🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter : 11
The Name of Revenge
“Wow. It was really nice.”
The next morning, Lowell lay sprawled out, staring at the window where the morning sun was rising.
“This bed is seriously amazing.”
Even though no reply came back, Lowell kept chattering on without a care.
“Maybe because I slept so well, my body feels super light!”
She sprang out of bed as if bouncing, even spinning around in place. She showed with her whole body just how satisfied she was.
“…….”
Leon, on the other hand, was sitting on a chair a short distance from the bed. The fatigue was obvious in his eyes, to the point that even the simple act of rubbing his temples looked exhausting.
As Leon shifted his gaze to look at the still-excited Lowell, last night’s events suddenly came to mind.
Suddenly suggesting they sleep together—well, that part he could understand. As she said, since they had just gotten married, people would talk if they used separate rooms.
“…You’re sleeping there?”
“We can’t sleep together, can we? Don’t worry. I can sleep anywhere.”
But when Lowell began spreading a blanket on the floor, Leon could only stare blankly. Sleeping on the floor? Really? On purpose? Was this some kind of protest? A new kind, perhaps?
“Good night, then.”
On top of that, regardless of Leon’s confusion, Lowell calmly lay down on the floor. She had entered the room so boldly, only to end up doing nothing more than spreading a blanket and lying on the floor.
“…….”
In the end, Leon couldn’t take it anymore. Watching Lowell close her eyes with a rather satisfied smile, he reached out and grabbed her wrist.
“Sleep on the bed. It’s wide, so we can sleep at opposite ends.”
“Huh? But—”
“You said you wouldn’t do anything. Same for me.”
Leon rubbed around his eyes irritably, his brows drawn straight. He honestly didn’t understand why, just before going to sleep, he had to worry about this woman’s sleeping arrangements—but he couldn’t just watch her sleep on the floor.
At first, Lowell froze in surprise. But perhaps the bed really was more appealing; she hesitated awkwardly before climbing onto it.
After Lowell lay down on one side and Leon lay beside her, Leon covered his eyes with one arm and thought, What on earth is this? Seriously.
Yet after some time passed, another thought surfaced in Leon’s mind. No matter what, hadn’t he been the one to suggest sleeping in the same bed? Telling a woman to share a bed with a man she barely knew—his sense of chivalry was clearly lacking.
Once that thought took root, it spiraled. Come to think of it, this wasn’t just a lack of chivalry—it was downright shameless…
Eventually, after tossing and turning several times, Leon sat up. Even if he had left the knightly order, he was still a knight, and a knight was supposed to uphold chivalry—not behave like a scoundrel.
“Hey. I’ll just—”
“Phew….”
What Leon faced instead was… Lowell’s face, sleeping in utter comfort.
In that moment, along with a familiar sense of déjà vu, a faint headache washed over him. What kind of situation is this, exactly?
Leon stared blankly for quite a while at the blanket rising and falling steadily before realizing something. No matter what kind of worry it was, he had been the only one worrying at all.
“Haah….”
Recalling last night, Leon rubbed his eyes as dizziness welled up behind them. Even without looking in the mirror, he knew dark shadows would be hanging under his eyes. It was only natural—he hadn’t slept a wink.
“But you woke up really early, didn’t you? You’ve already changed clothes and everything—”
“That’s enough. I’ll be downstairs in the study. Get ready on your own and come down.”
As his thoughts grew tangled, Leon irritably pulled the jacket draped over the armrest of the chair and left the room.
Bang!
“Oh—!”
Leon heard Lowell’s voice from behind the closed door, calmly letting out a surprised yelp without sounding surprised at all, and continued down the stairs.
“Are these all the related books?”
A short while later, having changed into casual clothes, Lowell entered the first-floor study and looked at the books still piled in boxes instead of on shelves.
“I brought everything I needed from the Tower, so there should be no shortage of information.”
Leon was using magic to lift several books out of a box and place them directly onto the shelves.
“As expected of someone who can use time magic—you really have a lot of information.”
Lowell murmured in admiration as she watched him, then bent over the box, thinking she should help move the books too.
“When I went to the public library, there weren’t many related books at all…”
“You—what did you just say?”
But when Lowell straightened up with a few books in her arms, she was met with Leon frowning deeply.
“…Huh?”
“How do you know I can use time magic?”
Leon was staring at her now, having lowered even the books he had been floating in the air. In truth, Lowell might have just hoped he was merely staring. His eyes were frozen solid as they fixed on her.
“Uh… because you’re a high-ranking magic knight?”
That Lowell managed to give such a neatly composed answer under a gaze that looked ready to cause trouble at any moment was nearly miraculous.
“A magic knight as outstanding as you would naturally have mastered time magic, or so I thought.”
She even managed to add a fairly practiced excuse when Leon’s lips parted as if to ask another question.
“…….”
While Leon remained silent, Lowell reflected briefly on the words “time magic” that had slipped from her mouth.
“Time magic” referred to high-level magic that stopped or delayed time—magic that interfered with time itself. Because of the danger of misuse, it was absolutely forbidden except in special circumstances.
“Of course, the man in front of me learned it on his own after stealing books from the temple.”
Recalling just how far Leon—the villain of the book—had gone for revenge, Lowell let out an awkward smile.
“…Hmm.”
Fortunately, Leon’s suspicion didn’t last long. Lowell thought that the phrase “outstanding magic knight” had probably dispelled his doubts, but since Leon soon changed the subject, that thought didn’t linger.
“Come to think of it, you said this is the seventh time time has repeated.”
“Huh? Ah, yes.”
“Then you must know what’s going to happen next. The same things should keep happening.”
Leon spoke with an expression balanced between curiosity and indifference.
“Well… not exactly.”
After a brief pause, Lowell spoke.
“Each time time resets, the incidents change in subtle ways. Of course, there are also things that always happen without fail.”
“For example?”
“For example, the people who threaten Lady Aria in exactly the same way every time—or, also, monsters suddenly increasing in number, leading to a war with the demon race—”
“What? A war?”
Leon cut her off sharply.
“Those demon bastards sent monsters again…”
As Lowell flinched in surprise at his sudden reaction, Leon muttered to himself.
“Y-yes… There’s always been a sudden increase in monsters, but never this fast before. I was surprised too—”
“What do you mean, this fast? Where did you hear that?”
“…When the Imperial Knights came to the duke’s estate. They asked Lady Aria if she could participate in the war.”
Because Leon kept interrupting—no, because he seemed agitated—Lowell felt flustered, but she still answered slowly.
While Leon fell deep into thought, Lowell watched the strange gleam that had appeared in his eyes.
“…Do you like war? Fighting the demon race, I mean.”
The question slipped out. At that moment, Lowell had noticed a light in Leon’s eyes she had never seen before—a faint hint of joy.
“What?”
Leon finally came back to himself and looked at her. Their gazes met in midair.
“…It’s not that I like war. I’m anticipating the chance to prove something.”
His answer came only after a long pause.
“Prove what?”
“That I wasn’t wrong.”
As he answered, Leon met her gaze directly.
While Lowell remained silent, Leon wondered how she might have taken his words.
Of course, what she thought didn’t really matter. They were bound by a contract. How they viewed each other, what the truth was—none of that really—
“Mm… I think I understand.”
But what came from Lowell’s mouth was completely different from his negative expectations.
“What?”
“If I can protect my lady, there are times when I feel like I could do anything. That’s probably because my goal is to see her happy.”
Nodding, Lowell shared her thoughts in a deliberately serious tone.
“You’re like that too, aren’t you, Sir Leon? You’re working toward your goal as well.”
“…Am I.”
Leon felt slightly dazed. Countless voices that had dismissed everything he had done until now flashed through his mind.
The Lipmann family members who had driven him out without mercy, the colleagues who had pretended not to know him after his fall, even the nameless people who spread rumors of his disgrace.
And now, someone else was giving a name—a goal—to the revenge he himself had never been able to name.
“And from what I can tell, Sir Leon, you weren’t wrong. Back then, when you tried to chase the monsters to the end—it was because there was a village nearby, wasn’t it?”
Lowell added casually, turning her attention back to the books.
Listening to her, Leon slowly followed her every movement with his eyes. The faint tremor in his pupils went unnoticed even by himself.
“…You really know everything. Did you hear that at the market too?”
After a brief silence, Leon returned to his usual indifferent tone.
“Ah, haha… yeah, something like that.”
Realizing too late that she had said something suspicious again, Lowell laughed awkwardly.
“You seem to keep your ears tuned to the market all day long.”
It sounded vaguely reproachful, but Leon’s voice had softened considerably compared to before.
Caught off guard by that change, Lowell found herself smiling without even realizing it.
