Daphne covered her mouth with her hand in shock. She couldn’t rashly call out the other person’s name at first.

Because he was the Second Prince, Phaios.

But Tomer’s reaction beside her was even more puzzling.

“J-Jayden.”

Jayden.

Phaios was still called ‘Jayden’ in other places.

That’s when Daphne realized.

Tomer and Jayden knew each other.

And could everything that had happened—‘Jayden’s’ acquaintance getting to know her and helping her—really be coincidence?

Daphne knew well that such absurd coincidences didn’t exist in the world.

“Daphne.”

Phaios called her in a calm voice. For a moment, Daphne felt confused. She didn’t know whether to treat him as Jayden or as the Second Prince.

“No, Your Highness the Second Prince.”

At least until Tomer corrected the form of address.

“…Mr. Belinda, this person is.”

“Daphne, let me explain.”

For some reason, she was speaking to Tomer, but Phaios was the one answering. In the awkward triangle between the three people, Daphne roughly pieced together the puzzle in her head.

“Should I call you Your Highness the Second Prince, or Jayden… Perhaps.”

“Ask me anything, Daphne. I’ll answer, even if not everything.”

“Did you know?”

She didn’t ask what he knew. The Second Prince knew her whereabouts.

From the moment she bought that ticket to Timaru on the fastest train, the connection with Tomer must have all been anticipated.

She’d thought it was fate because it was a coincidence, but it wasn’t.

Daphne felt deflated by the sense of futility.

“Daphne, the truth is I had to watch over you.”

“Why on earth would Your Highness the Second Prince… me?”

“Because I wanted to protect you.”

And.

The Second Prince seemed to have more to say. He opened his lips, then closed them again. Daphne found his reaction puzzling, but couldn’t ask.

“By now you must know. Your husband is… dangerous. The First Prince and your husband have fallen out.”

Daphne was swept by a strange feeling. The Second Prince knew too. That when the First Prince fell out with Astaire, he’d come looking for her to join hands.

She felt confused. She couldn’t understand why she had to be unwillingly swept up again in the power struggle between the First Prince, Second Prince, and Duke Seyfried.

“Yes, I’ve heard about it.”

Daphne looked straight at Phaios and spoke. When she looked to the side, Tomer was gone.

He was walking ahead without an umbrella. Seeing Tomer’s back as he walked getting drenched in the rain after giving her his umbrella, Daphne’s heart grew heavy.

She needed to go back quickly.

So she hurried to speak.

“The First Prince sent someone and made me an offer. To join hands with me. If I help him later, he’ll help me divorce Astaire.”

“So what was your answer?”

“I refused.”

She didn’t regret refusing.

Relief and a strange bitterness crossed Phaios’s face simultaneously. She understood the former, but couldn’t understand the latter emotion.

“Anyway, knowing the First Prince reached out to you… I couldn’t just stand by and watch anymore.”

There wasn’t much to say.

“…So you followed me.”

“Right. I won’t deny it.”

Phaios spoke apologetically, but his voice was clear. That’s when Daphne realized. This man would make the same choice even if he went back to the past.

“So it was you.”

“Right.”

“Tomer must be your person too.”

“I won’t deny it.”

“Then Tomer took me in not because I really had ability, but because he received a request from Your Highness the Second Prince, right?”

This time Phaios said nothing.

Silence meant affirmation.

“I really am nothing after all.”

Phaios looked at her like asking why she’d say such a thing, but regardless, Daphne stared blankly into space.

While wearing a smile that seemed ready to shatter at any moment.

“I thought this time at least was something I obtained and accomplished on my own. But it wasn’t.”

“……”

Her matter-of-fact tone sounded all the more sad. Phaios couldn’t easily open his mouth with an expression that seemed full of thoughts.

“Thank you.”

Daphne smiled again, curving the corners of her mouth.

It was a face beautiful enough to stun even Phaios for a moment.

But the emotion hidden behind that bright smile was clearly sadness.

“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything to Mr. Belinda.”

Tomer hadn’t done anything wrong anyway.

He’d just helped her at ‘Jayden’s’ request.

She didn’t know what deal had passed between them in exchange for helping her, but since he was royalty, he must have given something impressive.

But Daphne decided to believe that the kindness and warmth Tomer had shown her wasn’t fake.

At least that much must be sincere.

She believed that.

If she didn’t believe at least that much, she couldn’t stand properly on her own two feet. In the end, it seemed like he was telling her she was nothing without someone.

“…I wanted to help you.”

Phaios opened his mouth.

“Do you need me too, Your Highness the Second Prince?”

Daphne asked quietly.

She felt wordless complexity in Phaios’s eyes. Men’s emotions were particularly hard to read and hard to follow.

Why was he doing all this for her?

Daphne still found it puzzling.

Could it be…

No, that couldn’t be.

She let the thought that flashed by like lightning pass. It couldn’t be. The Second Prince and she weren’t even well acquainted to begin with.

“It’s not like that. Daphne. I… No. For now, Daphne, you should go back to Astaire.”

The moment she tried to put away all her emotions.

Only those words set fire to Daphne’s heart instead.

Seeing Daphne’s expression change in an instant, Phaios looked troubled. Still, he didn’t seem to intend to take back his words.

“You know the First Prince is making moves.”

“……”

“The First Prince suspects Duke Seyfried. I can’t guess his motive either. Certainly, it seems he’s already branded him a traitor in his heart.”

Certainly, no one knew what was inside First Prince Carlos.

“But you’ll be safe by Astaire’s side. He’s one of the few people in this Empire who can protect you from the First Prince.”

“……”

“I’m sorry. That I don’t have the power.”

Daphne suddenly wanted to ask.

Jayden, why are you sorry?

Your Highness the Second Prince, why are you apologizing to me?

But somehow it felt like a question she shouldn’t ask. The swallowed question never came out and was buried.

“Actually, I have regrets too, Daphne.”

Just as he was about to say something important.

Daphne’s gaze reached beyond the Second Prince’s head. Her focus settled on one spot, and soon Daphne’s eyes widened.

“What’s wrong?”

Phaios whipped his head around. Then he showed the same reaction as Daphne.

Someone was coming from far away without even an umbrella.

It was Astaire.

* * *

Daphne thought he’d be furious right away.

But the man didn’t.

He maintained a calm attitude like a lake at dawn, approached in just a few steps with his long legs, and stood in front of Daphne.

“I’d like you to step aside for a moment, Your Highness the Second Prince.”

He said it in a low voice. It was a cool voice with no emotion, but his words had a wordless power that made even people who’d done nothing wrong shrink back. No one knew what that power was.

“I’m asking you.”

“……”

Phaios moved his lips, then made eye contact with Daphne.

Daphne quietly shook her head.

In the end, she had chosen.

Phaios didn’t hide his bitterness and slowly moved away from them while holding his umbrella.

Seeing the Second Prince completely disappear, Astaire turned back to Daphne.

Daphne didn’t hide her sneer.

Now she was even curious.

What would be the first thing he’d say upon their reunion?

Daphne struck first.

“Surely you didn’t come all this way to threaten me.”

“How did you know?”

She’d known Astaire for years now. She could roughly predict it now.

That he’d ruin the life of Tomer Belinda who’d taken her in. Or bankrupt Belinda Gallery, which had become precious to her too.

Just like Astaire could see her clearly in the palm of his hand, Daphne also knew Astaire to some extent.

“Stop with the foolish threats.”

Daphne quietly clenched her fist.

Surprisingly, she thought Astaire would mock her words and threaten her openly. But he didn’t.

“……”

He just kept silent.

Daphne was more afraid of his silence. People were bound to fear the unknown.

“What’s the point of just talking? Showing you is faster.”

The man’s matter-of-fact words sounded even more frightening. He didn’t even properly say what he’d do to Daphne who’d run away.

“Are you okay?”

For a moment Daphne doubted her ears. She couldn’t believe he was worried about her.

“I’m asking if anyone… did anything bad to you.”

“Why would you care about me?”

“Don’t forget who you are.”

No. She came all this way to forget who she was.

Daphne squeezed her eyes shut then opened them. Whether her eyes were open or closed, she swallowed a hollow laugh at the fact that she could only see this man.

Last night too, she’d dreamed of this man.

How warm and large the hand under the white glove was as it enveloped her.

How firm and cozy his broad embrace was.

She had to admit it now.

Forgetting someone couldn’t be done in one cut like with a knife.

Daphne didn’t try too hard to forcibly shake off Astaire.

If this man was truly a past that would disappear from her, he’d naturally be eroded by time and eventually disappear completely.

No matter how much she struggled, the past was a ghost that couldn’t be shaken off. That’s probably why people gave so much meaning to the past.

“Ah!”

Suddenly, Astaire pulled Daphne into his arms.

Daphne was so surprised her mouth and eyes opened wide.

Then she belatedly recognized it.

The man’s warmth wrapping around her waist.

The firm embrace enveloping her soft upper body.

Right. It was exactly this feeling.

Daphne forced her eyes wide open though they were closing on their own.

“Let go.”

She spoke quietly near the man’s ear. But far from listening, Astaire only held her tighter.

“…I can’t breathe.”

“Then just die in my arms.”

He whispered the brutal words so tenderly that Daphne almost mistook it for a moment.

Just for a brief instant, it felt like she’d returned to the past.

“Then would you never leave me?”

She’d forgotten.

What kind of person this man was.

“There’s no point in holding someone who’s practically dead, Your Grace.”

“Are you dead?”

“Please just think of me as dead.”

Even she thought it made no sense, but Daphne blurted out whatever came to mind.

The pressure squeezing her grew stronger.