It was two years ago. The reason why Kahu started feeling strange.
One day he got out of bed, and he thought his body was smaller. Did my body get smaller?
It didn't make sense but it really did happen. After that day, Kahu felt as if he had already done everything.
An unknown sense of deja vu. The Young Duke had always experienced what is often referred to as Deja Vu.
[Kahu, what's wrong?]
[My head hurts.]
[You feel this way often these days.]
[I'm sorry, I can't eat. Uh, mother…]
He couldn't smile at his worried mother.
Kahu was even having difficulties eating. He often saw the future. It was a vague scene, so it was not vivid or clear.
However, it seemed as if he had come back from living in the future.
In addition, incredibly, all the future he had seen had come true.
When he remembered the scene where a servant died due to hail, the next day the servant really died.
The birth of the Crown Prince was also accurately predicted, and the name of the newly born imperial family member also matched his prediction.
Kahu was afraid.
'What the hell is this?'
Kahu looked for records of the prophets recorded in history.
There was no match between the prophets' symptoms and his own. Most were visionaries, crooks, or astrologers.
These stories were very different from Kahu's. Am I possessed by the devil?
But what made the Young Duke even more confused was that not every scene of the future fit exactly.
And at the center…
There was Charlize Ronan.
'I think I was engaged to her. I had no intention of dating, and the interference of adults was annoying.'
Anyway, their combination was due to the political plotting of their families. She was fit for formality as the Princess of the Ronan family.
'I was planning on getting married smoothly.'
One day, Charlize Ronan had disappeared. She was 17 years old. Even though they had been engaged to each other, there were no feelings of friendship between them.
Still, it was a little shocking. The princess had not appeared anywhere since she had gone missing.
'I think for more than five years I've only been looking for a princess…'
After Charlize had disappeared, the solid Ronan family had begun to collapse.
At first, the second son of the Grand Duke died in vain after being caught up in an imperial treason charge, and then the Grand Duke was found with a blood-soaked body.
The Ronan family had collapsed and shattered to the point where it was so perfectly horrible.
After a very long time, the Ronan lineage would no longer remain in the Empire.
'I don't know.' There was a point where the present reality went against the future that Kahu knew.
'She's a high society wicked woman.'
Unlike the future where she had such a mild temper that she didn't even go against her father and brother, she was called the Poison Flower of society because she always talked back at other people.
'The Prince's Master.'
A person who voluntarily becomes the teacher of the prince, unlike the future, in which she had been helplessly invisible.
After all, at the end of his investigations, there was always 'Charlize Ronan'.
Of course, he still didn't know why the winner of the fencing competition had changed…
It could be a butterfly effect. Charlize was the only one who acted completely different from the future he knew.
[Did you hear the news? Lady Ronan suddenly claimed to be a teacher.]
[Was it the 12th Prince or the 14th Prince after receiving honorary knighthood? Anyway, she became the teacher of the prince.]
[I think it's the 13th prince. The 7th concubine…]
He remembered the nobles who were interested in Charlize while pointing their fingers. Clearly, from that point on, something was mixed up.
'Are you a substitution? Can you act differently? No, why did you go missing in the first place? You really don't know anything? '
"You, how are you not missing, and are you alive…?"
"… I don't know what you're talking about."
Charlize said. She turned and parted the curtain. Kahu pulled on the curtains and followed her in as if he were possessed.
Even when he tried to read Charlize's expression, there was no shaking as if she were wearing an iron mask.
Kahu licked his lips.
'I made a mistake. But I can't be honest. The Young Duke should not have any weaknesses.'
It had been 16 years since he was educated that he should act as his family's heir and honor his name.
It was also funny that the power of prophecy that had manifested itself back then had begun to contort and make the future uncertain again.
But Kahu couldn't let Charlize go. No matter how he looked at it, she was at the center.
If he dug up Charlize, all the clues would come loose. It was the reason why he followed her as soon as he saw her from afar.
However, only the two of them were left, so his mind was blank and he couldn't say anything.
Charlize made eye contact with Kahu.
'What do you know?'
Charlize was also embarrassed. When he asked why she wasn't dead, it was evident that she couldn't react as unpleasantly as a normal lady would.
'If it's about that matter…'
There was only one.
The sword Keira.
But it didn't happen.
'I would have been calmer if he asked if I had ever met him at the fencing competition.'
But Kahu seems unsure. Charlize was able to read his feelings.
'I think he knows something, but it's all blurry.' Charlize decided to play innocent and said:
"How am I alive? And I am missing?"
There is no record of a returner appearing throughout world history.
Even if there was a clue, Kahu would retreat for a while if she pretended to know nothing.
"I'm alive because I'm alive. Are you coming here to mock me? Wouldn't it be better to disappear on my own than to live like this? What kind of an insult is it that the Ronan Family's disgrace doesn't deserve to breathe?"
"… It's definitely not that."
Sure enough, Kahu stepped back, noticeably confused.
Charlize felt her heart pounding.
Considering her external image, there is nothing wrong with being tough. People didn't expect kindness or consideration for themselves. Her notoriety was comfortable at this moment.
Because Charlize Ronan is the wicked woman that everyone points fingers at.
"I was offended. I don't like being disturbed while I'm taking a rest alone… I may not be the Young Duke but I don't want to be involved in a scandal."
Kahu listened silently and called her, with a soft voice that seemed a little hoarse.
"Lady."
"…"
This call like that of a soft fiancé was strange. Charlize hesitated for a moment.
The Duke of Delmon's signature blond hair was more of a brown color than a honey-like color. It was a color reminiscent of a Golden Retriever.
He had confidence in himself.
Kahu was smiling faintly.
"Do you know that there are talks about political marriage between our families?"
"… I know."
"First of all, I apologize for that. I must have been out of my mind for a while. I wanted to attract Lady's interest, so I messed up the mood."
"…"
"But if it's a scandal, I welcome it. It wouldn't be bad marrying each other."
Charlize fell silent.
High-ranking nobles must get married.
A union between the two families. It was obligatory to carry on generations.
This was a culture and custom that everyone had to follow and took for granted, as it was the price of the privileges one enjoyed.
That's why Charlize was so compliant before her return. She thought it was best because it would be a formal marriage.
'If only I hadn't gone missing.'
She would have married Kahu around the age of adulthood. Even though it would have been a loveless relationship, we might have become a rich family that lived with courtesy.
She might have lived a normal life of a Duchess.
But.
"I don't want to."
"…"
"I don't want to live as someone's wife."
Feelings were a luxury. Whether it's love or engagement, she didn't mean to lose time listening to his cheesy words.
Charlize was also curious about why the Young Duke asked so many questions, and why he looked at herself with confused eyes.
But she endured her curiosity. Strangely enough, she felt like she was going to get entangled with Kahu if she dug up this secret.
'If I don't take revenge, my anger won't go away.'
And she couldn't live with this anger all her life.
Kahu's eyes grew a little wider, perhaps because of the shock from the unexpected remark.
Even if the Empire collapsed, Charlize would leave behind the name of the Duke of Delmon. The name that meant to live and breathe only as a name recorded in history books.
Or to close her eyes to accept asylum in another country.
'I wonder if that would be enough for your kindness, Kahu.'
"…Was Lady opposed to marriage?"
It is a very unconventional concept now but it would become a controversial concept in a few hundred years.
Well, in this age, a woman unwilling to marry would be treated as a witch.
Charlize, who was trying not to show her embarrassment, smiled brightly at Kahu.
"No."
'I just hope you don't come into my life. '
'I don't know if anyone else is, but you can't. '
He had been the only one who had been saddened by her disappearance and tried to investigate, so he couldn't.
"Don't get entangled with me."
The eye of the typhoon is calm, but the typhoon will sweep everything away.
The path of revenge to reach the end of the empire was a rout. A rough, desolate road without morality or ethics. A dangerous and decadent road.
She didn't intend to drag anyone on the road but herself.
Except for Dylan.
Charlize didn't allow Kahu to stay by her side.
"…"
Kahu looked at Charlize with those green eyes. She was a dazzlingly beautiful woman. Looking up-close, she was even prettier.
But she was cold and sharp enough to be distant. It was fascinating but creepy.
There was a great deal of dignity that he could not hold onto or ask anything.
Charlize beautifully left Kahu.
*****
As a prince, Dylan was also forced to attend the party. Of course, there was no force on him. He could have avoided it if he truly didn't want to attend.
But he couldn't find a reason to avoid it.
"Oh, over there. She's Lady Charlize."
"Beautifully, no one can keep up with her…"
"Yeah, let's see, hmm. Well, she's pretty, hmm."
Even if she didn't come forward first, people talked of Charlize's whereabouts. She had just come in.
'I heard that she was famous but she is really popular.'
Most of the nobles were glancing at Charlize. The imperial family members were no exception.
The Crown Prince and the Emperor were also interested. She couldn't see where the 9th prince has gone…
They called her a wicked woman but they couldn't take their eyes off her.
Charlize expression rarely changed so one could not gleam her mood from it. Still, it was fascinating.
Cursing was also a type of interest. Isn't there a saying that the opposite of love is indifference?
Charlize was receiving a lot of attention.
'She is intentionally hiding being the winner of the fencing competition.'
He still didn't know why she participated in the fencing competition or what she wished for as a winner.
It was the first person that he could not read like this.
'Master doesn't notice. All you have to do is look out for yourself.'
He thought that while looking at Charlize. It was also interesting. Dylan followed Charlize with a gaze.
Throughout the party, he remembered the noble wives who had poured out their admiration of Reeze.
The ladies were giving praise to the elegant handsome boy and shedding their wet eyes in their dreams.
In fact, if they knew that his identity was Charlize, what kind of expression would they be making?
A soft smile hung around Dylan's mouth as he imagined it.
Dylan looked elsewhere and saw Charlize. Charlize at the center of everyone's attention.
'Ah.'
Suddenly, he wanted to hide Charlize from those gazes. That's what he thought.
***