~Chapter 01~
“Okay, it’s done…”
My heart was pounding as if it was about to explode.
I stood, overwhelmed with emotion, looking down at the magic circle glowing with a blue light beneath my feet.
“It’s done! Finally, it’s complete!”
This complex magic circle, covering the floor of the secret underground lab in my mansion, was the result of years of my research, effort, and sacrifices of time, health, and even my soul.
I called it “Time Reversal Magic.”
Yes, it was magic to travel back in time.
“Just wait, Aska. Now, Relshiz Baltain will defeat you and become the greatest magician!”
The reason I desperately wanted this “time reversal magic” was simple.
Aska Willovis.
He was a perfect monster—flawless in appearance, skill, and even his noble lineage.
He was the one who had made me the second-best student at the academy and, upon graduation, became the youngest “Dawn Tower Master” at the same time.
My lifelong rival, Aska Willovis!
He was the one I had to defeat.
“If it weren’t for him, I would’ve become the new Dawn Tower Master!”
Just thinking about his handsome face made my teeth grit.
What was the Dawn Tower Master, you ask? It was an honorable position held only by the most powerful magicians in the continent, individuals whom even the king couldn’t easily move.
Ever since I started learning magic, I wanted to become the Dawn Tower Master more than anything.
“If I become the Dawn Tower Master, no one will look down on me. Even the parents who abandoned me will regret it.”
It was about pride or revenge.
I studied tirelessly to prove my worth and talents. I bled during my studies, and there were many times I collapsed during exam periods.
I may have sacrificed my health, but the results were clear. I succeeded in surpassing the well-educated nobles.
“Everything was fine, except…”
Despite my relentless efforts, there was one person I couldn’t defeat—Aska.
He was exceptional from birth.
Unlike me, who grew up not knowing who my parents were and spent my childhood in an orphanage, Aska was the only son of the powerful Willovis family, known for producing great magicians.
Aska Willovis seemed to be destined to ruin my life, always showing up at crucial moments and spoiling my plans.
When I was young, he blocked my adoption. As I grew, he took away my title of “genius,” and in the end, he snatched the position of Dawn Tower Master, something I had desperately wanted.
Just thinking about it made me feel humiliated and angry.
Suddenly, my stomach churned, and I took a deep breath to calm myself.
Calm down. It’s fine now.
I could go back in time and change everything!
“If I succeed in reversing time, I’ll get adopted by a noble couple. Then, I’ll erase my orphanage records. That way, I can shed the label of a commoner orphan.”
In this harsh class-based society, my origins would always hold me back, probably for the rest of my life.
So, I had to go back. To the moment where I could fix everything.
“This time, I won’t let Aska get in my way.”
But that wasn’t all. If I returned with all my current knowledge of magic, people would see me as a genius of the century.
No matter how good Aska was, he wouldn’t be able to compete with me, someone who had lived through the future.
Once I defeat him, I’ll be the greatest magician.
I took my place at the center of the magic circle, holding an old notebook in my hand.
To go back in time, I needed something from the past. So, I chose the journal I used to practice writing in as a medium for the time reversal.
Now, all that was left was to cast the spell.
“…Alright. Let’s do this.”
I opened the journal and slowly closed my eyes.
With firm resolve, I parted my lips, and the incantation I had memorized day and night naturally flowed from my mouth.
Soon, a powerful flow of mana surrounded me. I had a strong, positive feeling about it.
“Everything will be fine.”
It felt like someone was whispering that in my ear.
Ssssh—
I realized something was off when I was about to say the third part of the incantation.
I opened my eyes slightly, and for some reason, everything was a bright red.
“What… What is this!”
I gasped in shock. The magic circle, which should have been blue, was now stained a blood-red color.
‘This shouldn’t be happening. Why is this happening?’
In a panic, I fumbled as I tried to speak the next incantation.
The magic circle cracked, and a blinding light poured out, far stronger than before.
Kwahhh—!
Sharp mana whipped through the basement like a storm.
“AAAHHHH!”
The last thing I remember is a loud scream.
Then, I collapsed on the floor of the basement.
“…Hey.”
Hmm, just a little longer. Don’t wake me up.
“Hey, I don’t know you, but wake up.”
Five more minutes. No, ten more…
I lazily waved my hand, but someone sharply pinched my cheek.
“Ow! That hurts!”
My eyes snapped open. The first thing I saw was a dull, gray ceiling. Where was this?
‘Ah, it’s my basement.’
I wasn’t too surprised to wake up after fainting. It wasn’t the first time I’d passed out from overwork.
‘But what happened to make me end up like this?’
Right after I asked myself that, the memories came back to me like a lightning strike.
The failed time reversal magic, the unknown error, the complete failure!
I jumped up immediately.
“Dammit, this means I didn’t go back to the past, right? I’m still in my basement?”
I blinked a few times, and my vision slowly began to focus. Gradually, a small figure in front of me became clearer.
“Wow, you’re awake. Are you okay, unnie?”
It was a child.
A very cute girl with grayish-brown hair and clear, light green eyes, like a little doll.
“Our director said if you sleep on the cold floor, you’ll catch a cold. So, I pinched you to make sure you wouldn’t catch one.”
The expression on the child’s face seemed to say, “I did well, right?”
“Yeah, thanks…”
Wait a minute.
“But where did you come from?”
“Huh?”
The child tilted her head. I also tilted my head, puzzled. Who was this kid?
“How did you get in here?”
I ran my fingers through my messy hair and asked. The child shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“Yeah, I just woke up here.”
My mansion had several layers of defensive magic set up for security. There was no way a child who probably didn’t know anything about magic could have gotten through all of that to reach the basement. The most likely cause was the failed time travel experiment.
A bad feeling was creeping up on me…
“Do you live around here? Do you have any parents or guardians?”
I looked the child over as I asked.
She looked to be about six years old. She was wearing a large white dress, which seemed like it had been handed down. For some reason, it seemed familiar.
“…Have I seen you somewhere before?”
“I want to ask something too!”
At that moment, the child raised her little fist and looked up at me. Her soft face made me feel strange.
‘This is so weird. It’s like I’m looking at myself when I was little.’
Her hair color, eye color, and even her face were so similar to mine that someone who didn’t know us might mistake us for family.
“Oh, okay. Go ahead.”
“Umm…”
The child bit her lower lip while tightly clutching the hem of her dress. Now that I noticed, that habit was exactly the same as mine.
“Unnie, are you a kidnapper?”
“What, what?”
I was so stunned by her absurd statement that I almost doubted my ears. The child wiggled her fingers and mumbled more.
“If you are, you picked the wrong person. I’m an orphan, and… I don’t have any adults who will pay for me…”
I was briefly shocked by the child’s tragic backstory, but then the word “kidnapper” hit me hard.
‘If I get accused of being a kidnapper, the investigators will raid my mansion…!’
Oh, God.
“K-kidnapper? I’m not a bad person.”
I quickly waved my hands and tried to force a kind smile. The child looked at me suspiciously.
Considering I had attempted forbidden magic, my conscience was pricked, but I still straightened my back and tried to act confident.
“What’s your name? I’ll take you straight home.”
When I asked, the child smiled slightly, looking relieved. Her spring-like green eyes locked onto mine.
“My name is Relshiz. It’s spelled with two L’s in the middle. I stay at Austin Orphanage.”
A chill ran down my spine.
“…Your name is ‘Relshiz’? From Austin Orphanage?”
“Yeah! Isn’t my name pretty?”
“My name is also Relshiz…”
At that, the child’s eyes grew wide.
“Really? Your name is also Relshiz? I’ve never met anyone with the same name before! Wow!”
As the excited child looked at me, I shut my mouth.
The uncanny resemblance to myself, the same habits, the identical name spelling, and the fact that she came from Austin Orphanage…
And most importantly, the failed time travel magic I had attempted…
My brain, overly sharp, quickly arrived at a conclusion I didn’t want to believe.
“…Could it be… me, when I was a child?”
Just then, my eyes met those of the innocent little Relshiz. My blood ran cold.
