<strong>Continue the first timeline,</strong>


    "Here we are, mdy!!" prince Philip took Marte''s hands showing the ce he wanted to show her because he trusted her.


    After many hours of traveling, she finally reached it, the ce where Richard didn''t know.


    "Boss~you''re back." everyone began swarming in and those little kids ran to hug Philip''s leg, Marte giggled at the prince who was adored by all the kids while she was the unapproachable one. She looked in amazed at how beautiful the ce was.


    Who would expect a vige would be built inside such a creepy forest at the south, was what she was thinking.


    Even under the moon of winter, many men with spears and swords were training hard under the snow while some of the women were making the hot soup outside their huts.


    "Is this your hidden camp??" she sat on the chair those lovable kids gave to her asking Philip.


    He nodded crossing his arms looking proud then a sad look appeared on his face as he turned to Marte telling her the truth.


    "I only reduced them to be my army to take down Richard at first, but...seeing them happy like that...I just couldn''t."


    Marte didn''t understand as she wasn''t the type of person to get attached to someone. She never received such a thing as pure love even from her family.


    She frowned looking at the kids helping their mother make soup for their father.


    "Why do you help me?" prince Philip was confused hearing her asking that.


    "Whatttt do you mean?? I--I--didn''t..." he was shuttering.


    "You''re such a pity liar, you already saved me two times. The bread guys in the prison and the one who moved the bridge closer to me was you, wasn''t it??"


    "Ahaha...no way...no way, how can I be such awesome and cool like that??" if every time he lied, his inch would grow long, Marte wouldn''t re at his pity lies like that.


    "You know, I''m scared about all these things. Richard wasn''t someone who we could win against easily. And I''m not going to say something like we''re going to be fine because we''re together either." Marte sighed and leaned on the chair holding her legs as she looked at the Christmas tree in the middle of the vige.


    "Then..." prince Philip smiled genuinely wrapping the red scarf knitted by a person none other than him around her cold small neck and using his light magic to warm her lonely and cold hands.


    "What''re you doing?"


    "Let''s make a promise."


    "A promise?"


    "Yes!! A promise!! You and me!!"


    She snickered and ate the chocte bar taken out of her pocket hearing such nonsense as a promise.


    "No matter what happens, promise me you won''t die before me...promise?" he raised his little finger before Marte.


    "I won''t die that easily." said the one whose body was fragile as a feather.


    "Well??" she also raised her little finger and then put it with Philip''s finger to make a promise to the stubborn guy.


    ''A promise is a stupid thing.''


    She took back her finger and hugged herself since it was sofy for her at that moment sitting in front of the firepit looking at people enjoying Christmas.


    "What''s your dream,dy Marte?"


    "You can call me Marte."


    "Really?? Then call me Philip."


    "Alright, Philip." Philip when hearing her calling his name informal like that, he turned his head to the other side quickly to calm himself.


    Marte noticed the redness of his cheek when he turned back staring at her, she blinked her eyes to confirm whether it was the light of the fire shining on his cheek or the prince blushing.


    "Tell me your dream first."


    "I want to be a writer!!"


    "Huh?? A writer???" hearing such an unexpected answer from the first prince was shocking for her, no wonder Philip didn''t have the right to get the throne.


    Even after Marte asked him again, he nodded his head constantly and muttered to her, "I want to write a love story."


    "Okay..." she almostughed out loud hearing the royal caring about something as love, even prince Richard used Diana to get the power of the duchy stealing the military.


    "What about yours?"


    "I don''t have a dream."


    "There''s no way. You just have to think hard of what you really want."


    "...I guess...I want to be free."


    "You mean you want freedom??" the prince tilted his head in a cute way.


    "It''s just a ridiculous dream. Don''t mind it--" she stopped her sentence midway as she tried to suppress the pain in her body.


    It became better when the duke died, but she started to feel pain again. She was afraid Philip would see her weak like that. Luckily Philip was excited when seeing the shooting star in the sky.


    "They say your wish wille true if you wish when you see the shooting star." he closed his eyes and wished while Marte''s heart was beating loud when staring at his adorable face.


    "So what did you wish??"


    "Er...you say your wish first."


    "...I wish that I could be strong, not a coward, if I was strong from the start, I won''t wait this long to save you..." he was already strong...for Marte.


    "We never met before though, why are you saying it like you have to save me?"


    "Who knows...now, it''s your turn."


    "Ah..." she was silent for a moment trying to answer since she didn''t even get to wish.


    "I wish to go back in time."


    "Really!?"


    She nodded and said, "If I ever came back in time, I wille to you first that time."


    It wasn''t just a wish at that time, she was already doing that. But for Philip''s n to seed, she won''t reveal the truth to him until her death.


    She never intended to be a duchess, she only told Philip that to cover her real purpose. Her real purpose was for him to be the emperor, and once he did, she will die in peace.


    The spell of carving memory on the soul was her trump card, if something goes wrong, she will bring Philip back in time with her.


    After that night of their first official meeting, they began to sort out the n and gathered allies. Marte also introduced all of her allies to Philip since it wasn''t necessary to hide it from Philip.


    "This is Cooper, Moana, and Robert. They are my allies."


    "Nice to meet you." Prince Philip shook hands with the three of them in a polite manner.


    "We will help you under ourdy''s order, your highness."


    "Thank you, you will be a huge help for us." Prince Philip treated them nicely in the vige he built for all the people he rescued.


    All the people weed them into the vige, while Marte escaped from the crowd to theke to vomit blood out.


    Herplexion also looked worse but it will be alright since the n to kill Richard was approaching.


    Her ally, Moana noticed her and came to her. She wasn''t much surprised seeing blooding out of Marte''s mouth.


    "You shouldn''t have used that magic on us." the other two soon arrived there and thenined their thought of Marte''s recklessness to her.


    "What if we win the battle??? What''s the use of your memory magic?? We won''t need the memory in our next life if we win."


    "No. You''re all my trump card, it''s gonna be alright. This...this is just the side effect of the death roses magic. Don''t worry."


    "You''re lying again!!!" Cooper grabbed Marte''s shoulder angrily gritting his teeth.


    "You''re lying to us!! You even lied to yourself!!!" Robert yelled at her as he was unable to suppress his inner feeling any longer.


    "You guys are worrying about me too much. Robert, you''re a priest...so you should go back to the church soon."


    "You can''t die on us, master!!" Robert clenched his hands and went through the secret entrance to fulfill his duty at the church.


    Seeing him leaving, Marte walked toward her reaming two allies holding both their hands and murmured to them in a heartwarming tone, "After everything ends, you guys should marry. I really want to be at your wedding."


    "Why''re you saying like a person who will die tomorrow??!!"


    "Master..." Moana cried on Marte''s shoulder, to think the person who saved her was going to die easily like that was heartbreaking for her since she couldn''t do anything to help.


    "I only carved a piece each on your soul, you will know immediately if you''re in the second timeline that you''re my allies. But you won''t be able to remember anything else from this timeline...since I couldn''t..."


    Marte couldn''t use the ultimate spell of memory on them since she knew the conditions, she couldn''t let them die for the condition. So she chooses the second option by only carving one memory on their soul by sacrificing half of her life force by doing three of them.


    The day of the ultimate battle starteding near, the n was all sorted out too. Marte was on the cklist of the empire for rebelling against Richard, so was Philip.


    The perfect chance to strike on the day of Richard''s wedding with Diana.


    Everything went so smooth even putting the magic trap inside the church went well. Marte kept getting the ominous feeling that she couldn''t shake off as the burden on her shoulder started to get heavier.


    Then the day came when the death of the emperor came...


    "No, Philip!!!! You can''t!!!!! You can''t go to your father!!!!" Marte ran to hug Philip from behind to stop him from going to the empire.


    If he ever goes there, what awaited him was his death, and seeing Philip''s corpse was her worst nightmare at that time even Marte couldn''t exin the terrible pain in her heart when she didn''t want him to die.


    That was when she realized, she wanted to change the promise, if she ever to die, she didn''t want to see him die before her.


    "My father...Marte...that bastard killed my father." Philip and Marte knew who was behind the emperor''s death. But it wasn''t their perfect chance to strike yet.


    Richard held the funeral in the middle of the capital where the security was incredibly hard to break through. And what made it worse was the hidden underground under the square where Richard imnt all his imperial army.


    "Philip...please don''t go...you''re our leader!!! Losing you meant our defeat." he turned back and hugged Marte crying heavingly on her shoulder.


    She knew how it felt to lose a family member, butpared to her who never received any love, Philip had it worse. His father the emperor loved him, and Philip couldn''t see his father''s face for thest time.


    He finally settle down after many hours, when he was sleeping with his puffy eyes on Marte''sp, Marte was holding her pain to vomit blood the whole time.


    It started to be unbearable for her.


    But that wasn''t the worst of it, an intruder had already broken into the hidden vige inside the forest.


    "So this is where Marte was during the time she was missing???" a dagger on Cooper''s throat as he was leading the ck-haired man through the hidden entrance


    "Please..mander Victor...please spare me..."


    "We''ll see."


    If it was Cooper''s life alone, he wouldn''t make such a betrayal to Marte but it was for the child who was in his lover''s womb.


    ''Moana...I''m sorry...''


    <strong>To be continued....!</strong>