“Everyone in my family acted like they saw it coming. I feel like I was the only fool.”

Areha nodded with his usual blank expression and answered.

“My parents didn’t say much.”

“How composed of them.”

“Father did say one thing. That it took me long enough to figure it out.”

“……That sounds a lot like what my mother said.”

So even Count and Countess Tugo had seen it as Areha loving her. Juliana stole a glance at Areha’s profile. With his hair neatly swept back and a clean shirt under his jacket, he looked as upright as he had during his academy days.

‘Back then there were plenty of girls who tried to get close to me just to get near Areha.’

They would approach her and then, jealous of her place as his childhood friend, torment or exclude her. Remembering them brought a faint bitter smile to her lips without her meaning it to.

Juliana tucked her hair behind her ear and murmured.

“My friends are going to be shocked when they see the wedding invitation. Quite a few of them had feelings for you.”

“I’ve been meaning to say this for a while.”

The wind swept through with a rush. It caught her hair and sent it flying. Juliana narrowed her eyes against it, and thick, rough fingers brushed her cheek. Areha was tucking her loose hair back behind her ear. Juliana looked up at him.

Areha continued in his usual calm tone without any particular change in expression.

“You’re far prettier than those girls who barely deserve to be called friends.”

“Wh, what, out of nowhere?”

“So don’t listen to anything they say. They only said those things out of jealousy.”

“Th, that may be……”

‘Is that really true?’

She couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud and bit her lip instead.

Not fitting in with her friends had been a long-standing worry for Juliana. And it had been jealousy all along?

‘He said I’m prettier.’

The words had been delivered so casually, yet her heart thudded. Juliana’s cheeks flushed. A single sentence from Areha made her chest swell as though she had the whole world.

“……Do you really think I’m prettier?”

“Yes.”

“In what way?”

“That’s why you should wear your hair down. Bright gold hair like yours isn’t common.”

“They said it looked countrified.”

“That’s jealousy talking. A high ponytail is far more countrified.”

“I see.”

She had been tying her curly hair up high because of what her friends said. And now she was hearing that looked worse.

‘I actually wanted to wear my hair down all along.’

But she had been afraid that if she didn’t follow their advice, they would stop including her in their gatherings, so she had obediently done as they said.

Looking back, they had all been worthless friends. After she left the capital and came home, not one of them had reached out even once.

‘What was I so afraid of back then, that I let girls like that push me around.’

Juliana hunched her shoulders and laughed softly.

“I should have asked you sooner.”

“……”

Areha said nothing and simply watched Juliana’s face.

Watching her laugh with her shoulders curled in, like someone who had set down a heavy burden, Areha looked back over the immeasurable stretch of time he had lived through.

In all that time, he had never once said it. Not even watching Juliana grow quieter and more timid under the influence of girls who barely deserved to be called friends.

He had been keeping his distance, after all.

‘Maybe the regressions kept happening because of that distance.’

If so, now that he had grown closer to her than ever, would the regression finally stop?

That part he couldn’t be certain of. He would probably only know for sure after death.

‘If I die.’

And if he woke again on the night of that coming-of-age ceremony.

—I really hate you, Areha.

His vision swam. The thought of facing Juliana again as she said those words, while he alone carried the memory of the intimacy they had shared, made nausea rise in his throat.

Right at that moment, a small, soft hand closed around his. He looked up to find pale green eyes full of worry meeting his completely.

“Are you alright?”

Meeting her gaze, his heart, which had been pounding in an unsteady rush, gradually settled. Cold sweat had broken out in that brief span. It was a fear Areha had never felt before in his life.

“I was thinking for a moment. Out of all the time I’ve lived through, why did I never once take your hand.”

Areha tightened his grip and held her hand in return.

“……Looking back, I think it was because I was afraid of all the lives that would stretch on without you. The memory of this moment would be mine alone, and you would forget it completely.”

The fear of having to face her again with no memory of him.

It had been so overwhelming that even while watching over her, he couldn’t bring himself to draw close. If the emotional distance closed too far, his heart would be hurt by that much more.

“Areha?”

She blinked at him with a puzzled expression, knowing nothing of the time he had lived through. Areha curved the very corner of his lips into a faint, wistful smile.

“It’s alright even so. Even if you forget, I’ll remember.”

“Areha!”

Juliana threw her arms around his waist.

“Why do you say I’ll forget. I would never forget. And even if I did, you’d have to make me remember!”

“How?”

“By grabbing my head and shaking some sense into me if nothing else.”

If that had worked, he would have done it many times over already. He knew it made no sense, yet Areha laughed softly, a helpless sound.

‘My chest is tightening. It hurts.’

She was only holding him, yet his heart thudded and clenched tight. The urge to laugh and the urge to cry came rushing in at the same time.

‘What kind of feeling is this.’

Right at that moment, without understanding any of it, she pulled out the answer in an instant.

“And don’t worry about that. There’s no way I’d forget a memory this happy.”

He had heard the word countless times, yet hearing it applied to himself made it feel strange and new. Areha repeated her word back with wide eyes and a dazed tone.

“Happy?”

“Yes, happy! You love me, so of course I’m happy!”

“I don’t know what love……”

He couldn’t finish. Words he would normally have said without a second thought caught in his throat. Juliana tightened her arms around his waist and shouted.

“You fool! Watching over someone, wanting to protect them, wanting to stay by their side, knowing them better than they know themselves, what is that if not love?”

Then she added in a voice as small as a mosquito’s wings.

“M, my mother said so……”

“Ha.”

Was she bold or was she timid. Juliana’s confidence crumbling into a mumble made Areha burst out laughing. He pressed his lips to her round forehead and whispered.

“Right. So this is love.”

Love. And happiness.

What he had wandered through decades searching for had been in his arms all along.

Areha held her back. Even when Juliana grew embarrassed and patted his back asking to be let go, he didn’t loosen his hold. For a very, very long time.