IRGS 04

I Regressed, and Then I Had a Son – Chapter 4

“Thunderroot! Slower, s-slower…!”

My thighs and hips hurt so badly I felt like I was going to die. Since I’d hiked up my skirt, my bare thighs were rubbing directly against the horse’s hard sides. The only reason I was managing to hang on at all was thanks to the experience I’d gained before I regressed. After all, it takes at least ten years of riding before you can handle a horse without a saddle.

Just a little longer…

I pictured the road leading to the Imperial Palace.

To reach the palace, I had to pass through the townhouse district where the nobles lived and cross a low hill.

If the assassins were going to lie in ambush, that was the only place they’d do it. Beyond the hill, the road was well maintained again.

I was almost there.

Once I entered the mountain path, where not a single light shone, darkness swallowed everything.

The soft chirping of insects filled the air, and every sudden rustle in the bushes sounded like a wild animal moving nearby.

And I was completely unarmed.

Perhaps Thunderroot was frightened too, because he slowed down. I clung desperately to his mane as though it were a lifeline.

Then—

Whoosh!

“Eek!”

A water deer!

A water deer burst out of the bushes!

Fortunately, Thunderroot stopped so abruptly that he didn’t kick it.

The problem was that the startled horse reared up on his hind legs.

“Waaaah!”

I’m dead!

No, I’m not dead!

Sophia, just hold on!

Neigh!

Thankfully, Thunderroot calmed down almost immediately and lowered his front legs.

The deer vanished into the darkness in the blink of an eye.

Damn… I nearly died the moment I regressed.

A broken neck from falling off a horse…

But Sophia wasn’t going to give up over something like this.

Steadying myself again, I nudged Thunderroot’s side with my heel.

“…?”

But Thunderroot refused to move.

He simply snorted.

Tap. Tap.

Snort.

“Huh?”

Tap, tap!

SNORT!

Oh no.

It looked like Thunderroot had absolutely no intention of going any farther through the mountain.

“There, there… It’s okay, Thunderroot. It was nothing. We just have to keep going, all right?”

I stroked his soft mane over and over, trying to soothe him.

He lifted one hoof…

…then put it right back down.

Seriously?!

“Thunderroot. Thundy. Get yourself together, okay?”

Even as I spoke, something felt strange.

Why did it seem like it was getting brighter behind me…?

“What are you doing here?”

“Eek!”

Startled, I threw my arms around Thunderroot’s neck and pressed myself against him.

When no further words came, I cautiously straightened up and turned around.

Huh?

This man…

“Young Master Glentino?”

“Lady Bartoli?”

Holding a torch stood a familiar face.

It was Owen, the eldest son of House Glentino.

In other words…

My fiancé Arnold’s older brother.

Thunderroot slowly turned his head toward the man.

Owen was dressed for going out.

And, admittedly…

He looked incredibly handsome.

His dirty blond hair.

His strong jawline.

His deep-set eyes.

A face so perfectly balanced it was almost unfair.

Combined with his casually rough attitude, tall stature, and loosely worn trench coat…

The last time I’d seen him had been at my fiancé’s funeral, before my regression.

Decades had passed since then, yet I still remembered him so vividly.

I supposed he’d left quite an impression.

The handsome man looked me up and down before frowning.

“You look…”

“What do you mean, look?!”

I was about to snap back, but he spoke first.

“You’re riding… without a saddle?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have the muscles for it.”

He clicked his tongue.

“You must be in agony.”

How would you know whether I have muscles or not?

Then again…

I was wearing clothing that made it painfully obvious.

Damn it.

If I’d still been my old self, I probably would’ve fainted from embarrassment.

For a woman who always wore long skirts to expose her legs in front of an unrelated man…

It was practically an outrageous form of seduction.

Complete madness.

Perhaps he noticed I was pretending to be fine while dying of embarrassment.

He clicked his tongue again, removed his trench coat, and tossed it toward me.

“Where are you headed at this hour?”

He smirked.

“Do you have a lover hidden somewhere in these hills?”

“I don’t have any man besides my fiancé!”

“…”

Ugh.

All I had to do was ask what he meant.

But because he was my fiancé’s older brother, I’d become far too conscious of it.

Without another word, I wrapped his coat around my waist and tied it securely.

Come to think of it…

Why was he here in the first place?

Then I noticed the brown paper bag in his other hand.

Sticking out of the top were…

My house slippers.

Looking down, I saw my bare toes wriggling.

Right.

I’d been barefoot.

He must have been returning from somewhere when he’d found a pair of indoor slippers lying on the roadside alongside horse tracks.

He’d probably thought someone had been kidnapped.

So he’d gone home, saddled a horse, and followed the tracks.

Despite always looking as though everything in the world was a nuisance…

He had a surprisingly strong sense of justice.

Still standing with that crooked posture, he asked again,

“So.”

“Where exactly were you rushing off to dressed like that?”

“My younger sister is going to die.”

“…What?”

I was in such a hurry that I’d blurted out the conclusion first.

I took a breath and explained.

“Leoni.”

“The future Crown Princess.”

“I found out there’s been an assassination request placed on her.”

“So…”

He raised an eyebrow.

“You rode all the way here without a saddle to chase after her?”

“I just wanted to check!”

“Just check.”

“…To see whether she dies?”

“N-No! That’s not what I meant…”

Ugh.

The more I talked, the worse it sounded.

Had regression made me forget how to speak?

Or was he simply impossible?

The second option seemed much more likely.

Still…

I knew exactly what he was thinking.

If I looked at it rationally…

Whether I went or not, Leoni would survive this assassination attempt anyway.

She always escaped danger as though blessed by the Goddess of Fortune herself.

Not to mention she had a maid who was genuinely loved by the gods.

And honestly…

At this moment…

I disliked my sister so much that I wondered whether she was even worth risking my life to save.

But I’d already changed the flow of events simply by returning.

The words of reconciliation I’d spoken during dinner.

Meeting this man here tonight.

Everything had begun to shift.

Determinedly, I prepared to leap down from Thunderroot’s back.

Then I looked down.

The ground was…

Much farther away than I’d expected.

So I confidently announced,

“Please help me down.”

“…Honestly.”

He rubbed a hand over his face, set the torch on the ground, and walked over.

Then he slipped his arms beneath my armpits and effortlessly lifted me.

I assumed he’d simply place me on the ground.

Instead…

Young Master Glentino suddenly knelt on one knee and settled me carefully on his raised thigh.

“W-What are you doing?!”

“Stay still.”

“Don’t let your feet touch the ground.”

For some reason, I tensed up.

My chemise was so thin that I could clearly feel the firmness of his thigh beneath me.

Then he reached out.

Before I could react—

He grabbed my ankle.

Has he lost his mind?!

How could he touch a lady’s ankle?!

But…

His hand was surprisingly warm.

Maybe my feet were simply cold.

It was still early spring, after all, and the nights were chilly.

He gently slipped my slippers back onto my feet.

The same indoor slippers I’d lost along the way.

“…”

I hadn’t expected even this much kindness.

Slightly stunned, I quietly watched as he put both slippers back on my feet.

Without realizing it, I’d begun supporting myself by resting a hand on his shoulder.

He spoke softly.

“Honestly…”

“I wouldn’t recommend wearing indoor slippers on a mountain trail.”

“But they’re better than going barefoot.”

“My shoes would be too large and would only make walking harder.”

“So wear these.”

“Y-Yes…”

“Hm?”

“You’ve suddenly gone quiet.”

“That’s unlike you.”

“I have not!”

Seriously…

What a strange personality.

Did he always have to get in one last comment?

Leaving our horses to walk beside us, we headed toward the Imperial Palace.

I knew how unbelievable my story sounded.

Running into the mountains alone in the middle of the night claiming my sister was about to die…

Yet, surprisingly…

He stopped questioning me.

He simply walked beside me.

Had anyone ever trusted me this unquestioningly before?

The feeling was…

Strange.

After walking for some time, I spotted what looked like a shattered carriage in the distance.

At the same moment…

My heart dropped.

“Leoni!!”

Before I knew it, I was running.

See, Sophia?

What are you going to do now?

The future has already changed.

What if the assassination really succeeded this time?

What if… you were the one who ended up killing your own sister?

Half out of my mind, I reached the wrecked carriage.

“Huff… huff…”

The carriage was crushed so completely that anyone inside would almost certainly have died instantly.

Fortunately…

Or perhaps unfortunately…

There were no bodies lying nearby.

I ran straight toward the carriage door.