She heard the voice of Harvey, the always kind commander of the knights, giving orders.

At the same time, she was afraid.

“E-Eileen!”

She should smile and tell Aaron that she’s fine, that it’s nothing.

But the heat spreading gradually from the foreign object that penetrated her was unbearably painful.

Increasingly, even the simple act of breathing became too overwhelming to do on her own.

Afraid she might end up crying terribly, unable to overcome this pain.

“I-I…… I’m fine.”

Nevertheless, Eileen did her best to smile.

She wanted her last image in Aaron’s memory to be a smiling face, not a crying one.

She wanted Aaron not to be hurt like when he was young.

She hoped he wouldn’t feel guilt.

“S-so don’t cry, okay?”

Although the last image of Aaron in her memory became a crying face.

Eileen could handle that much.

Meanwhile, her vision began to darken.

Eileen used all her remaining strength to place her hand on Aaron’s cheek.

“Aaron……”

Strength continued to drain away, but there were words she wanted to convey at the very end.

Eileen spat out the words along with her increasingly blocked breath.

“……Never feel guilty…… I was happy…… that I could save you……”

Thud.

After delivering her last words, the hand cradling Aaron’s cheek lost its strength and fell.

“E-Eileen……?”

Aaron carefully called her.

He stroked her cooling cheek and caressed her hand, but there was no answer.

“Yes, the wish coupon….. I’ll use the one I haven’t used yet.”

“……”

“So please, open your eyes….. Eileen.”

Despite his pleading, there was still no answer.

“No……”

Aaron tried to deny the situation, but the tears falling heavily showed the truth.

“It can’t be.”

His vision became blurry from shaking his head violently.

He felt like he was going to be sick.

* * *

— I-I…… I’m fine.

— ……Never feel guilty…… I was happy…… that I could save you…….

Gasp.

With a rough breath, his eyes opened wide. Aaron roughly wiped the sweat from his forehead.

It was a terrible nightmare.

It was hard to believe that only a day had passed; it was that terrible.

“D*mn it.”

Aaron muttered a low curse. The doctor said there was no hope.

He added that she was just barely breathing, no different from dying, and to prepare his heart.

“Eileen……”

Aaron lowered his gaze to look at Eileen lying on the bed.

Her face, once full of vitality, was pale white, and her golden hair, which always sparkled, had lost its luster.

“I……”

‘Don’t feel guilty.’ That was what she had left behind, so he wanted to keep it.

But regrets washed over him tens of thousands of times a day.

That he shouldn’t have provoked Laine in that way, that Eileen ended up like this because he provoked him.

“I’m sorry……”

The tears falling heavily soaked Eileen’s hand.

There was nothing he could do except shed tears like this.

That’s when it happened.

“Um, Duke Aaron.”

A voice calling him carefully from behind was heard.

“Hmm?”

Aaron roughly wiped his tears and turned around.

There stood Mary, Eileen’s maid.

“……What is it?”

“I wanted to give you this.”

Mary took something out from inside her clothes and held it out to Aaron.

“This is……”

What Mary handed over was a paper stained with blood.

But Aaron knew this wasn’t just an ordinary paper.

“……It fell on the floor and I…… kept it. I really wanted to give it to you……”

The hand she was holding out trembled up and down.

“Thank you.”

Understanding her feelings, Aaron offered sincere thanks.

* * *

“Master……”

It had been a week.

Since his master, Aaron de Monston, had refused to eat.

“Please at least have some food.”

Liam pleaded, but Aaron seemed not to hear.

“I’m sorry, Eileen……”

Even today, he was holding Eileen’s hand with one hand and the marriage vow with the other.

With an expression that looked like he might collapse at any moment.

“……”

How much Aaron loved Eileen, how much he had looked forward to this marriage.

Liam knew better than anyone.

And also how easily Aaron broke down after losing his family.

He had tried to urge him, not wanting to repeat the same mistake, but nothing changed.

Thinking Aaron might listen to someone else, he asked close acquaintances.

But he wouldn’t listen to Eden’s words, Duke Kyle’s words, Duchess Lia’s words, or even Former Marquis Lucas’s words.

Aaron just mumbled all day and only looked at the marriage vow.

“Hah……”

Liam’s deep sigh spread throughout the hospital room.

If he continued to neglect himself, his master would surely be in serious trouble.

“I’ll leave the food here, please eat when you feel like it.”

He needed to find some way. Liam put down the food and left the hospital room.

* * *

He could feel the edge of the paper wearing thin.

Aaron held onto the paper every day until it wore out, as if it were his lifeline.

The more the paper wore out, the more it felt like he was losing Eileen, and it hurt his heart terribly.

But if he didn’t look at it, he felt he would go mad.

Eileen’s voice, full of moisture from the start.

〈If someone told our past selves that we would get married, neither of us would believe it.

We might even get angry and tell them not to talk nonsense.〉

The corners of Eileen’s mouth curved upward.

〈Duke Aaron de Monston, if it weren’t for you, I would have surely collapsed.〉

Green eyes that held only him.

With each sentence he read, Eileen’s image clearly came to mind.

“Eileen……”

Aaron quietly savored her name.

Originally, just savoring it was sweet, but now it was too bitter.

“What should I do?”

Aaron mumbled with his face buried in the hand that still had a little warmth left.

That’s when it happened.

“You rascal, Aaron de Monston!”

Along with a shout, a stinging pain was felt at the back of his head.

“Former Marquis, shall I hit him once more, a bit harder?”

A coldly subdued voice was also heard.

Aaron rubbed the back of his head and turned around.

There stood Former Marquis Lucas and Duke Kyle.

“……What are you doing?”

“Well, I see you have the energy to be annoyed?”

Former Marquis Lucas snorted and sneered.

“If you’re thinking of joking around, please leave.”

“Do I look like I’m joking to you?”

Former Marquis Lucas clicked his tongue.

“Get up.”

“……I don’t want to.”

“Are you going to make this old man use force?”

Aaron remained silent. He didn’t even pay attention and just looked at Eileen.

“Duke Aaron.”

“……”

“If you don’t want to get up, at least look at this.”

Duke Kyle handed Aaron a diary the size of his palm.

“It’s a diary written by Eileen.”

Aaron rolled his eyes to look at the diary Duke Kyle was holding out.

It had a cover with Eileen’s name embroidered on it.

“……Is it alright for me to see it?”

Aaron asked in a much more subdued voice.

“You absolutely must see it.”

“……”

No matter how much he loved someone, he didn’t want to pry into private matters like a diary.

“It’s fine, so hurry up and look.”

As Aaron hesitated, Duke Kyle urged him.

“Then……”

Aaron reluctantly took the diary.

It seemed like not much time had passed since the diary was written, as it was clean like new throughout.

“Hmm……”

He was still uncomfortable, but under the pouring gaze, Aaron opened the diary.

And the moment he saw the first page, he knew.

That this diary was something he absolutely had to read.

〈Imperial Year 70. XX Month XX Day.

Hello, Aaron. From today, I’m going to write a long letter to you.

I don’t know when I’ll be able to give this diary as a gift, but I’ll do my best!〉

“My daughter has never written a diary since she was young.”

“……Is that so.”

“But one day, she bought a bunch of diaries saying she would write letters to you.”

Duke Kyle patted Aaron’s back.

“Eileen probably intended to give it to you when it was completed, but I thought you needed it right now.”

“Ah……”

“Read it all and decide how to act.”

Duke Kyle moved toward the outside of the hospital room. Then he paused for a moment.

“And Eileen is still alive.”

“……”

“I too was told by the doctor that she was dying, but didn’t I wake up?”

At the sincerity conveyed calmly, Aaron tightened his grip on the diary.

Otherwise, it felt like tears would flow again.

Drrrk.

The door closed and silence fell over the hospital room.

Aaron carefully folded the marriage vow and tucked it into the diary.

“……Hah.”

Aaron slowly regulated his breath. When his breathing stabilized, he slowly read through the diary.

“……”

The topics of Eileen’s daily letters were diverse.

From stories about work to stories about eating delicious steak for dinner.

After quite some time had passed and he had read all the way to the last page, Aaron got up from his seat. Without hesitation, he approached the food Liam had left.

After emptying the soup so clean that the bottom was visible, Aaron now approached Eileen.

“I’ll be back.”

After greeting her, Aaron left the hospital room. Then Duke Kyle, who had been waiting for him, asked.

“So what will you do?”

“I’ll catch solid evidence and reveal that the culprit is Laine.”

The resolve burned again in his purple eyes.

“Yes, that’s well thought out.”