Outside the door, Vincent—who had been about to smash the doorknob with a hatchet—looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“Go in.”
“Y-you’re returning to your duties?”
“Yes.”
Thank the heavens. Vincent had mentally prepared himself to destroy the door and survive on gruel for days afterward.
“Tsk, tsk. What an unsightly thing…”
Muttering as though scolding the door itself, he gently laid the axe against the corridor wall so the lady wouldn’t be startled, then stepped inside.
“My lady, shall we go?”
“Ah… yes.”
Iris followed Vincent outside.
Yes.
She’d understand Cedric’s strange reaction once she met the knights.
It was nearing noon, so she considered preparing a light meal they could all share—when Vincent suddenly said,
“My lady, you are truly beautiful.”
Eyes slightly widening, Iris gave a graceful smile in response.
“You’re beautiful too, Vincent. That new hanger-chief color suits you very well.”
At first, she had been flustered by how often people in Leontheim called her “beautiful,” but she was starting to get used to it.
It’s just the Leontheim-style greeting.
Looking back, she remembered hearing similar phrases in her previous life as well.
Back then, I thought they were just empty pleasantries.
So she’d responded with cool detachment, brushing them aside. But to think a culture where people exchange such kind words… could be this warm.
A greeting that makes both speaker and listener happy—it was a beautiful custom.
Ha… my lady is wandering off into whimsical thoughts again.
Of course, it was all a misunderstanding. But Vincent didn’t bother correcting her.
He didn’t want to ruin the moment. She was finally blending naturally into Leontheim.
“You always seemed to be carrying a burden on your shoulders.”
“Hmm?”
“You were always so careful with every word, every gesture—unlike our lord.”
“Ah…”
Yes, that was true.
I just didn’t want to cause trouble this time.
She had planned to pass quietly through their lives, to be forgotten easily.
Was I too guarded?
Noticing her expression darken, Vincent shook his head with a gentle smile.
“And that’s why I’m happy now.”
“…Happy?”
“Yes. That you’ve become part of Leontheim, that you no longer seem afraid of us. That alone makes us truly glad.”
Had there ever been people in her life who received her like this—with joy?
Without question, no. Not even her own family had been this happy when she was born.
Especially after Liliana.
The daughter who killed her mother.
A child whose very existence weighed on her already sick mother.
And so Iris’s life had always been drenched in guilt.
She knew—it wasn’t truly her fault.
It wasn’t her fault she didn’t resemble her family,
that her hair color differed from her parents’,
that she had been born at all.
She had never asked for it.
You should be ashamed.
Yet the world had burdened her.
With her mother’s death.
With her father’s guilt.
Not every child is born into love—
And the debts adults refuse to carry often fall on their children.
So everything…
everything became Iris’s burden.
That’s why I couldn’t trust you.
How could they love her—just like that, with no conditions?
Her own family had hated her for reasons so petty and shallow.
“It’s all thanks to you.”
She was only who she was now because of the people who had sacrificed in her past.
She had become strong because their unconditional affection had shaken her disbelief.
“I’ve never had faith in my choices. Every path I took felt like a mistake.”
Even the ones that started with good intentions ended in regret.
Struggling to earn her family’s love, seeking the Valentine name’s approval, submitting to fate, turning away from Cedric’s heart…
All of them—mistakes.
The only thing she had done right was to wield the Divine Sword and reverse time.
Even this moment now…
might be a mistake too.
With slightly trembling hands, she grasped her necklace.
The Divine Sword hidden within it seemed to resonate, humming quietly.
“But you… you’ve changed how I see the world.”
A faint smile bloomed on Iris’s lips.
The people of Leontheim—and Cedric—had colored her world in beauty.
I love you, my lady.
One must love them without conditions, and in return, love them unconditionally oneself.
In this very moment.
Even if it proves a wrong choice, even if wounds follow later, one must be honest with their feelings now.
“Because I am the one who will protect you.”
That is my atonement.
“Thank you.”
Vincent, who had been quietly listening, carefully stopped walking. Iris turned to face him.
He regarded her with that familiar warm gaze.
“My lady, do you sometimes feel the world moves too fast?”
“…I believe so.”
“That’s why people often miss things—the small efforts made for those who move so swiftly.”
The brief warmth before the rain falls, the caretakers who keep the manor spotless.
“But without those small movements, the world would eventually collapse.”
Like a grand mural composed of countless tiny dots and strokes when viewed up close.
“My lady, you are one of those people. Someone who silently strives for others where no one notices.”
At those words, Iris’s eyelids trembled. Her efforts—unseen by anyone, even herself considered them worthless.
Why?
Cedric, Leontheim… Why do they speak of it as if it were something precious?
“To some, your choices may seem foolish. Perhaps you are not a person of grandeur.”
Vincent understood well. The new lady of the house left the most splendid place empty.
She left the accolades to others who deserved them, and chose the unseen, unwanted tasks.
She was a warm soul.
“But at least, my lady, you are the one who shares her blanket with others in the bitter cold of winter.”
So—
“Your choices and efforts are not in vain. Never. At least here, in Leontheim.”
“Was… my choice not wrong?”
“No. So, what you think is not because of us.”
It was simply that your choice was right.
At Vincent’s words, Iris slowly lowered her gaze.
I see.
If that were truly so,
If every path she had walked so far was forged by her own effort and choice, and was indeed the correct path—
I am truly glad.
Even if she were erased from this world of the original story, she felt only joy.