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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Thump.
Aside from the squishy sensation transmitted through his fingertips, the slow beating of her heart could be clearly felt.
There was no ulterior motive, and only truth without a shred of falsehood was spoken.
“There’s no way I’ll need something like that.”
“Well, as I said, it may not be something you particularly need.”
As soon as Elena released his wrist, Rudrick, who had taken his hand off, grumbled, and Elena responded with a jest.
And even in the midst of this confusion, Rudrick’s mind was busier than ever.
‘Anything?’
Elena had clearly confirmed that she could offer anything in return.
An ordinary person would have started thinking about what they could receive from Elena’s proposal, which was no different from virtually promising a blank check.
That was because the other party was none other than a princess of a nation.
In fact, the amount of money Elena could personally utilize was equivalent to that of a decent high-ranking noble.
But Rudrick’s thoughts were a little different.
‘…Anyway, it’s not like I’m going to the ball to dance like a clown, it’s just simply accompanying the event to that extent.’
It was still unpleasant to think that his debut in high society was being consumed as gossip by the capital’s nobles without his knowledge, but if it was a beating he had to take someday, it was wiser to take it in advance.
Moreover, if Elena made a proposal like this now, even more so.
‘I’ve decided.’
Rudrick, who had made up his mind, put on a determined expression.
Getting something material from Elena was meaningless anyway.
In fact, if he wanted, although not to the point of overflowing, Rudrick could easily amass enough wealth to at least not be lacking if he just utilized his magical talent of that astonishing level a little.
Then, what he needed to obtain from Elena at this moment was simple.
“Alright.”
“A wise decision. So what is it that you need from me? As I said earlier, I can even give you my life if you really want it.”
“Your Highness the Princess, you said it, right? That I don’t need something like that.”
“Hehe. Then go ahead and tell me.”
Elena, who was nodding her head leisurely, shattered that leisureliness with Rudrick’s next words.
“What happened before Your Highness the Princess regressed? Please tell me everything.”
“…Huh?”
“In exchange for me accompanying Your Highness the Princess to the closing ceremony of the birthday festival, that’s all I’ll ask for.”
At the audacious proposal, Elena’s expression stiffened.
In fact, in a situation where she had been intensively checked by the other four and had even been virtually ostracized with this incident, Elena’s information sharing was not very smooth.
Of course, she had guessed the unfolding situation to some extent with her keen intuition, and most of it was close to the truth, but that was all.
Even though she had guessed that they knew she was a regressor, she had almost no idea how much the other four had told Rudrick.
The fragmented puzzle was slowly coming together.
Deducing with just a few clues wasn’t a difficult task.
But Elena still didn’t know ‘how much’ Rudrick knew.
In fact, nothing was confirmed, and everything was in the realm of deduction.
“Alright. Shall we start right away then?”
“Sounds good.”
To add conviction to that deduction, Elena nodded her head and readily agreed.
Elena, who was sitting cross-legged, moved her lips.
What should she say to begin?
Although she agreed because it wasn’t a loss-making proposal at the minimum, it wasn’t easy to come up with what to say to start.
Rudrick, who noticed that slight hesitation, quietly opened his mouth.
“I know there are eight years left.”
“…I see.”
Rudrick took the initiative first.
From Elena’s perspective, it was the most difficult part to bring up assuming Rudrick knew nothing.
Even if she knew the future through regression, it wasn’t easy to tell someone they only had eight years left to live as if making a terminal diagnosis, unless she was a temple priest or a doctor.
To save time and facilitate smoother communication with each other, Rudrick added.
“That’s all I know. So it seemed like everyone was diligently looking for a way… Well, Arwen and Sylphia told me not to worry too much, saying there’s one last method if it doesn’t work out.”
“If it’s the last method…?”
“I don’t know. I asked thinking Your Highness the Princess might know, but they avoided it, saying it’s embarrassing and they can’t tell me since it should be saved as a last resort.”
“Embarrassing…? Ah.”
Elena, who had been pondering while ruminating on Rudrick’s explanation, suddenly closed her mouth as if she had realized something.
If the method she imagined was correct, it made sense that they couldn’t blatantly tell Rudrick what kind of method it was.
As proof, Elena, whose face had turned red, cleared her throat and spoke in a firm voice.
“I understand what that method is, but it seems difficult for me to tell you here. It’s a bit of a different issue from the promise I just made with you.”
“…?”
“Anyway, no.”
Elena shook her head repeatedly with an unprecedentedly resolute voice, as if this was something she absolutely couldn’t compromise on.
‘…How do I say this?’
If things really go wrong, before the symptoms worsen further, just grab someone and get married, and periodically receive mana in the form of removal.
But the most efficient way to transfer mana from person to person was through sexual acts if the subjects were male and female respectively.
During the connection, a kind of mana path was connected, so direct back-and-forth was possible.
However, that was something that none of the five could blatantly tell Rudrick with their own mouths.
Rudrick made a dissatisfied expression as Elena broke her promise from the start, but seeing that expression, Elena consoled Rudrick apologetically while being flustered.
“…I’m not trying to break my promise with you, but this is something that no one else can tell you even if you ask, not just me.”
“Well, fine. Anyway, what that method is isn’t important, so I’ll let it slide for now.”
“…A wise decision.”
Elena let out a sigh of relief.
She was worried that he might persistently dig into it, but at least she avoided the misfortune of having to tell him something close to sexual harassment with her own mouth.
Elena’s stance, which had been consistently glib up to this point, except for the part where she had even said she could give her life, was instantly reversed.
It was an extreme level of emotional change that she rarely experienced.
‘But it can’t be helped.’
An old saying passed down in the empire stated that the one who falls in love first loses.
Since it was she who had her heart stolen by Rudrick, and even experienced regression due to her desperate love, she had no choice but to be the one to suffer a loss.
Anyway, since the story seemed like it would take a while.
Rolling up the sleeves of her uncomfortable uniform, Elena asked back.
“So what story do you want to hear?”
“Literally. What exactly happened before the regression? I’d appreciate it if you could focus on the major episodes.”
“The story will be a bit long.”
For Elena, it was a past so vivid that she could recall it the moment she closed her eyes.
Well, she didn’t know much about what happened between Rudrick and others.
The most she could know were the major incidents that even she had heard about.
For example, while Rudrick was away for more than a week due to his research, Arwen, who couldn’t drink blood, endured it and rushed to him as soon as he returned, but he was in the shower at the time, so as a form of atonement, she was absent for a month.
They were trivial stories if you wanted to be nitpicky, but that was the story Rudrick wanted.
‘There was a subtle sense of discrepancy.’
Rudrick inwardly muttered.
The Rudrick in their memories before the regression and the current Rudrick Weiss were the same person.
The most decisive evidence was their vocabulary.
Some specific vocabulary that Rudrick used only in his previous life was also remembered by them as being spoken by the pre-regression Rudrick.
However, if asked if the two Rudrick Weiss’ were truly the same person, the current Rudrick had no choice but to shake his head.
Even Elena in front of him sometimes treated Rudrick as if he were the same person as the ‘pre-regression Rudrick,’ but each time, there was a subtle sense of discrepancy.
The cause of that discrepancy stemmed from the absence of shared memories.
Even if they occasionally mentioned stories from the past, it naturally felt like someone else’s story to Rudrick, who couldn’t share the same memories.
That was also the reason why he sometimes felt suffocated as if a stone was placed on his chest.
So this was a part of Rudrick’s efforts to reduce that discrepancy even a little.
“…Then, shall we start from when I first met you? There’s still plenty of time left until the closing ceremony in the evening, so we can start slowly.”
And Elena, who had been recalling memories of the past for a moment, slowly opened her mouth with a somewhat distant expression.
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