I Will End My 10-Year Unrequited Love

But Rias didn’t seem bothered by Elia’s discomfort. He calmly spoke again.

“Everyone thinks that after the Great War, Belial was sealed away… but his half-soul still remains in the world, wandering and misleading people.”

“What? That can’t be.”

Elia scoffed, as if the idea was utterly absurd. After all, according to the scriptures, Belial had been sealed away thousands of years ago by the holy sword of Raphael, created by the Great Saint, at the end of the Great War.

So Rias’s words were in complete contradiction to the scripture itself.

“After that war, the Great Saint disappeared without a trace. Isn’t it an unfair story, especially for the Savior?”

But Rias continued, unaffected by her disbelief. Elia began to feel uncomfortable with the growing attention around them.

“That’s blasphemy against the scriptures and the temple. You do know that’s a grave sin, right?”

Seeing the discomfort on Elia’s face, Rias quickly apologized with a friendly smile.

“I’m sorry if it sounded offensive. People are just so interested in rumors, you know?”

“Don’t go around saying such things. It may be common in the North, but it’s a dangerous statement in the Empire.”

Elia’s voice was firm, and Rias responded with a smile.

“Are you worried about me?”

At his ridiculous response, Elia couldn’t help but let out a laugh. From her first impression of him, it seemed like Rias was someone who would leave an impression as a rather unusual person.

Rias watched her laugh with a curious look in his eyes.

“I noticed this at the Empress’s tea party as well, but Lady Reiffers, your smile is truly beautiful.”

Rias’s words reminded Elia of the moment when, at the Empress’s tea party, she had urgently held Cyrone’s injured hand as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Was that always the expression she had beside Cyrone? As though taking on his pain, his suffering, his sorrow in his place?

“So, please don’t become anyone’s savior.”

Suddenly, Rias’s words made Elia think of the saint who vanished after imprisoning Belial’s soul following the war.

* * *

Elia, who had returned to the morning of the day she died, fell silent, lost in thought.

Today was the day of the Crown Prince’s coronation ceremony.

That meant… it was the day the rebellion began. Elia wondered if it would have been better to not attend the event at all.

But she couldn’t do that. Now, with Duchess Estine not in the capital, if Elia herself didn’t go, no one from the Reiffers family would attend.

‘Can I really do that?’

Elia closed her eyes in silence. No matter how resolute she tried to be, she couldn’t bring herself to face another situation like the one that had unfolded before her. She couldn’t bring herself to let Cyrone go, to turn her back on him.

If that was the case, there was only one way. She had to stop the poison arrow that killed her in advance. Frantically searching for paper, Elia quickly began writing to Nielsen.

[Increase the number of elite knights guarding the Imperial Palace today, when His Highness receives the crown of the Crown Prince, ensure the surroundings are cleared, place advanced troops at the venue where the imperial family of the vassal kingdoms will attend, and for any potential emergencies, make sure the physicians are on standby behind the scenes.]

And never leave His Highness’s side…

Elia pressed each word firmly with determination and sealed the letter with wax. She attached the gold seal of the Reiffers family to the letter and handed it over to Susan to send.

“Make sure Nielsen sees this first. The gold seal must go with it.”

As long as the gold seal was attached, Nielsen would receive her letter within two hours at the latest. The coronation ceremony would take place exactly eight hours from now, and there would be enough time to replenish the troops and detect any suspicious movements.

‘Please, he can’t ignore it.’

But Elia’s greatest fear was that Nielsen would dismiss her letter as nothing more than empty words. That was why she had given the gold seal of the Reiffers family, but even with that, her heart wasn’t at ease.

The sky was already brightening. She had to return to the place where she died, the day she had died horribly in front of the person she loved.

But more than anything, what terrified her the most was that, in the final moments before her death, her heart-wrenching vow would be forgotten, and her instincts would drive her to save Cyrone once again.

And once again, she would be left staring at the cold back of the one she loved as she died. That was her greatest fear.

“I can’t protect you anymore, Your Highness. No, I won’t protect you.”

As the rising sun met her gaze, Elia silently closed her eyes again. The moment the arrow flew toward Cyrone’s heart, she would turn her back on him.

* * *

Elia stared quietly at her reflection in the mirror. When had she last truly looked at herself?

Her once-beautiful red hair had lost its color, tainted by jealousy, and her clear eyes had turned empty and hollow. The Elia who had come back to life after death looked unfamiliar to herself.

“You’ve been through so much, Elia.”

She sighed, cupping her face in her hands. She felt pity for the version of herself who had grown weary of the burden of love.

Time had reversed, taking her back to that first day, but her memories were vivid. She would rather turn back time to that day ten years ago.