Sion clearly realized what he had done to Laila: he was a murderer who had cut her three times.
But to cover for such a murderer and take an arrow in his place?
No matter how much she tries to win his favor through this action or plan to survive in the future, it doesn’t make sense.
‘Wait.’
Sion paused.
Something was off.
A plan.
Yes, Laila must have had a plan to save Sion’s life and earn his favor.
But losing her life in the process couldn’t have been part of the plan at all.
‘She has no idea that I remember the events from before returning to the past.’
Dying in place of Sion in a past he doesn’t remember is a meaningless gesture.
So Laila must have been willing to take the arrow instead of Sion, fully intending to “suffer severe injury.”
Sion recalled Laila’s face just before he returned to the past.
Her pale face, devoid of color.
The emotion he saw on her face seemed to indicate a sense of failure in her plan.
No, it wasn’t that. It was the opposite. Judging by her expression, Laila seemed to believe her plan had succeeded.
Right up until her last breath.
Or, in other words, she didn’t know she was going to die.
Then she reversed time.
……It’s a contradiction.
Finally, Sion realized the problem. He had misunderstood.
‘Laila Hildegarde didn’t turn back time herself.’
Sion chuckled bitterly, his expression stiff.
He had always thought Laila manipulated time using some kind of power.
But now he faced the possibility that it wasn’t the case.
Maybe.
The moment Laila Hildegarde dies, time automatically rewinds?
Regardless of her will?
“Stupid.”
Sion muttered the self-deprecating words aloud.
She had no choice. If the assumption he’d just made was true, he’d been wasting his time all this time for nothing.
Every time he returned to the past, he took Laila’s life and simply waited.
Waited for Laila to give up on surviving someday.
For her to stop trying to survive, to accept Sion’s vengeance, and to stop trying to turn back the time.
It was a futile wait, all in all. Who was really engaging in this futile act?
Simply ‘waiting’ was no way to stop time from turning back.
After a moment of self-pity, Sion’s expression changed.
Now that he realized his grave misconception, it was time to act.
‘What I need to do is…’
The situation had changed.
He needs to change his actions to match the new situation.
After returning to the past and being imprisoned in the underground prison once again, Sion was dragged into the woods. He saved Laila this time.
Wrapping his arms around her, he purposely fell with her so that she wouldn’t be hit by an arrow.
‘Damn.’
Saving his enemy’s daughter. It was a situation he didn’t particularly like, but he had no choice.
Sion’s new goal was to safely reach the age of eighteen.
To elaborate further, it meant waking up in the temple at the age of eighteen.
Sion had decided to thoroughly investigate the phenomenon of turning back time using the power of the temple.
To do that, he needed to prevent Laila from dying prematurely.
‘Stay alive.’
At least until I turn twenty, like before.
Sion swallowed the words he couldn’t say to the wide-eyed Laila beneath him before he was struck by a second arrow from the forest and knocked unconscious.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
When he opened his eyes, Sion found himself in a familiar house.
No.
Not a “familiar” house.
This is…….
“Mother?”
At Sion’s trembling voice, the middle-aged woman preparing a meal in the kitchen turned around.
“Sion, did you call for me?”
Instead of answering, Sion called out to the person standing behind the middle-aged woman.
“……Father?”
The middle-aged man also turned his head and gave Sion a look.
“What’s wrong?”
This time, Sion’s gaze landed on a young man sitting a little apart from the middle-aged couple.
Or rather, someone who seemed to straddle the line between boyhood and young adulthood.
“Cas..sion?”
The person called out, stopped handling the vegetables, and looked up.
“It’s not Cassion; it’s big brother!”
“Oh, shut up. Why does he always insist on being called Big Brother? Does anyone know the reason?”
“……Adele?”
“I think I know! It’s because Cassion wasted his youth. The more someone wastes their youth, the more they cling to superficial titles.”
“Oh.”
“……Asili.”
“Cassion! Don’t chop the carrots too finely! I’ll have to pick them out of the soup later.”
“Ray.”
“Why does he dislike carrots? I think they’re delicious.”
“Mike…….”
“I like rabbit-shaped carrots. Chop them into rabbit shapes for me.”
“…Cecile.”
Sion blinks slowly.
What on earth is happening here?
His family, except for Cecile, had clearly all died.
His house was burned to the ground without a trace.
Why was the house intact, and his family…
‘No way?’
Sion looked down at his hand.
It was small.
‘…Did I return?’
Back to before the house burned down? Back to before his family died a miserable death?
He’d hoped and wanted it so many times, but when it happened, he stood there, stunned, unable to believe it.
Suddenly, a middle-aged woman walked up to him, took a handkerchief from her pocket, and wiped his forehead.
“Why is he sweating so much? He’s not even in front of the fire.”
As the woman spoke, Cecile, who had been nearby, approached Sion quietly.
“Is something wrong? Sion, are you hurt? Why? Are you in a lot of pain?”
A gentle touch.
A voice full of concern.
Ah.
Even if it’s a fantasy, it’s fine. If this is a dream, I want to be trapped in it for life.
That’s what Sion thought at that very moment.
Boom!
The surroundings were suddenly engulfed in flames. And at the same time, Sion’s family moved away from him.
It was an unreal sight, but at that moment, Sion didn’t have the presence of mind to acknowledge such things.
“Cecile!”
Sion tried to rush towards Cecile, who was the closest to him.
But his feet didn’t move.
He felt like invisible shackles were wrapped around both his ankles.
Sion reached out in place.
“Mother! Father!”
Even one person.
“Cassion!”
Just one person.
“Adele!”
Please.
“Asili, Ray, Mike…!”
The once-defiant Sion soon crumbled.
He couldn’t reach.
No matter how hard he tried, Sion’s hands couldn’t reach any of his family members.
“No, don’t die, don’t die, no……. Please, it’s my fault. I’ll die instead. I’ll die, so…”
Please don’t take my family.
At some point, a pillar of fire fell on Sion, who was crying while making a wish without knowing who he was speaking to.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Sion struggled to open his eyes.
But even after opening them, he couldn’t see clearly.
Like looking out through an opaque window, everything appeared blurry.
Suddenly, his throat felt dry.
In the haze of consciousness and sight, Sion absentmindedly reached for his throat. Then he felt a small cloth in his hand.
A …… handkerchief.
As his fingertips touched the soft fabric, Sion easily guessed what it was.
Suddenly, a scene flashed in Sion’s mind.
The house, not engulfed in flames.
Inside it, his mother was tenderly wiping his forehead with a handkerchief.
“…….”
Sion tightly grasped the handkerchief and closed his eyes again.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
It was unexpected.
Sitting up in the large bed, Sion thought to himself.
‘I can’t believe I’m not dead…’
After falling in the forest with Laila and taking the arrow in the shoulder, Sion had resigned himself to death.
Or, more accurately, he hoped he would.
That way, when he opens his eyes again, he will be in the temple.
However, contrary to his expectations, Sion woke up in a bedroom.
His body was still ten years old.
It was a failure.
‘This is troublesome.’
Sion’s expression darkened.
He had no desire to stay alive much longer at this point.
It was only natural.
There was nothing he could do, even if he stayed alive.
Sion looked down at his small, frail hands.
Even after rubbing his eyes, he could not find any strength in his feeble body.
