresh flesh.

This time, he vowed to protect the princess. He resolved not to let her experience the tragedy he remembered. As the performance ended and the princess stood before the summoning circle for the divine beast ceremony…

The light, less bright than the princess, vanished, and she failed to make a pact with the divine beast.

‘Ah.’

The ballroom erupted into noise. The princess, her face crumbling like on the day she fled her wedding with the prince, disappeared with her maids. Amidst the chaos, Kaiden thought blankly.

‘Wasn’t this supposed to be a divine blessing?’

Was this miracle connected to the princess? Was it related to her?

His doubts turned into certainty when the princess went to the northern Khalid. Kaiden realized that perhaps the princess, like him, had traveled back in time and might remember the same dreadful future.

The princess might also know about the marriage with the prince and all about the war. She might remember the time she waited, promised to marry the prince, and the moments standing by his side. However, amidst all that, the man who achieved nothing in the war wouldn’t know. That realization came to him bitterly.

‘Or maybe it’s rather fortunate.’

If the princess didn’t know about his incompetence, perhaps it was for the best. Because he had been a failure and a loser in front of the princess.

But he couldn’t be a loser again.

He didn’t know how time had been reversed. He couldn’t be sure if the princess and the divine beast were connected to him. He didn’t know why he had come back to the past with memories of the future. Did someone else know the future like him? He couldn’t even know that. But.

At least he could prepare because he already knew. He was someone who had already lived through one timeline. He had come to the north and become Baron Leonas again.

Back then, he prepared to bring the princess to his side. But not now. Now, he only prepared to deal with those who might invade the kingdom. Nothing else was needed. Or so he thought.

‘But in truth.’

In truth, his heart changed dozens of times a day. He wanted to stand by the princess. No, he didn’t even hope for that; he just wanted the strength to protect her. He wanted the princess. No, he knew he couldn’t have her.

Amidst all the confusion, longing, surrender, and obsession, he finally received it. Thanks to staying in Khalid, he received the invitation to the princess’s birthday banquet, sent to all the northern nobles.

With trembling hands, Kaiden unfolded the invitation, wondering. Would this insignificant man have the chance to offer a gift to the princess, hold her hand, and dance? Would there be a moment to face her, exchange greetings, and have a conversation?

At the banquet, which seemed utterly impossible and felt like it would remain impossible…

‘Sir Leonas. Propose to me. Marry me.’

The princess asked him to marry her.

All he could do was stand there, frozen like a stone. Why? For what reason? He didn’t know and didn’t want to. For the first time since she had embedded herself in his heart, joy filled that place. Happiness surged. The reality felt like a dream, and before it shattered, he quickly answered that he would. And when the princess explained,

‘I can ask His Majesty to grant you the title of Duke of Khalid. Khalid and this kingdom need an excellent knight. I know you are a remarkable knight, and through marriage, I can give you the status and position you deserve.’

Kaiden realized that the time he had spent dedicating his life to reaching the princess had been perceived by her as greed. He understood that his unfulfilled passion had been etched in her mind as a desire for social advancement.

While he yearned for the princess and clung to the hope of a high title, there were those who mocked him and belittled his aspirations. Yet, none of them dared to express it directly to him. No one had the courage, and even if they did, he would simply challenge them and face them without hesitation.

However, hearing the princess herself express this misunderstanding, which wasn’t truly a misunderstanding, wounded him deeply. It saddened him that she saw him as someone who would accept anything for the sake of a title.

He felt miserable knowing he couldn’t naturally promise a future with the princess and that he couldn’t stand by her side without some compelling reason. Anger surged within him at himself for having dared to hope, even briefly, that he could marry her.

And yet, in his eyes, the princess remained so beautiful…

Amidst all his emotions, he clumsily proposed and slipped his gift onto the princess’s finger. His body moved instinctively, unable to let this opportunity pass. When she accepted his proposal, she did so with a joy that seemed to disregard any other reasons, leaving him dizzy.

“Ah, right.”

What did wounds or misery matter? Even if the princess remembered a future where everything fell apart, what did her thoughts or reasons for deciding to marry him really matter?

He and the princess would marry. Her delicate hand rested on his, and they stood together, dancing throughout the banquet.

It was unbelievable. The princess rested her slender arms on his shoulders and hands, moving in sync with him. His hand touched her slender waist, and it seemed as though he could pull her into his embrace with just a little more pressure. The princess looked up at him with eyes that seemed to hold and trap the light all night, leaving him breathless.

While dancing face-to-face with the princess, he couldn’t truly see her, and only when they stepped back from the hall to rest did he manage to steal glances at her.

The princess, perhaps from dancing, sat with her cheeks flushed. As the break went on, she glanced at the dancers and signaled to him with her eyes. Then Kaiden would extend his hand to her, and they would return to the dance floor. Kaiden witnessed the surreal image of the princess placing her hand on his, walking out with him, and dancing again, over and over.

That night, countless impossible things happened. She accepted his proposal and wore the ring he gave her. Without even having time to cherish and reminisce about those sparkling memories, they were overlaid with the memory of holding hands with the princess and walking together. On top of that, the moments of dancing with her, holding her hand, and wrapping his hand around her waist.

It all felt like it truly didn’t matter. The reasons why the princess wanted to marry him, how she viewed him—none of it mattered. As long as he could hold her hand, stand beside her, and have her.

The next day, when he went to see her, the princess said, ‘We will marry, but we must not share a bed. And in three years, let’s annul this marriage.’

Kaiden awoke from the dream he had momentarily slipped back into.

In the reality that was not a dream, Kaiden now saw the princess standing by his side, not the prince’s. In the wedding of his memories, the princess stood with the prince, a heavy crown adorned with red jewels on her platinum blonde hair and her face flushed. But beside him now, the princess wore a delicate crown with transparent jewels and looked ahead with a face devoid of any emotion.

On her smooth face, there was no sign of excitement, no satisfaction of seeing her waiting time come to fruition, or any anticipation for the future. That realization, along with the light pouring into the ceremony, pierced Kaiden’s eyes.

He could never be the person the princess waited for, the one who excited her, or the one she would promise her life to. Even if the princess, who might remember the war, chose him to avoid experiencing that time again, it couldn’t be the same as the heart that awaited marriage with the prince. Just the fact that she chose him was unbelievable, undeserved, and overwhelming…

There was a time when he dreamed only of the day he would stand beside the princess. Days when he dreamed of standing by her side and having her. He once thought that if he could hold her hand and be with her, it would be like having the whole world. However,

‘Even if I stand beside her, I might not have anything.’