I couldn’t understand a single thing.
Up until now, I had hardly ever doubted my abilities.
When I was young—so, not long after I came to this world—I had some doubts. What if there are limits to this ability? What if there’s a hidden number of times I can use it, or what if I keep chipping away at some part of myself each time I use it?
But for the past ten years, I never felt like I was losing anything.
When people move, they get tired. If you don’t sleep, you feel sleepy; if you don’t drink, you get thirsty; if you don’t eat, you get hungry.
But I thought my ability crossed all those realms. When I rewound time, no matter how tired I was, I felt comfortable again, and even the moments of thirst or hunger returned to moments of not feeling them at all. The same went for the opposite case.
Only my memories continued to remain intact…
Then, how are those memories still connected?
I don’t even remember how I exited the dungeon. Claire or Alice must have spoken to me several times along the way. The Emperor just led the group up front without a word, and Leo had been frozen the whole time.
Bella wasn’t in sight. She must have been walking at the very back.
Did Alice support me? Or was it Claire?
The only clear memory I had was fiddling with my tattered collar.
Yeah. Up until now, I had never even thought about moving through time. It was impossible in the first place. Within the rewound time, I was just myself. Like winding a clock back, after rewinding time, I was simply where I was supposed to be.
…Was I really just myself?
My memories flowed as time passed.
It’s honestly not a good feeling to start doubting something I had absolutely trusted and used without hesitation after ten whole years.
In the distance, moonlight could be seen. Strangely enough, light did not enter the dungeon. Only the light seeping from the outside illuminated the corridor, making the view of the moon, which appeared to be the entrance and exit of the dungeon, look like a self-luminous dark-framed painting in the dark room.
As I stared at that scene for a while, I rewound time again.
*
That was an impulsive act.
You could say it was expressed by impatience.
Given my personality, it was natural to rewind.
The Emperor seemed to have grasped my abilities to some extent. I couldn’t reveal the identity of that mysterious figure; if I messed up, not only could the Emperor find out, but so could the people around me.
So, as always, I rewound time before my mistake, making it all pointless.
I needed to strip that figure of their mask, be cautious before the Emperor, and make sure to remove the hand that grabbed me—
But I couldn’t.
“—Via!”
Once again, I took a deep breath. The sensation of falling beyond the broken space didn’t feel pleasant at all. The feeling of collapsing to the ground. A strange floating sensation. It felt like I had just returned to the world after being in a vacuum, my lungs empty.
No, it wasn’t just a feeling I could brush off. It was the worst. Maybe it felt so bad because I had experienced it once before. My brain was accepting my situation more calmly.
But because of that, I couldn’t be composed.
I couldn’t go back. It was like there was a wall between the moment I faced that figure and my time, and I crashed into it again.
This time, the wall didn’t break.
My body trembled from the shock. I inhaled deeply several times to supply oxygen to my empty lungs while checking my collar.
The torn collar still felt intact.
With my mouth firmly shut, I barely lifted my head to look where that person had been standing. There was no one there.
“Where did that person go?”
“……They suddenly vanished at some point.”
“The light… it seems they took it with them,” Alice responded, and Claire added.
“…….”
I had no words after hearing that. Just moments ago, I had asked about the battle and ended up revealing my abilities to the Emperor.
“Hmm.”
However, the Emperor, as depicted in the game, was not an easy person to deal with.
Well, just because I kept my mouth shut didn’t mean he wouldn’t extract any information from me.
He had merely been cautious up until now, letting me off lightly.
“Father!”
As the Emperor lifted his sword, aiming at my neck, Alice gasped and shouted in surprise. Claire instinctively raised her hand to the hilt of her sword but pulled back as if startled.
However, it seemed the Emperor didn’t really intend to behead me.
Considering the sword he had earlier aimed at Alice, he could have easily taken my life without a second thought—regardless of my ability to rewind time.
The thick sword blade moved surprisingly delicately, brushing against my collar. Then, it traced the irregular and frayed edges as if it were torn.
“It’s in a state that shouldn’t just happen on its own. Did someone tear it?”
Alice seemed to have finally noticed and took a breath. Claire followed suit. Leo looked completely out of it, as if he hadn’t grasped the situation yet. I couldn’t interpret Bella’s expression, who was wearing a mask and observing from a distance.
“It’s not just the collar; there are wounds all over your body. Are those bruises?”
One side of the Emperor’s lips curled up. He looked like someone who has heard a slightly morally questionable joke and found it funny.
That’s why I felt scared by that face.
“Bruises.”
The Emperor said as he withdrew the sword from my neck.
“That Sylvia Fanggriffon?”
“…….”
The Emperor leaned slightly toward me, lowering his voice.
“Have we had this kind of conversation ‘before’?”
The ‘before’ the Emperor mentioned must be a question based on me.
I was sure of it.
There was no way to escape from the future ever again.
*
In the end, things continued much like the beginning.
It seemed the Emperor had come to some comprehension regarding my abilities. I couldn’t tell how much he had figured out about the principle behind it, or if he had the insight to grasp it deeper than I, who used the ability, could understand, but I could feel it wasn’t a good sign through my skin.
Alice, Claire, and Leo said nothing. They kept glancing my way as if gauging my reaction.
Bella… was humming. At that moment, in her high-pitched voice.
“Well then, everyone, let’s go inside and rest.”
Even though one of his possessions was stolen, the Emperor showed no signs of regret. In fact, he was smiling pleasantly.
“It was a lovely walk, but it seems you’re all quite tired. I hope the rest of your journey is enjoyable.”
With those words, the Emperor turned and walked away, leaving us behind. But the last place his gaze lingered was on my face.
I didn’t say a word until the very end.
*
“I won’t ask you anything right now.”
Alice spoke with a serious expression.
When I regained my senses, I found myself in my room. That is, the room I’d decided to stay in at Northwood. It was a large room, comparable to the one Alice used, and the decor was similar. However, we weren’t in the reception area with a guest table in the room.
Having seated me on the bed, Alice and Claire stood around me. Leo wasn’t there. Did they decide girls-only means he couldn’t come in? It wouldn’t be odd if Leo said he wouldn’t enter himself.
But that wasn’t the important part.
“We don’t know what happened, but…”
Alice and Claire briefly locked eyes. Then, at the same time, they looked at me.
The first to speak was Alice.
“You seem really worn out right now, so….”
This must be the first time for them to see me like this.
They might not believe that I had ever appeared tired. Honestly, walking through a dark dungeon, wandering through a snowy forest, or going around in the sewers could be exhausting enough.
They wouldn’t think I had unlimited stamina.
However, suddenly collapsing for no reason was strange.
Especially with bruises all over my body.
As if something had happened to me alone in that time.
“First off, get some good rest.”
Claire completed Alice’s interrupted sentence.
“…Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
“…….”
The concern on both of their faces was evident.
They didn’t press me to reveal the abilities I had or what had happened.
I was grateful for that kindness.
“Understood.”
For now, I decided to gratefully accept that consideration.
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