“Thank you.”

Actually, she wanted to say sorry. However, saying sorry when she wasn’t telling him the truth felt like deceiving him. Instead, she said thank you. At least she meant it with all her heart.

“No, Rubica. You don’t have to thank me. I’m only doing what is right.”

Edgar decided to abandon his pride and do anything, including pretending to be heartbroken, to win her heart. But when she actually seemed to cry, he didn’t know what to do. He was slightly worried that she might be mad at him once she found out he was Arman.

“It’s only right?”

“It’s only right to do anything for the woman I love. Plus, you are my wife.”

His love who was going to be with him forever and ever. Needless to say, the moment she said she was going to stay with him, their promise about divorce had been broken and their marriage was more than just a deal.

Edgar didn’t hesitate to call her his wife, and she didn’t reply by saying she wasn’t his real wife.

“But there are many people who use love to do bad things.”

“I know. Love is the best excuse to justify all kinds of bad things.”

He leaned down and lightly kissed her lips. It didn’t last more than a second, but it made her heart ache. Was it his brilliantly bright smile’s doing?

“But at the same time, there are people who are not like that.”

The light of the mana stone lamp let her see his smile without any distortion. Rubica could see he was saying she was one of ‘those who didn’t use love as an excuse to do bad things’. His faith was like a miracle.

Only now Rubica realized why she had been anxious after Minos’s departure. She was afraid, afraid that Edgar might be disappointed if she asked him to meet Minos so that she would be able to find Arman. She was afraid his heart might leave her. Yes. Actually, she was afraid he might abandon her.

However, his faith in her was much stronger than she had imagined. She thought she had been a fool to worry…

“You are not that kind of person, but I’ve already done a lot of bad things to you.”

She had asked the man who liked her to find his rival in love. If Edgar had asked her such a favor… it would have torn her heart apart.

“No, you’ve done nothing wrong.”

Actually, he was the one who had been doing her wrong. Edgar even wondered if he should tell her he was Arman. He made all this fuss just because he didn’t want to share her love with his future self.

However, when he saw her loving him and being sorry about it, he could see he had done something truly foolish.

He was no different from Arman who sent her back in time instead of coming back himself just because he didn’t want to be forgotten by her. He was a selfish man, and he humbly admitted it.

“Edgar.”

However, each word he said only moved her heart even more. She buried her face in his chest and breathed deeply. His scent made her feel hot, but it also made her feel stable at the same time. She had found out through him that it was possible to be so comfortable even when her heart was beating so fast.

“You’re going to believe anything I say, right?”

“Of course.”

Even though she was asking the question, she was sure of it. She wanted to tell him everything. However, now was not the right time to do it. She had to make him meet Minos first and tell him about Arman’s ring and all that happened till now.

She could tell him to believe everything as she was the one saying it, but it wasn’t the correct way to build trust. It would only destroy it. She wanted to live up to his expectations as much as he believed in her.

“Just wait a little longer. I will tell you everything, about what happened between me and Arman.”

His hand, that had been stroking her back, stopped. It made her worried and she hugged him even tighter.

“Rubica.”

He called her name with a slightly shaking voice. She had finally decided to tell him everything. The moment he had wished for so earnestly was finally on its way to him.

“I’ll wait.”

He could wait for thousands of years now that he finally had her heart.

“But instead…”

He gently wrapped her face in his hands. For a moment, Rubica resisted his hands trying to make her look up at him. She couldn’t bear to look at his eyes.

However, he gently urged and she eventually looked up. When she looked into his eyes, she was surprised.

“Edgar.”

“Please, do not despise me.”

Drops of tears that looked like gems were falling from his blue eyes. They looked so sad, and Rubica raised a hand to wipe them off his face.

“Despise you? Why would I ever despise you?”

She whispered and he smiled sadly. Because he knew. He had been so rude to her in many ways when they first met, but she eventually forgave him. She looked like one of the so-called ordinary people, but she was hiding strength beneath it.

As always, she was going to forgive him even when she got to know the truth. That was why he felt so small and was so sorry for her. He had lived a life without forgiveness.

“Please don’t hate me.”

Rubica looked up at him as he kept crying and pleading. According to what most people would think, she was supposed to be the one begging to not be abandoned. She had nothing.

However, he was acting as if she was a goddess, and it didn’t look cowardly. It rather felt cute and trustworthy. She was sure she would be able to live a life of happiness with him.

“I love you.”

Rubica stood on her tiptoes and said that instead of forgiving him. Moreover, that wasn’t out of impulse at all. She had been hesitating to say that as she was scared and afraid that she didn’t deserve to be loved by him.

But… but then, it would be no different from her previous life in which she had never been able to confess her love to Arman.

“I’ve been wanting to tell you this.”

She had hesitated and hesitated in her previous life, and she failed to say it, but in this life, she wasn’t going to repeat the same mistake.

No matter what kind of hardships she was about to encounter, she was not going to hesitate and lose her love ever again.

“Rubica, Rubica.”

He held her tightly while calling her name again and again in a teary voice.

“Edgar, I love you.”

She wasn’t confessing her love to Arman, but strangely, the remorse she had for so long melted away like the snow. Now, if she ever got to meet Arman again, she was going to hold his hands tightly and say, ‘thank you’ instead of ‘I love you’. Even though it was now in a different form from her original wish, at last it had been granted.

***

After her visit to Claymore Mansion, Gabriel Tangt had changed a little. Normally she would have run to her mother as soon as she got out of the carriage and told her about everything she had seen including the number of dishes at the mansion she had just visited. But this time, she didn’t say much until she took off her hat and got changed into a comfortable indoor dress.

“Gabriel, what have you talked about with the duchess?”

“Oh, about how she was and the weather and things like that.”

The countess eventually asked first, but Gabriel didn’t give her a proper answer. After that, she went to her room, stayed there for a long time, and then abruptly came out and said, “She has asked me to come again next week.”

“Oh, that’s good. She must have liked you very much. Well, with what kind of stories have you won her favor with?”

Showing off her wittiness was what Gabriel enjoyed the most. Her mother was sure she would smile broadly and talk about how smartly she had entertained the duchess for hours.

“Nothing much.”

However, Gabriel replied coldly and went back to her room. The countess couldn’t hide her surprise and asked her lady-in-waiting, “What on earth has just happened?”

“Well, I don’t know. Maybe she is finally growing up.”

“Gabriel is growing up?”

The countess said to herself as she looked at the closed door of Gabriel’s room. Gabriel was her youngest child and she had always thought she would be forever twittering like a canary at her side, eager to get her attention.

“No, it has to be a whim.”

The countess quickly denied the reality. Maybe Gabriel was not telling her about what happened with the duchess to get more attention. No matter what anyone said, Gabriel was the most like her among all the children she had. The countess was sure she understood Gabriel better than anyone else.