One step, another step.
The closer the man gets, the more intense the beating of my heart becomes.
The Emperor, who was standing in front of me, extended his hand to me.
“Bellona.”
And the moment he calls my name.
A strange feeling I had never felt before came rushing into me like a wave.
An irresistible, strange feeling sweeps over me with irresistible force.
I grabbed the man's outstretched hand as if possessed by something.
The man's hot body temperature felt under my palm, and his familiar, tingling breath.
It created the illusion that only the two of us were left here.
“...Carsis.”
And then I spat out the name that had been lingering in my mouth.
A summer night when the stars were shining unusually brightly.
So the two met again.
At the end of a very long journey.
I was locked up by the crazy dog I raised. Side story
A slow afternoon with the sun slightly slanted.
Today was another peaceful day, as always.
As if trying to cool off from the hot midsummer heat, three women sat in the shade of a tree near the lake.
They quenched their thirst with cool drinks, fanned themselves leisurely, and began chatting.
“Have you heard? Duke Philosykos, who supported the Emperor, hasn't been caught yet?”
The closer the man gets, the more intense the beating of my heart becomes.
The Emperor, who was standing in front of me, extended his hand to me.
“Bellona.”
And the moment he calls my name.
A strange feeling I had never felt before came rushing into me like a wave.
An irresistible, strange feeling sweeps over me with irresistible force.
I grabbed the man's outstretched hand as if possessed by something.
The man's hot body temperature felt under my palm, and his familiar, tingling breath.
It created the illusion that only the two of us were left here.
“...Carsis.”
And then I spat out the name that had been lingering in my mouth.
A summer night when the stars were shining unusually brightly.
So the two met again.
At the end of a very long journey.
< I was locked up by the crazy dog I raised > Complete
I was locked up by the crazy dog I raised. Side story
A slow afternoon with the sun slightly slanted.
Today was another peaceful day, as always.
As if trying to cool off from the hot midsummer heat, three women sat in the shade of a tree near the lake.
They quenched their thirst with cool drinks, fanned themselves leisurely, and began chatting.
“Have you heard? Duke Philosykos, who supported the Emperor, hasn't been caught yet?”
Elizabeth muttered as she took a bite of the sandwich she had prepared.
“That’s right. It’s been quite some time since he fled. At this point, wouldn’t he have fled to another country?”
Duke Philosykos, the only one of the five ducal families to support the Emperor, had been a fugitive for several months.
Meanwhile, the newly crowned Emperor Carsis and his entourage tried to find the whereabouts of Duke Philosykos, but it was not as easy as they thought. Because the Duke lived in seclusion in his territory, few people knew his face.
As a result, time passed without any clues being found, and some even said that he was already dead.
'If it were me, I would have already fled abroad.'
There would be no benefit to remaining in this empire.
It was then that Bellona sipped her tea while listening to the conversation between the two.
Deborah clapped her hands as if she had just remembered something important and asked Bellona.
“Lona. Be honest with me. What is your relationship with His Majesty the New Emperor?”
“...What kind of relationship is this?”
“His Majesty the Emperor suddenly asked you to dance. It seems like you already know each other.”
“Ah, that’s....”
Bellona trailed off, seeming embarrassed at Deborah's question.
That would be the case.
‘I also saw that man for the first time that day...!’
It was her first time seeing the Emperor, too.
The day of the coronation.
The person who was more embarrassed than anyone else by the sight of the Emperor calling her by her name so friendly was Bellona.
A man with red eyes and exotic black hair, the symbol of the Clepius family.
She had never seen a man so intense that once she saw him, she would never forget him before the coronation.
However.
‘Why on earth did I do that that day...’
A name slipped out of her mouth without her knowing. That name was the real name of the man who had become the new Emperor.
How surprised she was, even though she was the one who called.
Immediately after calling that name, Bellona's face turned red with embarrassment, and she couldn't raise her head.
'It's a good thing the Emperor just laughed it off, otherwise it could have caused a huge problem.'
A young lady from a mere Duke's family has spoken the Emperor's name.
If she had shown such an attitude to the deposed Emperor, she might have been beheaded long ago.
'But you acted so indifferent, didn't you? Maybe...?'
When she thought about it, it was strange.
Someone of lower status than him called his name without permission, and he just laughed it off.
Rather, it seemed like he was happy that his name was called.
It was a smile that seemed quite innocent, unlike the Emperor's notoriety of inviting death wherever he went.
Thanks to that, Bellona's mind was filled with images of the man's face smiling brightly at her.
Furthermore.
'Even though you grew up on the streets as an illegitimate child, your name is Carsis.'
It was not a name befitting the Emperor of an empire.
'Because the name Carsis is...'
Because it was the same name as the dog she had raised as a child. Her parents must have been as surprised as she was to hear the Emperor's name.
'Ha...'
Could it be because many complicated thoughts passed through my mind?
It was when Bellona let out a deep sigh without realizing it.
Deborah, who had been waiting for her answer, urged Bellona once again.
“What, what is it! What kind of relationship do you have with His Majesty the Emperor that you won’t tell me!”
Deborah's cheeks puffed out as she thought she had a secret she didn't know about. Bellona waved her hand, saying it was nothing.
“It’s not what you think. I saw him for the first time that day.”
“It’s your first time seeing him, is that why you called His Majesty by that name?”
"That...."
Bellona, who had been avoiding eye contact with the difficult question, looked at Elizabeth.
“Oh, come to think of it. Ellie. Didn’t you dance with some guy that day? I heard that after the dance, the two of you suddenly disappeared...!”
Then she pulled Elizabeth towards her and changed the subject.
“Huh? That, that is...”
This time, Elizabeth began to stutter, perhaps taken aback by the sudden question.
“Oh, right! Come to think of it, Ellie. You danced with that guy that day, too. He was one of His Majesty the Emperor’s confidants, wasn’t he?”
Deborah took the bait that Bellona threw too easily. She looked at Elizabeth persistently, forgetting that she had been questioning the relationship between the Emperor and Bellona.
Elizabeth hesitated for a moment under Deborah's gaze and then answered.
“...Isaac. His name is Isaac. He said that when he was young, he met His Majesty the current Emperor and stayed by his side.”
“So he was a commoner? He didn’t look like one...”
“No. He was originally a nobleman, but he seemed to have a deep story.”
“A nobleman? Or is he an illegitimate child...”
Deborah was going over the genealogy of the noble family in her head.
Bellona asked, something coming to mind.
“Are you a Barley?”
“How do you do that...”
Elizabeth's eyes widened at Bellona's answer.
“I heard my parents talking a while ago. There’s a lost heir to House Barley among His Majesty the Emperor’s entourage. And that man, Isaac, with whom you danced that day. He had silver hair.”
Silver hair, the symbol of House Barley, was not a common hair color even in the Empire.
However, because the lineage of the Barley family was cut off when the Duchess who had conceived Barley's successor was kidnapped, they did not think of Isaac as Barley.
If Bellona hadn't heard her parents' conversation, she wouldn't have guessed that the man was of Barley's blood.
And Elizabeth nodded as if her prediction was correct.
“Yes. That’s right. He’s the successor of Barley. I heard that he was kidnapped along with his mother when he was young. And when he found out that the kidnapper was the deposed Emperor, he decided to take revenge.”
"Oh my god..."
Deborah covered her mouth with her hand as if she had heard an unbelievable truth.
“Then what about the scar on his left eye...”
Bellona pictured Isaac's face. A man with silver hair and blue eyes, with a long scar above his left eye.
“He had a scar on his left eye since birth.”
“Since birth?”
“Yeah. You guys heard that, right? You can only use Barley’s power once in your lifetime.”
The power of time.
The ability to go back in time was an incredible power, but it could only be used once.
And there is one myth associated with the power of the House of Barley, and that is the scar.
If the heir of Barley has a scar on his eye, it means he has already used the power of time to regress.
Elizabeth pondered the proverb for a moment and then quietly muttered:
“I guess that’s why... I don’t feel like this is the first time I’ve seen that man. It feels like that man and I already had some kind of connection in our previous lives.”
Elizabeth blushed shyly.
“Perhaps this life we live now is a life given to us once again by the power of Barley.”
'Life given once again...'
Bellona repeated Elizabeth's words once more.
She doesn't know why the Emperor's face came to mind as soon as she heard those words, but it was around the time when she felt like she had forgotten something important.
Deborah said, looking back and forth between the two of them.
“Ah, I don’t know. I don’t know about regression or powers or anything like that. Why do you think it’s so complicated? The present we’re living in is what’s important.”
It was when Deborah was complaining that the atmosphere became awkward after asking about someone else's love life for no reason.
“Miss Bellona.”
The Duke's servant came to see her.
"What's the matter?"
“The Duke is looking for you.”
She was puzzled by the servant's visit to her so early, since she had already said that she would enjoy the picnic until late in the afternoon.
“Is something happening at the mansion?”
“I, that is...”
The servant hesitated for a moment to answer her question.
“A person from the palace came to see you.”
Sending someone from the palace.
Bellona's steps towards the mansion quickened due to the unexpected visitor.
And what was waiting for her at the mansion she arrived at was a letter with the imperial seal.
She was puzzled by the servant's visit to her so early, since she had already said that she would enjoy the picnic until late in the afternoon.
“Is something happening at the mansion?”
“I, that is...”
The servant hesitated for a moment to answer her question.
“A person from the palace came to see you.”
***
Sending someone from the palace.
Bellona's steps towards the mansion quickened due to the unexpected visitor.
And what was waiting for her at the mansion she arrived at was a letter with the imperial seal.
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