Chapter – 07
“Miss, please wake up.”
Along with the birds chirping to announce the morning, Luciena heard the voice of her maid, Fioda.
“Mmm… Haa… Ugh…”
For some reason, her body felt unusually stiff today, and she didn’t feel refreshed at all.
She had a very bad feeling.
“Don’t tell me… today is my fifteenth birthday… for the fourth time…?”
Luciena muttered anxiously to herself, making Fioda look at her with a puzzled expression.
“What are you talking about, Miss? Your birthday was yesterday!”
“Huh…?”
Thinking Luciena was still half-asleep, Fioda lowered her voice and whispered,
“Don’t you remember? During yesterday’s party, one of the windows suddenly shattered and everyone panicked.”
Only after hearing those words did it truly sink in that she had safely made it through the night of her birthday party.
“So… my birthday really has passed. Thank goodness… haa…”
Luciena let out a deep sigh of relief as she pressed a hand against her chest.
All the effort she had put in throughout the previous day had not been in vain.
She had managed to avoid the great current of fate—
Death itself.
The moment she truly realized she had survived and lived to see another day, all the tension drained from her body.
At the same time, she felt every ounce of strength leave her.
Luciena’s weakened body swayed before collapsing back onto the bed.
“Miss! Are you alright? Miss…!”
An intense heat suddenly spread throughout Luciena’s entire body.
“Miss Luciena, Fioda is coming in.”
“Come in.”
Still dressed in her nightgown, Luciena greeted Fioda while sitting on her bed.
She had been bedridden for several days with a high fever and had only just regained enough strength to get up.
“Um… Miss. A guest has come to see you today. Will that be alright?”
“A guest? Who is it?”
“Young Master Erteo.”
Her heart skipped a beat.
“I don’t want to see him. Tell him to go home because I’m still unwell.”
For the first time since entering her service, Fioda wore a troubled expression after hearing her mistress’s order.
“What is it?”
“Well… he’s actually been waiting for quite a while already.”
“What?”
Luciena immediately shot upright in surprise.
“To be honest… he also came the day before yesterday and yesterday. He waited until the afternoon both times before leaving… Today he insisted that no matter what, he would see you. He said he’ll wait until you wake up, no matter how long it takes.”
“N-No, absolutely not. Send him away immediately!”
At Luciena’s command, Fioda looked even more conflicted.
“Miss, to be honest… you know very well that he’s not someone who’ll leave just because I ask him to. Besides, he’s already been waiting for five hours today…”
“Five hours? Haa…”
No one knew better than Luciena that once Erteo set his mind on something, he always accomplished it.
The fact that he had silently waited for five whole hours showed just how determined—and obsessive—he was about seeing her today.
In the end, Luciena had no choice but to give in.
“Fine. Let him come in.”
“Yes, Miss.”
A short while later, Erteo opened the door and entered.
“Hello.”
“…”
Luciena didn’t return his greeting.
On purpose, she hadn’t even bothered to tidy her messy hair or wipe away the faint trace of drool left at the corner of her mouth from sleeping.
She deliberately greeted him looking as disheveled as possible.
She wanted him to lose interest after seeing such an unattractive side of her.
At least in this lifetime, she wanted nothing to do with Erteo.
However, Erteo himself seemed completely unaffected by her appearance.
Considering that only a few days ago he had been used and ignored by Luciena yet still came to visit her while she was sick, it wasn’t surprising.
“How are you feeling?”
“…As you can see.”
Luciena answered flatly with an expressionless face.
She had intentionally decided to act cold toward Erteo.
She hoped that, in this life, they would never become close.
She wanted him to stop caring about her.
“You don’t look well. Do you still have a fever?”
As Erteo reached out to place a hand on her forehead, Luciena turned her head away and forcefully pushed his hand aside.
“What’s gotten into you? You’ve been acting strangely for the past few days.”
Erteo frowned at her sudden change in attitude.
“You’ve been acting strangely for the past few days…”
It’s not something that started just a day or two ago, Erteo.
A flood of memories—filled with both joy and sorrow—flashed through Luciena’s mind.
The man who had nearly destroyed the world trying to pluck the stars from the sky for her.
The man who had sworn to love her for eternity.
And yet, in the end…
The man who walked away without even looking back, no matter how desperately she cried and begged.
Erteo Elus.
Because not all of her memories with him had been painful, recalling the past only made her heart heavier.
“If you have a problem with me, or if I’ve done something wrong, then at least tell me what it is before getting angry.”
Instead of answering, Luciena simply turned her head toward the window.
Even if I told you, nothing would change.
Even if the other person is you.
Throughout the nearly one hundred deaths she had endured, there had been several times when she revealed the truth about her circumstances and begged others for help.
But the result had always been the same.
Not only did people dismiss her sincere pleas as lies, they consistently treated her as if she had lost her mind.
At some point, Luciena gave up trying to tell anyone the truth.
That included Erteo.
Erteo narrowed his eyes and silently stared at her for a long while.
“Luna…”
Hearing that nickname again—
The affectionate name that only Erteo had ever called her—
Luciena’s expression instantly froze.
“You’re really strange.”
“What… do you mean?”
“Ever since your birthday… you’ve been unlike yourself. No… not just unlike yourself. I’m certain of it.”
“You’re not the Luna I knew.”
His words made Luciena involuntarily flinch.
“…Who are you?”
Erteo’s gaze, sharper than the edge of a blade, pierced straight into her.
“If I’m not Luciena, then who am I?”
“You think I wouldn’t know?”
“…”
“You really think I wouldn’t notice?”
Faced with Erteo’s relentless questioning, Luciena remained silent.
Thinking back, it had started on her birthday.
Every time she sensed someone watching her and turned around, Erteo had been standing there.
Moreover, Erteo had spent many years studying in the harsh northern lands.
Luciena knew better than anyone that someone like him wouldn’t be fooled by such shallow tricks.
When she finally raised her head, Erteo was still staring directly at her.
His eyes remained narrowed, his suspicion clearly undiminished.
“The fact that you keep avoiding my questions already proves you’re not the person I knew. So what exactly am I supposed to believe?”
“…No matter what I say, it seems you’ve already decided on your own answer. This conversation isn’t going anywhere, so would you please leave?”
At Luciena’s cold dismissal, Erteo frowned.
“Fine. I didn’t come here to argue anyway.”
“You had another reason for coming?”
“Here. Take this.”
Erteo’s expression suddenly turned serious, causing Luciena to tense up as well.
Then, he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and took out a small object.
“This is…”
Luciena’s eyes widened.
It was a small box.
Anyone could tell it was a ring box.
As Erteo slowly opened the lid, a silver ring set with a blue gemstone shimmered inside.
Holding the ring in one hand, he gently took Luciena’s hand with the other.
As the ring slowly approached the ring finger of her left hand, Luciena fell into thought.
This never happened before I regressed… Why has things changed?
Did my actions create this new future?
In the past, she probably would have burst into tears of joy after receiving a ring from Erteo.
But the current Luciena had become far too exhausted to be moved by something like this.
“Since when were we close enough to exchange rings?”
She looked at Erteo with open suspicion.
“Don’t worry. There’s no personal motive behind this.”
“My mother asked me to give it to you.”
At the mention of his mother, Luciena looked startled.
“Your mother… the Archmage?”
Erteo’s mother was one of the kingdom’s highest-ranking court mages and was known as the greatest White Mage alive.
“Yes. Ever since meeting you on your birthday, Mother has been very worried about you.”
“She told me to tell you that if you keep this ring with you at all times, it’ll help you in one way or another.”
The resistance Luciena had felt just moments ago immediately faded.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Erteo gently slipped the ring onto her ring finger.
Luciena quietly examined the ring now resting on her finger.
Since she’s the Archmage… perhaps when she greeted me on my birthday, she sensed the curse or the strange aura surrounding me…
When she had thought the ring carried Erteo’s personal feelings, she had wanted nothing to do with it.
But if it was a protective charm created by the kingdom’s greatest mage, there was no reason to refuse it.
The ring on Luciena’s finger sparkled brilliantly.
