My Past Life is Riddled With Many Sins - Chapter 36

Busy with her affairs, yet when it rained, she always sought him out. As if she couldn’t bear to leave him alone.

“Sorry for being late, Prince Iskanda.”

“…I wasn’t waiting for you.”

“I know. I came because I wanted to.”

“Leaving behind men pining for you because of your trifling conscience, to come to me. Remarkable. To think someone as vigorous as you, unable to be satisfied with just one man, taking two, three to your bed, would restrain yourself and visit me regularly. Should I acknowledge this pretense at least?

“Yes, right. So you’ll have to compensate for three men.”

“I’m looking forward to the day your pathetic mask of hypocrisy falls, Your Majesty.”

“Fine, alright. Stop saying such mean things with that pretty mouth of yours and come here quietly.”

He was still dazzled by her. The way she sprawled her luxurious red hair across the bed, beckoning him with those sun-like golden eyes, lazily waving him over.

Now, it was his turn to return the favor.

* * *

“Hello.”

In the deep night, submerged in sleep, a low voice reached her.

Regina slowly opened her eyes. A man stood by her bedside, seamlessly blending into the darkness with his alarmingly neat appearance.

As always, the first thought she had when she saw him wasn’t ‘handsome’ but ‘neat’. Even though a closer look revealed his handsome looks, he was so absurdly neat that it came to mind first.

There wasn’t a single flaw in his unreal neatness. Every aspect of his existence was disturbingly orderly.

With his perfect figure, he quietly watched her. Regina thought, perhaps, the only blemish in him might be her own reflection in his eyes.

“Wasn’t this how you wanted me to appear?”

His mischievous smile filled her vision. She felt dizzy, as if she had plunged into a stark darkness devoid of any impurities, she blinked slowly. Eventually, unable to withstand the heaviness of her eyelids, Regina lost consciousness.

When she woke up again, it was morning. Regina, still groggy from sleep, stared at the ceiling and pondered the events of the night.

“Was it a dream?”

She couldn’t distinguish if seeing him in her sleep was a dream or reality.

It lacked realisticness to be true, yet it was too vivid to be a dream. Either answer wouldn’t be surprising.

The figure, whose existence was uncertain if real or imaginary, was truly the same. While everyone else had changed their hair, eyes, and facial features over the span of 200 years, he remained exactly the same as if they had parted just yesterday.

With anyone else, such a phantom appearance could have been dismissed as impossible, but with him, it was a different story.

He could be like that.

His way of speaking, as if he had peered into her mind, his sudden appearances and disappearances were not surprising because it was him. Rather, the senior she didn’t know the name was more surprising and curious.

‘What is that senior, really?’

Pondering while sitting with her upper body raised, she suddenly started to hear something tapping continuously outside. The sparse knocking quickly turned into a pouring sound.

“It’s raining…”

Regina left her bed to stand by the window. Pulling back the curtain, the sound of rain became clearer.

“The day felt gloomy.”

She didn’t hate the rain. In fact, she liked its calming atmosphere and charm. However, since she became aware that it could trigger painful memories for someone, she couldn’t simply enjoy it as before.

“Please… huh, don’t leave me alone on such days, Your Majesty.”

‘Prince Iskanda…’

If he had been reborn, would he retain memories of his past life? She hoped not. He wished he had no problem on rainy days.

She forgot the wrongs Yekkarna had done.

Throughout the way from the dormitory to the main building, Regina thought of him. If it weren’t for the unexpected figure in the central plaza, she might have been lost in thought longer.

A group in white attire under the astronomical clock tower caught her eye.

Among them, a man with black hair stood out unmistakably. It was Friedrich’s reincarnation.

Friedrich’s reincarnation had appeared at the Imperial Academy.

Alarmed, Regina hid her face behind a book she pulled out from her bag.

What? What was he doing at the Academy? Could he possibly know she was attending here?

Regina quickly shook her head, trying to dismiss the ominous assumption from her mind. She had deliberately hidden her destination was the Academy and pretended to have business in Hylo. it was unlikely she had been discovered.

He must be here for some other reason.

Struggling to calm her racing heart, Regina hurried toward the main building.

* * *

“Your Holiness?”

The knights stopped, puzzled by their leader who had stopped walking. Mysterious silver eyes followed the back of a female student running away.

“Do you have business with that student? If so, I could…”

“No need.”

Valenti stopped his loyal subordinates, who seemed ready to chase after her at any moment.

“We’ll meet eventually.”

Though his statement was vague, they accepted it and continued on their way. If the Pope said so, it must be so.

The knights stationed themselves on either side of the dean’s office corridor to prevent any intruders from entering. They were ready to act should anything happen inside.

Inside the dean’s office, two men sat facing each other.

“So, you wish to transfer to our school. The Pope himself, to our academy.”

The man with green eyes, Dean Bliss, spoke first.

“It’s an unprecedented honor in the history of our institution.”

It was indeed. The academy’s age limit for admission was between twenty to twenty-two, and for transfer students, up to twenty-five. It was rare historically for someone to ascend to the papacy within that age range.

Moreover, even if the conditions were met, there was no reason for the Pope, with a status equal to the Emperor’s, to willingly become just another student.