“It was truly difficult, and dare I say…… even difficult for those watching to endure.”

The imperial physician and palace servants had tried to dissuade Elia from her harsh rehabilitation several times, shedding tears of concern. Some even sobbed watching the lady whose entire body was soaked with sweat and tears just to take a single step.

“While everyone sobbed at the sight, the lady alone never……”

“I know.”

Rockfort spoke calmly. For such a tone, his voice was bitter.

“She is strong.”

How could he not know? Elia had also been on a battlefield. Likely a more cruel one than Rockfort’s.

Elia must have fiercely endured and fought her own war alone.

“So it doesn’t matter.”

That’s why he liked her. Because she was a fitting companion for the emperor of this empire, the stronger she was, the better. Or so he thought.

“Leave, all of you.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

But that wasn’t it.

Left alone, Rockfort wiped away moisture from his eyes that should have already been dried in the bathroom.

“It stings.”

There was no way soap had gotten in. His eyes just felt sore and stinging. The moisture was evident on the back of his hand after he deliberately wiped it roughly.

“It stings……”

His eyes hurt. It wasn’t because of dirt.

He simply felt a pain in his eyes while alone.

What he truly needed to know wasn’t her well-being. It wasn’t just about hearing that she was doing well.

“It stings so much I can’t bear it……”

Elia’s pain resonated with Rockfort.

Just thinking about it made his eyes hurt, ache, and ache again.

* * *

Rockfort visited the imperial shrine with his cleansed body. Just as war was his duty, this ceremony was also his obligation.

“The emperor of the Holy Petrion Empire…… Rockfort has returned safely from the battlefield.”

In this shrine that only the emperor could enter, the ancestors of Petrion who founded this empire rested.

He had come here when he ascended the throne and after the previous war. Just like then, he unemotionally filled exactly the required time for his duty and then walked out indifferently.

“As always, today I find myself particularly thoughtless.”

Throughout washing his hands with holy water, going to the shrine to offer prayers, and performing the ritual, his mind was filled with Elia.

He couldn’t forget her steps approaching him, though leaning on a cane.

— Welcome back.

Her eyes, both familiar and strange, like seeing a new person, were impressive. Though it hadn’t been that long since he departed in spring and returned in autumn, her change was evident.

Yet he felt inwardly anxious, unable to clearly know what influence this change would have on their relationship.

“Even alone…… you stood firmly.”

The blue in Elia’s eyes had deepened after she stood again on legs that had once been terribly injured.

It was like a light of will, suggesting she could live by her own strength without needing anyone’s help.

That quiet and strong light, which seemed not to need even Emperor Rockfort, made him anxious.

“My judgment was not wrong.”

Rockfort recognized Elia properly. That jewel, the radiance of a woman who could never be replaced even if one searched the entire world.

“But to exceed my expectations so vastly……”

Elia was much stronger than his expectations and predictions. And what about the firm resolve on her elegant face?

At first, the spirit with which Elia coldly rejected him had a kind of resignation. It was possible because she wanted to throw away her life.

But now Elia’s cheeks were full of vitality. She no longer considered her life worthless.

A woman who gives up everything and throws away her life is strong, but a woman who protects her life and precious existence and stands against adversity is even stronger.

“……How amusing.”

Rockfort laughed bitterly at his own pathetic state.

He was now engulfed in anxiety and fear. Elia was gradually regaining her freedom.

If her legs fully healed and she could run lightly as before, if she noticed Rockfort’s heart that could no longer kill her and flew far…… far away.

Could he still be happy about Elia’s recovery then?

There was no guarantee that her protecting her life and trying to live according to her will would necessarily be a joyful thing for him.

“It seems the blood of the former emperor and mother flows in me after all. Seeing these ugly thoughts arise.”

All his life, he hated his parents. More precisely, he despised their methods of obtaining what they wanted and their coldness in not caring about anything else as long as they possessed what they desired.

He hadn’t realized. That there are things in this world one wants to hold onto even by committing ugly acts, things one wants to possess.

* * *

The memory of his body heat, which had faded, returned hot and vivid. Elia realized this clearly as she caressed her cheek.

“My lady, you must dine with His Majesty, so I’ll help you prepare. Lady Themis has prepared a new dress……”

“Like usual. That’s fine.”

Hannah nodded without further words. Since Cecilia’s incident, Elia had been making wiser decisions than anyone.

She was no longer a child in someone’s arms, no longer just a young lady, but a complete mistress in her own right.

“I heard Lady Themis visited earlier?”

“Yes. She came to inform the princess of His Majesty the Emperor’s return and asked me to convey her apology for leaving without greeting you.”

“It seems quiet…… the princess appears to be the same as before.”

“Yes. She still doesn’t meet anyone except Lady Themis.”

The third floor had remained firmly closed since the princess’s return.

Though Marienne should have returned to her original duties now that the rightful owner, the emperor, had returned, Elia could understand her concern for Leticia and desire to check on her.

“My lady, let me braid your hair. Half up, the rest loose, with jeweled ornaments.”

Though she didn’t look particularly pleased, Elia didn’t object either.

“Let’s apply a little makeup too.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Then just a bit of rouge…… just a little rouge.”

Just because Rockfort had returned, just because she would be dining with him for the first time, she didn’t want to act as if she were trying to impress him.

She didn’t know whether this was stubbornness, sincerity, or pride.

“Since it’s a dinner held in His Majesty the Emperor’s chambers, even if it’s just the two of you, it’s an official occasion.”

“……Just rouge then. A light shade.”

“Yes.”

Hannah, having finally obtained permission, smiled slightly and called Cyril and Mona. Ladies-in-waiting naturally wanted their mistress to appear elegant and beautiful wherever she went.

“Cyril, braid the lady’s hair, and Mona, bring the hair ornaments. Don’t forget gloves and a handkerchief.”

The young ladies-in-waiting nodded at Hannah’s instructions.

“Understood.”

“Yes!”

Elia’s noble figure was their pride. Though they didn’t say more, they all seemed secretly pleased about the emperor’s return.

But Elia had no time to think about such things.

“Hannah, bring what I prepared.”

“Pardon? But my lady, today is……”

“Cyril and Mona are enough for my preparation. Bring it now.”

“……Yes.”

While Rockfort was away, Elia hadn’t devoted herself solely to rehabilitation.

Of course, standing on her own legs was her biggest challenge and hardest task, but the time and energy she could spend on rehabilitation each day was limited.

The imperial physician repeatedly gave firm advice that acting out of impatience would seriously damage her legs.

— Time is precious.

Around the end of spring, after the emperor had left for his campaign, Elia had said this.

— I’m not a patient anymore. I’m just trying to use my crippled legs again. So I need to use the rest of my time properly too.

Once, she thought there was no need to make an effort to live. Life and existence had seemed so futile.

But whether she wanted it or not, Elia had been given a second chance. And when she made different choices, both her present and future changed.

So she realized. That her life would continue to change according to her choices.

Elia wanted to confirm. The possibility that this life might not be pointless, the reason why she had returned after facing death once.

At the very least, she wanted to prove that her life wasn’t like a flower petal that too easily fades away in the light rain pouring at the end of spring.

— I won’t live like a flower.

Born noble and raised delicately, she had lived her whole life being told to live beautifully like a flower, but what was the result?

No matter how brilliantly and beautifully a flower blooms, a life that withers miserably and falls to the ground with just one rain and wind could only be futile.

— Not like a flower that blooms and withers with the seasons…… I want to live like a tree that greets the seasons from the same place.

She didn’t need to be splendid. She hated a life that used all its vitality to enchant people for just one season before fading.

So she would never live as a flower.

— Even if it rains, even if the wind blows, even if winter is very long…… a tree doesn’t shake. That’s how it gets stronger with each season.

To others, it might seem slow and tedious, perhaps even foolish. But it was the way of life Elia had chosen.

Slowly putting down roots and standing straight.

A very simple method, but not something everyone could do.

— I will learn. Both the good and bad—anything. Until I can know the reason for myself…… until I can understand.

She needed to know the reason for the pain of her past life, for being reborn and pushed to this point, for all the fate that had determined everything.

Rockfort was one of those reasons. Elia had decided that.

No matter how greatly his passion shook her, to become a complete tree, he couldn’t become her everything.

Never again would she live for someone else.

After deciding to live not for others but for herself, everything became clear.