Chapter 3

When she first entered the drawing room, Kesenor let out a quiet, almost imperceptible laugh.

That woman is the “World Tree’s Consort”?

Her light brown hair resembled caramel, and her pale green eyes made her look remarkably timid.

Her appearance was decent enough, but she had an unusually small, round face and a painfully thin body. Her pale complexion gave her a somewhat gloomy air.

She hardly looked like someone worthy of such a grand title.

But if she truly was the Consort, Kesenor had no time to be picky.

If I tell her I’ll take her to her sister, won’t she come with me?

Trying not to reveal the unsavory impulse rising within him, Kesenor stared at the bewildered Agnes.

If I keep her from meeting the other Seeds and eventually leave her with no choice but to choose me…

But—

“This time, you have to treat her well. You can’t hurt her, and you can’t make her sad.”

Amy’s words bothered him.

“This time” means… she wasn’t treated well in the future?

Unaware that the man before her was suppressing a desire that had risen all the way to his throat, Agnes’s small face had flushed bright red.

Even after hearing about the ancient manuscript and the dragon—things that sounded utterly unbelievable—she seemed to care about nothing except her younger sister.

“I simply don’t understand. Why hasn’t she come back to me…? She must have had such a hard time all this time…”

Muttering to herself, Agnes suddenly lifted her head and looked at Kesenor as if clinging to him for answers.

“Do you have any idea where Amy might have gone?”

I wish I knew.

Suppressing his impatience, Kesenor leaned lazily against the sofa and shook his head.

“There is only one thing I know. Miss Amy went to find another candidate to be your husband.”

Kesenor smiled crookedly as he watched Agnes’s reaction.

“Whether you want one or not, that is.”

The Celesta Territory, Northern Continent

A Magic Stone Mine

In a place famous for its abundant deposits of magic stones, Agnes was sorting rocks.

She looked even thinner and more haggard than Amy remembered.

The hands sorting the stones were bony, with every joint clearly visible, and her face was covered in dirt and dust.

Her once-beautiful caramel-colored hair was hidden beneath a headscarf and tightly tied back so it wouldn’t get in her way.

Looking at Agnes’s exhausted expression, Amy realized that this was her own dream.

Big sister…

It was a scene Amy didn’t want to see.

She was desperately trying to prevent exactly this kind of future, so why was she being shown it now?

Just then, a group of people approached from far away.

They seemed to be people of considerable status, because the overseers who spotted them immediately began bustling about, ordering the workers to clear the way.

“Leave them alone. Don’t disturb them while they’re working.”

A tall, slender man with black hair flowing all the way down past his waist strode forward as he spoke.

Kesenor.

Amy had already met him.

She had also told him where her sister was.

She had done so because, among the “male leads,” she thought he would be the most useful to her in the early stages.

He’s a marquess, so he’s important. And he’s a powerful mage, too. If something happens, he’ll be able to protect my sister.

But Amy’s feelings toward him weren’t exactly warm.

Because despite possessing such extraordinary abilities, he had never once genuinely helped her sister.

He had always treated Agnes as something disposable—something to use when convenient and throw away afterward.

She was nothing more than a means for him to obtain the world.

The moment Kesenor’s footsteps stopped in front of Agnes, she panicked and fumbled with her hands, accidentally knocking over the basket where she had been stacking the stones.

“You idiot!”

The overseer shouted at Agnes, his face turning pale.

Startled, Agnes hurriedly dropped to her knees and began gathering the stones.

“I-I’m sorry. I’ll clean it up right away…”

“That’s enough. There’s no need.”

The moment Kesenor said that, the stones scattered across the ground floated into the air.

One by one, they returned neatly into the basket on their own.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

“Wow…!”

“That’s the lord’s magic!”

It was Agnes’s first time seeing magic.

She stared blankly, forgetting to hide her face.

“You.”

Agnes jumped and hurriedly lowered her head.

But Kesenor’s interest wasn’t in her.

It was in the magic stones.

The magic stones in Agnes’s basket were all of noticeably higher quality than those belonging to the other workers.

“You have quite a good eye.”

“Ah, yes! Even though she made that mistake, she’s the most skilled worker in our mining site. She can pick out high-quality magic stones better than anyone.”

“She looks rather young.”

“She hasn’t been here very long.”

“Is her identity reliable?”

“They say she’s a relative of an old woman from the village.”

That was all.

Kesenor simply walked past Agnes.

Agnes’s gaze lingered on his back for a moment, but not for long.

Idiot. Moron.

Amy cursed furiously at Kesenor’s indifferent back.

You should have looked into her more carefully at that point! What ordinary person could identify magic stones that well?!

Even though she was only conscious within the dream, Amy trembled with frustration.

Do you have any idea how much my sister suffered after that?

But it couldn’t be helped.

The novel Amy had been reincarnated into was a “reverse-harem tragedy”—a story so relentlessly cruel toward its heroine that readers had even left comments asking whether the author had written it solely because they wanted to torment the female lead.

Of all the novels I could have been reincarnated into, why did it have to be this one?

But perhaps that was precisely why Amy had been born here.

After being swallowed by the Rift—

Amy discovered that this world was the setting of a novel she had read in her previous life.

However, in the original story, the heroine Agnes had never had a youngest sister named Amy.

In other words, unlike the original story, Amy had been reincarnated as a late-born child of House Laverose.

Because of that, Agnes had lost her mother at an early age, and the Viscount Laverose’s family had fallen into ruin much sooner than in the original story.

That’s why I have to try even harder.

When Amy was born, Agnes had been only fifteen years old.

Even so, she had pitied Amy after their mother died and slept beside her every night, ate with her, and taught her everything she knew.

“Big sister, do you like Amy?”

“Yes. I love you very much.”

“Why?”

“Because Amy is cute and adorable even when she’s just sitting there. And because you’re my little sister.”

“Amy likes Big Sister too!”

After recovering the memories of her previous life, Amy now understood how difficult those days must have been for Agnes.

From now on, I’m going to make my sister happy!

She would get rid of all the hardships and prevent every terrible future before it could happen!

Amy didn’t remember very much—perhaps because her six-year-old mind couldn’t process it all, or perhaps because the system or the world itself had deliberately censored certain memories.

But what she did remember was enough.

Anyway, Kesenor, you won’t believe me! There are plenty of other male leads besides you!

This was where the real story began.

Once he saw the unwavering devotion of the other male leads, even that stiff expression of his would finally twist with regret.

Just you wait! This time, I’m going to make you the ultimate regretful male lead!

Amy giggled to herself for a while before finally waking from the dream.

When she opened her eyes, a voice slipped into her ears as though someone had been waiting for her to wake.

“Are you awake, my lady?”

“Rupert.”

Amy sleepily sat up.

When she looked into the mirror across from the bed, she saw an adorable little girl with sparkling blond hair and milky-white skin.

Amy straightened her messy blond hair and stretched as hard as she could.

“Did you have an interesting dream?”

“Why?”

“You kept smiling in your sleep.”

Amy looked to the side.

A man was kneeling on the floor right beside her, lowering himself as much as possible to meet her gaze.

He had a handsome face, and his dark brown hair fell naturally over his neat forehead.

His deep blue eyes resembled a lake hidden deep within a forest.

She had apparently kept smiling while dreaming.

And Rupert had seen it.

Perhaps she’d simply been too determined to get one over on Kesenor.

Amy gave a slightly embarrassed, bashful smile.

“I don’t know. I don’t really remember.”

“It was only a dream, after all. Good morning, my lady.”

His gentle greeting came in a pleasant, low voice.

Amy unconsciously let out a deep sigh.

“It’s a shame.”

“Did you want to travel through Dreamland a little longer?”

“No. It’s a shame about Rupert!”

If only Rupert had been a male lead.

That would have been so much better.

Rupert simply laughed off Amy’s incomprehensible remark and brought her water to wash her face.

Watching him, Amy sighed again.

Tall.

Handsome.

He had originally been painfully thin and unimpressive, but who knew what had happened inside the Rift? His body had developed firm muscles, and, as one could see, his personality was wonderful too.

But he was the butler’s son.

And more importantly, in the original novel, he had barely existed as a character at all.

Even so, unless he were a male lead who happened to be the Crown Prince, the Grand Duke of the North, or perhaps a count from the South, wasn’t being the butler’s son a little too insignificant?

He could have been a background character who simply supported the heroine from afar, but that was about it.

“He’s talented, too!”

“That’s a compliment, isn’t it? Thank you, my lady.”

After splashing water onto her face, Amy dried herself thoroughly with a towel and brushed her teeth.

Then she stood up.

She was going to be busy again today.

“Now we have to go find the male lead!”

“Yes. We’re almost there. We’ll be arriving at the Naofa Forest soon.”

After parting ways with Kesenor, Amy and Rupert had traveled all the way to the eastern edge of the continent.

This was now the last human settlement.

Amy looked out the window.

At the very edge of her vision, far in the distance, enormous trees stretched majestically toward the heavens.

The Naofa Forest, home to the elves in the eastern part of the continent.

It was Amy’s next destination.