***
“She disappeared…? Is there any special information about Maria?”
“No. But why do you keep asking about Maria? She’s just an ordinary maid.”
“If you don’t like it, give me my money back!”
“Hah, I was just sulking because you weren’t paying me any attention, Seraphina. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even care about Aurora.”
“Argh!”
I instinctively grabbed the back of my neck again. Aurora had an incredible talent for getting under my skin.*
“Well, I guess it’s not strange that you’re asking about Maria. She was a very special person!”
Aurora’s eyes lit up as if she was recalling something.
“Yeah! When I was little, Maria was extraordinary! She used magic that didn’t belong to this world!”
“Not from this world?”
“She could use magic without mathematical calculations.”
“Is that even possible?”
As Ghieuspe narrowed his eyes, I once again became certain—Maria was a dimensional traveler.
Every bit of information I had gathered from Aurora so far pointed to Maria having a special power beyond this world.
Unlike me, who had possessed Seraphina’s body, Maria had arrived in this world in her own body. That meant she might have a special power strong enough to defeat Princess Eva.
I needed more information about Maria—desperately.
“And sometimes, Maria would say strange things.”
“What kind of things?”
“She said she designed this world.”
“What?”
“She said that’s why I had no choice but to love her… and that she wanted to change my fate. It was really weird. I didn’t believe her, but maybe there was a hidden meaning behind her words.”
Now I was absolutely certain.
Maria had loved Aurora and changed her fate by altering her personality. She was the original creator of this world—the one who destroyed the original story.
Maria…
She was the author of this novel.
Maria was the one who wrote Try to Run Away for Once!
‘I have to find her.’
If she was the one who designed this world, then she must possess even greater powers.
I needed to find her and use her help to defeat Princess Eva.
“Aurora, that means it’s time to stop running and let yourself be caught!”
Oops, I had meant to persuade Aurora, but my words came out harsher than I intended. Guess I was still feeling bitter.
“Seraphina, you really sound like a villain right now.”
“Shut up, Raffaelo! Aurora, let’s go back to the Boleno Kingdom together!”
At those words, Aurora’s expression turned ice-cold.
She had always been cheerful and smiling, but now, with her hardened expression, she looked like a cold, elegant beauty.
Crossing her arms, she spoke in a firm tone.
“No, I’m not going back. I absolutely refuse.”
“Ugh, my money—no, no. I won’t ask you for my money anymore! Just come back with us! We need you!”
I needed Aurora to find Maria’s traces, and I needed Maria’s power to fight against Princess Eva.
Aurora let out a thoughtful hum before speaking as if she were doing me a favor.
“Alright, I’ll let you ask whatever you’re curious about.”
“Curious about?”
“Seraphina, you’re interested in Maria, aren’t you? I don’t know why, but since Maria was special, I suppose that makes sense. I’ll answer your questions about her.”
Hearing that, I looked at Aurora with surprise. There was still information about Maria that hadn’t been revealed!
“Do you remember anything particularly special about Maria?”
“Hmm, Maria had a really unique personality, but…”
Considering Aurora’s personality came from Maria, that meant Maria must have been quite the character herself.
“Do you remember anything about her appearance?”
“Her appearance?”
“When she first came to the House of Marquess Shae as a maid, she looked about the same age as I am now. But the strange thing was—Maria didn’t age.”
“She didn’t age…?”
“Yeah. But when I reached the age to debut in high society, I remember that Maria suddenly started aging. Back then, I just thought she aged a little late, but looking back, it was a rather sudden change.”
I couldn’t determine the cause of that phenomenon, but I made a mental note of the fact that Maria suddenly began aging one day.
Now, what else should I ask…? Ah, I should confirm this just to be sure.
“Aurora, you once said the name of Maria’s homeland was hard to pronounce, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Was it… ‘Republic of Korea’?”
“Oh! That’s right! That sounds familiar!”
Aurora’s eyes widened in surprise.
“How do you know that country’s name?!”
That confirmed it—Maria was from the same world as me.
Maria was the author of Try to Run Away for Once.
“Do you really not know where Maria went?”
“Well… actually, when I was about to debut in high society, Maria said she wanted to see more of this world and left the Marquess Shae household. She told me she had saved up quite a lot of money while working there. But even after leaving, she still sent me letters from time to time…”
“And then?”
“Right before I ran away with your money, I received a letter from Maria. That was the last time she ever contacted me.”
“What did she write in her final letter?”
“That’s the weird part….”
Aurora hesitated before revealing the contents of the letter.
“I have fallen in love with this world too much… and because of that, I was ultimately defeated.”
“What?”
“That’s all it said.”
Hearing those words, we were all left dumbfounded.
Because… we couldn’t understand what it meant.
Who did she lose to? And what did falling in love with this world have to do with being defeated?
Could Maria have fought against Princess Eva and lost? That was the only enemy we could think of right now…
Regardless, I made sure to remember her words carefully.
This might be useful someday.
“Hmm… This really is strange….”
As I tilted my head in thought, Aurora suddenly spoke up.
“Let’s talk about something else. There’s something I want to tell you too.”
“Hmm? Alright, go ahead.”
“You know, Seraphina…”
Aurora smiled softly, her eyes curving with amusement.
“So, you really are a humanities scholar, huh?”
Hearing her question, I shrugged.
“Maybe? Why do you ask?”
“Are you still practicing magic? Awakening as a spatial mage is something to celebrate, but you hate math, don’t you?”
“Well….”
I didn’t dislike math as much as the original Seraphina did, but I didn’t love it either. If I had to choose, Aurora was right—I was much more interested in the humanities.
“You know, I mentioned something about a mission earlier.”
“Yeah?”
“I believe that every person is born into this world for a reason, and they should live for that purpose.”
“Uh… why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?”
I blinked at the sudden shift in conversation, but Aurora continued naturally.
“I just want you to live doing what you truly want to do.”
“Well, right now, what I want is to capture you, you little brat.”
“…Other than that, hehehe.”
Aurora chuckled mischievously.
“Anyway, think carefully about what you truly want. You only get one life. You can’t just spend it doing things you hate, right? I want you to live ideally.”
“Do not abandon your ideals. Do not discard the hero that resides within your soul.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
When I murmured Nietzsche’s famous quote, Aurora nodded as if that was exactly what she meant.
“Yep! You look much happier chasing me than you ever did studying magic!”
…Was that true?
Of course, I didn’t know much about the original Seraphina, but…
‘I look happy?’
In my previous world, no one had ever told me that before.
But now, in this world…
Was I happy?
🍓; * Getting under my skin is an idiom that means someone or something is irritating, bothering, or annoying you. It suggests that the issue is affecting you deeply or emotionally, often in a way that’s hard to ignore.
