How to Perfectly Break Up with You

“I feel I haven’t properly responded to what Your Grace said to me at the banquet.”

At these casual words, Declan’s jaw tensed. She had so nonchalantly brought up the feelings he had been trying to ignore all this time.

Suppressing the emotions stirring inside him once again, he replied in a monotone voice.

“I’ve already heard that Your Highness is heading to Parma. I suppose that is your answer.”

“I think it was discourteous, regardless of how it was done.”

Sienna smiled bitterly.

“It would have been right to meet with Your Grace, give a proper answer, and then make a decision. Not to apologize belatedly after making a public announcement…”

“Your Highness has nothing to apologize for.”

“I wanted to wrap things up properly. I felt that would leave fewer regrets.”

After her sudden death, she had been consumed by endless regrets. The helplessness and despair she felt in front of what couldn’t be undone still remained in her heart. That’s why she didn’t want to repeat the same mistakes in this second chance at life.

So absorbed in these thoughts, she hadn’t dared to consider that even this gesture might appear deceitful to him.

Declan’s face grew cold.

“…So this is your choice without regrets.”

“It will be a choice without regrets for both of us.”

Sienna corrected Declan’s muttered words.

If nothing else, she could assert this with certainty. Whatever choice Declan made, he wouldn’t suffer greater misfortune than a life with her.

In her previous life, by returning to the capital with her, he had destroyed the Emperor’s trust with his own hands.

Not only that, despite being the one who elevated the military’s status to today’s level from being looked down upon compared to the knights, he lost all authority in the organization by marrying her.

If he wasn’t involved with her, he wouldn’t have to destroy the house he built with his own hands, nor would he need to meet a dishonorable end bearing disgrace. At worst, he would only live experiencing small and trivial misfortunes.

Hiding her bitter feelings, Sienna looked straight up at him.

“You were on your way to the training grounds, weren’t you? I must have delayed you when you’re busy. People will be waiting, so you should go.”

Her utterly composed attitude struck Declan like a dagger. Her emotions, which had been so vivid even when dealing with Marianne, seemed to have been completely burned away in front of him. It was simply pathetic that even this moment stirred no feelings in her.

Of course, he knew in his mind that her words were right.

In fact, he had always known what the best choice for himself was.

Even when he brought the disgraced princess back to the capital, swept up in momentary emotions. Even when he personally placed his mother’s ring on the finger of the daughter of the one who killed his family. He was never unaware that he was walking into a quagmire of his own accord.

He had always been both rational and mad. Even dying and coming back to life hadn’t changed that.

“I’ve never regretted it.”

Declan murmured softly. Sienna, who had been awkwardly tapping the ground with her toe, looked up.

“Even if that’s true, it would be my burden to bear.”

His lips curved slightly.

“I…”

“Your Highness?”

A familiar voice overlapped with his. His eyes, which had been fixed on her, shifted sideways.

Sienna finally let out a slight breath. When she belatedly turned her head to the side, she saw Theo approaching with a pleased expression upon discovering Declan.

“So Your Grace was here as well. I had just heard from Sir Gaius about afternoon training…”

Theo’s bright smile as he approached gradually became awkward. He hadn’t noticed from afar, but as he got closer, the atmosphere between the two seemed somehow strange.

‘Why is the mood like this?’

As Theo glanced side to side with just his lips upturned, he belatedly remembered the scandal that had swept through social circles recently.

He had laughed it off then as mere gossip, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Theo was quite slow to pick up on these kinds of things.

He stopped his cheerful approach and subtly stepped back.

“Um… it seems I’m interrupting your conversation. I’ll head back to the annex first, so please…”

At that moment, Sienna hurriedly grabbed Theo’s arm.

“No, I was just about to leave anyway.”

“What? But…”

“Well then, I’ll be going first. It was nice meeting you today, Your Grace.”

Sienna spoke rapidly and pulled on Theo’s arm. Theo, being practically dragged along, fidgeted uncomfortably before bowing his head to Declan.

Then he immediately scolded Sienna.

“Your Highness, even so, to leave like this…”

But even that trailed off as Theo closed his mouth. He had noticed that the Princess’s ears were deeply flushed red.

Sienna was breathing slightly heavily.

‘Why…’

Why did he make such a face? As if saying those words like he knew everything.

Although it couldn’t be possible, for a moment Sienna imagined that he might actually know everything. But the delusion was brief. Sienna shook her head violently.

She felt disgusted with herself.

****

The training that had started around noon only finished around sunset. Even after the soldiers had left, Declan alone set up targets at the far end of the training ground and loaded shells into his rifle.

The sound of gunfire echoed hollowly across the shooting range.

Despite carrying a heavy rifle on horseback all afternoon, he felt no fatigue. It had always been like this since he regressed.

Returning to the Grand Duke’s residence only increased the emptiness. Especially on days when he saw children around Soliet’s age, he always fell asleep barely, drunk.

Just as he was loading another shell, Declan lowered his gun as he noticed the area growing brighter.

While the training ground was equipped with lighting here and there, it was rarely used.

This was because soldiers needed to be able to properly identify and attack enemies relying on moonlight in dark conditions, as nighttime raids were common during war, both receiving and conducting them.

When he turned his head, sure enough, the Emperor was approaching him with a lamp, wearing a broad smile.

“The Commander-in-Chief is quite zealous.”

Declan bowed his head.

“I greet Your Majesty the Emperor.”

“If a soldier of such high rank as the Grand Duke trains so diligently day and night, shouldn’t the common soldiers be spending their nights at the training grounds?”

At this idle jest, Declan’s lips curved slightly.

“What brings you here? I thought you weren’t interested in shooting.”

Declan spoke while glancing at the overly bright lamp.

The Emperor had been famous as a hunting enthusiast even before ascending to the throne. It was a hobby that didn’t suit his delicate face.

He had restrained himself somewhat during the uncertain succession period due to the nobility’s negative view of his shooting from dawn till dusk, but recently he’d heard that the Emperor had taken up hunting again.

Unlike that, he didn’t particularly enjoy target practice, finding it boring to shoot at stationary inanimate objects. Moreover, for unknown reasons, the Emperor had an extreme aversion to night hunting.

The Emperor placed a lamp on the side table and picked up a rifle that was lying nearby.

“It reminds me of the old days. It doesn’t seem that long ago when I first inherited the former Emperor’s rifle and received shooting instruction from the Grand Duke.”

The Emperor approached him with a gentle smile. Declan lowered his rifle’s muzzle toward the ground. The Emperor playfully asked while releasing the safety catch.

“How about it? Care to teach me a lesson after so long?”

“Your Majesty is already an excellent marksman.”

That statement, at least, was entirely sincere.

The Emperor had actual combat experience.

Of course, being the former Emperor’s only son, he wasn’t in the position of getting battered on the battlefield like Declan. Considering his position as the Emperor’s son, the mere fact that he went to the battlefield was commendable.

However, unlike someone who had just received praise, the Emperor unenthusiastically pulled out a cartridge.

“That’s only true when it comes to worthless beasts. I wonder if I, who’ve only participated in a few battles, truly deserve to be called a marksman by a national hero.”

Speaking in a monotone voice, the Emperor loaded the cartridge and clicked the mechanism shut. Then he raised the rifle and aimed at something.

The Emperor, who had been narrowing his eyes to find his target, suddenly smiled coldly.

“Do you know what was the first thing I killed after inheriting the rifle from Father?”

Declan, who had been looking at where the Emperor’s rifle was pointing, turned to look at him.

“It was a snow-white deer.”

The Emperor muttered without taking his eyes off the rifle’s sight.

“That one, it was the one Sienna cherished and raised with such care. Perhaps even more so because it was the last birthday gift she received from Father.”

While Declan just silently watched him, the Emperor chuckled as if telling an amusing story.

Though it had been more than ten years ago, it was as clear as yesterday to him. The comical sight of Sienna hand-feeding and grooming the deer in the vast backyard of the annex.

At that time, she was only eight years old, and Joseph was merely thirteen.

Sienna raised the deer her father gave her with great care, and thanks to that, the grown deer boasted an elegant appearance.

Around that time, his father gave him an impressive rifle as a gift to celebrate his growth into a proper young man. Joseph used that rifle to first kill what the Princess loved most in the world, that girl’s most cherished deer.

He put three bullets into its slender neck.