TOSWB 13

Chapter : 13

I thought the original work was finished, but Episode 13

Ah, I messed up. There was absolutely nothing good to come from provoking that guy too much.

That was something I knew very, very well—painfully so—from all my past experience.

His appearance had changed, so I let my guard down a little, but inside he was still exactly the same eighteen-year-old. I must have been a bit on edge because of Charlotte.

“……”

Leopold was staring straight at me with his cold golden eyes.

Those golden eyes—so beautiful they couldn’t be compared to even the most expensive jewels—were revered by the people of the Empire as sacred and noble. But to me, they were just an unlucky color of eyes.

“……”

Then Leopold, who had been staring at me with a cold expression as if deep in thought, suddenly sprang to his feet.

“!”

Startled by his sudden movement, I jumped up as well.

Clatter!

The chair I had been sitting on toppled over onto the floor from the momentum.

Ah, damn it. How embarrassing. Leopold had only stood up, but it was like I’d just exposed how scared I actually was of him.

I didn’t want to show weakness in front of Leopold, with whom I already had a bad relationship.

“……Excuse me.”

“……”

I hurriedly set the fallen chair back in place and stood there, pretending nothing had happened.

Leopold didn’t seem to care either way. With the same unreadable, cold expression, he slowly walked toward me.

Step, step……

I watched Leopold approach with a tense face. I could clearly feel a line of cold sweat running down my spine.

Before I knew it, Leopold was standing right in front of me. It was far too close for friends.

Standing so near, Leopold spoke in his characteristic cold, emotionless voice.

“I asked why I called you here.”

Ah, right. I still hadn’t heard the answer to that important question.

This regression had something to do with Leopold. Why me? Why, exactly?

“……Yeah.”

Even now, curious about the reason, I nodded and answered quietly.

That was also why I had accepted Leopold’s invitation so readily today. Ever since the regression, it had been a mystery I pondered every night without finding an answer.

Leopold stared at me with golden eyes that seemed to see straight through all my thoughts.

“Do you remember what happened just before you came here?”

“……Well, yeah.”

I avoided his gaze, my face darkening.

In my last life, just before coming here, I had felt regret. No one needed me. I had been in despair over that.

Coincidentally, that day was my birthday. But no one knew. So I had just drunk myself into a stupor alone.

That was when mini-Leopold appeared. And like a miracle, he reached out his hand to me.

And when I opened my eyes again, I was thirteen years old, back in the happiest time of my life. I still didn’t know why.

I looked up at Leopold with anxious, wavering eyes.

“……If no one needs you anyway.”

As he spoke, Leopold took one step, then another, closer to me. A distance I thought couldn’t possibly shrink any further closed in even more.

The beautiful face that would one day be praised by the people of the Empire as a national treasure was right in front of me, still a bit youthful.

Those golden eyes that glinted with a faintly dangerous light, that flawless white skin without a single blemish.

Honestly, I didn’t know where to look. I rolled my eyes around, trying to focus on something ugly—his nostrils or philtrum—but even those looked perfect.

Swallowing dryly, I wore a tense expression.

Leopold stopped right in front of me.

“……”

“……”

We were extremely close. His beautiful face was right there. Close enough to be misunderstood if anyone saw us.

“……Ugh.”

Unconsciously, I raised my hand and clutched my chest tightly. I couldn’t let myself be bewitched by him. This had to be some scheme to mess with me.

Leopold looked down at me like that, then lifted a thin finger and lightly pressed down on the back of my hand, which was gripping my chest so tightly it had gone pale.

“……This time, use it for me.”

He whispered in such a small voice that only I could hear.

What was he even saying?

I looked up at Leopold with that question in my eyes.

He’d always been a man of few words, so conversations with him rarely flowed well. But this was the first time he’d ever said something so cryptic.

As if he’d read my thoughts, Leopold added,

“……Give it to me. Your life.”

“What?”

What kind of nonsense was that?

Wasn’t he supposed to be explaining why he’d called me here? Why was he suddenly telling me to give him my life?

I looked at Leopold warily, my expression twisting on its own.

I mean, there are things you can ask for and things you can’t. He’d already taken Evelin, my friend, from me—now he wanted my life too? What an audacious bastard.

“I don’t—”

I was about to say, No way.

But at that moment, Leopold urgently cut me off.

“If no one needs you, then it shouldn’t matter if you give yourself to me.”

“……”

His tone was oddly petulant, like he was throwing a tantrum. Both the tone and the content felt like pure obstinacy.

That couldn’t be Leopold. Evelin once joked that he was probably born saying, “Good day, Mother. Thank you for your hard work.”

I stared at him in disbelief. Leopold continued to look down at me with that unreadable expression.

“Think about it carefully.”

“……”

Leaving behind only those meaningless words, Leopold walked past me.

Click.

Soon, I heard the door close behind me, and his presence faded away.

I stared blankly at the door he’d just exited through for a long time.

“……?”

He’d talked way more than usual, yet I couldn’t understand a single thing he’d said.

“……What was that?”

The spot where Leopold’s hand had touched felt strangely hot, and with a confused expression, I tightly gripped the back of my hand with my other hand.

I thought that day would be the last time Leopold summoned me.

But the following week, another invitation arrived from the imperial palace. And the week after that. And the week after that, too.

As if he never got tired of it, Leopold called for me at least once a week—sometimes even twice.

…Was this his way of getting revenge for how I’d shut him out in my previous life? He was that persistent.

But it didn’t really feel like revenge either. We didn’t do anything special when we met. We drank tea, or occasionally attended lessons together.

Yeah—just like friends. Friends…?

…Is this what friends are like?

Still, it was pretty awkward to call it friendship.

Leopold was naturally taciturn, and I didn’t usually start conversations with him unless necessary.

He acted as if he’d completely forgotten about asking for my life the last time we met.

Since his attitude was so different from usual, that incident had honestly bothered me a little. But now I started wondering if he’d just been playing some kind of bad joke on me.

After about six visits to the palace, my doubts piled up, and I finally decided to ask him directly.

“Leo, why do you keep calling me to the palace? Is there some kind of political motive?”

“……Motive?”

Leopold repeated the word as if it were unfamiliar, looking at me.

The conclusion I’d reached after agonizing over it for days and nights was this:

Whether it was him asking for my life back then, or repeatedly inviting me to the palace after the regression—it all felt like he thought I was useful for something.

More precisely, it felt like he intended to use me and then discard me.

Given how bad our relationship had been in my previous life, it was hard to imagine any other reason.

Fidgeting with the luxurious teacup filled with my favorite cocoa, I spoke.

“Honestly, it’s kind of inconvenient for me.”

“What?”

At my words, Leopold, who had been about to lift his teacup, paused and slightly furrowed his brow.

“I mean, I don’t even really understand why you keep doing these pointless things in the first place…”

“……”

That should’ve been enough for him to understand. He was quick-witted. I finished speaking and glanced at him quietly.

Leopold looked at me with a puzzled expression and said,

“You can come comfortably, like it’s your own home.”

“……”

I couldn’t hide my incredulous look.

As if that were possible. A count’s estate isn’t this luxurious.

And while it wouldn’t have been a problem for Leopold to visit our estate, it was a problem for me to come and go from the imperial palace like it was my own house.

“……I’m not shameless enough to do something like that.”

Does he think everyone’s as shameless as he is?

Leopold, after all, had acted like the owner of the place from the very first day he followed Evelin to our estate.

And now he wanted me to do the same?

But Leopold just replied casually, as if he didn’t see the issue.

“Why? Think of it as being newlyweds and come without 부담.”