By Zephyria 
I had no idea why he was suddenly asking this question. I tightened my arms around him and answered without hesitation, “Of course.”
“……”
“Adrian?”
“Liar. That can’t be.”
How could you possibly love someone as awful as me…? Adrian’s voice was faint, as if it would disappear.
“Can you honestly say that you love me, even knowing everything I’ve done to you, even remembering everything?”
This time, I was the one who was speechless. It felt like the sharp tip of a spire, heightened by anxiety, was piercing my heart.
“If that’s really possible, there are only two possibilities.”
“……”
“Either you love me so sublimely, or you’re a very skilled liar.”
No. That can’t be. That can’t be possible, it can’t be possible… My mind rapidly turned white. My fingertips, cold with tension, were almost numb.
Adrian finally delivered his final verdict into my ear, which was in a state of bewilderment, unable to even think about picking up the spilled water.
“Which one do you think it is? Hmm? Noah of the Guillotine.”
“……!”
Adrian remembers. I don’t know how much he remembers, but he definitely remembers who Noah Hamilton, the despicable criminal who was eventually executed for trying to harm the Crown Princess-to-be Allen Hamilton, was. Noah of the Guillotine. That was a title that had been mocking me ever since it appeared in a newspaper cartoon, saying that Noah Hamilton should be sent to the guillotine immediately.
Adrian hugged my stiff body gently and laughed in a deep voice that I couldn’t even begin to fathom.
“I see… you remember too. I’ll ask again. Can you still truly love me?”
“Your, Your Royal Highness, I… I…”
“You’re trembling. Oh dear, how pitiful.”
Hot lips were pressed firmly against my ear, which was covered in goosebumps, like a brand. Adrian strongly wrapped his large hands around my head and pulled me closer to him repeatedly. It was a suffocatingly strong force that wouldn’t allow me to even think about leaving his side.
“Alright. If you’ve started lying, deceive me until the end. I’ll gladly be deceived.”
Strangely, one side of my chest felt eerie. This man, who had only been my pitiful Adrian since I regained the memories of my first life… looked like the Crown Prince from the original game for the first time in a long time. Adrian Pearson, the cruel and cold Crown Prince who could crush a humble Noah Hamilton at any time.
“So believe me. Nothing will change.”
“……”
“I love you, Noah Hamilton.”
The voice, filled with a deep smile, sounded more like a mockery than a sincere confession. If so, who exactly is Adrian Pearson mocking? That alone was the problem.
* * *
Even though he was already holding him tightly enough, he felt impatient for some reason. He couldn’t stand the anxiety. Adrian Pearson despised his pathetic self, but he didn’t want to loosen the limbs that were tightly binding Noah Hamilton.
“I love you, Noah Hamilton.”
Even something as ugly and sticky as this was still love. The tension in Noah’s shoulders, which had been stiff for a while, didn’t seem to ease. Seeing that, Adrian’s heart grew cold. Noah had occasionally been wary of him and tried to manipulate him, but had he ever been this genuinely afraid? No, I can say with certainty that he never had.
I want to laugh. If I can’t, I should just forget about my dignity and cry.
Noah Hamilton’s reaction, which was growing colder and colder with fear, was the most powerful proof that the shocking memories that had suddenly struck him had truly existed somewhere… and that Noah also remembered everything.
If so, then Noah’s sweet whisper that he loved him must be a lie.
‘Your Royal Highness. It is clear that the third young master of Hamilton tried to harm Allen, so it is natural to punish him, but it seems difficult to execute him. What was detected in Allen’s teacup was not a proper poison that would cause anything more than a stomach ache, and… the rest are all circumstantial…’
‘Do I need to care about such things? Being a Dominant Omega and raised as a nobleman, if he lurks near Allen, Allen can be attacked at any time. As you know, Allen is a Recessive Omega. If Allen doesn’t have a child immediately after the Royal Wedding, they will immediately rise up like a swarm of bees and demand that I change the Empress. Knowing that risk, are you telling me to just sit back and watch?’
‘If, if that is the case…’
‘Just fill in the insufficient justification somehow. Ah, right. Tell them to insert content that mocks and belittles Noah Hamilton in all the newspapers from today. Noah of the Guillotine should be enough to reach the ending I want.’
‘……’
He decided to put Noah Hamilton on the guillotine with his own hands. He gave the order to kill Noah Hamilton with his own mouth.
Why did he do that? Why, even with Noah Hamilton in front of him. Why, even seeing Noah Hamilton with his own eyes, why, why?
No matter how much he asked, he couldn’t understand. He wanted to blame his past self for loving Allen instead of Noah. No, blaming him wasn’t enough. He wanted to strangle him to death. If he could, he really would have.
The unwelcome memory rudely entered with heavy footsteps the day after he called Noah and showed him the Crown Prince Palace, which was under construction. He woke up in the Sun Palace, where he had already moved, and had a simple meal at the appointed time, and started working at the appointed time.
It was in the midst of a rigid routine that was perfectly matched without an inch of error. One of the officials from the Office of Royal Protocol came to him, saying that he wanted to check the gifts to be given to the Empress for the last time. He was quick and efficient, so he used him in various places. This time was the same. The most important thing for the current Adrian Hamilton was to welcome Noah as the Empress without a single flaw, so he appointed him as an official in the Office of Royal Protocol.
As he looked down at the head of the official who was bowing politely and waiting for his words, he suddenly felt a strong pain as if sharp blades were mercilessly cutting through his brain. He grabbed his head and collapsed on the desk. The attire of the Privy Council was clearly superimposed on the figure of the official wearing the uniform of the Office of Royal Protocol.
To him, as a member of the Privy Council, Adrian himself, as the Crown Prince, seemed to have given some… very regrettable instructions…
Consciousness ended there. He collapsed as he was. If he hadn’t completely destroyed Duke Grachio and the former Empress for kidnapping Noah, he would have done them a favor.
In the dark, submerged consciousness, he slowly dreamed. To be more precise, he lived dozens or hundreds of different lives.
He was always Adrian, the only prince of the Pearson Imperial Family, and he came to love a beautiful Omega belonging to the Hamilton Family in some way. If it had only been that far, he wouldn’t have been so shocked.
The problem was… the Omega of Hamilton that he loved in his dreams was Allen, not Noah.
It wasn’t that he had realized his desperate love for Allen again, or that he had been deceived by Noah. Thanks to the fact that he had clearly realized how unnatural the feelings for Allen that existed in the past he had gradually realized through his dreams were.
To the damned Adrian Pearson, who had decided to put Allen by his side, Noah Hamilton, a Dominant Omega from the same family, was a threat in his very existence. So, in his dreams, he erased Noah Hamilton’s existence without hesitation. The secret ostracism and behind-the-scenes machinations that took place in the social world were ridiculous. He was always looking for an opportunity to kill him, and the moment he had an excuse, he tried to break his slender neck without a moment’s hesitation.
In the beginning, Noah Hamilton tried to struggle and escape every time, but as the dreams continued, he became more and more receptive. He had learned helplessness. Watching Noah like that, with all his memories, he could be sure. Unlike the others, Noah had always lived with the memories of the past in those many repetitions.
Having heard and seen so much, he could have attached himself to those who were aiming for the Crown Prince and actively tried to bring down and harm the Crown Prince, but he never even tried to do so.
Noah Hamilton only wanted to live quietly and peacefully.
And it was he who crushed and killed such Noah Hamilton every time…
‘What are you looking at? It’s a simple order. Raise the prestige of the one I love, and kill the wicked man who tried to harm him.’
‘I will obey your command.’
It was definitely himself. That alone was the truth.