Ivlik headed back to his destination. The butler, who was thirteen years older than his master, couldn’t keep up with the master’s pace no matter how hard he tried. The butler is already forty-eight, so it’s an age where it’s hard to keep up.

‘He looks younger than forty-eight today, though.’

While walking, almost running, through the corridor, he saw two more employees who had left the mansion like Nelipa. Each time, Ivlik’s speed increased. Finally, when he reached his destination, he flung open the door as if he was going to break it.

Cedine’s room was empty. The bed, dressing table, wardrobe, the sacred objects that her sister Karen had bought on her way back from missions, the curtains and carpet that Ivlik had personally chosen. None of it was visible. Instead, faded ivory wallpaper greeted Ivlik.

This was the wallpaper that had been on the walls of this room until the Liere sisters came to the viscount’s residence. Ivlik stared at the empty room with astonished eyes. Then he rolled up the sleeve of his gown and checked his left forearm. The arm was smooth without a single scar.

The time when he got a scar as long as a hand span was in the fall of 1919. If it’s really April 8, 1917, it’s natural that there’s no mark on his left arm.

‘If it’s really April 8, 1917, that is.’

Is it a dream? Or is it God’s prank? He had once read a novel about time travel. Could something similar have happened to him? Either way, it seemed implausible. Such an absurd event doesn’t suit Ivlik Wintermore.

“Master, you usually didn’t like my advice. If I remember correctly, it’s been that way since I first met you when you were twelve. But just for this morning, I really want to say this. Master, it would be good for you to rest for a few days.”

“…1917, you say? 1917. 1917.”

“To my eyes, rest should come first, but it seems you think differently. If you think we’re all in cahoots to deceive you about the date, why don’t you go outside? Especially to the Army Ministry. As soon as you enter the large hall, you’ll be able to see the date and current time for the whole world.”

The butler recommended visiting the Army Ministry, but the place Ivlik drove to was in a completely different direction. He parked the car where he could see the entrance of an old four-story building and waited. About an hour passed. Cedine, with her light brown hair tightly tied with a ribbon, came out carrying garbage bags in both hands.

A neighbor walking a dog greeted Cedine. Cedine, who had been grumbling about how heavy the bags were just a moment ago, smiled brightly at the neighbor. She smiled even more brightly at the dog on a leash. Cedine, apologizing to the dog that she couldn’t pet it because her hands were dirty, looked exactly the same as she did at twenty-one.

Ivlik slowly covered his mouth. He felt like he might burst into sobs the moment he removed his hand. Although it was unlikely, if the sound were to leak out of the car, it would attract the attention of passersby. Then Cedine, who was a little distance away, might look this way wondering what was happening, and if their eyes met, Ivlik would completely fall apart.

I missed you. I thought I was going crazy missing you, Cedine. It was a time of nothing but pain, to the point where I wished I had died instead. After I avenged you, I put a revolver to my head and pulled the trigger, but when I opened my eyes, they’re telling me it’s 1917. At that moment, I could only think of you. That’s why I came to see you like this.

Ridiculously, even though I know exactly where you live, I didn’t have the courage to knock on your door. I was afraid you might not be there. But you’re alive. You’re standing here in front of me on your own two feet. Not bleeding, not pale. I’m so glad. I’ll never let you go again.

He could imagine himself unable to string words together properly, sobbing. But he couldn’t do that. The last time Cedine of April 8, 1917 saw Ivlik would have been during the special training last summer. Cedine would be surprised and frightened.

Only after Cedine went back into the building did he lower the hand covering his mouth. His wet eyes stung.

It’s enough that he confirmed her safety. He has work to do. Like he decided just before his suicide attempt, he needs to eliminate Duke Crotsfield in advance.

In his past life, the Duke used Karen like a puppet for his own benefit. The Liere sisters had no one else to rely on but each other. Knowing that Karen cared deeply for her younger sister, the Duke would repeatedly mention Cedine and assign tasks that were difficult to entrust to other agents to Karen.

As Karen’s disgust towards the Duke was building up, Ivlik conveniently proposed a fake marriage. Lieutenant Colonel Wintermore seemed capable of being a match for the Duke. Karen, judging this, accepted the proposal on the condition that Ivlik would become her sister’s patron.

Shortly after that, the Duke once again assigned a mission to Karen, who had become Mrs. Wintermore. Karen, who had followed the Duke’s orders until then, said she couldn’t obey this time.

[He wants me to blow up a school with children. He says it will draw the attention of the entire country. It will buy us about half a year of time, he says. Do you know what he plans to do while diverting attention elsewhere? He plans to touch the excavation-prohibited area. That greedy bastard is trying to kill up to 300 young children just to fill his own pockets more. Lieutenant Colonel, I don’t want to live as Crotsfield’s dog anymore. But for that, I need your help.]

Ivlik and Karen decided to fake her death. She said she was sorry to Cedine, but she couldn’t involve her sister. It was Ivlik’s job to find a corpse that resembled Karen closely. Fortunately, he was able to divert one female body just before it was sent to the crematorium at the right timing.

Even after holding the funeral, Duke Crotsfield continued to doubt Karen’s death. But he couldn’t find any trace of the fugitive Karen anywhere, and so he thought the Duke would remain just a paranoid patient.

No one expected that he would kill Cedine to provoke Karen and draw her out into the open.

“I want to accept it instead. Please have a fake marriage with me.”

And there was one more thing Ivlik didn’t expect. Cedine came to the viscount’s residence on her own in the week he had regressed. Originally, Ivlik planned to deal with the Duke first and then slowly court Cedine. But Cedine’s visit changed everything.

‘You want to marry me?’

Ivlik felt like shaking Cedine’s shoulders and asking her to say it again. To him, it was as unbelievable as the regression itself. Anyway, he was glad he was already sitting in a chair. If he had been standing, his body would have swayed.

She wants to have a fake marriage with Ivlik instead of her sister. The moment he heard those words from Cedine, does she know what thoughts crossed his mind?

‘You’re saying you’ll become my wife? That you’ll become Cedine Wintermore. That it’s what you want… You just said it with your own mouth.’

It was a counter-proposal that left no room for rejection from the start. There was no time to ask why she had made such a decision. Ivlik Wintermore, afraid that Cedine might change her mind, immediately accepted her proposal.

* * *

Cedine thought with her hand on the doorknob of the marital bedroom. It seems she must be crazy. To obediently go wash up at Ivlik’s hint about spending the night together.

‘What on earth are you thinking, Cedine Liere?’

Throughout her shower, the first night they spent at the hotel kept circling in her mind. What would it feel like to have that flesh pillar that moved between her thighs enter inside? Would it hurt? Would her inner walls tear? Or would she clench around him so tightly in pleasure that Ivlik would tease her? She couldn’t predict any of it.

‘I haven’t even mentioned the ‘b’ of basement yet. Since there’s nothing suspicious for Ivlik to notice… he won’t kill me during the act, right?’

Cedine squeezed her eyes shut.

‘I’m crazy. I must be crazy. To try to sleep with a man who makes me worry like this.’

She hadn’t known until now. Could it be that she had a taste for surrendering to thrills?

That’s when she heard Ivlik’s voice telling her to stop standing there and come in already. Cedine took a deep breath before entering the room.

Unusually, Ivlik was wearing black silk pajama pants. Cedine inadvertently looked at his pants but quickly averted her gaze from the ominously protruding center. It was a size she could never get used to. The thin fabric could never serve as a proper cover.

“You’re looking at it again.”

Ivlik smiled and gestured for her to come closer. He stroked Cedine’s soft hair and inhaled its scent. Something was placed over Cedine’s tense eyes. He stopped her as she instinctively tried to avoid it.