Reborn Regress Return: I Am the Heir of Shadows!

Had he Grieved her loss?

A sense of anger, long forgotten, surfaced from her accusatory tone. 'Of course.' How could he not grieve the loss of his first love? Julian's pupils shrank as the maddening emotions overwhelmed him.

"Are you qualified to ask me that question, Eleanor?"

Julian's dull gaze narrowed, his throat tight and dry, creating a hoarse and powerful voice, causing the hairs on the back of Nora's neck to stand on edge.

His hands slid along her face, brushing her cheeks and lips with his thumb.

"Do you know, how dark and painful life was like before meeting you... my sunlight?"

'I see... my memories were always here, hidden...'

"Julian?"

A stunned gaze reflected in his eyes, beautiful emerald eyes more dazzling than any gemstone he had ever gazed upon. To the shunned prince, this woman was the first person to bring him out of that dark and lonely prison.

Yet, just as fast as she saved him...

Eleanora, as he affectionately called her... vanished forever.

"It's been a long, long time Eleanora."

His voice remained calm, yet the subtle change making his tone more elegant caused her to shudder. Nora's lips shook, overwhelmed by emotion.

"My Prince... it's really you?"

"Who else would be this handsome and still put up with someone like you?"

Despite being a noble lady, Nora's interests made her quite the outcast in high society, the expectation that women should remain quiet, faithful, and follow their husbands or fathers' words.

This sumptuous tomboy enjoyed fighting with swords and training with a moody prince who loved to read tomes in the library and sneak into his bed.

Of course, innocent of any untoward thoughts at the time.

"When did you become so confident? It's strange and bizarre."

Click!

A deep mechanical sound echoed from the opposite direction of the room—Fran was seemingly bored of waiting and started touching things. However, neither Julian nor his former princess commented, still pressing him against the marble shelves with trembling arms.

'This woman always makes me feel this way, irritated and... curious.'

His thumb pressed on her soft lips, crushing them against her teeth. A slight pain jolted through her gums, but Nora's expectant eyes remained locked on his face, filled with silent questions.

"After dying twice."

"!!!"

'Why hide it, to be here now... she must understand my situation to some extent.'

Sena might be his muse, the light of his life in this world. However, Julian wouldn't fool himself into comparing their importance—both women offered a different sense of comfort and stability.

"Julian wh-what do you mean, dying twice?"

"Hm? Perhaps you do not remember the state in which you left me the first time?"

Curiosity and desire churned and combined in his chest, flowing through his body like a cruel and addictive heat. He wanted to know more about this woman and what she faced. Maybe Nora's trials could bring him solace in his suffering.

"I...I remember."

The brilliance of her emerald gemstones faded, dull and without lustre. Memories of her mistake, the moment she realised the prince's heart and lost it simultaneously.

"That day, why did you visit such a dangerous place?"

Julian's regret, a question that waited three lifetimes to be asked... finally, the moment it left his lips, his fear, anticipation and hope all crumpled into a single sentence. His shoulders shook, a weight removed.

A shared memory of the moment Prince Julian, the forgotten prince, lost his other half, the one who brought light into his world.

Yet, for Eleanor, that memory was the opposite.

In her dying moments, she discovered the cold Prince's true feelings—the moment she realised all her efforts weren't worthless.

"To collect an item I purchased for your coming-of-age birthday."

A serene tone, her eyes clear and void of deceit. In honesty, Julian knew this. Because they found it on her person, when the knights finally appeared and apprehended the criminals, they found an item request and the item in question, torn apart and broken.

Julian's dull red eyes lowered, gazing at the gauntlets on his hands... a makeshift replica, parts of the leather gloves with his initials and emblem missing. Yet, he understood why only he could see them and knew Nora noticed the moment he wore them.

"I see."

Was it wrong to become angry or upset?

Could Julian still act on emotions and feelings from countless years before, as if he were the same Prince Julian she once adored?

The answer was no.

'I am no longer the same Julian.'

'She isn't the same Eleanora.'

"Thank you for showing me the beauty of the outside world."

His fingertips remained attached to her smooth, fair skin.

Slowly, he brushed his fingertips across her cheeks, the faint blush growing as Nora gazed at him with a conflicted gaze.

"Do you resent me, Prince?"

Eleanor's voice lacked the same vigour and allure she usually used.

Despite meeting again, their hearts and wounds couldn't be healed and discussed in the middle of a dungeon, and both understood that. Yet the feeling of reunion still tickled their hearts and awoke feelings that both had cast deep into the depths.

"Not at all—I resented myself for not being able to tell you sooner. Had I been honest, would you have been left alone in such a manner?"

"..."

Her lips parted, gaping at the words she never expected from Julian.

"Don't look so surprised—I've lived so long now that my memories of back then are nostalgic at best and embarrassing at worst."

"It's just a little strange and unexpected."

Eleanor's eyes narrowed, and her hands closed in on his shoulders.

Although the distance between them was less than two centimetres, and they could taste the flavour of each other's breath, their sense of distance felt unfathomable.

"Do you dislike how I've changed?"

Julian's palm cupped Nora's cheek, lifting her gaze to face him. There was a sense of nostalgia in those juicy red lips pressing together as if holding all the secrets in the world.

"You've become too much of a flirt..."

Clack!

Another sound echoed from the back while Fran threw something against the wall and muttered to herself.

However, still... the pair remained preoccupied by each other's presence.

"Me? Who is the one who attacked me in her undergarments... or greeted me practically naked. How could you have become such a crass lady."

"What?!"

Eleanor grabbed his tunic and pressed him against the marble shelves, causing dust to billow and form small clouds around them. Her eyes narrowed into a sharp, angry shape before she opened her lips and bit down on his finger aggressively.

"Agh..."

"Hmph!"

'I only spoke the truth!'

He wouldn't lie about her actions if she didn't appear so devilish. His body and desire for her couldn't have made him feel guilty about Sena. Now, with memories of his past lives rapidly unravelling, knowledge and emotions he tried to deny almost overwhelmed him.

"I would only do that for ONE man... you!"

"That's hard to accept, how did you even know I would exist?"

Their emotions stirred with words and feelings that needed to clash, seeping to the top like waves crashing against tidal walls.

"BECAUSE THAT WOMAN TOLD ME!"

"That woman?"

Her outburst caused another loud sound from the other side of the room before silence returned.

"Solaria... when I died, she spoke to me and made me watch scenes of this strange world. The next time I woke up I found myself in a new body."

"But it doesn't make sense, because the Maria Sinclair in my last life looked different!"

Julian's low, frustrated grunt assaulted her ears as he grabbed her body, pulling her close. Desperate for an answer. A reason for everything that happened to him.

"I saw it..."

Her voice quivered, and there was a sense of dissonance between her usual bright voice and her elegant, noble voice of the past.

"Saw what?"

Eleanor's hand gently brushed against his cheeks, the smooth skin much like she remembered. A sense of relief filled her heart that she could finally stop acting like someone else and become honest.

"The life you lived after Sena died. Rather, the life you lived after leaving Avalon."

'She knows everything? Then... my most pathetic and humiliating moments...'

His throat dried up, and a hoarse gasp escaped his lips as he turned his head away and shut his eyes tightly. Fighting the tears, he never wanted anyone to know how disgusting he lived in that life. He used anything to survive: his pretty face for food... sleeping with other women to numb the pain and to feel alive.

'Ah... she's seen it all, those eyes.'

Disgust... rejection... hatred...

But instead of looking at him with contempt, Nora gazed upon him with affectionate eyes as if a green flame burned within them. Her soft, delicate, unsullied hands stroked his head.

"Don't cry."

"I'm not crying!"

She held him tightly, bringing his head to her shoulder.

"Do you think I would berate you, blame you... for what you did to survive?"

"..."

His throat felt parched and dry as if he had drunk salt water.

The memories he sealed out of pure self-loathing, lies he constantly fed himself... forcing the false truth that he forgot his past, forgot his feelings for both these women.

Yet, here in front of him, the first love who taught him to open his heart and what it meant to be loved... appeared without warning.

'This is bad...'

A sweet fragrance permeated the air as she embraced him, her chest pressing against his own and reminding him of their difference in size and strength. Although Eleanor wasn't petite, her slender frame was small compared to him.

"Eleanor, I..."

BOOM!

Suddenly, the sound of drums... a bizarre rhythm causing the ground and walls to shake.

Followed by the guttural cries and yodels of goblins.