Clack.
I activated the recording crystal. The screen showed a platinum-haired woman sitting on a sofa.
I turned around her and spoke.
“Now, look at the crystal and tell me your name and age.”
“Um… I’m Nightingale Gothberg… I’m twenty-four years old…”
“Nightingale.”
“Oh, my family calls me Naiti. My dad too.”
“Right, Naiti. So, how did you come to the mansion?”
“Um… I came from the future.”
Still feeling shy about the filming, Nightingale—Naiti twisted her body.
But this was a necessary process. It would serve as excellent evidence in case there were any misunderstandings later.
“The Gothberg Manor from the future, how many years later is it?”
“Twenty-five years. Oh, my mom sent me.”
“Got it. Although I don’t know how, you crossed time and space with some incredibly difficult magic.”
“Yup.”
Pee, Naiti innocently flashed a peace sign at the camera.
Hmm.
Even though I had only seen her a few hours ago, I could already feel an overflowing energy from her.
Her personality was quite different from Acella’s, making it hard to believe.
“No matter how I look at it, you resemble each other too much.”
When I first saw her, I wondered how Acella, who had been lying on the bed, could have come out.
Her features were similar enough that it made me question.
Her eyes were a bit rounder, her cheeks were chubbier… she was like a gentler version of Acella.
Still, there was a feeling she could easily torment men just the same.
“Miss Nightingale, you do realize this claim is honestly absurd, right?”
“Eh…”
“It’s not an ‘eh.’ I’ve heard from Acella that time travel is absolutely impossible.”
“Huh? When? That can’t be right!”
It was a slightly difficult question to answer.
I had previously asked Acella about clairvoyance after hearing about it.
I had wondered if seeing the future meant traveling to it was also possible.
What did she say again?
—Time and space can be represented as coordinates on the same plane, but observation and physical movement are different matters, Lars. To explain why it’s impossible, I’d have to start with what a complex dimension is.
—You don’t want to know? That’s too bad. I find it quite fascinating. Time travel is a kind of magic I want to achieve someday.
—What’s the purpose? You can deal with two of yourself at once, right? I’m curious what it would feel like to accept both at the same time.
—What? If you just bring tomorrow’s you here, that’s that. A time paradox wouldn’t happen.
What on earth does that mean?
With each passing day, I find myself smack my forehead at Acella’s boundless imagination.
I sincerely hope she won’t use such unstable magic on me.
And if we’re going to do it, I’d prefer if it was her being doubled. Historically speaking in the Empire, when three are involved, it should be two women.
Just the thought of me doubling up is terrifying enough.
When I made that point, Acella was horrified and scolded me as to why I was trying to increase holes when there were already two holes and one pole.
It’s dizzying.
In the end, we could not narrow our differences, and the conversation about time travel faded into ambiguity.
‘No, I mean, conversations like this…’
“I really hope she won’t go outside at all.”
“Even if it can’t be done right now, Mom would’ve handled it somehow. Mom is a genius, you know.”
“She’s so impressive that it surprises me often.”
After throwing a few more questions, Nightingale seemed to know some very sensitive information about the Gothberg family.
Sigh, is she really my daughter?
Or perhaps a top-tier spy?
To be precise, I need to call Acella tomorrow to judge together, but for now, I decided to trust her.
I also didn’t want to hear any more spoilers.
“Alright, I’ll have Acella… Mom come and figure out a way to send you back, so for tonight, just sleep. I’ll give you a room.”
“Huh, no way! I can’t go back just like that!”
But then, at my words, Nightingale seemed to have a fit.
“Why? Do you have some sort of goal at this hour?”
“Well, you see….”
Nightingale rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers.
“Ah! I got, uh, chased out by Mom! She said I’m not working and just holed up in my room all day…!”
Just from the way she spoke, I thought she might have a personality like Lau, but it was the exact opposite.
The fact that my daughter is an unemployed hikikomori is something I really didn’t want to know.
“Diagnosis.”
―――――――――――
· Name: Nightingale Gothberg
· Health: 31 / 31
· Situation: Healthy
· Injury: None
· Mood: Wow, Daddy!
―――――――――――
She wasn’t holed up because she had issues like Lishe. Thank goodness she’s healthy.
“Ah, I poked around without permission, huh.”
“What’s it to you? I’ve gotta check if there are no problems. Have you gotten all your vaccinations? Hepatitis A, flu, tetanus. If you missed any, let me know. I’ll get them done right away.”
“Heh, you’re really something, Dad.”
Nightingale smiled brightly and leaned her forehead against me.
Sigh—
It’s like she inherited Acella’s habit of trying to confirm people by their smell.
If she got chased out enough to not even be in the mansion, Acella must’ve been really mad at her.
She probably was pretty angry, but shall I say she’s being positive?
For now, I decided to help her calm down a bit.
“Let’s just sleep for now and talk tomorrow. It’s already late, and you must be tired.”
“Umm. What about my room?”
“Where was it originally?”
“Ah, Annex 4th floor….”
“That’s my room.”
“Oh right, you said it was originally Dad’s room. Yeah, I don’t really care for it much anyway. I don’t have to use it.”
Since it was the room I lived in, Acella liked it too, so even after we got married, I still kept a little space and continued staying there.
“There’s an empty room on the 3rd floor. Sleep there for tonight.”
“Umm.”
Nightingale seemed to be getting sleepy as her words slowed down. Rubbing her eyes so cutely definitely didn’t look like someone in their mid-20s.
Hmm… nothing came up on the diagnosis, but is there any chance of infant regression or developmental disorders?
“Dad, good night.”
“Yeah. I’ll tell the attendants, so if you need anything, just let me know.”
“Okay. Hehe, I’m glad to see you again, Dad.”
Nightingale hugged me tightly once more, waved her hand energetically, and went into her room.
I explained the situation to Cervus without mentioning it was about my daughter, just that there was an important guest to take care of.
As a loyal attendant, Cervus promptly accepted my request without any questions.
It was a chaotic dawn. I was lucky to discover it first; if a knight had stumbled upon it first, I would have been thrown in jail as an intruder.
But then, why did Acella send Nightingale to me? As I pondered this,
‘Is this some sort of message for me?’
Clearly, there had been a significant problem since it was serious enough to chase her back to the past.
Acella grew up under strict training within the imperial family since childhood. In another timeline, she was already the Empress of the empire before even Nightingale’s age.
How could her bloodline remain confined in a room as an unemployed bum at such a young age?
There was no way Acella would tolerate such a thing.
In fact, it would seem miraculous that Nightingale was still alive at 24 years old.
‘Does that mean it’s partially my responsibility that Nightingale ended up like this?’
Could this be a test from Acella?
Is it an unspoken pressure to turn Nightingale back into a decent person?
Could there be a system where a bad ending occurs if Nightingale doesn’t find a job within a specific timeframe?
“Status Window!”
[No. 077: Incarnation of Jealousy 5%]
Hmm, this is the only thing.
The probability hasn’t changed since the good ending.
Well, I guess I’ll discuss the details tomorrow.
Acella surely wouldn’t want any spoilers about her child either.
“I guess it can’t be helped since you sent her.”
I guess I’ll have to… pay the price?
I carefully opened the door and entered the room, trying not to wake Acella.
For the record, Acella hates getting on the bed in the same clothes she wore outside; she says it gathers dust.
I can’t say I recommend it for hygiene either, so I changed back into my pajamas and slipped into bed as quietly as possible.
Acella was peacefully asleep.
What was she thinking about 25 years later?
She would probably look the same as now.
I was very curious.
As I was about to cover myself with the blanket,
“Where have you been?”
A chilling voice pierced my ear.
Hmm, I somewhat expected this, but facing it in reality was quite terrifying.
“Yes, my lady. I just went on a refrigerator expedition because I was thirsty.”
“Mm… hug me.”
Maybe it was the half-asleep nature, but the infantile regression was right here.
It reminded me of my time as her attending physician.
Acella nestled perfectly in my arms, bringing her head down to my chin and casually slipping her hand inside my shirt. Like a creeping vine that holds on tight and never lets go.
Seeing her take a deep breath, I absentmindedly wondered if daughters truly resemble their mothers.
“Who was that woman?”
“Excuse me?”
“The woman you just met, who was she?”
“Uh, I’m not sure what you mean by that…”
“She looked like me.”
“That was something.”
Well, let me tell you, the whole thing felt less like a chill and more like a serious life threat being served on the rocks.
I was debating where to start so that my carotid artery would come out unscathed. Wait, maybe just stalling for time wasn’t the best idea either.
“By the way, can I ask something?”
“Go ahead.”
“Is it possible to use magic to go back to the past?”
“No.”
“Hmm… Absolutely not? No matter what? Like, even if a lady spends the next 25 years dedicated to that research?”
“Didn’t I mention before? For that proposition to hold, it must be based on the premise of moving through imaginary dimensions, and imaginary dimensions aren’t real spaces like higher dimensions; they’re concepts. It’s a polar coordinate system used for writing circles, and our real substances, like our bodies, can’t go there…”
Bam! Acella suddenly perked up, narrowing her eyes and tilting her head up as if she were on a detective mission.
“That one, what’s its name?”
“Nightingale.”
“Are you sure? Not Kula, Astley, or Luna?”
“Yes. Nightingale is the name of the nurse I respect…”
“Unbelievable. So you didn’t consider my opinion at all?”
Ah, it looks like she got mad over the name.
Speaking of which, Acella’s insight is just as sharp as ever. Just from that question, she figured out Nighty’s true identity.
“What number is she?”
“Oh, I forgot to ask that. But thinking about her age, she’d be the eldest daughter.”
“Ha.”
Acella stood up, suddenly bending her neck back and bursting into laughter.
“What’s so funny? I’m scared.”
“Lars, cheer up a bit more.”
“About what?”
“If that kid is real, it means that within just 25 years, I’ll be making the impossible possible through ultimate magic.”
“Hmm… That’s a good thing, right?”
You already have plenty of mind-boggling magic in use.
How much crazier can it get?
“Time travel, it might be a 10th-tier… No, it could even be a transcendent tier. Haha, that’s definitely me.”
“Congratulations in advance.”
“I’ll take the congratulations 25 years later. So, why did I send you? Obviously, to achieve a monumental feat, right?”
I guess my future former country is in a Great Depression with no jobs and is sending me out because I can’t find employment.
But I probably shouldn’t say that. So I nodded enthusiastically with a smile.
Acella’s eyes sparkled as she curled her hands together like a cat and began to act cute.
“Meow.”
“How adorable.”
“Isn’t it charming? Go on, start.”
“Right now?”
“I have a habit of crying like a cat when I get excited.”
“You don’t.”
“I’m planning to start.”
Swaying her hips, Acella was already shaking them like a little dance. The lace of her pajamas fell apart too.
“Hurry up and make a daughter.”
With that, I had no reason to hold back anymore.
We both collapsed onto the bed together.
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