That day, Acella was locked away in her room, avoiding all outside activities.
She hadn’t even received Lars’s check-up that morning. She didn’t have the confidence to face him at all.
‘A terminal illness, huh.’
Although he never explicitly mentioned it, Acella had certainly been aware of Lars’s frail state. His stamina was low, and he occasionally collapsed, possibly from anemia.
Still, he always appeared impeccable at work, and being a doctor, she assumed he would take good care of his own health.
Even Tanya, the closest to him, had only just learned of his illness.
It wasn’t surprising that Acella wasn’t aware of it. He might have even kept it a secret from his family.
‘The future Lars wasn’t like this.’
The visions from Clairvoyance were just possibilities. Just as she, a future tyrant, was not the same person she used to be, the Lars who was part of the hero party was also different from the current Lars.
It was entirely possible that his illness had worsened before he even joined the hero party, leading to his untimely demise.
‘Was this the secret you were hiding?’
It was a conversation they’d had while watching the sunrise.
The secret she was hiding from him was her Clairvoyance.
His secret was a horrific truth.
It was an unbearable fact that at any moment, he could face a sudden farewell from Acella.
‘No way.’
Acella thought firmly that such a thing must not happen.
At least she was glad that she had taken Gunter’s brooch from him. Such a healing artifact would be hard to find even deeper within the Empire.
‘What should I do?’
Acella was uncertain if she should talk to Lars about this matter.
There was no way she could confess to him that she had eavesdropped on his secret.
Even if they did talk, it was obvious that if he, as a doctor, couldn’t solve it, Acella wouldn’t be able to help either.
‘What to do, what to do.’
Acella was a mess, wandering around her room like a mouse, forgetting about important kingdom documents in her head.
Her mind was a whirlpool of thoughts.
Fear gripped her chest, worrying that she might part ways with him at any moment.
She didn’t even want to imagine a life without him. No, she couldn’t imagine it.
It was a truth she already knew, but it reaffirmed just how deeply she had fallen for him.
When she confessed to him…
Seeing Lars’s dazed expression, a thousand thoughts flooded Acella’s mind about his feelings.
She had always thought it was natural for him to have feelings for her.
I mean, who wouldn’t like a beautiful betrothed, the Empress of the Empire?
What an arrogant thought she had.
But Lars’s reaction at that time was quite indifferent.
It wasn’t happiness or embarrassment; it was more like he had somewhat expected it.
With a sprinkle of hesitation mixed in.
Perhaps that hesitation stemmed from pondering whether he should confess.
“…Hah.”
The more she worried about Lars, the more resentful she became toward Lishe, who had made him collapse yesterday.
For some reason, she had never seen her future self married to Lars, nor could she imagine being loved by him.
Empress Acella had become indifferent or even an object of hatred to Healer Lars.
Her jealousy deepened even more as she watched Lishe, grinning with soot on her face, cheerfully throw her arm around Lars.
‘No, can’t let myself get too carried away.’
Realizing she was overly excited, Acella took a deep breath. It was the breathing method that Lars had taught her.
…Gradually, her racing heart calmed down.
‘It’s not guaranteed that he actually has a terminal illness.’
At the very least, Lars wasn’t acting like someone who was on the brink of death.
Surely, he would be okay for a while; he was that kind of man.
‘What I can do….’
There’s power in being the Empress of the Empire. She could use means that might be impossible for Lars.
Acella wanted to give him what he desired.
Her swirling thoughts settled on a single place.
A letter envelope she had put in her drawer.
It was the contract that bound Lars and herself together through the Geass covenant.
It was something she wanted to offer him because he couldn’t achieve it without her magical power.
Would he not be a little pleased if she granted this request?
—Drrrrrrk.
Acella pulled the envelope from the drawer. It remained untouched, just as it had been when she first met him years ago.
She gently brushed her fingers against the seal on the envelope and tried to tug it open.
But the envelope didn’t budge, as if it were made of lead.
It was a sign that Lars didn’t want the covenant to take effect.
If this was unnecessary as well…
‘Doesn’t he want anything from me?’
Ever since her confession, Acella had thought that she and Lars had grown much closer.
He seemed to be caring for her personally rather than just as a work obligation.
But now, it felt like his thoughts had slipped back into the fog.
Acella grew anxious.
She wanted to find a clue.
At times like this, relying on advice from those around her or talking to the person involved was Acella’s driving force and also her bad habit; she preferred to push the situation forward using her abilities.
“Your Majesty, it’s time for your meal.”
She heard the head maid’s voice from outside. Time had flown by.
“I won’t have any meals. Prepare the ceremonial attire.”
Acella immediately grabbed her wand and headed out to the back garden of the Moonlight Palace to gather her thoughts.
She prepared a new ceremonial garment to stabilize her magical circuits and an artifact to assist in her mana circulation. This was evidence that the Moonlight Palace had grown that much.
“Huuu.”
The initial two circles were parallel, intersecting to create the third circle. The fourth circle, displayed in a higher dimension, distorted but formed a perfect circular shape.
The fifth circle penetrated it, completing a shape only Acella could understand in multiple phases.
“Huh?”
Wait, did she misinterpret that she understood it?
Acella suddenly found herself flustered as the calculations that should have been straightforward in her head went haywire.
It felt like simple arithmetic, like 1 plus 2, taking a minute or two to come to 3, only to spend an hour verifying if the answer was correct.
It had been a while since she used Clairvoyance. The last time was months ago when Lars had left the palace before the surgery.
“Why is this happening?”
This wasn’t a problem with the Clairvoyance magic.
More fundamentally, a fracture had occurred in the formulas needed to utilize fifth-tier magic and in her spatial recognition.
“Ugh…!”
Like a blocked blood flow, her magical circuits lost their direction, and the scorching mana caused Acella to moan.
It was high-level magic. If she delayed the activation process any longer, her circuits could burn out.
Ultimately, Acella swung her wand and cast the spell with imperfect circles.
—Hwaaaak!!
Air choked her throat, and her vision burst into flashes.
She couldn’t stabilize the timeline, and everything in front of her raced by chaotically as various scenes flashed by.
The backlash from the imperfect casting sent Acella’s psyche into turmoil.
She wanted to scream, but her mouth was tightly shut.
She missed Lars’s side.
Being next to him always brought her so much comfort.
‘Lars.’
As if he had heard her wish, his face flickered past her vision.
—Empress Acella.
—I curse you.
—In this life and the next, forever.
‘…No.’
She knew. She knew that wasn’t the Lars she recognized.
But no matter what, hearing him say such words with that face was unbearable.
Why, why was he only like that with her?
He was so close to the hero.
—You did well today, Lars. Shall we go for a drink?
—What about the other party members?
—They’ve gone to bed first since they’re tired. It’s fine for just the two of us.
—Is that so? Guess I’ll go if there’s no one to talk to.
—Yes. Just the usual low-alcohol kind?
Why was he so cheerful like that?
Why not with her?
She couldn’t believe it.
How could that naive kid be so confident just a few years later?
Could it be that was what it meant to be a hero?
Growing, evolving into a persona of virtue, becoming flawless, ultimately saving the continent.
Acella faintly realized.
If she hadn’t known the future, she might have viewed the country girl Lishe as nothing but a subordinate.
But because she was aware of the possibilities…
No matter how noble her status as the Empress of the Empire, it was ultimately determined by humans.
Could she really rival the hero, that mystery of the world?
Scenes shifted and flowed by.
‘Just things I don’t want to see again.’
Lars had died.
It was a scene where he had fought against demons in the hero party and had fallen in battle.
Lishe walked up to his lifeless body, kneeling down with a thud.
—I’m so tired of this.
Acella felt puzzled.
The confident and self-assured hero she had seen thus far was nowhere to be found, only replaced by someone whose eyes were hollowed out from the exhaustion of battle.
If she were to liken it, it would be as if a soldier’s mind had shattered from trauma on the battlefield.
—I’ve failed again.
—When will it end…?
—This should have been enough! Let me go!!
Lishe screamed, slamming the Holy Sword into the ground.
Unable to endure the force of her sword energy, the Holy Sword shattered into pieces from its weakened durability.
The Empire, having lost the way to victory against the Demon King’s army, walked the path to ruin.
It repeated itself over and over.
In different places, at different times.
—Stop!
—Enough already!!
Acella was left speechless.
Every time the timeline flickered by, she could see Lishe shattering the Holy Sword herself.
Fragmented pieces of information came before her, and before she could judge the cause-and-effect of the events…
Whoosh!
A headache struck her like a hammer, and her vision went dark.
“Hah!”
Returning to reality after ceasing her Clairvoyance casting, Acella gasped for air.
“Your Majesty!”
The head maid supported her. Unbeknownst to her, Acella had collapsed to the floor.
The artifact had shattered to bits, and the tip of her wand was burned. The state of this casting made it clear how disastrous it had been.
Acella felt instinctively.
In this state, it was unlikely she would ever attempt Clairvoyance again.
‘I’ve lost something.’
Her hands trembled with a feeling of loss.
Magic, magic was everything.
For her, it was the most important thing.
Leading her magic to a higher realm was every mage’s ultimate goal.
The moment that was broken, a mage lost all worth in living.
She wanted to lament with a heavy heart, but there were more important matters at hand, so Acella held it in tightly.
‘Lars.’
The hero was a far more dangerous figure than they had thought.
She couldn’t entrust him with the Holy Sword or the future of the continent.
“Where’s the attending physician?”
“I’ll check on that.”
Lars was treating the hero to create a stable resonance with the Holy Sword.
That was not his job. Staying close to him would only cost Lars the remainder of his life.
Acella immediately sought out her attending physician to convey the truth about the hero.
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