I Think My Fiancé Has Regressed

Chapter 40: Things to do before leaving (4)

We had exactly one day left before we had to return home from Canbina.

Today is also the last day of my stay at the royal villa on the coast. Tomorrow, we’d have to get back on the carriage for the three-day trip back to the capital.

In fact, according to the original plan, they were supposed to leave this morning, at least.

Ariana asked if we could spend a day on the coast before we left, so we ended up staying one more night at the villa.

It was a cute date request, coming from my lovely fiancé.

With Ariana’s help, I was able to get the job of defeating Grishna done, so I had enough time to grant this favor.

I’ll have a bit of time to relax before the next schedule, and I won’t have to run as frantically as I have been.

Above all, the decision must have been made based on the belief that I would have enough time to spare, and she would have made a wiser choice than me, who only knew one future, because she is, after all, a prophetic saint.

Unlike me, who has only seen one possible future, she would know far more about the future that would make the world right.

Ariana Anastasia, my lovely fiancée, who has stood by my side since our first meeting as children.

She has a compassionate personality beloved by all and an insatiable appetite for learning more about magic.

By all accounts, Ariana was a saint of this generation.

In a prophetic scroll in the royal family’s treasury, a single line reads.

A thousand seasons from the day the Lucky Saint breathed her last, a new saint would be born, called by the Goddess of Prophecy.

Saint Muriel, the Lucky Saint, died in the year 854, Kingdom Year.

Exactly 250 years later, in 1104, a child would be born who would become the Saint of Prophecy.

What a coincidence that this was the same year Ariana was born.

Of course, there were more than a few children born in 1104, and it would be a leap to identify Ariana as a prophetic saint based on that clue alone.

But she did, consistently and persistently, since childhood. She has a history of showing insight, often as if she knew the future.

This ability was not limited to me, but also to her younger brother, Kael, and many times to her best friend, Charlotte.

As if she could read the future threats as if they were scenarios, Ariana knew everything that even I, the crown prince, did not.

Whether it’s the fact that she’s chased me to the shores of Canbina or the fact that she knows the ins and outs of the weaknesses of the great beasts we encountered.

No one else, at least that I know of, can foresee the future as well as she can, and prepare for it as well as she can.

In my previous lifetime, I didn’t realize this until three years after I broke off my engagement to her, and the damage done by a fool had already been done.

So in this lifetime, I had to make amends, no matter what, with Ariana, the Saint of Prophecy, for that was the greatest wrong I had done in my previous life.

Fortunately, Ariana had a heart worthy of being called a saint, and she forgave me for my poor choices with a motherly acceptance.

I’m so glad that she is the saint of this generation and that she is my fiancée.

Of course, I still have questions about her.

How did she become a saint, given that she uses dark magic instead of light, and why won’t she tell me she’s a saint.

Both before and after the regression, these were questions that still plagued my mind.

It was a truth she had refused to reveal in her previous life, even to the very last moment of her life, so what could have caused her to be so reticent is beyond me.

I wondered if it was because she had lost trust in me because of the mistakes I had made, but that didn’t make sense.

Ariana had gained the power to see the future, at least long before she entered the Academy.

It’s possible that she lost trust in me because she saw the future that I would betray her, but a question I asked her a while ago cleared up that suspicion.

When I asked Ariana why she didn’t doubt me, she replied that she trusted me because she wanted to trust me, no strings attached.

At least it didn’t look like a lying face, so it couldn’t be explained by a lack of trust.

Perhaps there is something else, something only she knows, that prevents her from revealing the truth.

For example, revealing to someone that she was a saint could alter the observed future.

It was certainly possible.

The mere fact that more people know about a prophecy is enough to change what happens in the future.

If she revealed the truth of her sainthood to just one person, all the power the Goddess of Prophecy had given her would be for naught.

The fact that she’d gone from being a bubbly personality to calm and cautious at some point could be attributed to the blessing of the Goddess of Prophecy.

Once I thought about it, everything made sense in theory.

“There’s no need to rush things.”

Not revealing herself as a saint was Ariana’s choice, and I saw no reason to interfere with her reasoning.

On the contrary, I’m sure she’s had her moments where she secretly wished she could reveal that she was a saint, and I commend her for holding it together as long as she has.

So, until Ariana decides to reveal the truth one day, I’m not going to dwell on the secrets she wants to keep hidden.

After all, the last time I saw Ariana in my previous life, she didn’t question me about the poor choices I made.

That alone was reason enough to keep her secret, and motivation enough to trust and follow her in everything she did.

…Until, of course, she told me the truth about being a saint, which I doubt my body would be able to handle.

As I stood in the meeting place, staring at the horizon in silence, I felt a few urgent steps coming toward me.

“I’m sorry, Alex, I’m late because I had a little trouble tying the back strap.”

At the sound of my fiancé’s easygoing voice, which always felt new to me, I jerked my gaze away from the ocean and straight toward the shore.

“No, Ariana. I just got here too….”

I was about to respond to her hurried apology with a ritualized response, but my words were cut off when I caught sight of Ariana’s ridiculous outfit.

Her assertive body was covered by two or three thin sheets of fabric that, depending on your point of view, could be considered underwear.

She stood before me, dressed in the boldest, most daring outfit I’d seen in nearly a decade.

“What, what, what’s with the outfit?”

“I found it in my drawer at the villa, so I thought I’d give it a try. I mean, we’ve come all the way to the ocean, and it would be a shame to leave without wearing a swimsuit.”

“…….”

After listening to the story for a while, it didn’t make sense to me.

Clearly, Ariana hadn’t had enough time to enjoy the coast, especially since it’s a place I don’t usually take the time to visit since I had spent my entire summer vacation hunting demons.

…Even so, her current attire was a bit over the top.

“Why aren’t you saying anything, Alex?”

“…Uh, huh?”

“You’re just staring at me with your mouth open. The color doesn’t really suit me after all…?”

It wasn’t that it didn’t look good on her.

Rather, it was too well-matched.

In addition to Ariana’s perfect figure, with no flaws in her upper or lower body, her outfit teetered on the edge of art and obscenity.

At least, not in a way I would ever want anyone else to see.

I couldn’t be more grateful that I was the only one who could enjoy this moment, right now.

“No, it’s really beautiful. Really.”

“That’s good to know.”

“I feel like I want to decorate my room with a statue of Ariana, modeled exactly after this image, for the rest of my life.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of praise, Alex.”

“I mean it.”

Of course, making her into a statue would risk showing this image to others, so I’ll just have to make sure that the image of her now is as strong as possible in my mind.

“Well, if you liked it that much, I’ll wear it next time.”

“…Really?”

“Well, of course, there’s a time and a place for that! It would be a little awkward if you suddenly called me into your room and asked me to put on a swimsuit.

I mean, it’s the beach, and I can only wear daring outfits if I’m not embarrassed, but if I wear something like this everywhere, I’m just a slut.”

Not exactly the words of a fiancé who was already wearing a bursting swimsuit top.

Though in Ariana’s honor, I didn’t say what I was thinking.

“So when are you going to put it on again?”

“I told you, when the time and place are right.”

Ariana cautiously stuck out the little finger of her right hand, a promise of what might come.

“So. Come with me again, Alex.”

Come see the beach again, Ariana was saying to me.

“Not after we graduate from the Academy, not after Alex and I get married. Anytime is good, so please come walk with me again on the shores of Canbina.”

“…Yes.”

“And even though we were too busy to enjoy it properly this time, I promise you that next time we’ll make sure to take it easy.”

“…Okay.”

As I interlocked my pinky fingers in a promise I couldn’t keep, Ariana gave me a cheerful smile of satisfaction.

Whenever she wore such an innocent expression, I couldn’t help but think about it.

I really wanted to do what she said, to listen to her, to give her everything she wanted.

I wanted to live with her a little longer, even though I knew it was an unattainable future.