Next, Cita joined the group hug. “Hey, share some love with me too.”
The three boys stood behind us with sheepish expressions.
Oh, that’s right. Celette brought them up ever so kindly during her delusional monologue.
I took a deep breath and looked at the boys. “Listen. The previous Alexandra and I are the same and yet different. The past timelines don’t matter to me as Ally. Like I said, I forgive you all. None of you had any choice in the matter. Plus, I gave all of you the thrashing of a lifetime.”
The boys smiled awkwardly when I winked at them.
“Yeah,” Oreste said, managing a proper grin. “No matter what, you’ll always be Ally to us.”
Rosario sighed softly. “I agree.”
“All right then,” Lauris said in a somewhat resigned tone. “Let’s hug it out.”
With that, the boys joined our group hug.
“I’m suffocating,” Cita complained.
Cia laughed. “And I’m dying of heat.”
“Hold up,” I said. “Who’s tickling me?”
As everyone laughed at my quip, we all hugged each other even tighter.
However, a chill ran down my spine in the midst of this lively conversation. Everyone else seemed to feel it too. Thus, we broke apart to look for the source of our anxiety. Before long, we found Embert glaring at us.
“Is hug time over?” he asked, his face tense. “If so, could you please give Ally back to me?”
Everyone nodded and nudged me over to Embert. I had no choice but to smile. For his part, Embert wrapped his arms around me without saying a word. He squeezed me so hard that I struggled to breathe.
“I understand that it’s perfectly normal for friends to hug,” he said. “Even so, I can’t suppress my jealousy. Forgive me, but I can be quite petty at times.”
“Well, at least he’s honest,” Lauris mumbled with a look of exasperation.
“It’s kind of surprising though,” Cita chimed in. “Prince Embert always struck me as the sort of person with no interest in romance.”
“Like they say, love is blind,” Cia replied.
As my friends gossiped about us openly, I noticed something. Everyone else had left the classroom. That included Mary, Janus, and the other students.
“Where did everyone go?” I asked.
“Jan and Severin returned to the castle with the knights,” Embert responded. “Mary returned to your dorm room, and the students were allowed to go home for the day. Tomorrow, the castle doctor will examine them for after-effects of bewitchment. Oh, and Custode returned to the volcano for the time being. I’ve asked him to teleport directly to the castle courtyard from now on.”
“Oh, I see. Thanks, I suppose?”
“Um… May we go back to our dorms now?” Lauris asked.
Perhaps he was being considerate of me and Embert, but frankly, I didn’t want to be left alone right now. Regardless, Embert allowed them to go.
“Well then, everyone, take care on your way back,” he said.
Lauris then led everyone out of the classroom.
Uh, seriously? Am I being abandoned while trapped in Embert’s arms?
The quiet classroom felt unduly large.
“Um… Em,” I said. “All this empty space is making me feel uneasy. Could we go somewhere more relaxed?”
“Understood,” Embert replied, nodding in agreement. When he snapped his fingers, a magic circle appeared beneath his feet. A moment later, we were sitting on the sofa in his school office. For some reason, I was situated on Embert’s lap.
“Um… Em?” I asked as he remained motionless.
“Ally,” he responded. “Do you dislike men as petty as me?”
He’s still worried about that?
“Not exactly,” I said. “I told you before, right? I wouldn’t leave your side even if you told me to.”
Embert’s usual smile returned to his face. “Thank you, Ally.” Once again, he squeezed me in his arms. “I’ve been waiting to see you again for so, so long.”
“Come again?” I asked, completely baffled by this statement.
“I first met you on the day you swapped places with the real Alexandra.”
“Back when I beat everyone to a pulp?”
Embert nodded. “That’s right. When Oreste grabbed your arm, you glared at him defiantly rather than back down.”
At that moment, he’d given me an excuse to strike back, after all.
“I considered intervening to help,” Embert said. “However, the very person I was trying to save stopped me. What’s more, you treated me like a total stranger.”
Well, you were a total stranger to me.
“At that moment, I knew you were someone other than Alexandra,” Embert continued. “I thought you might be a Goddess who’d assumed Alexandra’s form to deliver the hammer of justice.”
Is this guy for real? That makes me sound super cringe.
“I fell in love with her at first sight,” Embert said, staring at me while continuing to embrace me. “The woman who looked like Alexandra but was someone different on the inside. That woman stole my heart. You were so beautiful and magnificent as you dispensed justice on everyone. Yet when everything ended, the world collapsed around me. At that moment, I prayed to the Goddess, ‘Let me meet this woman in my next life. And if possible, let me be the one to capture her heart.’” Here, Embert brushed my hair back and kissed me on the forehead. “At long last, we were finally able to meet again.”
Embert’s emerald-green eyes sparkled throughout this monologue.
Still, he fell in love with me at first sight as I was beating everyone up? It’s okay if I cringe a little, right? Far be it from me to say this, but that’s kind of strange, don’t you think?
I forced myself to keep my face from twitching. Meanwhile, Embert continued speaking, paying my expression no heed.
“Almost immediately, I realized that we were repeating the same life. However, I seemed to be the only one aware of this peculiarity. ‘This must be a pretext for me to meet the other version of Alexandra,’ I thought. When you stopped the magic horse, I instantly knew that you were her. Furthermore, Lauris hadn’t yet fallen in love with you. I was so grateful that my prayer had reached the Goddess.”
Whoa, he’s smiling like crazy. Was he really that happy?
“That’s why I worried for your safety when Celette tried to bewitch everyone but you,” Embert said. “At that time, I vowed in my heart to protect you with all my strength.”
Once again, he sounded one step away from a stalker. Even so, his love for me was genuine, and he sincerely wanted to protect me.
I gazed into Embert’s eyes, my stiff smile transforming into a natural one. “Thank you, Em.”
“You’re truly welcome. How wonderful that we met again and made it through this year alive.” When Embert squeezed me against his chest again, I wrapped my arms around his back. “Lady Celette will probably face execution,” he continued. “Bewitchment is forbidden magic. Moreover, she tried to cast it on me, Lauris, and even Princess Julietta. All of us are royalty. This is inexcusable under any circumstances.”
After Celette’s attempts to manipulate royalty, what other outcome could there be? The kingdom couldn’t forgive such a serious crime. In any case, Embert and I settled into silence while embracing each other. Eventually, he broke the silence with a question.
“Would you mind telling me about your past life?”
“You’re curious about that?” I responded.
Embert released his embrace and cupped my hands in his. “Indeed. I want to know everything about you.”
I had to suppress a laugh. Stalker, much? That aside, I strained to recall my past life, which had become slightly distant as of late.
“I was a normal student with black hair and dark brown eyes,” I said. “Actually, normal might be the wrong word. My father was the CEO of a large corporation. Wait, that probably doesn’t make any sense to you, huh? Basically, he employed a lot of people. Inevitably, I became the target of kidnappers and other bad actors. In order to protect myself, I began learning martial arts with my older brothers.”
“I see,” Embert replied. “That’s why you were so strong.”
“Heh, I guess so. Anyway, I was hit by a speeding car while coming home from a martial arts lesson. Oh, a car is similar to a carriage, but it’s not pulled by a horse. It uses something called an engine to move instead of magic. Long story short, this car came barreling towards us pedestrians. Completely on instinct, I pushed a parent and child out of the way. As a result, the car ran me over.”
As I reminisced about my past life, my chest tightened slightly. Was this homesickness?
“After dying, I met the Goddess, and she showed me this world,” I continued. “Watching Alexandra being accused of a false crime without defense filled me with frustration and anger. I felt so sorry for her. And so, I took her place.”
“Thank you for sharing your story,” Embert said while embracing me from behind. “I’m so glad I met you.”
“Me too,” I answered with a laugh. “I won’t see my family in my former world ever again, but I love my family here just as much. Plus, I’m happy to have made so many close friends in this world, and using magic is a blast.” Here, I stared into Embert’s eyes. “And last but not least, I found the love of my life.”
When I finished speaking these words with a smile, Embert showered me with kisses. All the while, I continued speaking.
“When I think about Alexandra’s soul living joyfully in another world, I know I have to be happy too.”
As I laughed, Embert stopped kissing me and embraced me again.
“I’ll make you happy,” he said, his emerald-green eyes glittering like stars. “I swear on the name of the Goddess who granted you divine protection. So, Ally, will you marry me?”
“Of course,” I replied with a gentle smile. “I’ll make you happy too, Em.”
This time, he kissed me ever so softly.
I’m sure you’ve found happiness in some distant world, Alexandra. Just so you know, I’m very happy too.
I spoke these words inwardly as Embert continued to kiss me.