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As I blinked blankly, the tears that had welled up fell.
Only then did it hit me.
'I really... came back.'
I jumped out of bed and burst out of the room.
It didn't matter what time it was now.
All that filled my head was...
"Young lady, I was just about to wake you up... Young lady?"
Ignoring Erin calling me, I forgot the dignity of a noble lady and ran aimlessly.
My breath caught in my throat, and my steps stopped in front of Idris's room.
My hand, grabbing the doorknob as I caught my breath, trembled.
And finally, as I opened the door.
"Letitia?"
There was Idris.
He who had been dying before my eyes just moments ago, he who had worried about me even in his last moments.
He was alive.
In such a safe and sound state.
Seeing him like that, tears welled up.
"What brings you to my room this morning? Don't tell me you missed m―"
I rushed and hugged him, who was starting with a joke as usual.
Feeling the familiar warmth and scent in my arms, the relief washed over me and the tears I had been holding back burst out.
Idris seemed taken aback for a moment, but soon he hugged me back.
"Did you have a nightmare or something? I mean, I'm happy to be spoiled."
He didn't ask any further.
He just patted my back gently with his big, warm hands.
As always.
I finally stopped crying after a long time.
And as always after crying, I felt embarrassed.
But there was no time to indulge in such emotions.
'I have to cancel the airship's operation and prevent Deon's escape.'
Avoiding Idris's eyes in embarrassment, I was about to speak but stopped when I saw his state.
"Um... shouldn't you get dressed now?"
When I barged into his room, Idris had just finished washing and was shirtless.
"I was trying to seduce you, but it didn't work."
He said with a regretful sound, but obediently put on his shirt.
"By the way, you're not going to tell me why you were crying?"
He must have realized that my rampage wasn't just because of a nightmare.
'But how should I tell him this?'
The airship is scheduled to depart tomorrow.
If I suddenly stop the airship and say that Deon is planning to escape and we have to stop him.
Would he believe such a far-fetched story?
'In that case, I'd rather...'
After thinking for a moment, I carefully started.
"Idris. Can you believe everything I'm about to say?"
"I will believe you."
There was not a hint of hesitation or wavering in his answer.
I took a small breath and began to tell a story that might make me seem like a crazy woman.
"...I came back from the future to the past. With your magic."
Would he really believe me?
Anxiously, I watched his reaction, and Idris opened his mouth with a serious expression, unlike usual.
"The fact that you have returned to the past means that something has gone wrong in the future. For you, and for me too."
For a moment, I was stunned.
He really believed me.
Moreover, he even quickly grasped the situation.
Emboldened by his belief, I nodded and continued.
"The airship will crash tomorrow. Because of the escaped Deon Zahir and Elise Fran."
"Then we should cancel the airship's operation right away."
Surprised by his quick decision-making, I widened my eyes.
"Really, you believe me?"
"You asked if I could believe you, didn't you? And I said I would."
Idris replied as if it were obvious.
"If what you say is true, it's fortunate that we'll be able to stop Deon's escape."
"What if I'm wrong?"
Then he seemed to think for a moment, and then wiped the tears from my eyes and smiled wryly.
"That's why you stopped crying, isn't it? That's enough for me."
The airship was something I had dreamed of, and something he had achieved over ten years.
But he overturned that plan. Just because of my words.
At that moment, I remembered what he had said just before returning to the past.
"...Because I will lose the most precious thing, if this magic succeeds, the me in the returned life will probably lose you."
At the same time, tears welled up again.
Along with the truth that I couldn't tell him before returning to the past.
"...I love you."
Idris's hand, which was wiping my eyes, stopped, and the golden eyes looking at me gradually widened.
"What did you just say..."
"I love you."
Once an emotion burst out, there was nothing to hold back.
Rather, it became clearer the moment it was spoken out.
Idris stared blankly at me, sometimes chuckled with his eyes lowered...
And finally, he opened his mouth.
"Can I... kiss you?"
It was an unusually cautious tone for him.
But before I could answer, he corrected himself.
"No, um. I mean..."
But at the moment he was about to speak.
I kissed his lips first.
I didn't want to hesitate about my feelings anymore.
Because I knew how precious these moments, when we were breathing together, were.
Idris's eyes, which had been frozen for a moment by my sudden action, changed, and he closed his eyes, hugged my waist, and closed the distance tightly.
The kiss that started with a light touch quickly became deeply intertwined with each other's breaths.
The touching lips, the breath of who knows whose, his eyes that met each time our lips slightly parted... were so sweet.
Somehow, I felt like I was going to cry.
Just as our parted lips were about to meet again, I gently pushed him away.
Then Idris opened his eyes that had been closed and looked at me with questioning eyes.
"I'll allow the second time after everything is over."
Ha.
Hearing the absurd laughter leaking from his lips, I smiled brightly.
A closed bar on the outskirts of the capital.
From the outside, it looked like it hadn't opened for business yet because it was still daytime, but inside, dozens of people were gathered.
They were Elise and Deon's subordinates.
"His Highness will escape from the imperial palace at dawn tomorrow. Then we'll go straight to the airfield..."
As they were planning Deon's escape, the bar's door opened and a subordinate rushed in.
"B-big trouble!"
"What's wrong?"
The subordinate, unable to speak because he was out of breath, belatedly seemed to remember and handed over the newspaper he was holding.
Elise and the subordinates' expressions distorted as they read the newspaper.
[The airship, which was scheduled to depart for the central continent tomorrow, has been suddenly canceled...]
"Why suddenly...?"
Idris had heavily promoted the airship.
However, if they changed the schedule without a special reason just one day before departure, it would plant even more negative images in the minds of people who were already anxious about the airship.
There's no way Idris and Letitia wouldn't know that.
The fact that they suddenly canceled the airship's departure plan despite knowing that meant that it was a serious matter.
They read the following articles, but they were just the reporters' speculations that there might be a defect in the airship.
'Could they have noticed our plan?'
An ominous premonition arose in Elise's mind, but she shook it off.
Everyone gathered here is trustworthy.
Unless the information was leaked, there's no way Idris's side would know about the escape plan, especially since it's scheduled to be carried out tomorrow.
"We need to change the plan."
"Will you change His Highness's escape schedule?"
"No. To do that, we would have to contact the spy in the imperial palace prison again, which could be more dangerous."
"Then..."
"We'll change the route to leave the empire."
If the sky route was blocked, there was only one thing left.
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