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Epilogue

“By the way, do you remember anything before the time you’ve reincarnated?” I ask Heelia as we sit down at a popular cafe in the city.

It’s been four years since the day we first met and we’ve been exhausted plucking flags off Heelia’s bad end. It seems like the world is hellbent on getting her expelled from society.

Not to mention the annoying flies that Iven tends to attract. I always thought that a man would be happy being the center of women’s affections. But I don’t really care for it that much. It’s mostly a bother especially when I already have Heelia.

We were able to take a break from the disastrous events during the hiatus periods of updates. Which usually pause for a few days and serve as time for the heroine to do tasks to rank up charm points.

She flings her red hair across her shoulder, playing the the top of it.

“Not really, since it happened so suddenly and was a pretty long time ago. I don’t remember much from my past world surprisingly. It’s like they deleted some memories to make room for new ones when we crossed over.” She said as she scratched at her hair. Looks like the dye is itchy, but that’s the only way we can go out and about together now that the game has started. “Perhaps the impact of keeping all our memories would put too great a strain on us.”

“Hmm” I nod. “Sound deduction.” I answer, reaching across the small table to mess with her hair a bit. I rub her hair just enough to receive a look of annoyance on her face.

I grin, “Oh don’t be mad, I just used a bit of magic to relieve you of the itchiness.” I wink at her, but am only met with a playful glare.

“Well now I look like an unruly goose that has its feathers ruffled up too much!”

“Hmm. Then shall we make you a swan then?” I ask with a smirk, flicking my finger into a swirl.

Little bits of dust-like particles surround Heelia’s hair and weave her hair into a bun.

“Ah, it’s more comfortable now.” She compliments, touching her hair a bit. She stretches her hands ad her face dazes into a comfortable....lump? It’s always interesting to watch her reactions.

Ever since she discovered that I can use magic to do her hair, she has been ordering me to practice it for when she needs to perform at parties. She’s become quite the young noble’s daughter. And plays her part well.

I remember she was against becoming a noble years ago, but she finally took my advice and made the ‘character’ her own. And she does pretty well now, even on her own.

I sigh when I think about it, but she said this really cute line the first time she had to confront the heroine.

Something alone the lines of... “There’s no way I could have done this without you. You know me... me. You are my confidence, my pillar. For that, I’m glad that I’ve met you, Ive. I don’t feel alone anymore... hehe”

Ah... she was so cute and timid at those moments.

I look at her through my hand and she lazily scoops up this giant, not lady-like bite of parfait. She insists because that she doesn’t have to keep the act up since I’m around. But it would still be nice if I can see her sweet lady side.

I laugh to myself... although, this part of her isn’t too bad either.

I reach over to her mouth and swipe some of the cream off of her face. “My lady sure is messy when she eats.”

Heelia blushes to my comment and steals a bite out of my icecream. Little devil.

But she doesn’t stop there. She reaches over the table and touches my dyed blonde hair, twirling it with her own finger.

She can’t use magic that well, it’s mostly only the basics, but perfect for bullying the main character with petty tricks. Instead she uses it to be lazy and cut work in half. Like taking out the garbage or sorting through papers.

“Blonde’s not bad on you.” She mutters.

Ahh, so close. Too close. She has no self-awareness on how tempting she can be.

“I prefer my own black hair thank you very much.” I reply, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards me.

She still hasn’t gotten used to my domineering personality and doing what I want spontaneously.

It’s probably not a good trait for a ruler, but my self control is enough when I’m in the palace. However I lose it when it comes to her and her lack of guard.

Her blush spreads from her rapid pulsing hand to her ear. Ah, you really haven’t changed.

I place a kiss on her cheek, teasingly as she braces for a kiss.

“Expecting something different are we?”

She turns away from me, pouting. “No way.” And scoops up a strawberry into her mouth.

I chuckle. It’s too easy to tease her.

We aren’t a true couple, but we are still engaged. Sadly I feel like I haven’t made much progress...Ah my poor heart. She can be so difficult sometimes. Although while I say that, our hearts are still closely tied to one another.

Perhaps part of it is because we are both reincarnators, but I know for certain that at least some of my hard work has paid off. I’ve truly learned to love her as a person. And I don’t regret not meeting with the true Heelia as well.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

But... now that I think about it... we kiss, yet we still aren’t a couple. That’s a bit weird, but as long as she doesn’t mind it I guess it’s fine...

I think we are both just waiting for the right time to truly come out together. After all of this craziness comes to an end.

“Oh...” she says, a gentle smile blooming across her face.

“Something the matter?”

She swirled her foot around on the floor in circles, another thing that hasn’t changed.

“My name. It kinda funny even.”

“That’s amazing that you’ve managed to remember you name. Can I ask what it is?”

“It was Lia. Not far from Heelia’s childhood nickname of Lilee.”

Now that I think about it, she always hated that childhood nickname. Even I couldn’t use it or else I’d suffer true wrath from her.

After being together for so long she finally discovered my weakness.

Cookies.

And she just so happened to come from a dukedom which is famous for their patisseries. Something she herself established after meeting with some amazing baker.

Holding my weakness above me like a noose, she knew how to control my every move if she wanted.

I don’t even know where my obsession with cookies began though, I think it was because someone-

“AH!!” I yelled, having a eureka moment.

It practically made Heelia spill her tea in surprise, but I jumped out of my chair and scooped her up into my arms.

I was not the crown prince here, so I could do what I wanted. Besides, there wasn’t a crowd as this was a private section of the cafe.

“W-what??”

“I remembered something too.”

I wasted no time to hear her questions of confusion.

“We knew each other in our past lives. Maybe that’s why we also both came here too.”

Before I had died, I was on the verge of starvation after being kicked out on the streets from a bar. But then a lady passed by me as she was sweeping the outside of a convenience store and offered me cookies to help me get through the night. I remember that her name-tag was Lia!!”

Despite my normally calm demeanor, I was ecstatic at remembering something.

We’ve both brought up the past a bunch of times and Heelia always seemed to have a look of regret whenever we talked about it.

Maybe this would make her happy?

Or at least that was my hope.

And she did look slightly happy to hear it, but I expected more of a reaction.

“That’s quite interesting that we were both able to remember something of our past lives by doing things that would trigger those emotions.” She said calmly. Although she had a smile for me, it didn’t reach the genuine one I usually receive.

And I could tell something wasn’t right.

“Aren’t you happy? Weren’t you yearning for memories of your past?”

Heelia shakes her head. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t. But I never really felt the need to anymore.”

She looks at me and I can understand why.

She stopped needing the last to cope, is her answer.

I feel a slight blush against my neck. Maybe it’s because my emotions were already rattled that the other ones rose so quickly.

“You don’t know how happy I am to hear that.” I cover my face with my hand to try and hide the dumb-happy look I’m making. So uncool.

“Ive, I can tell very well right now.” She said, kissing the back of my hand. I moved it and brought her face to mine. Holding her to me. She was warm.

Ah, this girl...

I’ve lost long ago haven’t I?

“Oh. By the way, now that you mention it, I do remember trying to do a trick shot into the piles of garbage. I was trying to throw some stale cookies into one of the open bins, but it bounced off one of the lids and hit another trash bag... and...Now that I think about it, that trash bag looked a lot like it had the form of a human body in it. And because I thought it was a thrown away corpse I ran away from it in fear. Then got ran over by a truck...” She squinted her eyes trying to remember.

“Eh...?”

...

I let her go and paused for a moment.

Putting my hand to my chin to think, matching her expression.

Ahem.

“SO WHAT YOU THREW AT ME WAS STALE COOKIES AND THATS WHERE MY LOVE CAME FROM?!” I yell at her.

“SO YOU WERE THE REASON I RAN INTO A TRUCK?!” She yelled back.

“WHY DID THEY HAVE TO BE STALE?! AND WHY DID YOU THROW THEM?! THATS LITTERING!!” I threw my arms out in protest.

She merely rolled her eyes, “WELL WHY WERE YOU THERE SITTING ON PILES OF TRASH?! THATS LOITERING.”

I crossed my arms. “I WAS DRUNK AND LOST AND HUNGRY JEEZ. AND I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY SAVIOR WHO DESCENDED FROM HEAVEN!! SOME SAVIOR.”

She scoffs, letting her inner battle noble come out, “YOU SCARED ME INTO BEING RUN OVER BY A BLOODY TRUCK, YOU DAMN DRUNK.”

I rub my head remembering the past, “AND THEN I DIED WHEN THE TRUCK TRIED SWERVING TO GET AWAY AND HIT ME AGAINST THE WALL OF TRASH.” I shot back.

“Heh, you died in trash.” She burst out laughing evilly, pointing her finger at me.

“You died a convenience store clerk.” I retorted.

“HMPH.” We both groaned, turning our backs to each other.

But just as quickly we sighed. I leaned against her back and I could feel her breathe into mine.

“It seems like we’ve been connected from the start Ive.” I can feel a slight laugh reverberate through her body and pass into mine.

“Seems that way.” I partially grin. If we were linked that far back then how can I not be happy about that? I’m grateful, even if we had to get through great strides to stay to this point. And some dumb ones.

Almost as if on cue, Heelia reads my mind. Speaking my thoughts aloud. “We both had such anticlimactic deaths too, didn’t we?” She murmured. The buzz of her voice tickled a bit, but it was still pleasant even after all that yelling.

“Hah, tell me about it.” I groan, shaking my head.

“Promise to never seek out the past again?” She asked turning to me.

I turned to her and was met with a pinky swear. I grinned. A childish thing to do for two childish reincarnators who died stupid deaths.

“Yea, sure. Besides, we don’t need it anyway, do we Lia?”

She cocked her head to the side, confused at my contradiction.

“With this you can truly move on. But keeping your old name will prove that you are still you no matter where you are.” I said, locking my pinky around hers. “You don’t need anything else.”

She laughs. “Yes, I suppose so.” She locks her pinky and lightly squeezes it against mine.

It’s not bad to move on from your past, but that doesn’t mean you have to abandon everything to move foreword. After all, we are already constructed from what we have been in the past. So we never truly loose it either way.

I leave a kiss on her lips to ‘seal the ceremony of promises’, but mostly just because I wanted to kiss her one more time.

“HEYY~~ I HEARD THAT PRINCE IVEY VISITS THIS CAFE, IS HE HERE TODAY??” A voice yells way too loud inside the building.

So much for a delicate inside-voice. You’re not supposed to be that loud when in an establishment, I swear she knows no manners.

“Oh dear, looks like another event is starting.” I groan, checking my watch. Damn, we only had a few hours too. Work slower game devs.

“Hmph. So unladylike she can be. I can’t understand why the other capture targets adore her. Even I barely did while I did my play-throughs.”

“I agree,” I say crossing my arms. “I can’t understand it at all. After all, the only one I’ve had my eyes on for a long time has been you, Lia.”

“Nng... that name going to take some getting used to...” she sighs as her cheeks redden slightly.

I bow, and extend my hand to hers. “Now shall we take to the stage my dearest lady Lia?”

She laughs lightly, “Of course. Anyone who dares to aim for my rightfully deserved betrothed shall be removed immediately. And I will show no mercy.” A devilish grin crosses her face as she takes my hand.

“My, how fierce.” I smirk.

“I have to be to match such an escort as you, Ive.” She matches me, too well maybe.

“To the flags?”

“And to the destruction.”

“Ivellee Ivelleh” we cheer victoriously. The battle-cry of the evildoers. A toast to the greatest partners in crime