“His Grace insists on speaking with you directly.”

Amelie held out the communication orb, her expression troubled.

Jaina let out a quiet sigh as she looked at it.

This was the sixth time Cadel had tried to contact her. Rejecting him again would not make him change his mind.

“Give it to me.”

Reluctantly, she reached out and took the orb.

—”Jaina.”

Cadel’s face appeared in the light of the orb. He was as striking as ever, and there was an unmistakable gravity to his expression.

She regarded him evenly.

“What is it?”

— “As you may have heard, all the teleportation stones have broken. We are securing replacements from outside the North. Even then, they won’t arrive until tomorrow morning—”

“I know. I’ve already received the report. Did you insist on speaking to me personally just to tell me that?”

—”This is something I must say myself. I promised you I would return in the morning.”

“I never made such a promise. That was something you said on your own, Your Grace.”

—”Can we do something about that ridiculous title? I told you to call me by my name, Jaina.”

“I refuse. What kind of fool would call you by the same name your mistress uses?”

Her words came out sharper than she had intended. A mixture of irritation and spite clouded her tone, making it uncharacteristically aggressive.

Cadel’s expression hardened.

—”I have already told Violet to change the way she addresses me.”

Her brows knit faintly.

On the day she had once mentioned Violet’s form of address, he had rushed to defend her without hesitation.

‘And now he says he told her to change it.’

Rather than feeling relieved, she felt uncomfortable. After all, he was the same man who had never cared about such things in the past or the present. He was the man who had once told her to be understanding because Violet had addressed him that way for years.

It was ridiculous that something as trivial as a form of address could still hurt.

But she had not chosen to regress. The emotions of her past life remained unchanged within her. The things that had once unsettled her still did so now.

‘Even so, I will not make the same foolish choice again.’

‘He has not changed. He will not change.’

‘And I have no desire to love him again.’

Jaina looked at Cadel with a cool, unyielding gaze.

“Now? Only now?”

His expression stiffened at once.

She pretended not to notice and continued calmly.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but it makes no difference to me. Do as you please.”

—”Don’t speak like that, Jaina. I told you I would correct it from now on.”

“Exactly. Why from now on? What were you doing before?”

—”……”

“To be honest, even now you don’t think much of it when she calls you by name. She’s always done so. You’re close enough that she can.”

—”That’s…”

“And you spare not a single thought for your wife.”

—”……”

“Well, fine. It’s nothing new. It was the same in the past.”

—”Jaina.”

He called her name, his expression complicated.

She frowned faintly, but instead of answering, she said,

“Tell me something. This time, you married me because you needed something to bind us together and preserve my holy power. But why did you take me as your wife in the past? Back then, I wasn’t the only saintess.”

—”……”

“It occurred to me that I never asked. You seated me in the place of Grand Duchess and then had me do nothing. Neither as a saintess nor as Grand Duchess did I ever truly act.”

A humorless smile touched her lips.

“Were you planning to make me a puppet while entrusting the Grand Duchess’s duties to her?”

—”No. Don’t speak nonsense.”

He answered immediately, almost before she had finished.

— “I know you harbor ill feelings toward Violet. I understand that. But to claim I handed the Grand Duchess’s duties to someone who knew nothing of them—that’s an excessive accusation.”

“……”

—”In the past, too, you tormented her with baseless suspicions. But I swear—”

“Tormented?”

At that single word, all expression vanished from Jaina’s face.

He still believed she had harassed Violet without cause.

—”If we’re being honest, the only thing she ever did wrong was call my name in front of you, wasn’t it?”

A hollow sound escaped her lips.

“Ha.”

Jaina let out a dry laugh.

Fortunately — truly fortunately — this conversation was taking place via the communication orb. Had Cadel been standing right in front of her, she might have hit him without thinking twice.

“Do not contact me again.”

—”Jai—”

Before he could finish her name, she cut the connection.

“Amelie!”

Her voice was sharp with anger.

The moment she called out, the door opened. Amelie must have been waiting outside because she hurried into the room at once.

Jaina handed her the orb.

“If there is any contact from the North, do not connect it to me. No—do not even receive it.”

“…Yes, Your Grace.”

Amélie looked slightly startled by her tone, but she accepted the orb and bowed before leaving.

The door closed.

The instant she was alone, Jaina covered her face with her hands and let out a low, strained groan.

‘That wretched man.’

He hadn’t changed at all.

How could he stand there and claim that the only thing Violet had done wrong was call his name in front of her?

Did he really believe that?

For a moment after her regression, she had thought he might have changed. He had behaved in ways he never had before, saying things he had never said before. She had wondered if this second life had changed him.

It had not.

He was still inconsiderate. Still unkind. Still unwilling to understand her feelings.

‘No… the problem is me.’

Her disappointment in him turned inward, twisting painfully inside her.

In her previous life, she had taken her own life because she could no longer bear the contempt in his eyes when he realized that she loved him.

When she had regressed, she had sworn never to love him again.

However, with the world in chaos and burdens only she could bear, she chose to marry him again. Once the Grand Sanctuary had been restored and the Empire saved, however, she intended to return to the Spirit Village and live there alone.

And yet—

Here she was, still shaken by a single word from him. Still wounded when he left for the north as soon as the rainy season began, to seek Violet’s company. Still resentful. Still letting her anger betray her feelings.

The image of her former self, consumed by petty jealousy, overlapped with the memory of Cadel looking at her with disdain while protecting Violet.

The realization struck her like a blow.

Slowly, she lowered her hands from her face and turned her head.

Sunlight streamed through the window, warm and brilliant against the glass.

‘That’s right. Pull yourself together.’

After her breakdown, she left the house, determined never to suffer in silence again. She sought out the Spirit Village alone, hoping to build a different life to the one she had lived before.

However, when Cadel appeared before her, injured from head to toe in his search for her, her resolve began to waver.

Jaina felt as though her heart had been ripped in two.

Part of her still clung to her past and unrequited love, unable to let go, and she was still shaken by every word he spoke and every action he took.

The other half longed to abandon the past completely and start afresh.

‘I should choose the latter. Of course I should.’

She slowly rose to her feet, determined to leave for the Imperial Palace at once.

It was true that she had asked Elysion to prevent Cadel from returning. Yet even after finishing breakfast, she remained where she was, clinging to the hope that he might appear.

This proved that she was still attached to him.

No more.

She would stop thinking about Cadel and devote herself entirely to her unique work.

“Amelie.”

The door opened immediately at her call.

“We should leave for the Imperial Palace first.”

***

Cadel tried to reconnect the communication orb, but there was no response.

He pressed a hand to his brow and let out a long breath.

Even during their conversation, a thought had lingered in his mind: ‘This isn’t right…’ But once words were spoken, they could not be taken back.

He already knew that, even after her regression, Jaina was still sensitive about Violet. He had been trying — truly trying — not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Yet it was anything but easy. He still could not understand why Violet had become such a barrier between them.

To him, she was simply the person who had helped him endure the curse. Nothing more. He was grateful to her, yes — but that was it.

Even in the past, this issue had worn him down. Whenever Jaina became angry at the sight of Violet, he found himself growing weary.

Would Jaina have reacted so fiercely if Violet had been a man?

He had often been frustrated by this question.

‘What more am I supposed to do?’

He had tried to be warmer and more familiar, closing the distance between them in ways that did not come naturally to him. He forced himself to speak the words he had always kept locked inside, words that felt tender when spoken with her name.

At first, it had been Adil’s advice. But once he had started, the embarrassment gradually faded.

Of course, Jaina had not shown any obvious delight. Even so, he was certain that his sincerity must have reached her. That alone brought him a quiet sense of satisfaction.

When they stood before the two Elim Trees—

—he knew immediately that she would be in danger if she poured her holy power into the wrong one. Without hesitation, he drew his sword.

His black mana had already revealed which tree was false. There was little chance that he was mistaken.

However, if he was wrong, it was better that he act first. It was better that he be the one at risk. A hundred times better than Jaina being harmed.

From the beginning, he had been a sinner — someone who had once taken up a black axe to save her. If touching the Elim Tree meant adding one more sin to his name, then so be it.

Whether the tree was real or not, if he tested it first, Jaina would be safe.

That had been enough for him.

He had never learnt how to give.

Born the cherished heir to the House of Grand Dukes, he had always known how to receive love, but never how to give it.

So he gave it to her in the only way he knew.

He risked his life for hers.

To him, that was love.

But now, he was no longer so sure. He had spoken his feelings aloud. He had acted to prove them. He had done everything he thought possible.

Yet all he got in return were Jaina’s sharp words and cold looks.

‘Even so… I cannot simply refuse to sleep in the same space as Violet.’

He released a long, weary sigh.