Ch.155The Only Choice (1)

The Imperial family had fallen.

The smoke visible even from the edge of the continent proved that the Imperial Palace had been reduced to ashes.

Irene had done it properly.

The difference in power was undeniable.

After all, it took only two people to destroy the Empire.

Ruide looked at his small hands. What could he do with these?

‘So now I…’

“Where are you going?”

Only when he heard Rosalie’s voice did he stop walking.

“Where was I going?”

“…That’s the question I just asked you.”

Rosalie said with a slight sigh.

“This direction leads to the North.”

Ruide nodded with a blank expression. I see, so I was heading home.

“I apologize for saying this, but I don’t recommend returning right away. The head of the family must be very angry.”

“Then what should I do?”

“Let’s go to the Imperial Palace. Irene said that Ruide would be the most suitable person to become the new Emperor.”

What would happen if he went to the North now?

Victoria certainly wouldn’t want him to become Emperor.

Would she imprison him?

‘…Everything is truly a mess.’

Amelia was dead.

The Imperial family had fallen, and Victoria would be endlessly furious with Irene for acting on her own.

What choice would Victoria make? He couldn’t know. The only certainty was that she would never cooperate.

Everything was a mess. It had all fallen apart overnight. This war should never have happened in the first place. Though he realized it too late… it was already too late.

Despite his boasts to God. How could he fix something that was already broken beyond repair?

But at that moment—

Something flashed through Ruide’s mind.

“…I’ll have to turn it back.”

“Pardon?”

“If something is broken beyond repair, the only option is to turn it back, right?”

Ruide’s dimming eyes suddenly filled with vigor again.

No, rather than vigor, it was a touch of madness.

“Right? Rosalie.”

The 5th Magic.

Complete the magic of time and space.

Then find the wrong turning point in the past and fix it.

That was the only solution to this situation.

There was no other answer.

If there was none, he had to make it happen.

**

Inside the swaying carriage.

“Yes, I can move somehow.”

The dangerous crisis had passed.

Amelia turned her shoulders with a better expression than before. But she was still slightly frowning, indicating she hadn’t fully recovered.

“Thank you for using your family’s power for my sake, Hersy.”

“It’s what I should have done.”

Hersy deserved credit for treating Amelia’s wounds.

She had requested aid from her family and brought the most skilled cleric.

“I never imagined there would be someone who could heal such wounds to the point where I could move again in an instant.”

It was a magical level of skill.

The cleric, who wore his robe pulled low, approached without hesitation, knelt before Amelia, and prayed—that alone healed most of her wounds.

The injury was too deep to heal completely—

But for Amelia, who had been like a flickering streetlamp before death, it was divine grace.

“We were lucky. Though I was suspicious since it was someone I’d never seen before.”

“Someone you’d never seen before?”

“…Yes. He was reluctant to reveal his identity until the end.”

That was certainly strange.

A cleric with such skills doesn’t just appear out of nowhere.

Moreover, the Minerva family was known as the most conservative among the noble families.

They wouldn’t recommend someone whose identity wasn’t certain.

“Come to think of it… he didn’t show his face either.”

“Hmph, you’re wondering about something obvious.”

Damon said with his arms crossed.

“Do you know, Damon?”

When Amelia continued her question, Damon slightly turned his head.

Hersy also looked curious.

“It was a fatal wound. Not something that could be healed with a single prayer. Only one person in this world could do that.”

Damon narrowed his eyes.

“The Saintess.”

“The Saintess…?”

‘What is she planning?’

Saintess Lydia.

No one knows much about her.

Some say she has existed for a long time.

Some say this is the 10th generation Saintess.

Others say the Saintess herself is a lie created for the purpose of promoting the religious order.

But the Saintess does exist. And she’s close by.

The Academy infirmary.

She suddenly entered the Academy and poorly concealed her identity.

Ordinary people might not know—

But she could be caught by the Imperial intelligence network.

‘She’s been in seclusion until now, then suddenly appeared. And thoroughly disguising her identity.’

He knew she had a great interest in Ruide.

That’s why she entered the Academy.

But he didn’t know what connection that had with helping Amelia this time.

If she wanted to gain Ruide’s favor, she wouldn’t have hidden her identity.

‘She definitely has other motives. What are they?’

While Damon was following his train of thought,

Amelia asked, “Please tell me what the plan is now. Whatever it is, I’ll make sure to accomplish it.”

Amelia looked like she would do anything to return Ruide to his original self.

Damon thought it was time to tell them.

“…When I initially prepared this plan, I considered two possibilities. If it succeeded, that would be good, but if it failed, we needed a more definitive method. Now, this has become our only option.”

The carriage rattled as it traveled over poor roads.

Despite the noise, the sound of the two swallowing was clearly audible.

“The 5th Magic.”

“…!”

Hersy’s eyes widened.

“To push Ruide Christopher to his limit—”

“To make him wish to turn back time himself. That was my original plan.”

With Amelia in trouble—

He thought that if Ruide was backed into a corner, he would definitely choose this path.

Damon believed in Ruide.

Though he might seem lazy at first glance, he had the ability to find the core of any problem better than anyone else.

“Ruide will guide us. To the one place where there is a single correct answer.”

Amelia didn’t fully understand.

She didn’t know how it would work or what the principle behind it was.

What could her tiny brother possibly do?

But—

“I’ll follow Damon’s plan. Whatever it may be.”

Amelia said firmly.

Once she trusted someone, she trusted them completely. That was Amelia’s belief.

“But that’s… something no one has ever done before.”

However, for Hersy, who knew magic well, it was difficult to accept.

Damon’s plan was too extreme.

To ruin everything just to make it possible to turn back time.

“It’s too uncertain.”

The very idea of turning back time doesn’t make sense.

The 5th Magic is the realm of gods.

Of course, she knew that Ruide’s magical skills had reached some level of the 5th Magic, but magical study becomes slower the closer you get to the end.

What if this was Ruide’s limit?

Even if he could complete the 5th Magic, what if it took 10 years, no—100 years?

‘It’s too dangerous a thought.’

Even giving him the benefit of the doubt, assuming he had perfectly mastered the 5th Magic, there was still a problem.

To implement that magic, he would need “mana” as a medium.

Turn back the time of the entire world?

How much mana would that require?

Even with Ruide’s ocean-like mana, there must be a limit.

Could that limit be broader than the world itself?

“Who said anything about turning back the time of the entire world?”

Damon spoke sharply, as if reading Hersy’s thoughts.

“What? You just said so.”

Damon mocked that thought with a raised corner of his mouth.

“Only Ruide will go back in time.”

“What?”

“To be precise, Ruide will travel to the past alone.”

Assuming he had perfectly mastered the 5th Magic—

It was a possible scenario.

“B-but even if he goes back to the past and changes something, no one knows if the future will change. Right?”

Hersy immediately denied it.

“If future Ruide went back to the past and changed something, it should have changed right now. Because the flow of time is singular.”

For example, imagine Ruide planted an apple tree in the past.

Then, the tree he planted then should be here now.

If not—it’s a contradiction.

But there was no apple tree here.

“Not yet.”

In fact, Hersy had hit the mark.

Damon’s thoughts weren’t different from Hersy’s.

If the past changed, it should have already changed. The fact that it hadn’t changed meant one thing.

“…If things continue as they are, Ruide won’t reach the 5th Magic.”

“What? What do you mean…?”

“I’m not saying Ruide can’t reach the 5th Magic.”

Damon believes Ruide can complete the 5th Magic.

Not because there’s no other answer.

Damon had been thinking “definitively” since he made this plan.

Ruide Christopher will definitely reach the 5th Magic. And within a short time.

But if he couldn’t, there must be a reason why he couldn’t.

Damon narrowed his eyes.

“There’s an interferer.”

“…!”

Amelia guessed something.

Because there was only one person who could interfere with Ruide.

“Irene Windsor.”

“Then we…”

“We need to help ensure Irene Windsor can’t interfere with Ruide.”

Damon raised the corner of his mouth with a smirk.

It was the smile he made when he had played a perfect move.

This was a knight’s check.

There was only one way to escape from here. Kill the knight.

“…I suppose I’ll have to step up.”

Seeing Amelia answer without hesitation, Damon nodded.

The knight Damon had prepared was Amelia.

The queen named Irene Windsor would never tolerate Amelia hovering around Ruide.

“The die has already been cast. It’s a battle.”

It wouldn’t be difficult for the queen to kill the knight—

But the queen on the other side probably didn’t know yet.

That the sands in the hourglass of time were running out.