Episode 118

“……What?”

Not a novel, but the future?

As I tilted my head blankly, Askan let out a small sigh and said,

[This self of yours is who you were before Sierra Drenihan. Haven’t you ever thought there might be something even before this life?]

“……Not at all.”

Before this? I had never even considered it.

I mean, who had the time to think about past lives when just surviving this one was hard enough?

Askan swept his long hair back and continued.

[I was never sure myself, but after hearing your story, I’m convinced now.]

His transparent silver eyes looked at me as if he could see right through me.

[You’re the reincarnation of Tias Disel.]

“……Huh? Wait, what are you talking about?”

Flustered by his unexpected words, I began to stammer, but Askan gestured for me to listen calmly.

[After the Saintess War, I nearly exhausted my powers and fell into a deep sleep. Do you know why?]

Why Askan had to sleep for thousands of years.

I shook my head.

[You must have seen it too. Tias suffered fatal wounds in the war and died. Before her soul was completely extinguished, I used all my remaining power to send it to another dimension.]

“……And that other dimension was Earth, and I was the reincarnation of Tias’s soul?”

Even as I said it, it sounded ridiculous, but following Askan’s logic, it made sense.

He nodded proudly, like a grandfather praising a grandchild.

[Time flows differently across dimensions. While you grew into an adult on Earth, thousands of years passed in the Terium Empire.]

Honestly, it was still hard to believe, but it wasn’t impossible either.

I had already experienced crossing dimensions by reincarnating into Sierra Drenihan’s body.

“Sigh… Fine. I’ll accept it for now. But then what do you mean when you say the novel I read was actually the future?”

[You’ve probably heard before that your mother, Sionna, was particularly sharp and seemed able to foresee the future.]

Anyone who had worked in Drenihan’s household had heard that at least once.

She always seemed one step ahead, predicting events before they happened.

[That was the ability granted by a contract with me — Precognition.]

“Precognition…?”

[Yes. That’s why the imperial family coveted my contractors since ancient times.]

Askan rested his chin on his hand as he spoke.

[Tias was the strongest among all my contractors, and her power of precognition was extraordinary. Since your soul stems from hers, you too could glimpse the future — though not perfectly.]

“But… I read it as a novel?”

[Precognition doesn’t manifest in ‘visions,’ but rather in ‘words.’ Tias and Sionna both saw letters appear on blank parchment, foretelling the future. You simply mistook it for a novel.]

“But there were protagonists, villains, even reader comments!”

[That was all part of your misunderstanding. Precognition has no set form. If you believed it was a novel, then it would appear to you like a novel, complete with imagined reader comments.]

“…….”

Now that I thought about it, there were plenty of strange things.

The dream where I kept scrolling endlessly through white screens, reading.

How today, no matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t find the novel’s title.

Everything suddenly made sense when pieced together.

“‘The Tragic End of Twisted Love’… never really existed?”

[That’s right.]

Hearing his simple answer made my tangled thoughts slowly settle.

It still felt unreal, but…

“Then… I’m really… Tias’s reincarnation?”

[Judging by the circumstances, yes.]

Askan smiled warmly.

He spoke to me like greeting an old friend after a long time.

[But that doesn’t mean you are Tias herself. You have none of her memories. I’m telling you this so you don’t fall into an identity crisis.]

“I’m already confused enough.”

It wasn’t easy for an ordinary person to accept all this.

[But more than that, it’s the future you saw that concerns me. That descendant of Bergaus — he really will destroy the Empire if we don’t stop him…]

Askan’s brows furrowed deeply.

[Like I said before, if things go well, we can still change it. The future isn’t set in stone. You’ve already proven that yourself.]

He quickly hid his serious expression and shrugged.

[More importantly, how was it, living back in this world for a while?]

“I… I just missed it. Everything about that world.”

[Even me?]

Askan grinned slyly.

“You too, Askan.”

[You’re making me blush.]

Even as he said it, a smile tugged at his lips.

At that moment, a buzzing sound suddenly filled my ears.

“Ugh.”

It immediately made my head spin and my senses blur.

Askan, in contrast, seemed unbothered, as if he had been waiting for this moment.

[Looks like that brat finally broke the curse. Don’t be afraid. You’re simply returning to your rightful body.]

Through my blurring vision, I saw Askan smiling.

[I’m glad I got to see you here. Even if you seem a bit lonelier… a bit more wounded.]

A warm hand brushed over my forehead.

[Let’s meet again in that world, my child.]

And with that, the world blinked out.

* * *

Blink, blink—

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself staring at a familiar ceiling.

It wasn’t the peeling wallpaper and moldy ceiling of the goshiwon.

It was an ornate ceiling, delicately crafted with elegant patterns, and a magnificent chandelier hanging at its center.

I was back. In my room at the Drenihan mansion. In Sierra Drenihan’s body.

Still dazed, I clenched and unclenched my fists, checking my condition.

Considering how I had collapsed, spewing blood just before, it was almost absurd how fine I felt now.

Actually, I had never felt so light and refreshed before.

For over a decade, my body had always been weighed down with fatigue.

Recently, my arms had even started going numb.

But now, there wasn’t a trace of any of it left.

“What in the world happened…?”

One day in that other world had been half a month here.

Short, if you thought about it. Long, depending on who you asked.

And for someone who had been waiting for me… it must have felt like an eternity.

I rose from bed, intending to pull the service bell to let someone know I had woken up.

“…Sierra.”

If I hadn’t heard that voice from near the door, I might have gone on unaware that someone else was in the room.

Standing by the door was Ludwig.

He stood there like he had been nailed to the spot, as if he had just been about to enter.

“Ludwig.”

I had heard everything about his efforts through Askan.

How he had gone half-mad while I was gone.

I scrambled to figure out what to say.

‘How have you been? I’m sorry for scaring you? What in the world should I even say…?’

While I was still frantically thinking, Ludwig, who had been frozen like a statue, suddenly took a step toward me.

I hadn’t noticed it from a distance, but up close, he looked like he was on the verge of tears.

His sharpened demeanor, the cold look in his eyes, his slightly thinner frame — everything about him felt unfamiliar.

And the strangest thing of all was realizing that I was the one who had caused it.

He stopped right in front of me and parted his lips slightly.

It wasn’t as if I was made of glass. Yet he looked too scared to even try reaching out to touch me.

So I reached out first and took his hand.

I stopped trying to think of the right words and simply pulled him into my arms.

Despite the clear difference in our builds, Ludwig let himself be pulled in without resistance.

I didn’t even know who was really embracing whom anymore — but I just wanted to hold him.

What I had missed the most in that other world was this warmth.

Even I was surprised at how deeply I cherished him.

The thought that I might never see him again had left such a crushing sense of loss that it nearly brought me to tears.

Holding him like this made it feel real — I was truly back. I had truly found him again.

“I missed you, Ludwig.”

Now I finally understood.

The feelings I had hidden so tightly away, the emotions I could no longer conceal.