Chapter 11: A Reunion Lost in the Crowd

“Wow, I’m so, so excited. Don’t you think the fireworks starting tonight will be absolutely amazing!?”

“Weren’t you supposed to be here to serve me? Anyone looking would think you came out just to play.”

On the final day of the spring festival, I stepped out with Noah, who was to attend to me, to look around the festival.

Noah had been making a fuss since we were in the carriage, unable to hide his excitement.

“B-But I can’t help being excited! I’m even happier that I get to serve you, Count!”

“Good grief…”

Though I clicked my tongue and turned my head at the blatant flattery, I didn’t entirely dislike it.

While I was looking out the window, Noah asked.

“Count, who did you partner up with?”

When I turned my head, his two eyes, filled with curiosity, were sparkling brightly without any ill intent.

A partner—I hadn’t even given such a thing a single thought.

“I don’t have one. I’m just going to look around briefly and head back.”

“Hmph… What a shame.”

Noah wore a sulky expression.

I was the one affected, so I didn’t know why he was the one looking so disappointed.

But because his honest display of emotions felt similar to Mariel, I simply stared at him without saying much.

***

The streets where the spring festival was taking place were packed to the brim with people, both nobles and commoners alike.

Even though I hadn’t done anything yet, I already felt completely drained by the unimaginable crowd.

“There are really so many people.”

“I guess it’s because it’s the final day of the festival.”

Perhaps due to the superstition that partners who watched the fireworks together on the final day of the festival would remain together forever, there were simply too many people.

I stopped walking after a short distance, sat on a nearby bench, and gave an order.

“Noah, go look around and buy something that looks delicious.”

“Is there anything specific you would like to eat?”

“Well. I would like to drink something refreshing.”

“Understood!”

As I handed him a few silver coins, Noah excitedly dashed off toward the row of street stalls.

I quietly watched him recede into the distance, then turned my head toward the plaza far off.

The reason I had gone out of my way to attend a festival I had no interest in was because there was someone whose face I wanted to verify.

Being one of the four major festivals representing the Empire, a grand parade was set to take place in this plaza today.

A grand parade that even included the Emperor, deemed the strongest of the Avelonia Empire, and his three Princes.

People had already gathered on both sides of the plaza long before the parade was scheduled to begin.

Worried about whether I would even be able to get a proper view at this rate, I thought I should go grab a spot once Noah returned, when the flutter of a white robe caught my eye, and a familiar, refreshing air enveloped the surroundings.

Lifting my head instinctively, silver hair was visible beneath the hood.

“Ah…”

I wondered if this was what people meant when they said something caught their eye.

I rose from my seat as if possessed.

Though it had been a mere glimpse, there was no mistake.

Those violet eyes, which seemed to contain the night sky, resembled the person I knew.

I pursued the man without debating long.

Perhaps because he had urgent business, his steps were swift, but by practically running after him, I was able to catch up quickly.

Pondering how I should address him, I cautiously grabbed the edge of his clothes.

At that, the man whipped his head around in surprise.

Confronting him up close, his face came fully into view.

Hair parted on both sides to slightly expose the center of his forehead, and those violet eyes.

Though his hair was silver now, unlike back then when it was black, there was no doubt it was him.

The Second Prince, Raihar de Avelonia.

He, whom I had helplessly lost before my regression, was alive once again and moving right before my eyes.

Though a considerable amount of time had passed since my regression, only now did the reality of having traveled back in time truly sink in, making me feel strangely unfamiliar.

“What is it?”

“I greet the Second Prince. I apologize for committing the insolence of suddenly grabbing you.”

Faced with his flat gaze and low, dry voice, I quickly bowed.

I had been so glad to see him that I was slow to realize the situation was entirely different from before my regression.

Right now, he was not concealing his identity as the Second Prince.

Before my regression, having successfully contracted with a devil and become a dark mage, I had been infatuated with the power I gained and caused trouble everywhere, resulting in a daily life of running from the knights and mages dispatched to deal with me.

During those times, I had run into Raihar de Avelonia by chance, who had been concealing his identity.

I couldn’t know the exact circumstances back then, but he, too, was on the run, and since we shared a similar plight, we journeyed together toward our destination.

I knew his identity was the Second Prince, and he also seemed to know I was Leviat Kinesis, but we both pretended not to know.

We truly did nothing more than share the path to our destination, never showing much interest in each other.

We went so far as to not even speak unless it was absolutely necessary.

Despite such a dry relationship, I had felt a strange emotion toward him, who had never made a single remark even after seeing my crimson eyes.

“Why did you grab me?”

The current him was not much different either.

Even though it should have been his first time seeing my eyes, he stared at me without looking uncomfortable in the slightest.

“Um…”

At present, I was absolutely nothing to him.

But I knew of his demise.

One day during our repetitive life of being hunted, I woke up to find him gone.

Since our relationship wasn’t one where a sudden parting would be strange, I hadn’t bothered to search for his whereabouts, focusing solely on heading my own way.

As time passed, through rumors circulating in public a short while later, I was able to learn what had become of him after his disappearance.

Raihar de Avelonia—he had turned himself in and was executed.

He, who had been alive and breathing just a moment ago, had vanished in an instant like morning dew.

“Are you… crying, by any chance?”

Only upon hearing Raihar’s words did I startle and quickly compose my expression.

“I apologize.”

It seemed I had been making a face that looked as if I were about to weep.

We hadn’t spent a long time together, nor were we close, so I had no idea why my emotions were welling up so overwhelmingly.

Raihar distorted his face like someone who had witnessed something bizarre.

Just then, a sudden surge of the crowd separated him and me.

I tried to hastily grab him as he drifted away, but people flooded into the gap that had already formed like a tidal wave.

After floundering amidst the crowd, I was barely able to pull myself to the side once the mass of people cleared.

Having just gone through a suffocating experience, the tender emotions I had felt just moments ago had long since vanished.

“Your Highness?”

Perhaps swept away quite far by the crowd, he was nowhere to be seen no matter how much I scanned my surroundings.

‘Perhaps I can meet him again if the opportunity arises.’

Just as my dead self had returned to life, verifying that he too was alive was enough for now.

Recalling Noah, who was probably wandering around searching for me after I left without a word, I turned back to return to the bench from earlier.

But because I had blindly pursued Raihar without considering the consequences, I had no idea where to go to make my way back.

At this rate, I was at an absolute loss as to where I should go to find Noah.

After mulling it over briefly, I walked forward, using the visible landmarks nearby as a guide.

As I walked diligently, a street packed with various stalls came into view.

Wondering if Noah might be somewhere around here, I looked around distractedly, only to bump my face right into the back of the person walking ahead of me.

“Ah.”

“Count?”

The moment I groaned, an incredibly familiar voice reached my ears, and a sculpted face turned around.

The moment I saw Mikeron, my breath suddenly hitched in my throat.

Him being here meant…

Stiffening completely, I slowly turned my head.

Just a few paces away, Mariel’s face came into view.

The moment our eyes met in midair, Mariel, turning pale as a sheet, screamed.

“Aaah! Kyaaa!”

“Mariel!”

As the thin, high-pitched scream echoed piercingly, the gazes of everyone browsing the stalls turned toward us.

A cold chill swept down the back of my neck, and cold sweat pooled in both of my palms.

I lowered my head like a criminal.

High above, I felt an incredibly icy gaze boring into the top of my head.

Biting my lower lip, I slowly raised my head and checked Mariel’s expression.

I could see his green eyes flickering with intense disgust.

He was looking at me as if I were a piece of filth.

“Count, you are useless to me now.”

The moment I locked eyes with Mariel’s disgust, unidentified memories spun wildly in my head like a whirlpool.

My heart plunged, and my breathing grew rapid.

My hands began to shake uncontrollably.

“Ugh…”

A groan leaked from my lips.

My lips continually dried up.

“No, no…”

“What do you mean, no? You are a…”

“I’ll become a… So, please don’t, don’t abandon me.”

‘I can’t live without you.’

My stomach churned as if I were about to vomit, and my chest felt as though it was rotting away.

Amidst all that, I could hear the people around me whispering as they looked at me.

With a mind consumed by panic, I was incapable of making any rational judgment.

My only thought was that I had to escape this place.

“I’m sorry. I-I am sorry…”

I blurted out apologies directed at no one in particular, and immediately spun around to run.

“Count!”

I heard someone calling me from behind, but such things didn’t matter.

I merely wanted to be liberated from this suffocating place.

I wanted to go to a very quiet and pleasant place where there were no people.

And so I ran, ran, and ran again, weaving through the crowd.

Just as I was running with lungs ready to burst until my breath grew shallow, a hand grabbed my shoulder.

In that moment, my heart plunged once again.

Turning around with an anxious mind, I saw Noah, drenched in sweat.

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