She woke up in one day, when before, it was in a month. Rosaline suppressed the rising doubts. It didn’t matter how long it had been since she woke up. It was only important that she had returned to the time before Juliet and Romeo met.

Whether it was because Kata heard her wish, Rosaline had returned to the past, and Juliet was alive. She would not regard the death of Juliet and Romeo as a fantasy, just as she did not regard the present as a dream. She could stake her soul on the fact that Juliet’s stopped breath and pale skin were real.

Rosaline hugged Juliet again with force. Her mother was saying something beside her, but she didn’t release her grip on her hands.

“God. Thank you for listening to this foolish servant’s prayer.”

Rosaline whispered to Juliet’s neck. Juliet gestured to those around her, saying she was so surprised and needed to be left alone.

A moment passed. Juliet dismissed the servants and even her mother, who had come to see her, then considered Rosaline. She firmly held Rosaline’s hand on the bed, as if trying to calm her startled heart.

“I thought you were dead. I was going to take you to my room after the treatment, but the nanny insisted on bringing you here……”

Rosaline felt deep affection for Juliet, who was about to burst into tears. At the same time, she concentrated on figuring out the current situation.

Juliet was meeting Romeo for the first time at the banquet, so at this point, she didn’t even know Romeo’s face.

Romeo had been studying at an academy in another province due to his poor health, despite his family raising outstanding knights over several generations. Even if she had seen him in passing as a child, she would not remember.

However, Romeo Montague was traveling the capital on vacation and would return to Valher to spend his last few days at his family’s home.

Romeo had not been in Valher for long at the time. He had chased after Rosaline when he met her by chance, but when she rejected him, he soon begged for love from Juliet.

Juliet was endlessly swayed by his passionate love.

You died like that, swaying. Without even giving me a chance to do anything.

“Miss, let’s travel.”

Pale-faced, Rosaline blurted it out impulsively. And with trembling hands, she grabbed Juliet’s wrist.

“We’re going to see the sea.”

Romeo was going back to school anyway, and Juliet even had a well-mannered fiancé living in another city. If they didn’t meet, they would safely live their own lives. Rosaline had no choice but to believe that.

“What? What are you suddenly talking about……”

Juliet did not hide her expression of bewilderment. But Rosaline did not yield.

“You always said that there was a sea surrounded by cobalt light if we go west. I haven’t seen the sea, so I want to show it to you. Let’s go, Miss. I want to go.”

“…Rosaline.”

“Please. You said you wanted to travel around before you became the head of the family, didn’t you? With just the two of us.”

“I did, of course, seven years ago!”

A streak of worry flashed in Juliet’s eyes, but it was only for a moment. She must think that she was talking nonsense because she was sick.

“But you said you had a lot to learn and that you should participate in the housework for the sake of your future?”

That’s not it. Rosaline also wanted to see the sea with Juliet, but because her mother had urged her to refuse, she had no choice. However, she could neither speak honestly and blame her mother, nor could she control herself because the fear of losing Juliet had flooded her whole body.

“…I don’t think there will be another chance if not now. A month is enough, right? Right?”

“Rosaline.”

As if trying to calm her down, a small hand touched Rosaline’s cheek. Juliet stroked Rosaline, who flinched.

“Let’s talk about it after you get well.”

Rosaline, in a tone that seemed to be appeasing a stubborn child, was reminded of how absurdly she had made the request. While blushing with embarrassment, she composed her expression and nodded. Her insides were racing madly, but if it was Juliet’s command, her body reacted as she pleased.

Come to think of it, Rosaline had hardly ever spoken out what she wanted, nor had she thought about what she wanted, so she was not good at asking or requesting.

Ah, how pathetic.

“More than that, aren’t you dizzy? Are you able to get up?”

Juliet said, patting Rosaline’s shoulder, who was in a daze. Come to think of it, there was a slight pain in her back and chin. When she slightly frowned, Juliet smiled as if she knew it.

“Just sit down. I want to make you lie down again, but I have someone to see for a moment.”

“Me?”

“Yes. The person who saved you. He wants to see if you’re okay.”

Juliet nodded with a strange face, as if displeased but not.

“You would have been beheaded if it hadn’t been for that person.”

Beheaded? Rosaline involuntarily stroked the area around her chin, which had been stinging. It seemed that her chin had been slightly cut instead of her neck.

Suddenly, the doubts she had ignored earlier came back. In the past, that is, before the regression, had someone saved her from a fight? Moreover, at that time, her back had been cut. She hadn’t died because she had avoided the carotid artery, but she was badly hurt all the same.

It was strange to just brush this off.

Juliet, who didn’t know Rosaline’s worries, giggled.

“Don’t be surprised. It was the Montague’s sly prince who saved you.”

“…The sly prince?”

Not the ‘weak prince’?

“I’ll ask him to come in for a moment. Even if I tell him to come later, he’s sticking around the house, insisting that he has to see if you’re okay. He’s been here all night, you know?”

Juliet, who didn’t hide her weary expression, got up and went to the door.

Meanwhile, Rosaline was anxious, trying to deduce who the person waiting for her was. If he was a prince, it would be a man, and the Montagues only had a son and a daughter. Romeo and… Romeo’s younger sister, Angela.

It couldn’t be Romeo. By now, Romeo would be traveling the capital with his cousin, Benvolio.

At the end of the unanswered thought, there was only the warning that she shouldn’t meet him, no matter who he was. Rosaline stood up to stop Juliet from opening the door.

“Jul….”

But the moment she took a step, a pain running up her spine made her stumble and unable to walk a single step.

Her back seemed to be severely injured, as in the past. She hadn’t noticed because she was concerned about Juliet.

A figure was seen through the open door in her falling vision. Please, let it be Benvolio. If he was the young master of the Montague, please, let it be Benvolio. Rosaline closed her eyes tightly in preparation for the pain that was about to come.

“Rosaline.”

But instead of the stinging pain, a firm arm wrapped around Rosaline’s waist. An iron-like, strong arm, along with a voice that was eerily familiar.

It was subtly different from the gentle voice of Romeo, but it was definitely a familiar voice. As the blade that had pierced Juliet’s chest and death suddenly came to mind, her heart began to race like crazy.

“Th…thank you. You can… let go.”

Rosaline, who had steadied herself with the arm around her waist, spoke with difficulty without looking at the other person. But not looking didn’t mean she couldn’t feel it. The broad chest against her back and the persistent gaze that was sweeping her neck— it was as if it was touching her.

She tried to push the other person away, pretending not to know, but instead, the arm around her waist tightened even more.

“Please, let go.”

“I think you’ll fall if I let go.”

The voice echoed in her ear, as if his lips were coming down along with her bowed head. She was so horrified that the low tone seemed to spread throughout her body through her ear canal.

“Please use your legs and waist to stand on your own. I will let go if you do.”

He pressed her waist with his large hand, which was wrapped around her. She gave a force as the hand pressed down, and a slight laugh was heard.

“Well done.”

With a compliment as if scratching the cheek of a dog, the arm that had been around her waist slowly loosened. Rosaline, with her head bowed, sat down on the bed without looking at the other person. She wanted to say something, but, like a rabbit who only buries its head in the ground, fearing the predator, she could only stare at the floor.

Is it really Romeo? He shouldn’t be here now.

Rosaline was not in a state where she could properly recognize anything. She was only confused because of Juliet’s death and her own cries that kept hitting her head.

Through the dizzying consciousness, the sound of someone dragging a chair and sitting down with a thud was heard. The tips of blunt boots were visible from her fixed gaze on the floor. It was a moment when she suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.

“Have you been up all night in the hallway? I would have offered you a separate guest room.”

When Juliet spoke sharply, the other person’s laughter was heard.

“Are there any laws in Capulet that prevent you from spending the night in the hallway? Juliet.”

The smooth answer had the young lady’s name added like a sticky, overripe fruit.

No.

Rosaline, who had been looking only at the floor, reflexively raised her head. And their eyes met.

It was Romeo, drawing a perfect smile.