Chapter 01 …

Even when he blinked, all he could see was darkness.

Rattle-rattle-rattle, rattle-rattle-rattle……

“Uuughhh…… Nghhh.”

By now, Briant no longer curled up at the groans that came through the walls or the sounds of insects with dozens of legs crawling all around him.

Drip. Drip-drip. Drip.

Water droplets fell from the ceiling at regular intervals. The water dripped from here and there without any fixed location, and the stench of urine filled the air. Apparently, the floor above was where they gathered and disposed of the filth and vomit produced by the prisoners.

“Hh…….”

Briant closed his eyes tightly as he inhaled air thick with dust and foul odors. Beneath his firmly pressed lips, his chin—covered in layers of dried blood—trembled faintly. His beautiful golden hair, once praised for resembling sunlight, was now more filthy than the straw scattered across a pigsty, matted with vomit.

“Ugh…….”

He took several shallow breaths, trying to endure the pain stabbing into his lungs.

Please, just kill me.

‘It takes three days for stab wounds to recover, and five days for burns.’

‘The recovery time for stab wounds also varies depending on how deeply they were inflicted. This time, the blade was driven deep enough to injure his internal organs, so it will probably take longer than usual.’

‘Is it because his blood is mixed with that filthy demon blood? Even with his body in that state, he’s still breathing.’

The words he had heard while lying naked on an examination table with his hands and feet bound still echoed in his ears.

To them, he was worth less than a cow or pig waiting to be slaughtered.

Before I die, I want to see the sky just once.

There wasn’t a trace of moisture left in his mouth. His cracked lips tasted of the metallic tang of blood. His head, resting against the wall, felt almost weightless. His limbs lay haphazardly on the floor, little more than skin stretched over bones, with the joints protruding sharply.

He couldn’t even remember when his arms and legs had stopped having any strength.

Once Briant could no longer walk, they carried him around from place to place like a piece of luggage. Of his five senses, his hearing was the only one that still worked properly.

“Haa…….”

Briant gathered what little strength remained and sent the tiny amount of mana in his body into his palm. Perhaps because he hadn’t used his strength in so long, his tongue, dulled to taste, could still detect a bitter flavor.

Fssht!

He squeezed out his final breath, but all Briant could create was a weak fragment of blue light.

The light was so pitifully small that it was tinier than a marble children played with.

Briant’s lips slowly curved upward as he looked at it.

At least, in his final moments, he was looking at something other than darkness.

Haa, haa…….

His breathing grew increasingly ragged.

The freedom he had longed for so desperately would only be his after death. Even if this ruined body were torn apart piece by piece by those people, he didn’t care.

It would only be an empty shell.

He just wanted this moment to end as quickly as possible.

And it was then, while Briant was taking his final breaths in time that seemed disgustingly slow, that—

Clack. Clack.

The sound of shoes pressing against the damp floor drew closer.

The footsteps were leisurely yet heavy. They would walk for a while, then stop as though deliberately drawing out the anticipation.

“Egon.”

He barely had enough strength to breathe, yet strangely, his voice carried strength when he called that name.

It was only a name, but his dry lips split, and dark red blood trickled thickly from them.

Perhaps he had heard Briant’s faint voice, because the footsteps suddenly stopped.

Briant shifted his gaze toward the iron bars beyond which he could sense his presence.

“Hearing your voice, I suppose you still have enough strength left to speak. I was worried, not knowing even that.”

It was a bright and cheerful voice, completely out of place in a subterranean prison where not a single ray of sunlight reached.

Briant wanted nothing more than to shower him with the most horrible curse imaginable, but in his current state, that was impossible.

He forced strength into his drooping eyelids and stared ahead.

But even if he opened his eyes, there was nothing he could properly see.

Perhaps because his strength had been dispersed, the tiny light that had barely been floating above his palm scattered into dust in midair.

Fwoosh!

At the same time, an intensely brilliant light—far beyond anything Briant had been able to create—burst through the thick iron bars.

The sudden flood of light bleached everything around him white.

He tried to shield his face with his palm, but his powerless hand couldn’t even manage that.

He squeezed his eyes shut, yet they still burned.

It was as though his eyelids had disappeared.

Red blotches erupted across the skin touched by the white light, followed by countless round blisters.

The more light touched them, the larger they grew, until they popped one after another, oozing thick yellow pus.

“Gah!”

Briant gasped at a pain unlike anything he had experienced before.

The light fired by divine power tore across his entire body, leaving little more than skin, as though it were nothing more than a sheet of paper.

“Tsk!”

Watching Briant tremble like an aspen leaf, Egon clicked his tongue leisurely.

“They say there’s no cure for stupidity. Looking at you, I suppose that’s not entirely wrong. The Emperor isn’t obsessed with hunting demons for no reason.”

Briant had fought with his life on the line, yet the nobles had stripped him of his power merely because he had elven blood in his veins, classified him as a demon, and branded him a Black Witch.

“I still can’t believe it. That this power belongs to me now.”

Egon slowly turned his palm over and examined it.

“And once you die, that beautiful heart of yours will belong to me too.”

His voice was slow and dreamy, as though he were speaking in a dream.

“I hope you die slowly, in agony. That way, your heart will become even more exquisite.”

When Egon shifted his gaze toward Briant, his enormous eyes gleamed as though coated in oil.

Briant felt his breath fading as he looked at the man he had once loved as dearly as his own life.

Then he cursed the person he had once been—the person who had trusted him and given him everything.

Someone like me should never have been born.

Now, with that terrifying power belonging to him, Egon would indulge his greed to his heart’s content.

“Cough!”

Gush!

At the same time as his cough, a sticky, burning liquid sprang from Briant’s throat like a coiled spring.

He thought he was vomiting blood.

But he wasn’t.

It was the ‘Evil’ that had traveled through every corner of his body, draining his strength and planting horrible pain within him.

The day Briant had first fallen into Egon’s arms.

It was something Egon himself had implanted inside him.

The round, sticky mass of Evil writhed on the floor for a long time before gathering its scattered body into a round shape.

Then, wobbling like pudding, it slowly crawled toward Egon.

The Evil had been starving for so long inside that pathetic body that the sight of fresh flesh was more than it could resist.

Egon’s eyes were filled with contempt as he looked at the black mass that had once been inside Briant.

It was no different from the way he looked at Briant himself.

The Evil circled around his soft leather shoes as though trying to act cute, then sharpened the front of its body.

It was trying to crawl between the hems of Egon’s trousers.

Egon had watched in silence until then.

Then he mercilessly crushed the pitch-black thing beneath his foot.

CRUNCH!

Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

The scream of something without a mouth, eyes, or even a physical body was so piercing that Briant wished he could simply go deaf.

Along with the terrible ringing in his ears, warm liquid trickled from both of them.

Just when Briant thought everything was finally over, hurried footsteps approached, accompanied by someone’s voice.

It wasn’t Egon.

“No! Briant! Please…….”

The voice was desperate and heartbroken.

Somehow familiar.

But because his consciousness was fading, he couldn’t bring the face to mind.

All he could feel was regret and affection.

Whoever you are, don’t cry for me.

I’m not worth it.

Despising even his own life, Briant breathed out his final breath.

Thud.

The small head he had barely been able to hold up fell helplessly onto the cold floor.

Gasp!

Briant’s eyes flew open as he desperately gulped down air.

The dazzling light pouring through a transparent window stabbed painfully at his eyes, and he squeezed them shut.

Damn it…….

He wondered if the accursed light Egon had created had followed him even in death to torment him.

A curse escaped his lips.

But then—

Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.

Peep, peep, peep-peep-peep.

Birds?

Still lying down, Briant slowly turned his head from side to side.

His mind, accustomed to pain, tensed at even the slightest movement.

He was afraid that another wave of agony would begin whenever he moved.

But fortunately, nothing hurt.

Then he suddenly felt something smooth and cool beneath his palm.

Briant’s eyes snapped wide open.

“This is…….”

Soft, smooth bedding.

Warm sunlight touching his skin.

A fresh breeze entering through a slightly open window.

The enchanting songs of birds that never stopped.

He had committed so many sins that this couldn’t possibly be heaven.

But no matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem like hell either.

“Where am I?”

The words slipped from his mouth before he realized it.

Then Briant froze.

The young voice that escaped between his lips was unfamiliar.

He covered his mouth with his palm.

Where had his dry lips gone—the ones that cracked and bled whenever he moved them?

The lips beneath his hand were soft and moist.

He slowly turned his head to the side.

Golden hair flowed like waves beside the pillow.

“Ah…….”

It was the same hair that had lost its original color after being covered in filth in the underground prison.

Briant listened to his heart pounding as though it were about to burst from his chest.

Slowly, he sat up and climbed down from the bed.

The feet that entered his field of vision were white and plump.

They were soft like jelly, without a single callus.

And instead of the awful stench of urine, his body smelled like flowers.

Briant barely managed to calm his fear and carefully looked around the room.

His eyes gradually widened.

He knew this place.

“My room.”

The large arched window.

The delicate lace curtains.

Silk wallpaper decorated with tiny floral patterns.

Furniture handcrafted by the skilled craftsmen of Lirat.

Wasn’t the carpenter’s name Humphrey?

The soft curtains fluttered gently in the breeze.

“Ah…….”

Is this a gift given to me before I fall into hell?

I don’t deserve a gift like this.

But if this were a dream, the sensation of the carpet beneath his bare feet and the ticklish feeling of hair brushing against his cheek were far too vivid.

Briant cautiously approached the full-length mirror standing against one wall.

It had been a long time since he had walked.

He struggled to keep his balance and had to stop several times, but eventually reached the mirror without falling.

“Phew…….”

Listening to his pounding heart, Briant placed his right hand against his chest and took a deep breath.

In the mirror stood not a prisoner ruined by torture and disease, but a young girl with flawless, milky skin.

Her eyes shone a brilliant blue, as though the sky itself had been cut out and placed inside them.

Her flushed cheeks were as lovely as ripe peaches.

When the breeze came through the window, her silky golden hair scattered and then settled back into place.

“My lady, you’re awake? Why did you get up so early?”

Briant, who had been standing blankly before the mirror, whipped his head toward the voice.

Light brown hair braided into two pigtails.

Warm gray eyes.

Tiny freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose like a constellation.

A single dimple that appeared whenever she smiled.

The youthful face Briant had missed terribly was exactly as he remembered.

“Jenny?”

The moment Briant spoke Jenny’s name—

Everything in the room stopped.

Jenny, who had been approaching with a bright smile.

The dazzling sunlight pouring through the lace curtains.

Even the beautiful birdsong that had made Briant mistake this place for heaven.

All of it disappeared.

The room became packed with a silence so complete that his ears rang.

Briant was the only person who could move.

“What? What happened?”

His voice echoed emptily, as though he were standing in a vast, empty hall.

Perhaps because he had tasted a fleeting moment of hope.

This moment was even more frightening than dying in the underground prison.

Just as he wished that this was all a dream—

Flutter.

The pages of the book sitting on the vanity suddenly trembled and turned.

The pages were turning even though there was no wind.

It was almost as though the book were telling him to come closer.

Briant glanced around at the frozen surroundings before slowly approaching the bed.

Flutterrrrr.

The book stopped trembling when Briant approached.

It was a book he had never seen before.

“Was there ever a book like this?”

Forgetting his fear, Briant slowly reached toward it.

And the title was strange.

“Regression Guide?”

Golden letters were embossed into the cover of the thick black leather-bound book.

Briant picked it up, tilted his head curiously, and slowly opened it.

[This is an announcement for a subscription to the Regression Guide. Would you like to subscribe?]

Briant’s brows furrowed sharply at the words written on the very first page.

“What does that mean?”

As he hesitated, unsure what to do, a red bar suddenly rose from the Regression Guide.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

Along with a rigid sound that made his heart tighten, the red bar began shrinking.

The more Briant hesitated, the shorter it became.

The book in his hands gradually turned transparent.

“What…… is this?”

[Only yes or no answers are accepted. If you select no, all situations will end.]

The words hadn’t been there a moment ago.

At the same time, everything in the room gradually became blurry.

Jenny’s body became transparent like a ghost, and the objects behind her could be seen through her.

If this continued, everything would disappear.

He had to answer first.

It never even occurred to him that the book might not be able to hear him.

“Yes!”

Click.

The transparent book flickered briefly with a clicking sound before becoming solid and clear again.

“Haa…….”

Briant released a long breath as everything in the room returned to normal.

Hssssss…….

Along with a sound like air leaking from somewhere, new words appeared on the blank page.

[Your subscription to the Regression Guide has begun. After the free trial period ends, a small subscription fee will be required. Do you agree? Only yes or no answers are accepted.]

“Yes.”

If he could remain like this for even a single day, there was nothing he wouldn’t give.

Even if it were his soul, he would gladly hand it over.

Briant’s small hands trembled as he held the book tightly.

[Thank you.]

Flutterrrrr.

With a gust of wind from somewhere, the pages of the blue book flapped violently.

The book was far thicker than an adult man’s forearm.

It continued fluttering for a long while before abruptly stopping as though nothing had happened.

The book looked so worn that it seemed as though it would crumble into dust if handled roughly.

Briant swallowed nervously.

Then, as though commanded by someone, he turned the next page.

Rustle.

When he turned one page, a blank, faded sheet appeared.

In the middle was a lone signature line.

Then more words appeared.

[Would you like to sign?]

There was no reason to hesitate.

“Where’s a pen?”

As soon as Briant muttered the words, a white quill slowly appeared in midair.

After everything that had happened, a quill appearing out of nowhere was hardly surprising.

Without showing any surprise, Briant reached toward the quill floating in the air.

The moment he did, the vertically suspended quill suddenly changed direction.

Its sharp nib stabbed straight into his fingertip.

There was no time to dodge.

“Ow!”

Although the wound was shallow, the pain throbbed all the way to his wrist, and Briant’s eyes watered.

His delicate body, so sensitive to pain after years of unimaginable torture in the underground prison, reacted intensely.

Briant wrapped his other hand around the injured finger.

Heat radiated from the fingertip.

Yet thanks to the vivid pain, his vision somehow became clearer.

In the meantime, the book busily produced more words.

[The blood of the regressor will be used as ink for the signature. After signing, a task that must be completed within 24 hours will be presented. If the task is not completed, all guidance will end, and the regressor will return to the situation immediately before their death.]

Immediately before death…….

Briant remembered the damp, foul-smelling underground prison and Egon Thenacio’s twisted smile.

Even imagining it made him nauseous.

But there was no reason to hesitate.

Briant quickly nodded.

As the explanation continued, the snow-white quill gradually became red from the shaft outward.

A strong scent of blood emanated from it.

Briant reached out again and lightly touched the red feathers.

The quill trembled slightly, causing his small hand to flinch backward.

“I’m scared of something like this?”

Briant gave a faint, humorless chuckle before gripping the quill tightly.

The quill swayed its red feathers gently, like a well-behaved puppy.

Soaked in blood, it was damp and slippery. If he squeezed it tightly enough, it seemed as though the blood would seep straight into his hand.

Briant Lirat Bateanera.

Scratch. Scratch.

The only clear sound in the quiet room was the quill scraping across the paper.

“I’ve signed.”

The moment Briant finished, he stared intently at the book and spoke.

The book seemed to understand him.

The corner of the page he had signed lifted slightly.

It looked like a lady raising the edge of her skirt in greeting.

“Do you want me to turn it?”

Flutter-flutter. Flutter-flutter.

Perhaps it meant yes.

The corner of the page trembled eagerly.

Briant held his breath and carefully lifted the page with one finger.

He handled it delicately, afraid that applying too much pressure might tear it.

Flip.

Unlike its appearance, the page was heavy and sturdy, almost as though it were made of leather.

Unlike the previous page, which contained nothing but the signature line, this page contained several sentences.

The handwriting was so messy that it was difficult to decipher, but Briant narrowed his eyes and concentrated on reading.

[This is the first task presented to the regressor. Find the Spirit Tree in the garden and give it water. Upon completing the task, you will gain eligibility to proceed to the next task and your regression time will be extended by two days.]

I can stay for two more days?

Briant’s heart began pounding wildly.

Not only was this more than a fleeting dream—he could remain here for another two days.

But—

“A Spirit Tree? Is there really such a thing?”

He had no memory of anything like that.

And a Spirit Tree?

If such a thing existed, why would spirit users risk their lives trying to obtain spirit stones?

This was clearly a task that would be difficult to complete within the time limit.

Or perhaps it was impossible from the beginning.

Briant impatiently tapped his feet while waiting for the next instruction.

But that was all.

After giving Briant his task, the book slammed shut.

Poof.

Then it disappeared like dust.

“Huh? Where did it go?”

“My lady, what are you looking for? And when did you get all the way over there again?”

As Briant looked around for the vanished book, Jenny approached and began looking around with him.

She behaved naturally, as though she didn’t even realize she had been frozen in place moments ago.

“Was it a dream?”

Briant stared blankly at the fingertip that had been pierced by the quill.

A vivid red dot remained where the quill had pierced him.

The throbbing pain reaching his wrist was still there.

It wasn’t a dream.

Briant looked around before staring at Jenny’s face for a long time.

Seeing Briant’s dazed expression, tiny wrinkles appeared across Jenny’s nose.

“Are you hungry already? Is it because you woke up early?”

Briant suddenly remembered Jenny’s final appearance before his regression.

“I’m sorry…….”

He suddenly pulled Jenny into his arms.

Jenny had died painfully because of him.

Instead of the metallic smell of blood, she smelled like laundry dried beneath the sun and a little like sweat.

“Haa……. Thank goodness.”

Being held in Jenny’s arms slowly brought Briant back to reality.

Thump, thump.

I can stay here.

A chance has been given to me again.

But I don’t have much time.

Briant’s arms tightened around Jenny.

“My lady? Did you get into trouble again without telling me?”

Jenny’s eyes widened at Briant suddenly hugging her and apologizing.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Jenny didn’t even wait for an answer.

She carefully examined every part of Briant’s body while Briant’s eyes welled with tears.

Fortunately, there was nothing different from the night before.

“No. I just had a scary dream.”

Briant lifted his face from Jenny’s arms and answered cheerfully with a bright smile.

“Goodness. See? You’re still just a baby when you act like this.”

Jenny lifted Briant into her arms and gently patted her back.

Briant still smelled faintly of the sweet, milky scent unique to babies.

The familiar scent softened Jenny’s heart as well.

“Shall I warm up some goat’s milk for you?”

Briant liked goat’s milk more than regular milk.

Jenny had cared for Briant since she was two years old and knew her tastes better than anyone.

“Yes. I want some.”

Briant nodded, acting spoiled.

In reality, she was an adult over twenty years old, but trapped inside a child’s body, she somehow kept wanting to act needy.

Besides, she was a little hungry.

During her time in the underground prison, she had eaten nothing but moldy hard bread and rotten water.

Just hearing the words goat’s milk made her mouth water.

Seeing Briant smack her lips, Jenny’s lips curved gently.

“Wait just a moment. I’ll bring it right away.”

Jenny carefully placed Briant on the bed before leaving.

After Jenny disappeared through the door, Briant sat on the bed and tried to sort through her confused thoughts.

She should have died.

Yet when she opened her eyes, she was in her own room.

And according to the Imperial calendar, it was the year she was eight.

Briant stared at her uninjured palm.

She could strongly feel the mana surging all around her.

“My power has returned.”

Looking down at the tiny palm that looked as though it should be holding candy, Briant spoke in a cold voice.

“Caeruleus Flamma.”

Whoooooosh!

Cold blue flames.

And yet they were powerful enough to burn everything in this world.

The flames roared violently from Briant’s palm.

Before her regression, this ability had not awakened until she was fifteen.

If her senses were correct, her body felt almost exactly as it had when she had been at her strongest, before Egon stole her power.

Briant sat on the bed, closed her eyes, and calmly regulated her breathing.

Wheeeeeeeeng.

A wave of mana could be felt everywhere.

It sounded almost like ringing in her ears or the wind.

The amount was tiny enough that someone without magical power would barely notice it.

But Briant’s current body was like a powerful magnet that drew mana toward itself.

The mana peacefully drifting through the air rushed toward Briant in desperation.

Her small body quickly became saturated with mana.

“I need to grow up quickly.”

Mana Briant couldn’t absorb floated around the room before dispersing.

She clicked her tongue regretfully and hopped down from the bed.

Her heart pounded with new hope.

“I can change things.”

I have to change them.

I have to save them.

And I have to kill that bastard.

Briant clenched her teeth as she tried to remember Egon’s damp voice, the one she heard every time she closed her eyes.

She stood and walked toward the window.

From the balcony, she could see the entire garden.

“It’s somewhere out there.”

The garden was so enormous that its end could not be seen.

The Bateanera family had inherited vast lands for generations, but Duke Bateanera’s extraordinary business sense had also earned him an enormous fortune.

There were even rumors that he possessed more wealth than the Emperor himself in the Nonar Empire.

“There must be hundreds of kinds of trees. Can I really find it?”

Even now, the diligent gardener Triver was probably busy increasing the number of plants.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Time was passing quickly.

There were only 23 hours and 40 minutes remaining.

Briant’s gaze lingered briefly on the wall clock before returning to the garden, filled with green foliage and brilliantly colored flowers.

Even with magic, there was no guarantee she could complete the task within the allotted time.

“I don’t have time.”

Briant opened the door and ran outside.

This wasn’t the time to leisurely wait for goat’s milk.

The moment she left her room, she saw the corridor leading toward her mother’s room.

Her stepmother, Yantne, had always been kind.

There had even been times when Briant felt that Yantne cared more for her than she did for Rosentia, the daughter she had brought with her when she remarried.

The tea time Briant spent with her stepmother before bed had once been the happiest time of her day.

But all of it had been calculated kindness.

After her father died, Yantne became an entirely different person.

Smack!

“You lowly thing! You should be grateful I’m still keeping you!”

“Hohoho! I suppose it’s because demon blood runs through her veins. Everything she does is vulgar and ominous.”

Briant vividly remembered the cheek stinging from Yantne’s slap and Rosentia mocking her.

She unconsciously touched one cheek.

Her body trembled just from remembering.

“She must still be a kind mother right now.”

In the past, Briant would have run straight to Yantne’s room the moment she woke up.

But now that she knew Yantne’s true feelings, there was no need.

And then—

Lawrence.

Briant suddenly stopped walking at the name that came to mind.

He should have already gotten up and started practicing with his wooden sword by now, right?

Lawrence, the son of her tutor, Mrs. Melton, woke before dawn every day to practice swordsmanship and study.

How much Briant had hated Lawrence when they were young, always being compared to him over every little thing.

Later, when she learned that Lawrence was actually a hidden prince, she regretted her behavior.

But by then, they had already grown impossibly distant.

I’ll become close to him this time.

He might even become a reliable ally.

But that was something to worry about after she survived.

Briant grew anxious.

The persecution of demons had not yet begun in earnest.

Briant’s biological mother had been a half-elf, and the magic-obsessed Emperor classified every non-human race as demons and slaughtered them.

She couldn’t bring her already-dead mother back.

But at the very least, she had to prevent her from dying unjustly.

And the elves, who were destined to be hunted.

The faces of those who had smiled brightly at Briant in her memories came to mind.

She had to protect them in this second life.

Briant’s legs tensed as she ran toward the garden.

“My lady, good morning!”

“My lady, you’re up early!”

When Briant appeared, the servants working throughout the garden hurried to greet her.

But the usually late-rising young lady barely seemed to hear them.

She frantically searched through every corner of the garden.

“What could possibly be going on?”

Triver, who was working on the garden, tilted his head and furrowed his thick eyebrows like a caterpillar.

Perhaps because he was surrounded by green trees, Triver’s red hair stood out particularly vividly.

From a distance, it looked as though a large red flower had bloomed on a tree.

And it wasn’t just his hair that was red.

His eyes were just as crimson.

Anyone seeing Triver for the first time would be startled once by his enormous body—easily two heads taller than an average person—and then startled again by his blood-red eyes.

Yet despite looking like someone who could beat a bear with one hand, Triver was extremely gentle.

He was also the one who had taken in Dust after finding him starving to death on the street and cared for him lovingly.

“Should I go?”

Dust’s charcoal-colored eyes sparkled as he looked at Triver.

He didn’t blink even once.

He clearly wanted to go very badly.

Pretending not to notice, Triver nodded casually.

“Sure. I have to finish this. Hurry up and go. The young lady might get hurt again.”

“Yes!”

The moment Triver gave permission, Dust dashed toward the direction Briant had gone.

His silver hair, grown to his shoulders and tied tightly back, swayed with every step.

Triver watched his retreating back for a moment before moving his large shears as though nothing had happened.

Snip. Snip.

The trees where Triver’s shears passed were trimmed into neat rectangular shapes.

Clack! Clack-clack!

As Briant passed near the training grounds, she heard the clear sound of wooden swords striking one another.

The sound wasn’t heavy.

It was clearly a child wielding a wooden sword.

Briant stopped running and turned toward the sound.

It came from a small clearing near the training grounds.

“That’s right. Lawrence always practiced here.”

Briant suddenly felt happy and walked briskly toward Lawrence, who was vigorously swinging a wooden sword at a practice dummy.

Clack! Tap!

The wooden sword moved rhythmically to a steady beat.

His footsteps approaching and retreating from the dummy sped up and slowed down in an instant.

“He was pretty good even when he was young.”

Perhaps she had muttered the thought aloud.

The black hair that had been swaying suddenly stopped.

Briant flinched when Lawrence’s violet eyes found her with uncanny precision.

He was just as startled.

Lawrence lowered the wooden sword he had been gripping with both hands and gave Briant a slight bow.

“Ah, hello! Lawrence. Are you practicing swordsmanship?”

At Briant’s gentle voice, Lawrence looked even more surprised and took a step backward.

“Sorry. I wasn’t trying to interrupt you. You just looked like you were working hard. Well then…… goodbye! See you later~.”

“…….”

Lawrence merely stared at her with wide eyes.

He couldn’t exactly blame her.

Before the regression, Briant had practically gone mad trying to make Lawrence’s life miserable.

So even now, Lawrence was probably tense, wondering whether she had approached him to start another fight.

Past me.

Why did you act like that?

Briant forced a smile and waved.

It’s okay.

I can make things right from now on.

There were still two years before Lawrence would be recognized as the Emperor’s son and enter the Imperial Palace.

During that time, she had to correct her past mistakes and maintain a friendship with Lawrence.

There was simply too much to do.

Ignoring Lawrence’s intense gaze burning into the back of her head, Briant ran off to find the Spirit Tree.

She headed toward a glass greenhouse where rare plants were kept separately.

It had been made from glass imported from the Holy Kingdom of Malatatia.

The glass, infused with divine power, was strong enough to withstand any storm, but its price was astronomical.

The price varied according to the amount of divine power poured into it, but the greenhouse at the ducal estate used the finest quality.

For the richest family in the Nonar Empire, discussing the price was meaningless.

Even now, mines scattered throughout the empire continuously produced gold, silver, diamonds, and magic stones.

The Bateanera ducal family was the sort of family whose fortune grew even if they simply sat still and breathed.

“I hope it’s here…….”

Briant entered the greenhouse and frantically looked over the plants.

“If it’s a Spirit Tree, I should be able to sense something special.”

Briant used her mana to sense her surroundings.

“I have to find the Spirit Tree.”

But the magnificent flowers only released strong fragrances.

She couldn’t sense any power from them.

“Maybe it’s not here.”

No matter how much she searched, she couldn’t find anything with special power.

She couldn’t even find an unusually shaped tree.

Briant’s shoulders drooped as she sighed deeply.

Then she suddenly sensed an unfamiliar magical presence.

Her head whipped around.

“Hm?”

The density of the air suddenly increased.

The entrance to the greenhouse seemed to waver faintly.

It looked almost like heat haze.

“Is it the Spirit Tree?”

A strange light appeared in Briant’s round eyes as she hurriedly searched the greenhouse entrance.

But standing where her gaze stopped was not a Spirit Tree.

It was a young boy.

“Dust?”

The boy looking at her with clear eyes was Dust, the child Triver cared for.

They were the same age, but because Dust had been poorly fed as a child, he was always smaller than Briant.

“What are you doing here?”

Briant lowered her agitated voice as much as possible.

She couldn’t sense the mana anymore.

Did I imagine it?

He was still shorter than her.

His shoulders were narrow because he hadn’t filled out yet.

His arms were thin.

But with Triver’s loving care, he would soon shoot up in height and develop quite a bit of muscle.

But was Dust still in our household after that?

Briant couldn’t remember seeing the adult Dust.

Yet she felt as though she had seen him somewhere.

Who was it?

Why do I feel like this?

Briant clasped her hands neatly as Dust approached her politely.

Then, suddenly, another face overlapped with Dust’s.

Briant sucked in a breath.

“!”

Silver hair as sharp as a blade.

Chocolate-colored skin.

Charcoal eyes blazing with fury.

A long scar running diagonally across his face.

His appearance was different now, but there was no doubt.

Douglas…….

It was Douglas.

The leader of the black mages who would lead the Nonar Empire to ruin.

Thump.

Thump.

Her heart pounded so hard that it seemed to be beating right beside her ears.

Briant slowly inhaled and tried to calmly look at Dust.

If Dust was Douglas, that explained the mana she had sensed earlier.

But why?

“Gardener-nim told me to come see you, my lady. He said I should stay by your side and help you.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

He was so shy and timid as a child that it was impossible to imagine him as the future man who would care nothing for human lives.

Briant thought for a moment before cautiously asking.

There were many things she wanted to know.

But for now, this was the most important.

“Have you ever seen a strange tree in the garden?”

Dust practically lived in the garden, so perhaps he knew something.

The revelation that Dust was Douglas was shocking.

But it would only matter if she completed the task.

“A strange tree?”

“Yes. One that bears fruit you’ve never seen before. Or perhaps flowers you’ve never seen.”

“Hmm. I’m not sure…… Ah?”

Dust tilted his head while answering.

Then his eyes suddenly lit up.

“Why? Do you remember something?”

“Yes. There’s a newly grown tree near the fountain in the Angel’s Garden.”

That was the garden her father had created for her late mother.

It contained countless strange plants that grew in the elves’ forest, her mother’s homeland.

The fountain itself had been made from a rock brought from the elven forest, making it the only one of its kind in the entire Nonar Empire.

Why didn’t I think of that place?

Briant’s heart pounded.

She was certain the Spirit Tree was there.

“And?”

When Briant moved closer, Dust’s face reddened and he quickly stepped backward.

Knowing what Douglas would become in the future, seeing the shy Dust felt strange.

So this is what he was like when he was young…….

Then what happened to this child to change him so completely?

“Gardener-nim said he didn’t know what kind of tree it was. So he thought it might be dangerous and said he was going to pull it out this afternoon.”

“Pull it out?”

Briant’s voice suddenly rose.

Dust flinched and stepped back again.

Seeing him frightened made Briant feel guilty, but she didn’t have time to worry about that now.

“Yes. By now, the others might already be pulling it out……”

“Lead the way!”

“What?”

“Lead me there immediately. I need to see that tree.”

“Yes. Follow me, my lady.”

Perhaps happy that he had been useful, Dust nodded energetically and took the lead.

His silver hair, tied tightly behind him, swayed like a kitten’s tail.

The Angel’s Garden was quite far from the glass greenhouse.

If what Dust described really is the Spirit Tree, that’s good.

But if it isn’t, I’ll be wasting precious time.

Briant had only one day.

Her mouth went completely dry.

“My lady, aren’t you tired? Shall I carry you?”

Dust shyly offered his thin back.

Briant was somewhat tired, but she didn’t want to ride on the back of a child who looked weaker than her.

And now that she knew Dust would become Douglas, she had absolutely no intention of making him carry her around.

She needed to get along well with Dust in case something happened later.

“I’m fine. Just keep going.”

Briant suppressed her disappointment and answered in a dry voice.

Dust immediately erased his shy smile and nodded.

He probably thought that since even he could tell how weak his body was, it was no wonder the young lady didn’t trust him.

Because she had left without eating breakfast, Briant’s legs began trembling.

Back in the underground prison, I was lucky if I ate one meal a day.

And now I’m already weak simply because I skipped breakfast.

Briant shook her head at her pathetic stamina.

If she managed to gain more time, she needed to build her physical strength first.

She would have to learn swordsmanship.

And if possible, she should investigate what she could do with the Spirit Tree.

“My lady! That’s the tree!”

Dust pointed ahead and shouted.

Briant’s blood seemed to boil.

She didn’t even need to look closely to know it was the Spirit Tree.

Trying to remain calm, Briant slowly approached the tree.

Just as Dust had said, several servants nearby were preparing to pull it out.

“My lady! What brings you all the way here?”

One of the servants noticed Briant and asked with wide eyes.

Tools such as saws and shovels lay scattered around his feet.

She had almost been too late.

Briant sighed in relief.

“My lady! It might be a dangerous tree. It could be poisonous, so please don’t touch it and stay back.”

The servant waved his hands and loudly warned Briant not to approach.

He was already holding a large saw.

“I planted this tree. So leave it alone.”

Briant lifted her chin and spoke firmly.

She could sense Dust looking at her in confusion.

“You did, my lady? Gardener-nim didn’t know about it.”

Triver, the gardener of the ducal estate, knew every tree and plant.

If even he didn’t know what this tree was, there was a high chance it was dangerous or had been secretly planted on the estate by someone with malicious intentions.

The Duke of Bateanera was the most influential man in the Nonar Empire.

That also meant he had many enemies.

Briant pretended not to know anything.

“My mother gave me the seed a long time ago. I planted it, and it grew. It’s a Briant Tree.”

The servant’s face turned pale.

He had nearly cut down a tree named after the duke’s daughter.

He had almost gotten himself fired.

And it had supposedly come from the elven forest.

Clatter!

The saw fell noisily from the servant’s hand.

“Gasp! If it weren’t for you, my lady, we would’ve been in serious trouble. Thank you so much!”

The servant seemed to think he had narrowly escaped disaster.

He hurriedly gathered the tools and fled the area.

Briant remained standing there until the servants had completely disappeared from sight.

Then she slowly approached the tree.

As she neared it, she sensed a faint wave.

At the same time, she could feel powerful mana surging throughout her entire body.

The Spirit Tree and Briant were resonating with each other.

“My lady?”

Dust sensed that something was strange about Briant’s behavior and called out anxiously.

“I’m fine. You can go now.”

“But!”

“Go.”

Dust flinched at Briant’s cold presence and stopped approaching.

This wasn’t how the young lady normally acted.

He tried once more to persuade her, then stepped backward.

Perhaps he should wait for her from a distance.

For some reason, he had an ominous feeling and couldn’t bring himself to leave completely.

The tree had grown surprisingly large considering it had appeared so suddenly.

It was about a handspan shorter than Briant.

Its branches were bone-white.

Countless crooked twigs spread in every direction.

It almost looked like Briant’s own curly hair exploding outward like a bomb.

Briant stared blankly at the strange tree for a moment.

Then she suddenly remembered the task.

“I was told to water it.”

Fortunately, there was a fountain nearby.

Briant found a dented bucket and plunged it into the fountain.

The rusty bucket had several holes in the bottom, so water streamed out as she carried it.

Briant went back and forth between the fountain and the tree several times.

Then she suddenly stopped.

The wave she felt was deeper than before.

It was definitely coming from the Spirit Tree.

The air had become heavier.

Briant’s chest rose and fell deeply as she struggled to breathe.

Come closer, child.

Briant froze.

The mysterious voice coming from the tree sounded neither male nor female.

But it was gentle.

“Me?”

Dust, secretly waiting nearby, couldn’t take his eyes off Briant as she spoke to the tree.

“Who is my lady talking to?”

No matter how many times he looked around, he couldn’t see anyone except himself.

He felt so anxious that he thought he might die.

Crunch.

He nervously bit his fingernails.

He regretted bringing Briant here.

Meanwhile, Briant’s entire body broke out in goosebumps from a kind of ecstasy she had never experienced before.

It was as though every moment of her life had been a puzzle piece created for this exact moment.

A profound sense of fulfillment existed alongside an inexplicable unease.

Briant Lirat Bateanera.

I’ve been waiting for you.

“Why?”

Briant tried not to tremble, but she couldn’t control the shaking in her voice.

There is a gift I must give you.

“A gift?”

Come closer.

The voice was sweet.

The fragrance emanating from the tree was intoxicating.

The closer Briant came, the more the tension that had stiffened her body melted away.

The density of mana around the tree was extremely high.

“Give it to me. The gift.”

The uneasiness that had been stretched taut vanished.

Only comfort remained, as though she had submerged her entire body in warm water.

Briant moved closer to the voice calling her.

Then, as though it were the most natural thing in the world, she grabbed one of the branches.

That was when it happened.

Sparkle.

Something that hadn’t been visible before was hanging from the end of the branch.

It was perfectly round for a fruit and too crude to be called a jewel.

If someone passed by without paying attention, they might mistake it for nothing more than a cheap blue bead.

“Is this the gift?”

Briant murmured to herself and lightly touched the blue fruit.

The moment her hand touched it, it dropped neatly into her palm as though it had been waiting for her.

The fruit was about the size of a plum pit and heavier than expected.

The moment the Spirit Stone entered her hand, Briant felt reassured, as though it had belonged to her from the beginning.

Afraid she might lose it, Briant closed her hand tightly around it.

But perhaps she squeezed too hard.

The solid Spirit Stone that had been making its presence known in her palm suddenly burst with a sharp pop, like a soap bubble.

Instead of the sparkling Spirit Stone, blue smoke now swirled around her palm.

“What? What?”

While Briant stared in shock, the blue smoke slowly seeped into her small palm.

The Spirit Stone she had barely managed to obtain vanished without a trace.

A cool sensation spread through the palm where it had disappeared.

It didn’t disappear.

Briant felt the power of the Spirit Stone moving within her.

Her lips slowly curved upward.

“My lady, are you all right?”

Dust had approached without her noticing.

His brows drooped as he asked in a dispirited voice.

“I’m fine. I’m finished here.”

As soon as Briant answered, Dust’s gaze briefly landed on the Spirit Tree behind her before falling away.

Judging by his expression, he seemed to think it was an ominous tree.

“Come to think of it, I remembered planting a seed with my mother when I was little. I’m so glad I found it.”

Briant tried to sound casual, but she kept watching Dust’s reaction.

He was the future Dark Mage.

She worried that he might sense something strange coming from the tree.

But contrary to her fears, Dust seemed relieved and smiled brightly.

“I’m glad. I’m happy it was the tree you were looking for.”

Perhaps because he was happy to have been useful, his cheeks turned pink.

He couldn’t even make eye contact with her, lowering his head and mumbling shyly.

That sort of speech really doesn’t suit Douglas.

Briant listened to Dust’s footsteps as he trotted behind her.

She had completed the first task much faster than expected.

“I thought I’d be struggling until tomorrow.”

Her fingertips were still trembling.

But now that she had completed the first task, she felt certain she could complete the second and third as well.

First, she needed to see the Regression Guide again.

“Where did it go?”

Briant remembered how the book on her bed had vanished without a trace and looked around the room.

As she searched, feeling increasingly lost, she spotted the book sitting on the vanity.

It was exactly as it had been before.

No.

Had it become cleaner?

Briant touched the badly worn corner of the book and turned the pages.

“Why won’t it turn?”

She couldn’t turn past the page she had read earlier.

Afraid she might tear it, she hesitated to pull too hard.

Then, with a chill, the page turned by itself as though it had never been stuck.

[You have completed the task within the allotted time. The regressor’s time has been extended by two days. As a reward, you have become the owner of the first Spirit Stone harvested from the Spirit Stone Tree. The Regression Guide has four free uses remaining.]

Apparently, the book only allowed its pages to be turned after each task was completed.

“Then there are this many tasks?”

Briant stared at the enormous remaining thickness of the book and was dumbfounded.

And moreover……

“I have four free uses remaining.”

Briant blinked as she stared at the newly opened page of the Regression Guide.

Everything around her had frozen once again.

Just like when the Regression Guide first appeared.

Briant cautiously looked around before returning her gaze to the book.

During that time, new letters appeared on the previously blank page.

Briant calmly read the next sentence.

[The blood of the regressor will be used as ink for the signature. After signing, a task that must be completed within 48 hours will be presented. If the task is not completed, all guidance will end, and the regressor will return to the situation immediately before their death. Would you like to proceed?]

“Yes.”

No sooner had Briant answered than the familiar quill floated into the air.

The quill, which had been red after absorbing her blood, had already returned to its snow-white color.

It gave her goosebumps, but there was no other choice.

Briant squeezed her eyes shut and extended her fingertip.

Whoosh! Prick!

As expected, the quill stabbed deeply into her fingertip just as it had the first time, filling itself with blood.

Briant clenched her throbbing hand before grabbing the red-feathered quill that was swaying its feathers teasingly at her.

The quill obediently settled into Briant’s hand.

Somehow, it felt warmer than when she had first held it.

Briant Lirat Bateanera.

Scratch. Scratch.

Briant focused all her attention on the sound of the quill scraping across the paper.

When she finished signing, the corner of the page trembled again.

Briant turned another heavy page.

[This is the second task presented to the regressor. Find the divine beast of the family and tame it. Upon completing the task, you will gain eligibility to proceed to the next task and your regression time will be extended by four days.]

The Regression Guide finished its work.

Thump!

It snapped shut and disappeared like dust.

“Could it be that the amount of time keeps doubling?”

If so, after successfully completing this task, she would have eight days.

Then sixteen days.

Then thirty-two days……

If the time continued to increase like this, perhaps one day she could extend her regression by several years.

But—

Tame the divine beast?

Briant vaguely remembered hearing that the Bateanera family possessed a divine beast.

But she had always assumed it was merely a fabricated story.

Furthermore, in her previous life, from the moment she was born until the moment she died, she had never seen a divine beast—or even a pet wandering around the estate.

This was even more hopeless than finding the Spirit Tree.

“My lady, where have you been? The bread had gone cold, so I brought it back.”

While Briant had been running around the garden, Jenny had apparently been searching everywhere for her.

Her light brown hair, neatly braided into two pigtails that morning, was slightly disheveled.

“I went for a walk.”

“Eat breakfast and then come with me.”

Jenny’s lips pursed as she looked at Briant.

Come to think of it, taking walks with Briant was one of Jenny’s favorite parts of the day.

“I’ll go again after breakfast.”

“Are you planning to use me as an excuse to skip your lessons? You can’t do that~.”

Jenny shook her head firmly.

The fact that she had truly returned to the past suddenly struck Briant again.

Jenny’s voice.

Her face.

Her warm embrace.

All of it was real.

And then—

That delicious smell.

Smell?

“Hm? What’s that smell?”

Briant had been lost in vague nostalgia, but her eyes suddenly lit up at the scent stimulating her nose.

Her mouth instantly filled with saliva.

“Oh, right! My lady, eat your breakfast. This morning we have your favorite Pokerlance, warm goat’s milk, and strawberries drizzled with condensed milk.”

Briant’s eyes widened as she stared at the white bread on the tray.

Pokerlance was soft white bread drizzled with honey and sprinkled with finely crushed nuts.

It had always been Briant’s favorite breakfast.

“It really is…….”

“Eh? My lady! Why are you crying? Don’t you like the food? Shall I bring you something else?”

“I’m crying?”

Only after hearing Jenny’s panicked voice did Briant realize that warm liquid was running down her cheeks.

She was the one crying.

Yet Jenny looked as though the world were about to end.

She seemed one moment away from bursting into tears herself.

Yes.

Jenny was always like this.

The person who cared about me and loved me more than I cared about myself.

The person who would run all over the estate whenever I got hurt.

And I treated her so badly without even realizing it.

“No. I’m not hurt. I’m just yawning.”

Briant hugged Jenny tightly to hide the emotions surging inside her, then carefully cut the bread.

The bread was sweet and soft.

The goat’s milk was rich.

The strawberries were so sweet they brought tears to her eyes.

It felt like fireworks were exploding inside her mouth.

After being accustomed for so long to hard, moldy bread, she felt as though she were tasting the finest delicacy in the world.

“My lady, eat slowly. You must really have been hungry. I’ll go to the kitchen and bring you more.”

Seeing Briant devour the bread while crying, Jenny suddenly stood and hurried outside.

“You should give her more when she’s actually eating.”

Briant had always been a light eater and usually left more than half of her food behind.

Jenny felt a burning sense of duty to make sure Briant ate plenty whenever she showed an appetite like this.

That sense of duty gradually faded after this day.

Because Briant began eating everything.

And she ate a lot.

After finishing a surprisingly satisfying breakfast, Briant ignored Jenny’s reminders that it was almost time for lessons and headed toward her father’s study.

Standing outside the study was Saros, her father’s loyal knight, exactly as Briant remembered him.

His family had served as Duke Kaylor’s guards for two generations.

Briant barely remembered ever speaking to Saros in her previous life.

But this time, she had decided to make as many allies as possible.

So she smiled brightly at the stoic knight.

“Good morning, Sir Saros.”

Saros stared blankly at Briant for a moment.

She was smiling brightly at him—something she had never done before.

Then he hurriedly returned her greeting.

“Good morning, my lady.”

The blunt greeting, almost identical to the one she had given him, made Briant’s lips curve into another smile.

Why had Saros seemed so frightening to me before?

She used to flee whenever she even saw his shadow from a distance.

It was probably because of the large burn scar on his cheek.

Looking at it now, it wasn’t even that frightening.

Briant felt ashamed of how she had treated him as though he were a ghost.

No matter how immature she had been, that was too much.

Because that distance had accumulated over the years, she had rarely had a chance to speak to Saros even as she grew older.

Saros was the man who had protected Duke Kaylor until his very last moment.

Feeling grateful all over again for this life she had been given, Briant reached out her small hand and tightly grasped Saros’s finger.

Although his rough hand was hidden beneath a leather glove, she felt his finger twitch.

“Thank you. Always.”

“……Thank you, my lady.”

His response came a beat late.

Briant smiled so brightly that her eyes curved into crescents.

She felt tears coming again but swallowed them behind her smile.

“I came to see Father.”

“Yes. Please wait a moment.”

Duke Kallion was always extremely strict about manners, formalities, and procedure.

When Briant was young, she had found it suffocating and hated it so much that she often deliberately avoided eating meals with her father.

Later, she regretted it bitterly.

After a short while, the study door opened again.

Saros’s gaze was much softer than before as he bowed slightly toward Briant.

Briant walked quietly through the door he opened.

It was a spacious study.

Three walls, excluding the one with the window, were filled with books and documents.

The scent of dark ink and old parchment filled the room.

Beyond the enormous mahogany desk stood the large shadow of her father.

“Father.”

Briant forced back the lump in her throat as she called out.

The duke had been reviewing documents concerning the territory since early morning.

He looked at Briant with curiosity.

His daughter had never come to see him without being called first.

“What is it?”

His tone might have seemed cold.

But Briant was no longer old enough to feel hurt by such things.

Of course, outwardly she was only an eight-year-old girl.

“I just…… wanted to see you, Father.”

In the end, tears fell heavily.

How desperately had she wanted to return to this moment while trapped in the underground prison?

How desperately had she wanted to save her father?

How many times had she cursed her foolish past?

Briant remembered the time she had slammed her head against the prison wall until it bled while screaming and crying.

She strode toward her father, who was staring at her blankly.

Duke Kaylor had already shot to his feet.

“Father…….”

Briant walked around the desk and tightly wrapped her arms around Duke Kaylor’s waist.

She hadn’t intended to cry.

She simply loved the warmth of her father too much.

“……Briant.”

Duke Kaylor looked helplessly toward Saros and Butler Naph, who were standing at the entrance to the study.

Beside the massive Saros, Butler Naph looked excessively slender.

Watching his master, Naph narrowed his eyes.

The wrinkles around his eyes became even more pronounced.

Then, moving only his lips so that only the duke could understand, he said:

Hug. Her.

He even made a circle with his arms.

Saros beside him seemed to agree and nodded repeatedly.

Duke Kaylor looked down at Briant, who was hugging his waist and sobbing.

Then he suddenly lifted her into his arms.

Come to think of it, this might have been the first time he had carried Briant since she had grown this big.

“Briant. What happened?”

Briant’s eyes widened as she silently stared into her father’s eyes, now at nearly the same height as hers.

The same sky-blue eyes as her own.

They were beautiful, as though a piece of the sky had been cut into a perfect circle and placed there.

“Ah…….”

Briant suddenly realized how much she had missed her father.

There was no reason to hide her feelings anymore.

Perhaps this moment would be her last.

She decided not to think about what came afterward.

This time, Briant wrapped her arms tightly around Duke Kaylor’s neck.

Her father smelled like fresh, heavy wood.

“Father…… I love you.”

The unexpected confession, broken by sobs, made Duke Kaylor’s eyes widen twice their normal size.

Yantne’s steps were graceful and dignified as she walked through the corridors of the ducal estate.

Her golden hair had been carefully styled up, without a single ornament, yet her dazzling beauty made her look anything but plain.

When Yantne reached the study and smiled gently, Saros standing guard bowed politely.

“Good morning, Sir Saros.”

Yantne greeted him as elegantly as possible, slowly blinking her eyes.

It was part of her daily routine, so Saros opened the door without delay.

Yantne always came to the study at the same time every morning.

It was one of the routines she had never skipped since entering the ducal household.

When the study door opened, Butler Naph was the first to greet her.

“My lady.”

It was a respectful and courteous greeting.

Yet every time Yantne received Naph’s greeting, she couldn’t rid herself of an uncomfortable feeling.

He was one of the few people who knew what she was really like.

He was also someone who was keeping her secret.

Hiding her uneasiness beneath a gentle smile, Yantne walked lightly toward Duke Kaylor.

Then she suddenly stopped.

The atmosphere in the study was different from usual.

Kaylor, who was normally so stern, looked strangely gentle.

Could it be the weather?

Yantne looked at the brilliant morning sunlight pouring down behind the duke.

“Did you have a pleasant dream? You look particularly happy this morning.”

At Yantne’s soft, delicate voice, the duke raised his lowered head.

She hadn’t been mistaken.

There was definitely a trace of a smile around the normally rigid man’s lips.

No matter how much she whispered words of love to him or smiled seductively, he had never given her his heart completely.

She knew that the smiles he occasionally gave her were expressions of longing for someone who resembled her.

Yantne’s heart sank at seeing the duke’s genuine smile for the first time.

Has he finally opened his heart to me?

But then Butler Naph spoke.

The warmth that had begun melting Yantne’s heart instantly froze.

“Lady Briant came by a little while ago.”

“Briant?”

Yantne barely managed to control the sharpness in her voice.

“Yes. She came and spent tea time with the duke.”

Naph stretched his thin lips into a wide grin.

Yantne forced her eyes into a smile.

She even clasped her hands together as though praying.

“Darling, really? Our Briant did something so thoughtful. We should praise her. She always sleeps late and often misses her morning lessons…… Ah! Well, not every day.”

Yantne deliberately let the words slip out before hastily pretending to correct herself.

She watched the duke carefully.

But Kaylor’s expression didn’t change at all.

What? Does he already know?

While Yantne was flustered, Duke Kaylor stood and strode toward her.

He gently took her pale, slender hand.

Yantne was startled but didn’t pull away.

Instead, she carefully leaned against him.

Naph, quick to read the atmosphere, quietly left the study.

“Darling…….”

Yantne called him softly.

Though it was still early morning, she was more than ready to throw herself into his arms.

But—

“That ring.”

“What?”

The gentle expression that had made him seem like the kindest man in the world hardened instantly.

His cold gaze remained fixed on the object glittering on Yantne’s finger.

Yantne realized her mistake.

But it was too late to take it back, so she answered as calmly as possible.

“Briant likes me when I wear this ring. She says it makes her feel as though she’s looking at her mother…….”

She deliberately lowered her voice and let the end of the sentence trail off.

She wanted to emphasize that she wasn’t wearing the ring because she wanted to.

The moment Briant’s name left Yantne’s lips, the duke’s shoulder twitched slightly.

Yantne struggled to suppress a mocking smile and forced tears into her eyes.

“Still, I’m glad. I’m happy that I can ease Briant’s longing, even if only a little.”

The strength gradually drained from the duke’s hand, which had been tightly gripping hers.

Those empty eyes.

Yantne looked at the duke’s vacant gaze and clenched the hand hanging at her side.

You’re the one who made me like this, Kaylor.

Her emerald eyes shimmered with tears beneath her smile.

When Rosentia entered the study room, she stood there for a long time, blinking.

For a moment, she wondered whether she had entered the wrong room.

But no.

This was definitely the study room.

And the person sitting demurely across from their tutor, Avery Melton, was indeed Briant.

“Rosentia, come sit down.”

Mrs. Melton smiled warmly.

Rosentia quickly snapped out of her daze, rolled her eyes around, and awkwardly sat beside Briant.

Even though she was confused, she didn’t forget to smile brightly at Briant.

Her mother had drilled it into her so thoroughly that she had to be kind to Briant whenever they were in front of other people that the moment she saw Briant, the corners of her lips automatically lifted.

“Sister, you woke up early?”

Rosentia’s gaze quickly swept over Briant from head to toe.

Her clothing was flawless.

Her neatly combed golden hair shone as though honey were flowing through it.

Her perfectly pressed dress didn’t have a single wrinkle.

And then there was that brooch……

She had never seen it before.

Rosentia’s eyes narrowed.

“Father gave it to me as a present.”

Briant had read the greed in her gaze and answered casually.

She even leisurely touched the brooch.

“When……?”

“This morning.”

“Really?”

Rosentia couldn’t take her eyes off the brooch on Briant’s chest.

Dozens of dazzling diamonds surrounded a large, heart-shaped pink diamond.

At a glance, it appeared to be more than five carats.

A diamond that size would have been enough to purchase an ordinary mansion in the capital.

And with pink diamond production declining rapidly these days, its price would have been practically whatever the seller demanded.

“It’s been a while since the two of you have been together. Shall we begin the lesson?”

Briant had often skipped her morning lessons because she loved sleeping in.

Mrs. Melton’s eyes sparkled with intelligence as she looked at Briant sitting there.

The girl looked more and more like her friend Shaner with every passing moment.

“Yes. I’ll study hard from today onward.”

“Me too!”

Rosentia hurriedly added after Briant.

“I look forward to seeing that.”

Avery looked between the two girls before opening the book.

After finishing his morning swordsmanship practice, Lawrence returned to the annex.

He gulped down water before setting his cup down.

What?

Why is she suddenly acting like this?

Confusion glittered in his violet eyes.

Under the sunlight, Lawrence’s eyes shone even more transparently, resembling amethysts.

When he was young, they had been almost pink, but they had gradually taken on a violet hue and were becoming deeper in color.

The person Lawrence was thinking about was Briant.

One day, she had suddenly begun ignoring him.

For the past several years, she had treated him as though he were invisible.

And that wasn’t all.

When the duke’s wife’s nephews bullied him, she hadn’t stopped them.

Instead, she had laughed along with them.

But why?

What is she plotting this time?

His wariness was stronger than any happiness at seeing her again.

It had been years since they had exchanged even a greeting like this.

Briant’s attitude had changed after the new duchess entered the household.

It irritated him that a single careless greeting from her could make his resentment waver after all these years.

After finishing his water, Lawrence sat in the chair his mother had placed beside the window and stared outside.

Warm sunlight gently tickled his forehead.

A soft breeze entered through the window and tousled Lawrence’s night-sky-colored hair.

After gazing outside for a while, Lawrence picked up the book his mother had left behind.

It was a book about the history of the Nonar Empire.

Though it was old and its corners were worn away, it was the most precious possession Lawrence had.

“She must be having history lessons.”

Lawrence had been wondering whether Briant would skip her morning lessons again today, but soon abandoned the thought.

Whether Briant studies or plays has nothing to do with me.

Flip. Flip.

Lawrence quickly became absorbed in the book.