#112

It had been over a hundred years since the Hebel Treaty ended the practice of crossing into each other’s territories without permission.

Now that it was known that some unknown rabble was freely roaming the continent, it couldn’t simply be overlooked.

On top of that, the audacity to target Jabis pheromones was an outrageous provocation.

Since they had given the pretext first, there was no reason to hesitate.

Zakari gave an order to Herman.

“Display Victor Orban’s head on the Jabis border gate, and divide his body according to the number of ruling families across each territory—send a piece to each of them.”

This was a declaration of war. It was an act meant to strike fear into those allied with the forces that had threatened Jabis, and to demand active cooperation from those who weren’t.

“As of today, the Hebel Treaty is null and void. Use any means necessary to identify the forces threatening Jabis.”

“I receive your command.”

Herman answered respectfully, lowering one knee to the ground.

* * *

At the very moment Zakari ordered the nullification of the Hebel Treaty…

Cersia was meeting with Ella. They had something to discuss privately.

Ella fidgeted as if she had something to hide. Cersia spoke in a gentle tone.

“There’s no one here but us, so you can speak freely.”

“…”

“You knew who Keinhrih was from the beginning, didn’t you?”

Ella fidgeted with her nails and then gave a small nod. She seemed to understand that there was no point in lying anymore.

“At first, I didn’t recognize him either. Back at the lab, I never saw him in his human form. If he hadn’t spoken to me first, I probably wouldn’t have recognized him at all.”

“Then why did you pretend not to know him afterward?”

“I didn’t think we’d meet again so soon. Besides… Keinhrih was supposed to be dead by now…”

Ella trailed off, sighing deeply with a cryptic expression.

Cersia tilted her head.

“What do you mean, ‘supposed to be dead’? What are you talking about?”

The way she spoke was as if she knew the future, and it caught Cersia off guard. But Ella didn’t even seem to notice her reaction.

Something had changed.

If it were the Zerakiel of the past, he wouldn’t have cared whether Keinhrih died from a pheromone outburst or not.

The one who changed him was undoubtedly the woman standing before her—Cersia Jabis.

‘Could you be the one to change the future?’

Ella’s thoughts spiraled. Just before she returned to the past, the entire continent had fallen into chaos from pheromone rampages.

Even Hiscleif, who tried to protect her, and Zerakiel, were on the verge of madness.

At that time, nowhere was safe except Hebel. Most beastmen suffering from pheromone-induced madness avoided Hebel for some reason.

As a result, waves of beastmen flooded toward Hebel, and even that land went into emergency mode.

It was then that Naaman insisted the only way to end this catastrophe was to offer the saintess as a sacrifice.

And the moment she was sacrificed, Ella found herself returned to the past.

Recalling the moment when her heart had frozen over, Ella continued in a trembling voice.

“Maybe this time, things changed because of you, Lady Cersia. Whenever the black lion behaved strangely, you were always there.”

Maybe he saw Cersia in Keinhrih, and that’s why he showed mercy.

After all, she too had been an abandoned beastman.

That small kindness, something the original Zerakiel would never have shown.

A different future.

At its center was Cersia Jabis.

Ella trembled as though she had uncovered a hidden treasure.

“If Keinhrih survived because of that, then maybe the future really can change.”

“Ella, are you saying…?”

Cersia’s eyes widened at the suggestion the future could be changed. That would mean Ella knew the future, just like she did.

She’d always felt something was off. Not just that Ella stayed in Hebel instead of with the Page family, but that she also lacked pheromones, which contradicted the original story.

But what if Ella had intentionally avoided her original fate because she already knew what was going to happen?

“Don’t tell me… you entered Hebel on purpose…”

Cersia covered her mouth, unable to finish the sentence. In response, Ella finally spoke her truth.

“Yes. I ran away. This time, I wanted to live.”

“You wanted to live?”

That was no different from saying she had already died once. Before she could even process the meaning of those words, Ella continued.

“I’m from the future.”

“!”

“I didn’t want to die again after just being used, like before. I wanted to try everything I could.”

Ella pulled something from within her clothes. A broken bracelet with a shattered crimson gem.

“That’s…”

As Cersia instinctively leaned in to examine the bracelet—

—Topaz of Time?

Tabby recognized the relic and muttered blankly. Jonathan then burst out in alarm.

—Where did she get that? It wasn’t even in the treasury!

Though Ella couldn’t possibly hear them, the two Guardians continued peppering her with questions, clearly rattled. Tabby floated around the bracelet, muttering seriously.

—It’s already broken… that means time has already been reversed. The Topaz of Time can only be used once, the moment a contract is made.

—Which is why the contract has to be chosen carefully. Turning back time always comes at a cost.

Cersia had thought it looked similar to a bracelet she wore herself—it really was a relic.

She couldn’t hide her shock and asked,

“Then… Ella really did turn back time?”

—Yeah. Now I get why the story you read got discontinued.

—If the Topaz of Time got involved, then it makes sense. The future was artificially altered. The author couldn’t write what came next.

Tabby and Jonathan took turns explaining about the broken Topaz of Time.

The conclusion: by rewinding time, Ella had erased the future that Cersia read in ‘The Kingdom of Ella’.

—So that’s why she looked familiar.

Tabby finally realized why Ella had seemed so familiar and murmured quietly.

Cersia, too, felt all the mystery and inconsistency suddenly click into place.

Ella spoke.

“That’s right. I turned back time just before I died. The moment I was sacrificed alive, Lem appeared.”

It seemed ‘Lem’ was the name of the guardian of the Topaz of Time.

“A sacrifice…?”

Cersia felt breathless upon hearing that Ella, a saintess, had been sacrificed. There was no such storyline in ‘The Kingdom of Ella’.

The ruthlessness of people who were all too willing to sacrifice the few for the greater good. And Ella, who had to be offered alive among them.

Even if she had been sacrificed, there was no guarantee that the disaster had ended. If it had, Cersia would never have possessed this body.

“Everyone was desperate at the time.”

“That’s…”

“Lem told me I had to go back. That it was the only way to change the future. The future I lived through was horrifying. Beastmen lost their reason and became nothing more than animals driven by pheromones.”

Ella trembled like a brittle leaf in the wind.

“I tried to stop the war, but it only led to an even greater catastrophe.”

Something must have gone terribly wrong while trying to prevent the conflict. When Cersia held her hand tightly, Ella finally managed to speak.

“To be honest, I didn’t turn back time for some grand reason like saving the world… I just wanted to survive.”

“…I understand.”

Cersia would have done the same. In a world that had gone mad, anyone would do anything just to escape.

She didn’t know everything about the future Ella had experienced, but it must have been terrifying.

The part about beastmen losing their reason suggested a connection to the “Butterfly” organization. Cersia cautiously asked,

“Then the time you said you saw a beastman have a seizure after taking illegal drugs…”