With The Fifth Loop, The Third Prince Has Been Added To The Cast. - Chapter 5

“Cheryl, Cheryl!”

I heard someone calling my name.

The voice sounded desperate—like they were crying out to me with all their might.

“Cheryl, please, open your eyes! Answer me!”

That pained voice… I realized it was Prince Camus and slowly opened my eyes.

“Camus… Your Highness…?”

“Cheryl! You’re awake… thank goodness…”

Prince Camus was peering down at me with a face that looked like he might cry.

What on earth was happening?

I was sure I had thrown myself off the rooftop… but now, I was lying in the center of that very rooftop, cradled in Prince Camus’s arms.

“I’m glad I made it in time… if you had died, I—”

“Your Highness, please… don’t cry.”

I didn’t know what was going on, but I hated seeing him with tears in his eyes.

“Then promise me—never, ever do something like that again! Do you know how shocked I was when I saw you…!”

No one was around when I jumped, so… was Prince Camus really right there? Did he save me before I fell?

“Your body… it’s gotten so cold.”

Trying to warm me up, soaked and chilled from the rain, he held me tightly in his arms.

Just that was enough to make it feel like my body temperature was shooting back up.

“Even this is better than nothing, right?”

The rain still hadn’t stopped. Prince Camus was also soaked through.

Even though he had to be cold himself, he took off his wet jacket and draped it over me.

“But now you’ll get cold, Your Highness…”

“I’ll be fine. I am a guy, after all.”

In this situation, did gender really matter? I vaguely thought about that as I felt my body suddenly lift.

“Y-Your Highness…”

He was carrying me—like a princess.

And by none other than the real prince of this country.

“You probably can’t move well with your body that cold, right? Don’t worry, I won’t drop you. Just trust me, okay?”

“O-okay…”

I felt bad, but the rain had soaked my clothes, making my body feel heavier and harder to move. I gave in to his kindness.

“You must be tired… it’s okay if you fall asleep.”

The warmth from where our bodies touched, the gentle sway with each of his steps—it was all so comforting, and I started drifting off.

When he said that, I couldn’t resist any longer. That was the last thing I remembered before I lost consciousness.

***

“Where… huh? What!?”

When I opened my eyes, I was lying in an unfamiliar bed.

My wet school uniform was gone, replaced with clean clothes. Judging by this, I must have been bathed and changed while I slept.

My body, which had been cold before, now felt warm and refreshed.

“Ah, Cheryl—you’re awake.”

“Prince Camus, this place is…”

“My room. But don’t worry, the maid did the bathing and changing.”

I was relieved, but then it hit me.

If this was Prince Camus’s room, then the bed I’d been sleeping in must have been his.

I hurriedly jumped out of bed.

“You could have rested longer, you know.”

“N-no, I couldn’t possibly sleep in Your Highness’s bed…!”

“You don’t need to worry about things like that.”

Smiling, he guided me from the bed to the sofa.

As expected of a royal palace sofa—it was so fluffy, so soft; I was amazed.

“Here, hot milk. This will help you calm down.”

“Th-thank you…”

I took the warm mug from him and sipped it.

The gentle sweetness of the milk spread through my mouth, and I felt myself relaxing, just like he said I would.

“So… can I ask why you did something like that?”

“That’s, um…”

“You can’t tell me?”

I shook my head.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t tell him.

It was just… I didn’t know where to start.

The immediate trigger had been  Lord Franz’s words. But that wasn’t the only reason I jumped. I had wanted to end this endless, painful loop once and for all.

Still… telling someone something so unbelievable out of the blue would only confuse them, wouldn’t it?

“It’s kind of an unbelievable story, so…”

“I’ll believe you.”

“Eh?”

Before I realized it, Prince Camus had moved to sit beside me.

He gently took my hand in his.

“If it’s your story, Cheryl, I’ll believe anything. So please—tell me.”

I had thought it would only trouble him, but his honest, unwavering gaze gave me the courage to tell him everything.

That I had relived this same life five times.

What those lives had been like from the first to the fourth—and how they all ended.

And how, in none of those lives, had I ever spoken to Prince Camus like this?

And what Franz had told me on the rooftop earlier and that my only wish was to finally end this painful cycle—no matter what form that ending took.

“You’ve… been suffering so much, all this time? It was really that painful…?”

Prince Camus never doubted my unbelievable story.

He didn’t show even the slightest hint of suspicion.

Instead, he looked as if he were the one suffering, and he held me tightly in his arms.

“But please, promise me—don’t choose death. There has to be another way.”

I wanted to believe that, too.

But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t think of any other way.

“Cheryl, what do you want? Do you want to stay engaged to Franz Eldred, or do you want to break it off?”

“I… I don’t have the right to choose…”

“But if you could choose, what would you want? That’s what I want to hear.”

I knew it was impossible.

I had been told over and over again that I had no say in it.

But still—if I could choose, if I were allowed to want something…

“I want to break it off…”

I didn’t want to be involved with Franz-sama anymore.

I wanted to be free—free from being bound to him, from being trapped by him, from remembering him.

Even though I knew that no matter how much I wished for it, it would never come true… the tears wouldn’t stop.

“Don’t cry, Cheryl. It’s going to be okay.”

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

The tears kept pouring out, no matter how much I tried to stop them.

All I could do was keep apologizing to Prince Camus through the sobs.

But he shook his head firmly, as if to say there was nothing to apologize for, and gently wiped away my tears.

“I’ll make sure your wish comes true.”

“Huh…?”

“It might be hard to cancel an engagement from a count’s side against a marquis household. But if we overwrite it with a higher-status engagement, then that’s a different story.”

“Um… excuse me?”

His words were so outrageous that my tears instantly dried up.

Prince Camus gave a little laugh, like, “Good, you stopped crying,” but I couldn’t laugh at all

Sure, he made it sound simple, but wasn’t getting engaged to someone higher than a marquis even harder than just breaking it off?

“Did you forget, Cheryl? I am a prince of this country. If you become engaged to me, the marquis family will have no choice but to accept the annulment.”

“No! That’s… that’s not okay!”

The difference in status between Prince Camus and me was far too great.

A royal prince’s fiancée is usually chosen from a ducal or at least a marquis household—never from a count’s daughter like me.

It wasn’t a place someone like me should casually belong to.

Not to mention, I was already engaged.

If Prince Camus suddenly announced an engagement with me, people would say he stole another man’s fiancée.

He could be harshly criticized.

I couldn’t let him take that kind of risk just to save me.

***

“Your feelings alone are more than enough. Just knowing that you care about me that much… I can bear anything.”

“But I can’t stand it. If you were truly happy with your fiancé—if that was what you wanted—I would’ve stepped aside gladly. I just wanted you to be happy. But if that’s not the case—if you’re hurting—then I can’t stay silent anymore.”

“Prince… Camus?”

“I love you, Cheryl. I’ve been drawn to you for a long time—how earnestly you looked at your fiancé, how hard you worked. I kept wishing that one day… your eyes would look at me instead.”

Prince Camus pulled me into a strong embrace.

His words shocked me. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing—I couldn’t even form a proper response. He has been drawn to me for a long time? Why haven’t I noticed him at all?

…and the idea that someone like him could love someone like me… it felt like a dream, too good to be true.

“Please, Cheryl—use me. If you get engaged to me, your wish will come true. And if you want to break off our engagement later, I’ll make sure it’s done peacefully. So please—”

“I could never… use you like that…”

“This is my decision. You don’t need to worry about anything. All I want is for you to nod. If you do that, I’ll take care of the rest. And if you’re worried about how it’ll affect my reputation, I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen, either.”

What a truly happy dream this is.

I could feel with my whole being that Prince Camus genuinely cared for me.

Some part of me whispered that I might be overlooking something important…But I was swept up in this beautiful dream and didn’t notice at all.

“I promise you—nothing bad will happen. So please, Cheryl… just nod.”

If Prince Camus really wanted to, he could’ve done everything without my consent.

And yet, he was waiting—for my approval.

“Prince Camus… please… help me break off my engagement with Lord Franz.”

“Yeah. Of course I will. Thank you, Cheryl… for trusting me.”

Even though I was the one asking for help, it was Prince Camus who thanked me.

“Now that we’ve decided—no time to waste! Hmm, that outfit’s a bit too casual… I’ll have a change of clothes prepared. While I’m gone, make sure you dry those tears, okay?”
“Huh? Wha—?”

He handed me a fluffy towel and darted out of the room before I could even react.