~Chapter 06~
Throughout their time at the academy, Relshiz was always overshadowed by Aska.
He was always first, and Relshiz was always second.
Perhaps that’s why people called them not “friends,” but “rivals.”
And it wasn’t entirely wrong.
Whenever Aska so much as tried to talk to her, Relshiz would snap in anger, and on days when grades were announced, she would glare at him like she wanted to kill him.
There was even a time Aska purposely let Relshiz win.
He thought she would be happy if she finally beat him, but the result was the complete opposite.
“Are you playing games with me?”
Relshiz had realized Aska held back on purpose and got furious.
It was clear she was determined to beat him with her own strength.
After realizing that, Aska gave up on the idea of going easy on her.
Relshiz competed with him all throughout the academy—and lost every single time.
As graduation neared, their relationship was at its worst.
At the time, Aska didn’t think that was necessarily a bad thing.
Because it meant that “Aska Willovis” was someone meaningful to Relshiz.
Just as she was to him.
“Please don’t tell anyone that I have a child.”
But then that Relshiz—Relshiz Baltain, who never bowed her head to Aska no matter what—begged.
Her desperate voice and teary eyes wouldn’t leave his mind.
‘I’ve known you for years, and yet you still surprise me.’
The little girl who looked just like Relshiz also got on his nerves.
That was a “real” family that the once-lonely Relshiz now had.
Her one and only blood relative.
Something truly special and irreplaceable.
Aska wasn’t pleased.
He felt annoyed, though he couldn’t quite explain why.
So, he returned to his family estate for the first time in a long while.
Not all noble families had one, but in powerful houses, it was common to have a secret intelligence agency.
The Willovis Duchy had one, too.
It was called “Owl.”
As soon as Aska entered the White Swan Mansion, he summoned all the members of Owl.
The sudden gathering made everyone tense.
“If all agents are being called, it must be a national-level crisis.”
Agent No. 1, the head of Owl, anxiously waited for Aska’s instructions.
“A rebellion? A declaration of war? An assassination attempt?”
Just as his imagination was running wild, Aska finally spoke.
“Look into Rell’s activities when she was in the Southern Continent.”
The unexpected order nearly made No. 1 stumble.
“…Do you mean Lady Relshiz Baltain, the head of the Royal Magic Department?”
“That’s right.”
“Is there anything specific you want to know—”
Aska’s lips curled into a twisted smile.
“Everything. Don’t miss a single detail, no matter how small.”
Number 1 realized this was no ordinary task.
‘For the young master to be this emotionally affected…?’
Most people, including No. 1, knew Aska Willovis as someone strangely lacking in emotions.
A cold, unmoving rock, indifferent to all things.
Seeing this rare side of him, the Owls all instinctively held their breath.
‘They’ve always been rivals, but I thought he was somewhat lenient toward Lady Relshiz. Is he planning to… get rid of her?’
Not knowing what had happened between the two, Number 1 had no way of understanding the situation.
“How much time do you need?”
“We’ll get the information as soon as possible.”
“Don’t keep me waiting.”
With heads bowed in obedience, the Owls vanished without a trace.
Left alone, Aska’s eyes gleamed like ice.
Right after Aska left, I started thinking of ways to send Shiz back.
I went over all my notes, the spells I’d used, and dug up every bit of knowledge I had…
“This is driving me crazy.”
I eventually had to accept that there was nothing I could do for now.
“How could I have known I’d pull my past self into this timeline?”
It was clear that the young me was going to be stuck here for a while.
So, I swallowed my tears and had a talk with Shiz.
Since we’d have to pretend to be mother and daughter for now, we had to get our story straight.
If our stories didn’t match, people would start getting suspicious.
“You said you still live at the orphanage, right? So how old are you right now?”
“Six years old!”
“By the way, Aska… I mean, has a silver-haired noble boy ever visited your orphanage?”
“Hmm, I don’t know.”
With a few questions, I was able to figure out roughly which time period little Shiz came from.
Six years old and doesn’t know Aska, which means she hasn’t yet received support from the Willovis Duchy.
“If Aska comes by later, you have to call me ‘Mom,’ okay? And if he asks you anything, don’t answer. Just say you don’t know. Got it?”
“Okay! I got it! I said, I got it!”
Surprisingly, little Relshize didn’t get scared or cry even after hearing the full explanation.
“…So, you’re the future me, right?”
Instead, she got excited and started bouncing around.
“I become this pretty? That’s amazing! Where is this place? Is this your house? Do you live alone? Is the bed big? Do you have roommates? Pets? How many bathrooms? Is there a bathtub? Does hot water come out?”
She fired off so many questions that she had to stop to catch her breath.
“Can you please slow down and ask one question at a time…?”
My head already felt like it was going to explode.
I frowned and tried to organize my thoughts.
‘Anyway, she’s definitely me.’
After watching her for a while, it was clear—she looked exactly like me.
It was strange that I didn’t recognize her right away.
Just to be sure, I checked her body thoroughly—even the location of the moles was the same.
No matter how many times I pinched my cheeks trying to escape reality, nothing changed.
The water had already been spilled, and now I had to try and clean it up.
“Your house is sooooo big!”
While I was pulling my hair out, little Relshize happily ran down the hallway.
Then she tripped and fell flat on the floor, nearly giving me a heart attack.
“H-Hey! Slow down! You’ll get hurt!”
I rushed to catch her, but she just grinned and dodged my hand.
What the—?
I reached again, and she slipped away a second time.
“Yay! Tag game!”
“You better get over here!”
“Oh no! A monster is chasing me! Run, everyone!”
“Who are you calling a monster?! Stop right there!”
“Eeeek!”
Little Relshize ran through the mansion like a flying squirrel, laughing her head off.
She had endless energy, probably because she was so young.
“Huff… huff…”
Meanwhile, I was already exhausted and gasping for air.
In the end, I used magic to bring her in front of me.
“Wheee, I’m floating!”
She thought the levitation spell was just another game.
“You’re already tired, sis?”
“Huff… N-no… I’m just taking a little break… whew…”
“Hmm, then I’ll take a break too.”
Once she was back on the ground, little Relshize smiled and rolled around on the carpet.
I don’t understand how that counts as resting.
I really don’t get how kids think.
“When was the last time I washed that carpet?”
I couldn’t remember.
Seeing Shiz rolling on that dusty rug made my heart feel heavy.
“Was I really this wild as a kid?”
It was so long ago, my memories are fuzzy.
I was already upset that Aska had found out about Shiz, but seeing her acting so carefree just made me feel even worse.
From what I remembered, “the younger me” was a gifted child who discovered her talent for magic early and was a model student. At least, that’s what I had believed.
‘The Duke of Willovis supported me for a reason, after all.’
Maybe that’s why I felt a little disappointed.
The “young Relshiz” I met in person was just an ordinary, naive neighborhood kid. Nothing special. Clever and well-behaved? Hmm…
Even looking again, it’s hard to see.
‘Ugh, whatever. This isn’t the time to be thinking about that.’
I had a mountain of things to deal with. I needed to clean up the mess from this situation and also catch up on all the tasks I had put off because of the experiment.
The biggest problem of all was the Royal Research Report Meeting.
Unfortunately, His Highness the Crown Prince—who would love to see me fail—always showed up without fail.
Every time the meeting took place, he would demand more and more from me. And if he wasn’t satisfied, he’d immediately issue warnings for negligence.
‘If I don’t present some solid results, he’ll definitely try to get rid of me.’
I was cornered. The expectations kept rising, but I was still just one person. There were limits.
That’s why, while I was suspended, I threw myself into the idea of a successful time-travel experiment and put the royal project on hold.
‘But I failed…’
Now, I had to come crawling back to this reality.
The thought of completing the project on time made me feel like my hair was going to fall out in chunks.
At that moment, someone tugged at my sleeve.
I looked down, and little Relshiz had come up close without me noticing. Her cheeks were flushed, probably from running around so much.
“Um, future Relshiz unnie.”
“What is it, little Relshiz?”
She looked up at me with those bright, clueless eyes.
“What kind of work do you do now?”
Such an innocent question.
“A royal mage.”
Not for long, probably. I gave a quick answer and smiled bitterly.
“Whoa!”
To my surprise, little Relshiz gasped. Her face lit up with surprise and joy. Caught off guard by her reaction, I just looked at her.
“Wow, you work in the royal palace? Like where the king is? And princes and princesses and fancy stuff?”
At the word “prince,” those annoying blue eyes came to mind. I almost frowned but barely managed to keep a straight face in front of Shiz.
“Yeah, something like that.”
Her mouth dropped open, full of awe. Her eyes sparkled.
“I—I become someone that amazing?”
