At this point, Luke and Amelia should have had no communication with each other. Accordingly, he shouldn’t know about the time loops or the orison stones. Which means…
Her eyes widened as she exclaimed, “Luke, you came back to the past, too?!”
Luke affectionately picked up her hand, and his eyes softened fondly. “I certainly did—I returned to the start of the timeline with you. I’m the Luke Klein who witnessed Amelia, the strawberry vendor.” Reverently, he pressed his lips against the back of her hand.
Shyness, elation, and confusion blended into one chaotic mix that threatened to explode her brain. “B-But how?”
Prisca and Amelia had been the only ones who’d kept their memories after the timeline resets, not to mention that there had been plenty of other people in the vicinity when Prisca had turned back time.
“I think I know what I have to thank,” Luke said as he pulled up a necklace from his collar. Attached at the very end was a jewel. Pastel red inclusions glimmered within the translucent crystal.
Amelia’s eyes widened. “Is that a strawberry quartz?”
“Yep. It’s your orison stone, Amelia. I’m here because I had this—I’m here because I wished to never be torn apart from you. I’m certain that’s what helped me leap back in time with you.”
Since the fifth consort’s orison stone had powered the time loops, it would make sense that Amelia’s orison stone had a similar ability. On top of that, Luke had wished to never let Amelia go, meaning that it was only natural that it would heed his will and help him out.
One question popped up in Amelia’s mind. “Wait, didn’t you hand it in to the king?”
“There were two orison stones. The second one was the stone I presented to His Majesty. This is the first orison stone you created, Amelia. Remember when you chose to trust me and declared that you’d make a stand together with me?”
Oh, right. That rang a bell. Now that he mentioned it, she had created two orison stones. She’d given both to Luke, and their existence had faded from her mind.
Luke smiled. “You were right, Amelia. You can do anything as long as you have strawberries.” Holding the strawberry quartz between his fingers, Luke lifted it up against the sky. Under the evening glow, the crystal gleamed a dark crimson. “Thanks to this strawberry, I avoided the bitter fate of being separated. From what we know, the fifth princess can’t produce orison stones, and the single orison stone that she knows exists at this point has been destroyed. She no longer has the power to drive a wedge between our relationship with her time loops.”
Since Prisca was a fellow princess and a heroine, she might truly have the aptitude to become a Saint. However, Luke was likely right that the younger girl couldn’t bring forth orison stones. Otherwise, a girl who’d been brimming with confidence and constantly looked down upon Amelia wouldn’t have resorted to making the target of her belittlement produce them by force.
“Currently, no one knows you’re a Saint,” Luke whispered. “We might announce it publicly one day, but let’s save that for after we get married and move into the same home. That way, even the fifth princess would struggle to make any moves on us.”
“G-Get married?” Amelia squawked.
It was true that becoming a member of House Klein and moving there would make it infinitely more difficult for the fourth consort and Prisca to pull off anything unsavory.
Prisca likely didn’t know whether Amelia’s orison stones had the power to turn back time, and Amelia doubted the younger princess would go as far as to steal the orison stones under the church’s management in order to test her luck. After all, in the worst-case scenario, she’d be condemned as a heinous criminal who’d pilfered one of the cornerstones of the kingdom’s defenses—even her status as a princess wouldn’t spare her from severe punishment.
Luke’s devilish smile broadened. “That, and we should also take back everything they’ve snatched away during these past four years. Even if we can’t reclaim the physical articles, we can publicize their embezzlement, and that news would reach the king. We’ve learned your confinement wasn’t under his instructions, and if we take my interaction with him before the timeline reset into account, he should deal them a fitting punishment.”
Amelia frowned. “But are you going to restart your investigation from scratch?”
She had no plans of forgiving and forgetting, but it wasn’t like she had a burning hatred for the pair either. As long as Luke and Helt were safe and that mother and daughter stayed out of her life from now on, it was more than enough.
“I already collected most of the necessary evidence from that audience, and I prepared documents to deliver to the king in the form of a report. Don’t worry—I’ve got it all memorized, so I can take care of them at once.”
Amelia’s eyes widened. “You memorized everything? But this has been going on for four entire years, hasn’t it?”
He spoke of it casually as if it were a trivial matter, but memorizing the contents of finished documents was already a rather impressive feat, or so Amelia thought.
Luke nodded. “Yeah, it has. This has been going on for four years—for the four years that I should have spent with you by all rights, and for the four years that you should have lived in comfort without struggling to procure the necessities of life.” He narrowed his eyes. “Some debts, like theirs, ought to be paid in full.”
His radiant smile was enchanting. But was it Amelia’s imagination, or was he a little scary?
“Not to mention that if we don’t give them a memorable warning, people like them tend to repeat the same atrocious mistakes,” he stressed. “Driving our point home just a tad harshly and menacingly is the exact lesson they need.”
I get where he’s coming from, but how do I put this…? Amelia had a hunch that the degree of “just a tad” far exceeded what she imagined. That said, he was up against a king’s consort and a princess, so he had his work cut out for him.
Moving on from that unsettling topic, she asked, “By the way, where did this dress come from?”
If Luke had leaped through time with her, it should have been impossible to arrange these attending servants and this dress within such a brief frame of time. It was evidently new—it didn’t seem like second-hand clothes from someone else. So how in the world did he even prepare it?
“Even before the timeline reset, I originally tailored a dress for you for this occasion, Amelia,” Luke answered.
“You did?”
“The fourth consort reported to me that you almost certainly wouldn’t be able to attend because of your sickly constitution and that a dress is unnecessary. But I couldn’t bring myself to give up, and after arranging an outfit for you, I went to the Fifth Palace to fetch you.” He smiled wryly. “Unfortunately, I was turned away at the gates.”
“I…I never knew.”
Since their betrothal, Luke had been colder than subzero—for the longest time, she’d assumed that he held no interest in her. Now she knew that it had been a misunderstanding based on misleading circumstances, but she could never have imagined that behind the scenes, he’d gone so far for her.
“Remember what I said, Amelia? I’ve loved you for the longest time.”
His bright and warm smile filled her chest to the brim with joy. It started to feel suffocating. Without thinking, she lifted her hand to press it against her chest, but she noticed that a single strawberry had manifested on her palm at some point.
“We’ve narrowly missed each other for four years—for seven years from your perspective—due to outside interference.” Luke pressed his lips into a tight line. “It wasn’t a short time in the least, but we can do things over from here. Together.” Picking up the strawberry from Amelia’s hand, Luke plopped it into his mouth before grinning. “This is our second chance. Let’s reclaim our time together, starting with this ball.”
Amelia vehemently nodded. “I would love nothing more!”
Luke gingerly picked up Amelia’s hand before getting down on one knee. “I, Luke Klein, will dedicate my love until the day I breathe my last to Amelia Glaisharle.” His breathtaking golden eyes gazed squarely into hers—and if it wasn’t Amelia’s imagination, they were somewhat misty.
She gazed back. “Are you…crying?”
“I’m not.”
As she watched him rub at his eyes with his free hand, a smile wormed onto Amelia’s lips. She wasn’t the only one who’d endured years of devastating loneliness—Luke had too. Now, at long last, they would be rewarded for their hardships.
After a lengthy exhale, Luke asked, “Will you marry me?”
“Gladly!”
No sooner had she given her answer than Amelia threw her arms around Luke as passionately as she could. She could have a future by the side of the person she’d been hopelessly in love with for years on end. She was overwhelmed with euphoria. She couldn’t believe this was real. She wanted confirmation—she wanted to know this wasn’t a wishful dream.
Luke caught her in his arms while staggering a little at her vigor, and his fingertips gently glided across her cheek with affection.
Soon, Amelia received her confirmation.
The lovestruck princess’s first kiss tasted like a sweet and sour strawberry.