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Also, there was no anger, disappointment, and resentment on her face that he had expected.
The only thing left on the face that seems to cast out the positive emotions were only the negative ones, like the light irritation and annoyance of holding on like this.
Thum, thump, thump, thump …….
Theodore’s heart rate, which had been unstable for a while, seemed to be amplified.
“Yves, talk to me…….”
At this time, she asked, cutting off the end of his words.
“Who’s Yves?”
Thud.
Theodore felt his heart drop strongly downward at the question.
Who is Yves?
“I think you’ve been mistaking me for someone else for a while. I’m Yvone Chernicia.”
“…….”
“I remember introducing you like that a long time ago and even a while ago.”
Theodore’s mind went blank.
Her face was dry of any emotion when she asked who ‘Yves’ was.
He thought she might get angry with him when he met her again.
He lost his memory and what he did because of that…… He had hurt her a lot.
But he didn’t know she’d even deny the name ‘Yves’.
Isn’t that a name that contains half a year of their time together?
“If you don’t have anything else to say, I’ll leave now.”
“Wait, this….”
“I’m planning to talk with my precious friend whom I met again after a long time.”
Yves glanced at Ernst and curled her lips loosely.
Then while Theodore was absent-minded and unable to say anything, Ernst and she quickly went away.
“Ah…”
Theodore’s mind, which came to his senses late, gave a short sigh.
Theodore looked at the back of Yves walking with Ernst.
Ernst glanced back and looked at him as if he was looking at a stranger, and then Theodore saw him wrapping his arms on her shoulder.
Ernst scratched his head and awkwardly smiled at her.
Then she also smiled at Ernst.
In time Ernst extended his arm to her as if escorting.
Yves placed her hand gracefully over Ernst’s arm.
Theodore looked at the friendly arm and touched his arm for no reason.
A chilly wind blew over his chest with a cold feeling.
Theodore lowered his head, looked at his empty arm, and raised his head again.
The images of the two people walking affectionately were formed on the golden retina.
In the half-year that he was always with her, she had to hide her identity, so he had never escorted her so kindly.
He only remembered that after losing his memory, he escorted another woman in front of her.
And that she, who was nominally a close aide to him, the Emperor, always had to watch them from behind.
Clench.
A vain smile leaked through his clenched lips.
Doesn’t this make it feel like he is being punished?
In the distance, her cold back gradually diminished, and soon became invisible.
Theodore, who had been standing in the same position for a long time since then, murmured quietly, recalling her attitude, which was frosty only to him.
“It’s cold…”
The blooming flower tree informed him that spring had come, but only the air surrounding him was as cold as winter.
＊ ＊ ＊
A sunny afternoon, inside the Chernicia mansion.
Ernst came to see the kids.
Ernst, who found Erwin and Odelia, stopped seeing them and hardened like a statue.
“Hey, Yvone, these children…….”
He looked at the children with tearful eyes that seemed to burst into tears.
Brian didn’t react like that to my children either.
“Why are you crying?”
“Oh, I didn’t cry.”
Ernst answered, shaking his head.
But contrary to the saying that he did not cry, his eyes were already as red as tomatoes.
“Don’t cry, pretty Azo.”
Odelia stood on her tiptoes and wiped Ernst’s eyes with her sleeve.
Erwin, who was beside her then asked, sticking his head out next to her.
“Lia, is he pretty?”
“Woong, so pretty.”
“Is he prettier than Er?”
“Yes.”
“…….”
Erwin then became silent and stared fiercely at Ernst with his cheeks puffed up.
Ernst stuttered like a broken toy and was at a loss when the children’s attention was focused on him.
“Azo’s hair is shiny, like Hapssal* (Sunlight).”
[T/N: Hapssal means New Year’s Rice and Haetssal means Sunlight. But as I’ve said before, the author tends to write mispronunciations to make the words sound cuter.]
Odelia clung to Ernst’s back and pulled his hair.
“Hmm, what’s Hapssal (Sunlight)?”
Erwin snorted, and asked. Then, he leaned his chin back in a haughty manner.
“My hair is more shiny and pretty.”
“No. Azo’s hair is prettier.”
But Odelia shook her head and clung to Ernst.
Eventually, Erwin, who was annoyed, turned around with anger.
It was a sign that he is angry and needs to cosx, but Odelia, whose attention was already on Ernst, did not recognize it.
“Mr. Azo, let’s go out and play.”
Odelia pulled Ernst’s sleeve and led him out.
Ernst couldn’t bear to dismiss Odelia’s request, and was dragged out with an awkward smile.
Soon there was a roar of laughter outside the open window.
“Woong…”
Ervin asked, digging into my arms with a very upset face.
“Mom, is Azo more beautiful than Er?”
The tearful eyes turned to me.
I gave the right but wrong answer at such cute and lovely eyes that seemed to burst into tears at any moment.
“No, Er. Our Er is much prettier.”
The child quickly turned bright when I answered with a smile.
“Right? Er is prettier than Azo?”
“Of course. Our Er is the prettiest in the world.”
As I comforted the child and whispered, Erwin lowered his voice as if to inform him of a very important fact.
“No. Er is the only pretty child in Shesha (world).”
The voice that refuted quite seriously made me laugh for no reason.
“Er, do you like Lia that much?”
“Yes, but Lia likes Mr. Azo more than Er.”
Erwin buried his head in my chest with an angry look.
I smiled and stroked Erwin’s hair.
Erwin rubbed his head in my chest as if he was happy with the soothing touch.
Is it because the noisy surroundings became quiet in an instant? A useless thought popped out.
I was worried about my reunion with Theodore on the day of the ceremony, but fortunately nothing happened.
Except for his sudden burst of tears and his strangely clingy eyes coming to me.
‘What’s wrong with him?’
For a moment I was lost in contemplation of his attitude.
Once he had recognized exactly that ‘Yves’ and ‘Yvone’ were the same person, he wanted to talk to me more about something.
But I didn’t want to.
There was nothing good about meeting and talking again with the ex-lover who I broke up with badly. Even if he regained all his memories.
‘Just because he regained his memory doesn’t mean Theodore’s love for Katarina will disappear.’
Theodore, who lost his memory, had a thousand years of love with Katarina over me.
He shared a tumultuous love with her so much that everyone in the world knew her, and pursued an engagement with her.
She even had Theodore’s child.
When I clenched my fist at the thought, veins popped out over the back of my hand.
‘Besides…..it was a hell of a lot to endure his trashy personality.’
I had already seen the end of that personality.
And what a man he is to his lover.
He was a shambles beyond redemption to flirt with another woman over his pregnant fiancee.
He did it, saying he didn’t even love me.
Of course, I knew that there were so many trashy men in the world, because I was once Ferdinand’s apprentice knight and lived among men.
‘I didn’t think Theodore would be that kind of thing.’
To put it that way, it was really fortunate for me that he lost his memory.
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