The deafening crack of gunfire left Saronne frozen in place.

Leobint moved in an instant, pulling her into his arms and rolling them both to the side.

“Kyaaa!”

Screams erupted as people dove for cover. Someone, regaining their senses, shouted to drag the assailant out, and the panicked crowd scrambled to flee the hall.

But none of the chaos mattered to Saronne. Her breath shuddered in her chest.

“Leobint…?”

The moment the shot rang out, he had thrown himself around her, shielding her with his body as they hit the floor. At first, she thought—maybe they’d managed to avoid it by a miracle, just in time.

But then she saw it—her wedding gown, pinned beneath him, was slowly turning red.

Something was terribly wrong.

“Are you… are you okay, Saronne?”

Leobint’s voice was barely more than a strained whisper, choked with pain.

“Le—Leobint…”

Eager to check his condition, she tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t move. Was he trying to hold her close? Or had he lost all his strength?

Panic seized her, freezing her thoughts. Since the day she’d turned back time, nothing like this had ever happened. Now, her mind was utterly blank — she couldn’t think or breathe.

“I’m fine, really. I’m fine, but you—”

On a day that should have been filled with nothing but joy, Saronne still couldn’t believe that the man who had just been smiling at her was now lying there, wounded by a bullet. But, as her white dress steadily became heavier with blood, she could no longer deny the brutal reality.

“…Ha… Saronne…”

Gasping for breath, his trembling hand threaded gently through her brown hair, stroking her as if to comfort her.

“I… I’m all right. But our wedding… I just wanted this day to be your happiest memory. I never wanted it to end like this…”

“Leobint, stop, you don’t have to talk… please, just—”

“But still…”

He didn’t say it aloud, but she could feel every unspoken word weighing in the air. Saronne, unable to hold back her emotions, clung desperately to his arm.

She was about to call out for help when a sharp, irritated voice interrupted her.

“Tch. I missed.”

The first thing Saronne saw was Vivian, pointing the gun at her again, her green eyes wild with rage and frustration. Then Vivian threw her head back and laughed.

“Oh my, Lady Saronne. Did I scare you? Serves you right. You should never have tried to take what was mine in the first place.”

Saronne clenched her teeth in disgust at Vivian’s twisted sense of ownership. What could she do now? With the gun in Vivian’s hand and Leobint injured, any move was dangerous. If she wasn’t careful, Leobint could get hurt again — or she could end up dead, just as she had at the end of her last life.

Her breathing quickened as she desperately tried to think. Just then, however, Leobint wrapped his arms tightly around her, his fading voice tickling her ear.

“Let’s just stay like this.”

“…What?”

Saronne froze at his words.

“Just a little longer… Someone will stop her soon. Until then, I’ll hold you… I’ve already been shot, anyway.”

“Leobint, what are you saying…? Don’t talk like that—”

He slumped against her, his breathing growing more shallow by the second. Fear knotted in Saronne’s chest.

“Because I love you more than anything.”

His answer hung in the air—so heavy, so final—that Saronne could barely breathe. In the span of just a few words, Leobint’s condition was clearly deteriorating.

Before long, his body grew so heavy in Saronne’s arms it was nothing like before.

“…Leobint?”

Her heart plummeted in terror. He was still breathing, faintly—so it seemed he had only lost consciousness, not worse.

‘I have to get Leobint treated, right now…!’

Her own heart thundered in her chest as she looked up—and spotted figures slipping quickly and carefully through the panicked crowd. Hope flickered desperately in Saronne’s eyes.

But Vivian’s vicious voice rang out again.

“All done with your farewells? Well, don’t worry. I’ll send you after him soon enough.”

“Stop pretending to be righteous.”

Saronne shot back, voice cold with warning. Vivian let out a low, mocking laugh, clearly agitated as Saronne glanced deliberately toward the crowd—then delivered another sharp retort meant to provoke her even more.

“You said I tried to steal what’s yours, but wasn’t it you who wanted everything I had? In the end, you were blinded by your own greed—and lost everything because of it.”

“…Ha.”

Vivian let out a bitter scoff, grinding her teeth.

“You really… you just need to die.”

The moment she began to squeeze the trigger, every bit of her attention focused on Saronne, someone lunged from behind and wrenched Vivian’s wrist upward. The shot rang out, but the gun fired harmlessly into the ceiling.

“What…!”

Vivian spun around, eyes wide.

Armed guards surrounded her, as if they’d known exactly what she was going to do.

“How—how did you—”

Vivian stammered in disbelief. She’d only been on this rampage for less than ten minutes—how could the guards have gotten here so quickly?

As she struggled, her eyes fell on a familiar face among the guards.

“…Diego!”

Vivian gasped, her voice rising in shock.

Diego stared at her with cold, unfeeling eyes.

Since his last meeting with Saronne, he had kept to himself, lost in thought. However, when he realised that Vivian had escaped, he recognised the danger she posed and ordered the city guards to pursue her.

Although Vivian Lois hadn’t been convicted yet, the search had quietly begun — and now she had brought all this chaos upon herself.

The guards had fully subdued Vivian, who struggled furiously and shouted.

“Let go of me…! Didn’t you hear me? Diego! How could you do this to me? You said you trusted me… You promised you’d always be on my side!”

“Maybe you should try looking at it from my perspective for once. If you were me, do you think you’d do any different?”

“Diego!”

“I’ve already lost count of how many times you’ve lied to me.”

Diego muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. He watched as Vivian thrashed, refusing to go quietly, then lifted his gaze toward Saronne. But it only lasted a moment—he quickly looked away, unable to meet her eyes any longer. Turning to the guards, Diego spoke with a cold finality.

“Take her away.”

As soon as they left, paramedics rushed in as if they’d been waiting for this moment. Saronne called out desperately as soon as she saw them.

“Over here…!”

“Saronne!”

Royal family members who had attended the ceremony hurried over alongside the medics.

“Saronne, are you all right?”

“It’s Leobint…”

The full weight of reality finally hit her, and she couldn’t finish her sentence. Their faces, too, were drawn with grief.

The medics carefully lifted Leobint, moving him gently onto a stretcher. As the warmth of his embrace faded, Saronne felt as though a part of her own body had been torn away.

Her gaze fell to her once-white wedding dress, now stained red with his blood.

Before leaving, one of the paramedics reassured her in a steady voice.

“We’ll get him to the nearest hospital as fast as possible.”

💜💫🌸━━❖━━🌸💫💜

Once the chaos settled, Leobint was rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery. By some miracle, the bullet had missed all his vital organs—it was not a fatal wound.

“Haa…”

Saronne let out a deep, weary sigh as she sat in the chair beside Leobint’s hospital bed. Her eyes lingered on his face, so still with his eyes closed.

He had escaped death, but it had been days now—and Leobint had yet to wake.

‘He lost so much blood… it may be some time before he regains consciousness.’

Saronne kept constant vigil at Leobint’s bedside, night and day, unwilling to leave his side for even a moment. By now, she thought, he should have woken up. Yet there was still no sign of him opening his eyes.

“Saronne, you’ll make yourself sick at this rate. You need to rest, too.”

Catherine said gently as she rose to leave. It seemed her time to go had come.

“Don’t overdo it. Leobint will wake up safe and sound before long, I’m sure of it.”

“Don’t worry too much. I am resting when I can.”

Catherine didn’t look convinced.

“You say that, but your complexion looks terrible. You know, Rebecca once told me that Leobint is tougher than he looks—he never gives up on anything easily.”

“Really?”

“Think about it. How many years did he spend pining for you? The King did everything he could to get him married off, but Leobint just kept insisting he’d only marry the one he wanted. I saw it all with my own eyes.”

Saronne managed a small smile at Catherine’s chatter. Come to think of it, just remembering some of the stories Leobint had told about his childhood, she knew he was no ordinary man.

“All I’m saying is… don’t worry so much. Just wait for him with a calm heart. That’s what Leobint would want for you.”

“…Thank you.”

Saronne’s voice was soft, but sincere. Catherine gave her a concerned look before heading to the door.

“I’ll come back tomorrow with the Crown Prince. Get some sleep before then, all right?”

With those gentle words, she finally left the hospital room.

As soon as Catherine was gone, the room fell noticeably still. Saronne gazed at Leobint with somber eyes.

‘Because I love you more…’

She recalled the words he had whispered at the altar, which still echoed in her heart. When she finally reached out to take his hand—

— there was a sudden knock at the door, just moments after Catherine had left. Saronne hesitated, then stood up, assuming Catherine had forgotten something.

Glancing around the room, she crossed to the door.

“Your Highness? Did you forget something…?”

She began as she opened the door—only to freeze in place.

Standing outside was not Catherine.

It was Diego Lois.