Side Story 1: This Kind of Future
“Miss!”
Miss?
Laila thought in a drowsy state.
But I’m not a “Miss”…
When they kept calling me “Miss”…
I should’ve realized it then…
What?
Laila forced her sleepy eyes open. Through her blurry vision, she saw the face of a maid busy trying to wake her up.
It was a very familiar maid to Laila.
Marie.
But…
Laila suddenly opened her eyes wide and jumped out of bed. Startled by Laila’s sudden movement, Marie took a step back from the bed.
However, Laila was undoubtedly more shocked than Marie.
“Marie? Your face…”
“Yes?”
“Why do you look younger?”
“Yes?”
Marie tilted her head in confusion, not understanding Laila’s words.
Meanwhile, Laila’s mind was racing with panic.
What is going on? Laila belatedly looked around.
It was a familiar bedroom. But at the same time, it was a place where Laila should not be right now.
Hildegarde Castle. Top floor. Bedroom.
Words jumbled together in her mind. How could this be happening?
Why did Marie look at least ten years younger, and why was she in the bedroom she used to sleep in when she was young?
‘When I was young…’
Leaving Marie behind, Laila moved. Ignoring Marie’s concerned voice, “Miss Laila!” she stumbled forward.
Laila soon arrived in front of a full-length mirror.
“This can’t be…”
It can’t be.
The girl, about ten years old, trapped in the mirror, muttered the same words.
‘Am I ten years old? Why? Did I return to the past?’
But that’s impossible. The “regression stone” was gone. The Moon Clan had burned it completely, using the Moon Clan’s flame.
Even if the Moon Clan had lied and hadn’t actually destroyed the regression stone back then…
“I’ve changed bodies. The body of Laila Hildegarde, who swallowed the Stone of Regression, is no longer my body. So why…?”
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t accept the situation as it was.
“What happened to Laila Hildegarde’s body? And Neid…?”
Her heart pounded heavily. She couldn’t do anything but think.
As Laila sat in front of the full-length mirror, dazed for a while, Marie cautiously approached her.
“Miss, are you okay?”
Is she okay?
No, she’s not okay. Obviously.
But she didn’t have the energy to say that she wasn’t okay.
When Laila remained silent, Marie studied her expression and spoke again.
“Did you have a bad dream, perhaps?”
“…A dream?”
Laila quickly turned her head. Her pink hair lifted slightly before settling on her small, rounded shoulders.
Laila and Marie’s eyes met. Marie swallowed nervously as she watched her young mistress, who had been acting strangely for a while now.
Marie couldn’t help but think about how terrible this “Hildegarde Marquisate” was.
Even if someone who was perfectly fine yesterday suddenly went mad today… it wouldn’t be that surprising here.
But she hoped that her mistress wouldn’t meet such a fate.
Swallowing that thought, Marie spoke.
“You mentioned earlier that I looked younger, and you were looking in the mirror… In your dream, did we look different from how we do now?”
“Marie…”
“Yes, Miss. I’m Marie, your personal maid. We’re in Hildegarde Marquisate, and you are the daughter of the…”
Marie hesitated for a moment, trying to remember which daughter Laila was. Suddenly, Laila smiled.
“Thank you.”
“Huh?”
Marie blinked and stared at Laila.
Her face was filled with expectation, as if waiting for an explanation, but Laila didn’t feel the need to speak again.
Instead, she thought to herself.
‘This is a dream.’
There was a simple, clear answer, and yet she hadn’t realized it until now.
Perhaps it was because of the memories of when she actually regressed to this time period.
Sigh.
Laila was startled.
She absentmindedly brought her hand to her stomach, then shook her head.
The “Neid” she had to care for was no longer inside her.
‘But this is the first time I’ve ever dreamed about the past…’
Looking back, that was true. The days she spent at Hildegarde were nothing short of a nightmare, yet that time had never actually returned to haunt her as a literal “nightmare.”
Until now.
‘I wonder what’s changed…’
This kind of change was definitely not welcome.
“Marie, do you know how to wake up from a dream?”
“To wake up from a dream… well, I’m not sure. I’ve always just naturally woken up. I don’t think I’ve ever thought about wanting to wake up while dreaming.”
“Hmmm.”
“Usually, when people dream, they don’t realize it’s a dream.”
“Right? That’s how it normally is.”
What a strange dream! Laila thought so in passing.
‘Maybe I’ll just wait for a bit.’
Realizing that she wasn’t suddenly thrown back in time but simply dreaming gave Laila some peace of mind.
At the same time, a sense of curiosity arose.
How far will this dream go?
‘I hope it’s not too long. I want to see Sion…’
Sion.
Wait.
Laila, who had been feeling calm, suddenly shifted again, urgently grabbing Marie’s arm.
Marie looked startled but met Laila’s gaze with a resigned expression, as if she had half-expected this.
“Marie, what’s the date today? Tell me the year, too.”
“Uh, well… it’s April 19th, year 332 of the Kingdom Calendar.”
An unforgettable date flashed through Laila’s mind.
Kingdom Calendar, May 11th, year 332.
The moment Laila had returned to countless times before.
But now, it was about three weeks earlier than that. Which means…
“Marie, why did you wake me up? You don’t usually come to wake me in the mornings.”
“Huh? Oh, that’s because the Marquis is leaving for the capital today…”
Laila squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again.
Now I get it.
The meaning of this dream.
What I wanted to do, even if just in a dream…
Thud!
“Miss Laila!”
Ignoring the call she’d already heard so many times after waking up, Laila dashed out of the bedroom.
She grabbed the railing and ran down the stairs like a madwoman. She missed a step halfway down and tumbled, but at that moment, Laila was certain.
“It doesn’t hurt!”
As expected, she was dreaming.
“Still… even in a dream, I can’t do anything about this terrible stamina.”
If only she could fly like a wizard. But unfortunately, no such convenient thing happened.
Laila ran with all her might on her two legs and managed to catch the Marquis of Hildegarde before he left his room.
“Laila?”
“F-father…”
She nearly bit her tongue. It was hard to tell whether it was because she was out of breath or because she felt disgusted saying the word “Father.”
Anyway, Laila straightened her posture and lifted her head after catching her breath in front of the Marquis of Hildegarde.
‘…Just the same.’
Of course, since this was her dream, the Marquis of Hildegarde looked exactly as she remembered him.
The hair, the build, the height, the color of his eyes.
And that cold gaze.
In the past, if she had really been her ten-year-old self, she would have shrunk under such a chilling look. But now, Laila raised the corners of her lips into a smile instead.
That unexpected reaction seemed to pique the Marquis’s interest. Just as he was about to leave the room, he sat down on the armrest of a nearby sofa rather than dismissing her.
“Is something so urgent that you forgot both my teachings and basic manners?”
His teachings, huh?
Yes, the Marquis had always been like that. He would never tolerate any child who disrupted or interfered with his plans, no matter how minor the issue.
If the current Laila were to say—
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to greet you before anyone else, Father.”
—she knew exactly what would happen.
Laila was certain. For the “crime” of disrupting the Marquis’s schedule by even a few minutes for such a “trivial” reason, she would be locked in a windowless room for at least half a day.
