Chapter 3

The next day.

Lachesis frowned under the warm morning sunlight.

“Ugh. I feel sick…….”

The problem was that she had drunk too much the night before while dealing with people at the banquet. With the crowd pressing in around her, she couldn’t even settle her stomach with any food.

If it hadn’t been for the sweet praise poured onto not only Louise’s painting, but also the palm-sized, adorable yet astonishingly realistic marble sculpture Mikel had carved—and the small wooden model of the victory monument Lerno had built in the imperial capital plaza—she wouldn’t have been able to endure such an exhausting time.

It was also fortunate that the Imperial Palace had provided rooms for guests at a banquet that ran late. She hadn’t expected the stiff, old-fashioned Marel to be the one to suggest they stay the night at the Imperial Palace first.

‘Come to think of it…….’

Rubbing her throbbing brow, Lachesis glanced at Marel. Normally, Marel would have been busy taking care of her through a hangover, yet for some reason she was quiet.

“Marel. Are you okay?”

“…….”

“……Marel?”

“Y-yes? Did you call for me?”

Marel’s shoulders jerked up. At the hoarseness of her voice, it felt as though the fatigue shadowing her veil-covered face was plainly visible.

Since she never removed her veil outside, there was no way she could have rested comfortably in a room shared by several maids.

She should have refused even if Marel insisted they rest at the Imperial Palace. Lachesis regretted it too late.

“Let’s go home and rest. For that, the carriage needs to come quickly……. Didn’t we get word? I should send word to the driver again through an Imperial Palace attendant.”

“Maybe the driver’s still half-asleep like me. I’ll go to the carriage depot to chase off the drowsiness, too.”

Leaving behind words telling her not to go anywhere and to be careful of strangers because she’d be right back, Marel hurried off with quick little steps.

Her fussing, like she was scolding a child, was so like Marel that Lachesis felt reassured.

With a light laugh, Lachesis looked around. Contrary to Marel’s repeated warnings, the front of the Imperial Palace was sparsely populated in the early morning. Only a few knights on patrol wandered about now and then.

Just as her legs began to ache, a carriage appeared in the distance.

The neat white carriage was different from the Deate Earldom’s carriage she had been waiting for. Since there was no flag bearing a crest, she couldn’t guess which family it belonged to.

It was when the carriage passed slowly in front of her.

“Ah!”

The carriage, having rolled through a puddle, splashed muddy water onto the hem of Lachesis’s skirt.

Startled, the coachman hastily brought the carriage to a stop. Lachesis, too, stiffened in surprise.

But the reason she froze was not the same as the coachman’s. In truth, she didn’t even realize her dress had been stained.

A moment ago, through the carriage window, she had been completely captivated by the man whose eyes had met hers.

‘……Kadenic?’

She hadn’t expected to run into Kadenic like this, here, by sheer chance. She thought he would be at the ducal residence by now, alone, soothing the pain of heartbreak.

As Lachesis stood there blankly, the coachman rushed over as if tumbling off the carriage. Looking back and forth between the clear sky and the puddle on the ground, he didn’t know what to do.

“Oh dear. What do I do? I’m sorry, Miss. What should I do……. No—why is there even a puddle here, honestly…….”

Only then did Lachesis tear her gaze away from Kadenic.

The state of the hem, belatedly checked, wasn’t that serious. She was about to tell the coachman—who still couldn’t straighten from his bow—that it was fine, when a short clattering sound came from the carriage.

Right after, a clear, gripping voice.

“My. My servant has been discourteous.”

In an instant, Lachesis’s attention was stolen entirely by the owner of that voice.

Her eyes landed first on the dark hair that gave off a subtle violet sheen beneath the morning sun.

Then her gaze traveled down along a smooth forehead and neat eyebrows, and at the end of that line of sight……

“…….”

“…….”

Lachesis met unfamiliar eyes. In that split second, she unconsciously took a step back.

The keen, sharpened gaze she hadn’t felt through the carriage window pricked at her skin. She couldn’t believe that this razor-edged aura belonged to none other than Kadenic.

Kadenic’s bright smile—one she had secretly stolen glances at throughout the wedding just yesterday—felt like a complete lie. No, in truth, it was the present situation that felt like a lie.

‘Kadenic wouldn’t treat an extra he’s never met like this……. What is this?’

She wasn’t the only one who couldn’t look away. Kadenic, too, had his eyes fixed on Lachesis.

Unlike Lachesis’s stare, which clung to what she had noticed, his gaze was obsessive—like he was searching for something.

But within her innocent eyes and her clear, guileless face, there was nothing. Not a shred of memory, not a trace of emotion, not anything at all.

It was only the face of someone meeting a stranger for the first time.

Without even letting out a sigh, Kadenic quietly gave up. From the start, despair had been more familiar to him than hope. For a very long time—beyond time itself.

‘How many times has this been, now—this regression?’

It was hard to recall the exact number. His exhausted mind was only hazy. Even forcing the mask-like smile he used to wear so easily felt burdensome now.

This wouldn’t do. He knew how he was supposed to act going forward, from experiences in a time that had already vanished.

Win Lachesis’s favor, beg for her pity, use her good heart to survive day by day like a worm—only to lose everything again…… all of it.

Like this, back to the beginning.

“…….”

Without realizing it, he tightened his grip. His neatly trimmed nails pressed deep into his palm.

His uncontrollable, savage aura snagged on the woman before him, who looked thoroughly frightened.

He knew he shouldn’t be like this, but he couldn’t restrain himself as he wished. The best Kadenic could do right now was simply not to spit out the words of resentment rising to his throat.

‘Even if I’ve come back against the current of the past. Even if your time has been erased. You should still know me, Chessie.’

Being trapped in an eternally repeating time was not Lachesis’s fault. But the one who made this inescapable h*ll even more horrific was, without a doubt, Lachesis.

Because she—his only light and hope in this dark abyss—never allowed him the comfort of giving up.

Lachesis was the one and only person who could give Kadenic a “tomorrow.”

***

“I wasn’t trying to come all the way here, either. Really, Marel.”

Standing vacantly in an unfamiliar room, Lachesis began to speak as if making excuses to Marel. But instead, those words backfired.

“Then you’re saying you got into a stranger’s carriage without even asking the destination? That’s an even bigger problem!”

“Strictly speaking, he isn’t a stranger. He’s Duke Marutia. Anyone in the Asher Empire would know…….”

“…….”

Her face burned. Marel’s stern gaze seemed to pierce through the veil and scold her directly. Taking the hint, Lachesis shut her lips.

In truth, even if she opened her mouth, she had nothing to say. She herself didn’t understand how she had ended up at the Marutia ducal residence. It was a wonder she had remembered not to forget Marel and had even brought her along from the carriage depot.

Maybe…… while lost in other thoughts, she had unconsciously taken Kadenic’s offered hand and climbed into his carriage.

When Lachesis came to her senses, she was already in a guest room at the Marutia ducal residence, wearing a borrowed dress that had belonged to the previous Duchess. Somehow, even her hangover had vanished without a trace.

“Oh, right. Did they say our carriage wheel broke?”

Come to think of it, Marel had said something like that inside the carriage on the way here. Perhaps thoroughly angered by her master’s foolish conduct, Marel replied only briefly that it was true.

“Then I should send a letter to Gilbert to have a carriage sent here at once. I don’t plan to stay long at the Marutia ducal residence.”

As Lachesis immediately took up the quill pen prepared in the guest room, Marel—who had only been hovering near the door—came over.

“If you write it and give it to me, I’ll ask one of the servants here to deliver it.”

“You’re not mad anymore?”

“Mad? I’m not mad, it’s just…….”

“I know. You were worried about me, right? Honestly, Marel, you worry too much. It’s not like I’ve ever caused an accident before.”

This time, Marel pressed her lips together. It seemed she was aware she fussed too much, herself.