Of course, Laila was no longer afraid of that kind of dim room. Even if she had to take a few hits to her calves before being locked up, it was the same.
After all, it wouldn’t hurt.
And most importantly, Laila wouldn’t be locked in that room or get hit on her calves after leaving this place.
“Father, actually… there’s something I’ve kept a secret from you until now.”
She had imagined it countless times.
What if.
Just for a moment.
If she were to regress before Sion lost his family and home…
Could she prevent Sion’s misfortune?
In the past, she had answered “no.” She thought it was impossible. The one who brought terrible misfortune to Sion was the villain, and she believed she didn’t have the power to oppose or stop such a villain.
‘But that…’
Now, Laila realized that it had been a wrong judgment.
To be precise, it was a story that only applied when the regressed Laila was still an oblivious ten-year-old.
Having reached adulthood and then “becoming” ten years old again, Laila possessed a weapon that hadn’t existed before her regression.
And she had already used that weapon to bring down Marquis Hildegarde. In reality.
“A secret?”
“I can see the future.”
“What?”
“I have prophetic dreams. Occasionally.”
Marquis Hildegarde did not dismiss Laila. He didn’t scold her for talking nonsense.
Unlike Sion, her hearing was ordinary, so she couldn’t hear it directly, but Laila was certain that Marquis Hildegarde’s heart was beating faster and louder than usual right now.
Marquis Hildegarde had always been waiting for and expecting something.
For a “special child.”
“I had a prophetic dream this morning. That’s why I took the risk of being rude and hurried to see you, Father.”
“…What was the dream about?”
Laila lowered her eyes so that her eyelashes pointed downward. After covering her pupils with tightly woven pink threads, she imitated a frightened voice and said, “If you go to the capital today… you will die.”
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
It was the truth.
Even thinking back on it, it was still true.
If he had gone to the capital following his original schedule, Marquis Hildegarde would undoubtedly have repeated the actions he took in the past.
He would have killed Sion’s family, burned down Sion’s house, and even captured young Sion.
And then he would have killed Sion again…
And then Sion would have killed him… 10 years from now.
That was the future Laila knew, or rather, the future she had seen and experienced multiple times.
However, Laila did not honestly convey that future to the marquis.
‘He wouldn’t believe it.’
To be more precise, he wouldn’t want to believe it.
The orphan child he had toyed with would one day become a hero and execute him…
‘He’d rather cut off my head than believe that future.’
Laila didn’t want to suffer an “accidental death” for mocking the marquis with lies.
In truth, it didn’t matter whether she faced an “accidental death” or not.
Just because she died in a dream didn’t mean she would really die. It wouldn’t hurt either.
But…
‘Then I can’t stop Sion’s misfortune even in my dreams.’
So Laila spoke falsehoods instead of the truth.
“You will have an accident. I saw a scene where the carriage overturned.”
After saying that, Laila grabbed the marquis’s leg and clung to him. She begged him not to go to the capital.
Even if he had to go, she begged him to go next year, not this year.
She added that she didn’t want to lose her father, letting out a sob. She thought about squeezing out real tears since she was at it, but biting her lips tightly didn’t make her feel any pain, so she failed to cry.
However, while she failed to cry, fortunately, she succeeded in the most important thing: “convincing the marquis.”
Although it seemed the marquis still didn’t trust Laila—she didn’t expect that much—he must have felt uneasy about the idea of dying, as he canceled his trip to the capital.
‘Well, but he can’t avoid going to the capital forever…’
Laila started to think.
She needed to go to the capital before Marquis Hildegarde. And there she had to meet Sion and his family and evacuate them far away from the marquis’s sight…
‘…But is that really necessary?’
Laila frowned and shifted her thoughts in another direction.
‘The villain randomly discovered the orphanage where Sion was and set it on fire. Since the timing is already off, there’s no guarantee he would discover that orphanage again when he goes to the capital next time and wants to set it on fire…’
Isn’t that unlikely?
Laila’s lips twitched.
So, have I already prevented Sion’s misfortune?
“Hoho…”
Laila, smiling as she imagined hopefully, suddenly paused.
But if that’s the case, why haven’t I woken up from this dream?
Having achieved the goal of preventing Sion’s misfortune, there shouldn’t be any reason to keep dreaming this dream.
“Hmm…”
As Laila pondered, she raised her right hand and slapped her own right cheek hard.
The sound of her palm hitting her soft flesh echoed loudly. But that was all.
‘I’m not waking up. It still doesn’t hurt.’
Then it happened.
“Laila Hildegarde!”
Bam.
A boy burst into the bedroom and walked straight toward Laila.
Laila blinked slowly, looking at the boy’s soft, tomato-red hair.
‘Thomis.’
Is it because it’s a dream?
It felt strange. Thomis didn’t seem like a real person but rather… like an actor in a play.
His role was that of an extra.
Thomis approached Laila and then hesitated. Perhaps he found Laila’s reaction—merely staring blankly at him without surprise or confusion—strange.
No, it felt more like he was bothered by it.
The moment Thomis grabbed her hair, Laila understood his mindset.
“Why are you staring like that? You’re being insolent!”
“Haah.”
Her hair didn’t hurt, but the situation was absurd. To have Thomis act like this right after entering was truly a realistic dream.
‘No, maybe it’s more realistic than reality? I don’t think I’ve ever had my hair pulled in real life…’
Perhaps her past self had managed to avoid getting her hair pulled.
“Hey! Are you ignoring me?”
“Why are you here?”
“Wow, you’re talking back…”
“Just get to the point.”
Laila almost told him to let go of her hair, but she stopped. If it had hurt, she would have pushed Thomis away, but she only felt something pulling at her hair.
Of course, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling, so Laila didn’t plan to stay like this for long. However, she was a bit curious about why Thomis had suddenly shown up, so she decided to give him a moment.
“I heard you babbled nonsense to Father?”
“Nonsense?”
“That you can see the future…”
“Ahh.”
Wait, how did that slip out? Did Marquis Hildegarde mention it? But in reality, the marquis had tried to keep Laila’s prophetic abilities to himself…
“I heard it all from Angela.”
Laila’s eyes widened. That was a name she hadn’t heard in a while. Angela.
‘Right. Right now, Asilis is pretending to be Angela and is sticking close to Thomis.’
She was starting to understand the situation. Perhaps when she was in the bedroom, talking about the future to persuade Marquis Hildegarde, Asilis happened to be nearby.
Asilis had excellent hearing. Though she had never said it herself, Laila believed it was highly likely.
‘So she relayed what she overheard to Thomis.’
The reason… well, was there really a reason?
From what Laila remembered, Asilis had just played around with Vilhel and the marquis’s butler for fun.
It wouldn’t be strange to assume that Thomis was also one of the people Asilis manipulated for fun.
“Coward! You think you can get Father’s attention with such lies?”
“It’s not a lie. I actually dozed off for a moment just now and saw the future.”
“What?”
“In that future…”
Laila stretched out both hands and grabbed a handful of Thomis’s hair.
“You were crying your eyes out.”
