Chapter 40: Lineage Part 1

“But Ellie, what exactly is that unique magical language of yours?”

Philia suddenly asked me this when we were well into the latter half of October.

By then, we had already taken our midterms, and the kids who had entered the academy this year had shed their freshman demeanor.

They had explored what the campus looked like, memorized the names and faces of the professors, and figured out which cafeteria menus were tasty and which were just so-so.

They knew how to send letters back home, adapted to dorm life, group classes, evaluation through exams, and even going out to the city to have fun on weekends.

Of course, the same was true for my friends, and it was during this time that Philia brought up this long-standing question.

“Yeah, really. What is it?”

“Can you teach us too?”

Clea and Isabel chimed in, and Stella also looked up from her cards and stared at me.

“Hmm…”

Under the gaze of my friends, I looked up at the ceiling.

By the way, the place where we had gathered to play cards was Isabel’s room.

There was a table here too, but it was only used for playing, not studying.

It wasn’t intentional, but it was a sort of spatial separation.

Clea had the study room, and Isabel had the playroom.

Anyway, back to Philia’s question.

‘What should I do?’

Teaching them Korean wasn’t impossible.

I could just say it was a conlang I created.

‘…Wait. Would that really work?’

The universal characteristic of conlangs created for real-world use, as opposed to those made for fantasy or sci-fi works, was the absence of irregularities.

In fact, one of the most famous conlangs, Esperanto, was exactly like that.

It removed all the irregular conjugations common in European languages to make it easier to learn.

Broadly speaking, programming languages, which also fall under the category of conlangs, naturally have no irregular conjugations, and magical languages for spells are no different.

‘So, what about Korean?’

Just picking a few representative examples:

-ㄷ Irregular Conjugation:
For example, 듣- (to listen) + -으니 becomes 듣으니, which changes to 들으니 (meaning “when you listen” or “when you hear”). Similarly, 묻었다 (asked) changes to 물었다 (asked).

‘르’ Irregular Conjugation:
For example, 자르- (to cut) + -어서 becomes 자르어서, which changes to 잘라서 (meaning “because [I] cut”). Likewise, 누르- (to press) + -어요 changes to 누르어요, becoming 눌러요 (meaning “presses” or “to press”).

‘ㅎ’ Irregular Conjugation:
For example, 빨갛- (red) + -음 becomes 빨갛음, which changes to 빨간 (meaning “red”). Similarly, 뿌옇- (cloudy or blurry) + -어서 changes to 뿌옇어서, which becomes 뿌예서 (meaning “because [it] is blurry”).

And so on.

Korean is filled with irregular conjugations that make foreigners learning the language curse the day they first heard K-pop.

‘Huh.’

‘So, what should I do? Should I reveal that I’m a reincarnated person and that it’s a language from my original world?’

That wasn’t an easy task either.

At the very least, it wasn’t a simple matter.

I was so lost in thought that I fell into silence.

My silence made Philia, who had asked the question, flustered, and she quickly changed the subject.

“Uh, whose turn was it? Was it mine?”

The game we were playing was Old Maid.

It was a simple game where you pair up matching numbered cards, and the person left with the Joker at the end loses.

“Um… I’ll take this one.”

It was Stella’s turn, so Philia drew a card from her hand and confirmed it was the Joker.

Her face stiffened slightly.

Still, it was a decent poker face.

In Isabel’s case… honestly, we were all letting her win on purpose.

Anyway, the issue of my mysterious unique magical language was brushed aside like that…

“Guys.”

‘…or so I thought.’

“From what I’ve seen, you’re people I can trust.”

It was my turn next, so I naturally drew the Joker from Philia’s hand.

“I’m going to tell you a secret now. Whether you believe it or not is up to you. But from now on, never tell anyone else. Keep it a secret for me.”

I placed the Joker I drew from Philia’s hand face down separately and handed the rest of my cards to Isabel, who was next.

Isabel hesitated but drew one from my hand and paired it up, clearing her hand.

“If you guys talk about it, I won’t get mad or punish you. If that happens, it’s my fault for misjudging you.”

After Isabel cleared her hand, it was Clea’s turn to draw a card from my hand.

Clea also paired up and cleared her hand.

“But if this secret gets out, I’ll have to disappear. Of course, I’ll have to leave the academy, and I won’t be able to see you guys again.”

‘It wasn’t an exaggeration.’

‘Moreover, if we were to part ways for that reason, even if I were to become the emperor, it was questionable whether I could call them back. Even if I forced it, it was uncertain whether our friendship could be restored.’

“So…”

“N-no! I don’t want that!”

Isabel shouted, her voice breaking.

She was on the verge of tears.

“Th-that kind of thing… I’d rather not hear the secret! I don’t want to be separated from Ellie! I reeeaaally don’t want to!”

“…Hehe.”

Only one card remained in my hand, so I patted Isabel’s back with my empty hand.

“Alright, then I won’t tell you.”

I handed the last card to Stella, who was next.

“Stella, it’s your turn.”

“…Got it.”

Stella also picked up the card from my hand and matched a pair.

Done.

Then, Philia took Stella’s last card, causing Stella to clear her hand, and at the same time, Philia also matched a pair and cleared her hand.

Only the Joker, still face down, remained.

“I lost. Should we keep going? Or try a new game next time?”

I smiled and shuffled the cards.

As I did, I felt a sense of irony.

These playing cards, the various board games that had newly appeared in Isabel’s room—they were all things I could create because I was a reincarnator.

‘I really thought about telling them.’

But they were good kids.

They would carry the secret of me being a reincarnator to the grave for my sake.

Besides, being a reincarnator was just one of the three secrets I held.

The other two were my lineage as the Emperor’s illegitimate child and my goal to become the Emperor.

When I lined them up, I thought that being a reincarnator might actually be the least significant secret.

Like being the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings.

‘Someday, I’ll have to reveal them all.’

All three.

I still didn’t know the concrete method to become the Emperor.

I was simultaneously considering and refining several plans, but nothing solid enough to call a strategy yet.

For example, ‘when and how would I reveal my true identity to the world?’

‘After revealing it, what would I do? Would I demand the right of primogeniture and the throne, or would I immediately challenge the Emperor, my father, to a duel?’

‘Perhaps the ones I’d have to defeat were the Crown Princess, my half-sister whom I’d never met, or maybe both her and the current Emperor. If it was both, would I have to fight them simultaneously, or one after the other?’

This world respected the personal power of the Emperor, but the institutionalized “imperial authority” was not as strong.

‘What would be the quickest way to persuade the local nobles to follow me and not entertain any foolish ideas? Or should I first secure the support of those local lords?’

And so on.

And so on and so forth.

There were countless directions and methods.

And only after I concretely figured those out could I reveal my two secrets to the kids.

‘Well.’

I wasn’t too worried because I knew a path would eventually reveal itself.

I had enough strength, and the process itself would allow me to meet various people and expand my connections.

So, I was looking at the plan on a long-term, year-by-year basis, and I wanted to cherish the time I spent with the kids, like now, for its own sake.

***

“…Um, I actually wanted to ask Ellie one more thing.”

Philia spoke up, though she seemed hesitant. Isabel’s eyes widened.

Philia quickly added, “No, this is really minor. It’s nothing serious.”

“What is it?”

“If it’s really minor, why not ask later?” I held back from saying that. This is our Philia, after all.

“When’s your birthday?”

“…Huh?”

“I mean, I want to celebrate it. Your birthday.”

I felt two emotions.

First, the touching realization that our Philia was planning a friend’s birthday party—she’s really grown up. Truly, kids in puberty mature so quickly.

And second, a slight awkwardness because it was a question that was a bit difficult to answer.

“I don’t know.”

“Huh?”

“Really, I don’t know. The orphanage I was at wasn’t the kind of place that kept track of those things.”

Isabel, who had also been to the orphanage with me, winced.

Though compared to before, it was a much better situation.

‘Was there ever a piece of paper or a record at Doloria’s place that noted the children’s birthdays?’

Of course not.

Even if there had been, she would’ve thrown it in the trash immediately.

“Then, do you know where you were born?”

Clea’s question made me blink.

“Huh? I do, but why?”

“If it’s a rural village, it might be hard, but if you were born in a city, we might be able to find your birthday. When a child is born, it’s reported to the government office.”

“Really? The place I was born is…”

I paused.

“Wait…”

Only then did I realize there was another secret I hadn’t told the kids.

“Ellie? What’s wrong?”

My mother was a prostitute.

And she worked in the capital, the place we often visited to play.