Beyond any other consideration, it was a perfect disqualification for a soldier.

His fatal flaw had been revealed only to high-ranking officials during his military academy days. However, thanks to his family’s prestige and the qualities he demonstrated at the academy, it had been forcibly concealed, allowing him to reach his current position.

Unlike his anxious direct superiors and subordinates, he himself didn’t consider it such a significant weakness.

“That was reckless of you,” he said.

“Hmm?”

“Whatever Your Highness knows, it would have been wiser to hold onto such information. Had your observer been someone other than Schaefer, who already knew, that information would have become worthless.”

Jens spoke while removing the wax cylinder from the recording device spinning nearby. Aira watched him with an incredulous expression as he casually damaged the cylinder, wrapped it in blank paper, and tucked it inside his jacket.

“That’s tampering with evidence…”

Jens shrugged and pulled a new wax cylinder from his bag, installing it.

“What a strange person you are.”

At her muttered words, Jens paused before turning on the recorder and looked at her. Aira tilted her head, wondering if she had misspoken again.

Jens removed his hand without pressing the recorder’s switch. After confirming that Aira had noticed the recorder wasn’t running, he spoke.

“Your Highness.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know me?”

“…”

“I was prepared to accept your lie that the secret agreement between the Empire and the Archipelago, along with knowledge of my weakness, were simply part of your information gathering for survival. That would be a plausible explanation anyone would accept. No one can be certain about imperial royalty after all.”

“Huh.”

Though she hadn’t said a single word of such excuses, Jens had already anticipated what lies she might tell and had determined they would all be falsehoods.

“However.”

Jens interlaced his fingers on the table and leaned forward.

“What about this attitude, like you know me well?”

“You’re mistaken.”

“I won’t fall for it twice.”

She wanted to roll her eyes and look away, but Jens’s icy gray eyes stared directly at her, making evasion impossible.

Breathing, presence, eye movements. He was reading and processing everything as information, not just her words. By taking his hand off the recorder, he was demanding honest answers from her.

But she couldn’t answer this either. That she had traveled back in time? That if she couldn’t fulfill his true wish, she would be trapped in time, unable to die, eternally returning to this moment? That she had already died to confirm this?

Aira was certain that she could only die if Jens’s wish was fulfilled.

If that were the case, her retainers didn’t need to come to the Republic. That’s why she had persuaded Fletcher, despite his vehement objections, and sent him to an island in the Archipelago with what felt like having her bones extracted.

Hiding in Imperial territory would be dangerous—too many people knew their faces. Though she had only bitter memories of the Archipelago, nothing had happened there yet in this timeline.

Moreover, having been Queen of the Archipelago, Aira knew secret places among its numerous islands that were beyond Luten’s reach. They would be safe there for now.

That’s how she had come alone to Jens Will’s Nautile, making it appear the Girogssar had abandoned her. Since she couldn’t die the same way again, she quickly passed on information and requested protection from Jens to prevent casualties on the Nautile. That’s how she ended up sitting here.

Aira interlaced her fingers and thrust her body forward, mimicking him. He frowned and leaned back.

Just as she thought—he never engaged in pointless pride contests.

“Lieutenant.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“I know far more about you than you might expect.”

“You’ve already proven that.”

“Yes. So here’s my proposal. Perhaps it could even become a contract.”

Aira found this moment, which had returned to her like fate, truly peculiar.

In the past at this point, she had made this proposal not to a gray-eyed Republic soldier, but to a king with gentle features and green eyes. It was a proposal she could make because she was still young. It had been utterly foolish.

Was she being foolish again? But Aira had spent the year before her death with Jens. She had crudely analyzed him by remembering the glances, words, and actions of Admiral Jens from the past, and decided to take a gamble.

The stake was her worthless life.

So it wasn’t really a gamble. If she failed, she could die and start again.

“Marry me.”

‘Please marry me.’

In the past, King Luten of the Archipelago had stared at the sixteen-year-old princess. His green eyes had trembled with surprise at the unexpected proposal.

But Jens didn’t even blink. He didn’t even treat it as a joke.

“I have a fiancée.”

“Ah, you were married, weren’t you?”

“I said fiancée. Damaging your earlobe shouldn’t have affected your hearing.”

“Why did you marry—I mean, get engaged to Ranier?”

Jens replied with an expression suggesting he might soon lose his patience.

“Why are you wrong about that too? My fiancée is Miss Schedel.”

“What?!”

Aira blinked in surprise.

“Not Ranier Lüse?”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve never even met Miss Lüse. Where exactly did you hear such things…”

“Schedel? Schedel? Wait a moment. I’ve definitely heard that name somewhere. Ah, the Republic Navy Lieutenant General. Must be his daughter.”

Jens irritably organized his papers.

“Why do you keep changing the subject? What was all that nonsense just now?”

“Oh. If perhaps you’re not particularly close with your wife—I mean fiancée—then I’m suggesting we get married.”

“And why would we do that?”

It would certainly be an inconvenience to him. But this was the fastest method she could think of. To stay by his side and discover what his deepest wish had been in that moment from the past.

Aira had prepared her reasoning.

“Didn’t I tell you that the 3rd Prince and the King of the Archipelago are eyeing me as a potential bride?”

“That’s absurd. Saying you’ll get married because you don’t want to get married—what kind of nonsensical idea is that?”

“To be precise, I don’t care about marriage itself. I just dislike them. You seem rather uninterested in me, which is actually reassuring.”

Any interest in marriage or love had withered away long ago.

“Besides, since the Will family is prestigious in the Republic, if I marry you first, would others still pursue me? The Empire won’t easily give up on me without something of this magnitude.”

Jens now looked like he didn’t even want to deal with her anymore.

“If those are your reasons, find someone else.”

“I can definitely be helpful to you.”

“I’m sorry, but I have no need for your help. For someone who investigated me just to use me as a tool, your persuasion is rather weak. Acting like you know me.”

“I’m not making this unreasonable request without reason. I’ll offer something equivalent in return. That’s why I’m proposing a contract.”

Aira bit her lip once before releasing it.

“Didn’t I prove myself? It’s not just about you. I know many things. No matter how excellent your intelligence is, you wouldn’t know about plans within the Imperial royal family. For instance.”

She chewed her increasingly dry lips again. Jens had placed water on the interrogation room table, but Aira didn’t even glance at it. Instead, she gazed earnestly at the man sitting across from her, who might become her savior.

“I’ll tell you which island you must demand from the Empire in this armistice agreement. The Empire has laid massive amounts of magic stones on a certain island. They originally planned to win this naval battle, use that island as an advance base, and formally target the Republic mainland.”

This was knowledge only she, who had returned, possessed. This information would surely be a crucial strategic asset for him.

“During the armistice negotiations, you can either demand that island to check the Empire, or extract more concessions from them. Wouldn’t that be helpful?”

This was information no Republic soldier could refuse.

Aira observed him carefully while trying not to reveal her tension. Jens’s brow twitched slightly, but his face remained unchanged as he stared at her. Finally, Aira spoke first.

“Of course, you could accomplish anything with your abilities. But with my help, you could reduce the amount of bloodshed along your path.”

The Jens she had observed in the past was never a cruel butcher. Aira’s throat had gone dry.

“In all of Imperial history, I’m the first royal to defect to the Republic. Moreover, I’m the Emperor’s biological child. I know countless secrets known only to the royal family. I’d prefer to prove myself through actions, but I have no time, so I must persuade you with words.”

“…”

“And I know… far more about the Archipelago than you can imagine. The Archipelago will certainly play a role in your future path.”

“…”

Perhaps words alone weren’t enough.

But there wasn’t time to orchestrate anything else. Before she traveled back in time, when she had defected to the Archipelago, the Empire had immediately demanded her return. Surely the Empire would demand her from the Republic now too.

The Republic could either keep her for their own use or sell her at a high price. To prevent this, she needed to succeed in forming a contract with Jens.

“I’ll help advance your career. If you have greater ambitions, I know many other things that could be useful to you. You won’t need the power of your wife’s family, whether it’s Lüse or Schedel.”

It was absolutely true. Jens’s subsequent rise to power had been solely due to his own strength, and although he later married Ranier Lüse, he had already reached a position where he didn’t need the Lüse family’s influence. If anything, their oversight only made things more tiresome for him.

But despite saying all this, Jens’s expression remained unreadable. After staring at her intently, Jens sighed deeply and spoke in a low voice. His voice didn’t waver in the slightest.

“I’ll say it again. I have no need for your help.”