4-5 minutes

Daniel was the only one left with the memory of the night when they each consoled each other, swept away tears, and shared pleasure—pleasure that made him lose his senses and rationality completely—when they couldn’t control their own excitement. They hid the longings of their hearts every day in between tea times, and it was more painful that they could barely meet in a month or more.

As Daniel and Iveca faced each other in this sunny garden, Daniel was trembling on his own. He held himself as he stifled the urge to scream at her about how could she be so cruel. All kinds of storms raged in his mind. The memories of being alone made him terribly lonely. She, who was making him so desperate, was making him lonelier than anyone else.

He thought he could always look at her like this, but she bowed her head in discomfort.

“Well, then…”

It was a rare, very impulsive decision in his life. He had waited too long, and he needed her so desperately.

“Why don’t you marry me?”

In fact, he didn’t even think about proposing. He just wanted to see her.

“Isn’t it similar to your fiancée from the Telsy family that you don’t know well since I am also a King that you don’t know well either?”

Rather than marrying a fiancée who doesn’t love you, would you rather stay with me? I would give you everything you want. I would do everything to make sure you smile and won’t look so unhappy again.

“Why me…” asked Iveca, obviously bewildered.

“Ask Count Esselburn why. I’m sure he knows enough.”

The rumor that Daniel would marry a neutral aristocrat was all over the place. There was no reason to refuse this marriage as Count Esselburn was in an unfortunate position because of the Duke of Muelton.

The four years that have been erased from her…

Her family, her friends, her colleagues, her self-esteem, her work… Daniel promised to give her everything; she wouldn’t have to spend her days with such a gloomy disposition as if she had given up all her cares in the world. He would pave the way for her so she could spread her wings again and live a meaningful life.

On this dark road where you left me behind, he would do anything for her happiness.

“I… like to do something that I am the only one who can do it. If I can engrave my name on something, I can proudly leave a legacy.”

“If there is anything I personally want from you, I don’t want you to quit the Judicial Affairs Bureau,” Daniel said as he recalled some thoughts Eve had shared with him. He knew what she would do well; she had showed him the path already.

“Still, on the idea that the law is above the leader, so a leader cannot make a big mistake, personally, I find it inhuman and fair at the same time to put an inanimate thing on top of all humankind.”

She didn’t have to worry about the things she could do or accomplish, nor to be able to do something revolutionary that she would be proud of as Eve or Queen… Daniel only thought of getting old together with her, playing line ball.

The desire to never miss her again in his entire life was so persistent and monstrous that he was forced to propose in an urge as he stared at her depressed face, but he was trying to be calm about it.

He tried to deny it, but he couldn’t fool himself. He always tried not to be conscious because he knew he had to be considerate of her, but it was actually a path that he had been thinking about for a long time.

“Just try to erase your memory. I’ll make you a Queen no matter what.”

He wasn’t originally a good and gentle person. His greed and longing could not contain his selfish calculations—to the point where he loathed himself for his unchanging desire and ceaseless rationalization.

“A few secrets that I only know… A few lies that are too easy for me… I won’t let you go.”

Daniel was prepared to do everything for her to save her from her misery, but he did not know that it was also his desire and selfishness. Stay with me. Stay with me. Don’t leave me alone. Don’t go anywhere.

Ever since she held his hand first in Lake Menata, he has always needed her.