Chapter 81

“Exactly, that’s why I didn’t want to say I was Helio. I don’t want to go back.”

“You’re dying.”

“So what? Everyone dies.”

“But you’re so young.”

“If it weren’t for Sabina D’Vialis, the young me wouldn’t have escaped the carnival, and I’d have been whipped by Don Slafdi, probably bitten my tongue and died at sixteen. Because of that, I lived sixteen more years.”

Sabina’s face slowly flushed with anger.

“Even so, if not for my magic, you wouldn’t have ruined your body with this medicine!”

Sabina threw the crystal bottle she was holding. It landed softly on the floor, thankfully unbroken, but the lid popped off and the cloned medicine stained the floor.

“Your magic?”

Ashton met Sabina’s eyes directly.

“It’s not your magic.”

“What?”

“You weren’t the one who turned back time. The one who turned back time was the owner of the body.”

It felt like the tension had turned the air into a vacuum. It was suffocating.

“You entered the body after the spell was cast.”

Sabina’s face filled with shock and fear.

Her eyes widened. Her lips trembled.

“How do you know?”

She was too shocked to feign ignorance. No, it wouldn’t have worked anyway. The man before her knew everything. The prickling sensation when he touched her hand the first day they met.

He’d read her then.

He must have known everything from that moment.

Sabina, visibly shaken, stared at Ashton.

“Ah, what is this… This…”

“Calm down. I haven’t told anyone. I never said a word.”

“How can I believe you!”

Ashton simply raised his hand and cupped Sabina’s cheek. She felt a brief pain. Sabina shivered lightly. Magic forcibly calmed her.

“Ah… Ah.”

Sabina sat down like a child and covered her face.

She’d exposed her secrets to him without even realizing.

In the artificially calm mind Ashton created, a question arose.

“You know I’m ‘someone else,’ so why did you…”

Why did you come to me?

Ashton, of course, had an answer ready.

“I wanted to find meaning in my life. Since the real Sabina D’Vialis disappeared, I had to protect you instead.”

It was a harsh answer, almost unbelievable from a once-gentle lover. Sabina felt deeply humiliated.

The one here now was Helio from another timeline. The one who saved him was the original Sabina. The man before her, who intervened in that event even after being bounced by time magic, had wanted to save the original Sabina.

His obsession wasn’t directed at her. She finally realized.

Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. If Sabina had known nothing, she might have mourned his death, but wouldn’t have felt so ashamed. He would have remained a kind lover.

“So anyway, I’m not the ‘Helio’ you know. Just see me as Ashton.”

The man’s voice, which stirred a storm in Sabina’s heart, was annoyingly calm. Sabina couldn’t meet his eyes and asked:

“Did you ever love me?”

‘Me’ here meant the invader inside Sabina’s body.

Ashton wondered why that mattered. Sabina didn’t love him. It didn’t matter what feelings someone who didn’t love him had toward him.

He tried to lie—that he didn’t love her, that he’d never loved her at all. But the words escaped on their own.

“I love you.”

He tried not to let too much emotion seep into his voice.

Sabina looked at him, eyes heated and wet.

“I love you. Do you know how complicated that feeling is?”

Sabina thought her own feelings were even more complicated.

No answer would have made her feel better. She had stolen not only Sabina’s body, but her relationships. And the boy Sabina cherished now said he loved her.

It’s strange.

So strange.

And it hurts.

“Are you satisfied now?”

Ashton quietly asked.

Sabina said nothing.

“……Things have turned out like this, and since I’ve deceived you, I understand that our childhood play is over. But the contract is until February, and that binds us both. You understand, right?”

Ashton knelt on one knee in front of the collapsed Sabina and met her eyes.

“If you really hate it, we can break the contract a bit earlier. But only after Helio’s winter break begins.”

That way, Helio could stay by Sabina’s side and protect her in Ashton’s stead.

Just as Sabina was selfish and cruel to him, Ashton was the same to her.

Sabina’s silver eyes stared blankly at Ashton.

Tears fell from the eyes of the one she loved. It was a pain that crushed her, but also a sweet, addictive destruction. Sabina’s lips trembled for a long time. Ashton thought the only answers Sabina could give were ‘yes’ or ‘no.’

Either way, he had prepared what to say.

But Sabina spoke something entirely different.

“I’ll send you back to your original timeline.”

Sabina whispered, her eyes and nose red. It wasn’t what Ashton had wanted to hear. He couldn’t help but show a bit of confusion.

“Send me back……?”

No. He had no intention of returning.

“Sabina isn’t there.”

Sabina suddenly stood up, furious.

“So you want to die? Like this?”

“If so, what reason do you have to keep me alive?”

He felt suffocated. Sabina looked down at Ashton. Ashton had shut her mouth with harsh words, but kept talking himself.

“I won’t truly die, even if I do. You know that. You became my love in place of ‘Sabina.’ There’s nothing you can’t do. There’s your own ‘Ash’ in this timeline, who will grow up healthy with the same face as me and live a long life.”

“I have no intention of using that child as a substitute……”

“If you think of me as ‘Helio,’ what’s stopping you from thinking of that child as ‘Ash’?”

Sabina cried like a marionette with its strings cut. When she’d pressed him about not saying he was Helio, she hadn’t imagined this.

But she couldn’t bring herself to blame Ashton. Everything felt like her own fault. Entering this body unintentionally, calling him Helio, relying on him……

She didn’t utter the words of hatred Ashton so desperately wanted. She simply reached out her arms toward him.

“Hold me.”

Only then did Ashton’s eyes waver.

He had been Sabina’s refuge since summer. Without him, she couldn’t handle her surging emotions, and even now, she needed him.

When Ashton didn’t embrace her, Sabina slowly leaned toward him. Her heart truly ached. If these feelings came from passion and desire, would it hurt less than now?

* * *

On the first day of December, Reyes Brinita appeared at the Certanon Academy campus.

To students unaware of his true nature, the royal with beautiful looks was an object of admiration. Some cadets even showed jealousy toward Helio, the only one Reyes ever visited.

No one knew what was really going on between them.

Reyes had been appeased by the flattering letter Helio sent him. Helio, anxious and unsure, felt relieved when Reyes replied with a generous and noble message.

‘It worked.’

For about two weeks, the two communicated only by letter. They avoided writing anything too important, fearing someone might secretly read their correspondence.

The story of the slave boy who became Sabina D’Vialis’s ward and hosted influential guests spread throughout Reedblon. By then, they didn’t seem to hide their exchanges from Sabina anymore. Sending letters and frequent visits were too obvious to conceal.

Meanwhile, Reyes heard that Ashton also visited Helio often and subtly probed the boy. He worried Helio might be influenced or tainted by Ashton.

Helio replied to that letter, requesting Reyes visit the academy soon. He said there was something that must be discussed face-to-face.

Reyes entered the reception room, decorated warmer than in autumn, and immediately hugged Helio, who was waiting.

“My clever friend.”

His praise was generous, but Helio sensed the intent. Helio hugged Reyes for a moment, then stepped back.

“So, what was it you absolutely had to tell me in person?”

Reyes led Helio to a seat and asked. He looked elegant and gentle. Helio thought Reyes seemed much more relaxed over the past few weeks.

Don’t forget.

He must please Reyes and draw out his purpose.

Helio was sure today’s topic would make Reyes very happy.

“I’ve partially broken the seal.”

Reyes’s eyes widened. Helio quickly added,

“Only partially. I can’t say everything I know. But I can talk about whether there’s a seal, and I can speak about events that happened long after the day I was silenced.”

“That’s excellent. And if you’ve broken part, you’ll soon break the whole thing.”

Reyes smiled, satisfied. He tapped the table rhythmically with his fingers.

“So, is that all you wanted to say?”

Of course not. Helio shook his head.

“As you mentioned, Your Highness, I’ve been meeting Ashton Bryant. I read a little of his memories each time.”

He deliberately didn’t mention that these were ‘lessons’ under Ashton’s guidance.