Ch.173Emperor, Aria. (1)

Olivia once again used the Master of Dark’s clue to head toward the Imperial Princess’s Palace.

Unlike the ‘present’ Aria who was full of dignity and intimidation, the Aria before her eyes now seemed cute and even a bit dim-witted.

“Hoho! Make haste and run faster!”

“Y-Your Highness. Please maintain your dignity…”

Looking at her demanding to be carried by her guardian knights because her legs hurt, who would think the Imperial Princess was the genius of the century?

“Hmm. Today was fun too. Now, everyone may return.”

Under the setting sun, Aria, having regained her dignity, sips her tea.

The maid standing beside her must have earned Aria’s trust, as she doesn’t seem surprised at all by Aria’s eyes filled with brilliance.

‘What interesting eyes.’

Peculiarly, her eye color was purple. Just to be sure, Olivia infused some magical power into her body, but she was merely an ordinary person.

Sip.

Olivia also casually participated in this formal tea gathering.

With about an hour left, she could afford this small luxury.

Anyway.

The reason for meeting the Imperial Princess again in the past was simple.

To predict, even roughly, what she might be thinking.

“Aria.”

Aria raises her head. The childlike Imperial Princess who had been eating three cookies at a time during lunch was gone, replaced by a noble with graceful gestures.

She only reveals her true self for a small part of the day. Except when meeting her friend Olivia, it’s at most when playing chess.

It’s a behavior she adopts because she knows that the more incompetent she appears, the closer her brothers get to the throne.

She doesn’t just pay lip service to “connections.” You can tell by how she’s willing to lower her own reputation to elevate her brothers.

“What?”

How should I begin?

She couldn’t just throw out questions carelessly. If she did, Aria might misunderstand that she had been preparing for the future “massacre” since this time.

“Can I ask you one question?”

Aria nodded readily.

“If it were you, how would you attack your political enemy?”

She restrains herself from using explicit expressions.

Choosing the word “political enemy” rather than “nemesis” was for that reason.

“…Political enemy?”

Aria’s face is full of doubt as she asks this.

It’s doubt stemming from her certainty that someone as ‘incompetent’ as herself couldn’t possibly have political enemies.

“It’s just hypothetical. You never know what might happen in the world.”

After pondering the question briefly, Aria asks:

“Is this political enemy stronger than me?”

“Yes. And just as smart as you.”

After staring at Olivia with a curious gaze for a moment, Aria speaks.

“If that person can think of the same strategies I can, then they would win. After all, the one with more power would prevail. But… what you want to know isn’t this, but ‘how to win,’ right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then, I’d have to resort to a gamble.”

Though she calls it a gamble, if it has the highest probability of success, it’s no longer a gamble.

Rather, it becomes a brilliant move.

“The advantaged side would never use a gambling move. Even if they know such a move exists, they have no reason to use it. Because-“

“They’re already at an advantage.”

Aria slowly nods at Olivia’s response.

“So what is this gambling move?”

“…How would I know? I haven’t been properly told what situation I’m in with this political enemy.”

Aria shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly.

“Hmm, but no matter how I look at it, this political enemy seems to be you, Olivia.”

“…”

“Of course, that would never happen. Why would you and I fight? Political enemies? Are you planning to enter politics? Thinking of becoming a court magician? With your skills, you wouldn’t even need to bother with politics.”

Well, she was discovered much faster than expected.

Olivia felt awkwardly flustered.

It was fortunate she had phrased it indirectly; if she had used the direct term “nemesis,” she might have caused a terrible misunderstanding.

No, perhaps she already had.

Just looking at those fox-like eyes, she could tell.

“…Think what you want.”

“What’s the matter? Is it because I stole your parfait last time? If your feelings were hurt, you should have said something!”

Olivia shook her head.

‘Anyway, a gamble…’

A gambling move that only Aria could execute, even if Olivia knew about it.

She couldn’t ask more. Going further would be dangerous. For today, it was enough to have discovered the existence of this gambling move.

“I’ll be going first today.”

“…Already?”

“Sorry, I’ve been busy lately.”

With a complicated expression, Olivia opens the door and leaves.

Aria silently watches her go.

There’s an unconscious distance in how Olivia treats her now. She’s especially careful about what she says, instinctively trying to hide her true thoughts.

…What could really be happening?

“…”

Aria looks at her maid who is clearing the dishes beside her.

Three days ago, she seemed to have had some conversation with her.

She can’t remember.

For Aria, who remembers every moment except when she’s sleeping, this absence of memory was unfamiliar.

If that’s the case, she had no choice but to ask.

Aria calls the maid’s name.

The third daughter of Baron Hein from the southern Empire.

Aria already knew this was a false identity. Only someone like her, who knew the genealogies of thousands of nobles by heart, could know this fact.

The fact that Baron Hein’s third daughter had died seven years ago was something her clever brother had failed to verify… but such matters were of no concern to Aria.

It was clear that this ‘maid’ was an elite. If she was competent and perceptive, there was no reason not to accept her as a maid.

Aria called the maid’s name.

Aurelia.

*****

Melina’s tent.

Though the sun has risen, Olivia is still sound asleep. Instead of waking her apprentice, Melina continued her research.

Dong-.

The sound of a pendulum resonates simultaneously.

Melina was engrossed in magical research.

A fact that even those around her sometimes forget is that Melina’s main field is not ‘space’ but ‘spacetime.’

Though it’s just one word difference, the gap is too vast to be described as merely enormous.

Perhaps thanks to having once directly touched the truth, Melina has now reached a level where she can ‘observe’ the past.

Melina has not yet reached the level of peering into other world lines.

But she wanted to reach it again.

It wasn’t simply due to scholarly curiosity as a magician. Rather, it was for her apprentice.

She knew Olivia’s nature better than anyone. Though she was angry at the Master of Dark’s actions, her eyes were filled with sadness.

This world she had protected with her life.

Those people.

She couldn’t let her experience the pain of watching them perish before her eyes again. To prevent that, the only option was to stop the war from happening at all.

‘…As a master, it’s my duty.’

Persuading the Imperial Princess is impossible. She knows because she’s already tried.

If she could cross world lines and intervene in the past of a previous life.

And thereby make Olivia’s massacre as if it never happened.

Wouldn’t this war also become as if it never happened?

Of course, to do that, she would have to prove the absurd premise of intervening in the past as the future.

[Take it, Master.]

Hadn’t Olivia already accomplished this?

“…I can do it.”

Melina spoke as if making a vow. For five years, Melina had devoted most of her time to this research.

It would have been impossible originally, but it was possible because she had already experienced it once.

Tsutsutsutsutsu!

Melina’s magical power converges to one point. The magical power, condensed to its limit, has now been reduced beyond the level of a small sphere to something resembling a point.

Melina’s magical attribute is time. Therefore, condensing her magical power was equivalent to condensing time.

Dong-.

The pendulum that had been steadily swinging back and forth gradually slows down. The change was so subtle that even Melina had difficulty noticing it.

But it was slowing down. That much was certain.

The swirling wind gradually fades. Now the slowing of time is perceptible.

Thump-.

In the midst of a world losing speed, only Melina’s heart maintains its original beat.

Thump-. Thump.

The illusion that her heartbeat has accelerated is likely because the world has slowed down that much.

She deceives the world.

If the speed of magical power pulsating through her body can’t be made any faster, then simply making the world slower will suffice.

Woooooong…!

The magical power began to rotate at a speed Melina had never experienced before. As the world slows down, Melina’s magical flow accelerates.

The moment the pendulum completely stops.

Melina’s consciousness was sucked somewhere.

Kugugugu…

In the fierce current of time, where an instant becomes eternity in the flow of the universe, Melina barely held onto her consciousness.

Countless doors flash before her eyes. Melina instinctively understood the essence of these doors.

Countless world lines. Though she hadn’t reached the truth yet and couldn’t confirm what lay beyond, there was a way.

A portion of her lifespan. She didn’t need to sacrifice all of it. She didn’t need to read countless iterations like in her previous life.

She only needed to read one.

Therefore, about 10 years’ worth would be enough.

Among the nondescript doors, Melina stood before a door that shone uniquely golden. The moment she grabbed the doorknob, she felt weakness as her life force drained away.

“…Phew.”

Click.

The moment she flung the door open, Melina found herself in a completely different space.

A space unfamiliar yet simultaneously familiar.

A space she had visited a few times on business in the past.

The Imperial Archives.

The place where all historical and magical texts of the continent are stored.

However, its size was slightly different from what Melina remembered. The Imperial Archives Melina remembered was certainly smaller than this.

Melina’s expression suddenly hardens as she carefully looks around.

“…”

It’s because of a woman standing at the end of the archives.

Dignified gestures. Eyes filled with brilliance. A small tear mole beneath them.

Someone she hadn’t expected to meet here at all.

“…Imperial Princess Aria?”

Thud.

She closes the book she was reading and stares intently at Melina.

“Hmm… it seems I have indeed aged.”

“朕” (I, the Emperor).

At this grand self-reference, inappropriate for an Imperial Princess, Melina’s head tilts slightly.

“To see a ghost of the past with these eyes.”

“What? Ghost?”

“What else but a ghost? Melina, you’ve been dead for over 30 years.”

…What world line have I fallen into?

Unable to hide her bewilderment, Melina asks:

“Who… are you?”

“Didn’t you just say it yourself? I am the 43rd Emperor of the Empire, Aria Lactea.”

At that moment, Melina’s eyes widen.

Aria meets that gaze directly and speaks with a voice full of majesty and noble tone:

“Duke Kiel.”

Thud.

Kiel appears like a shadow at that moment.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Can you see that ghost too?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Bring it to me immediately.”

At that moment, Melina realized she had fallen into a much more cursed world than she had thought.