TWQTFA CH 01

That Day, When She Was Twenty.

Leah had spent the entire day in the stables, overjoyed by the birth of twin foals. She happily pondered what names she should give them until she eventually fell asleep.

Then, deep in the night, she woke to the frantic touch of her nurse trying to rouse her.

“Princess, you have to wake up.”

With a deathly pale face, her nurse hurriedly dressed Leah.

When they reached the entrance to a secret underground passage after running as though they were fleeing for their lives, Leah met her older brother, Aren, the King of Zephyrus.

“Only the king knows about this passage. It should buy us some time.”

Tears instantly welled up in Leah’s eyes.

“Brother… Brother, aren’t you coming with me?”

The moment she finished speaking through her sobs, Leah burst into tears.

Aren looked at his pitiful little sister and said,

“I… I’ll follow later. Leah. We’ll meet again safely. We have to.”

That day, as soon as Leah and her attendants emerged from the secret passage, they climbed toward the Red Mountain in the west.

Only the harsh sound of their footsteps echoed through the darkness. No one spoke.

The silence was heavier than a scream.

The mountain was barren, covered with nothing but rocks, and there were few people around, so the cave they discovered was suitable for hiding.

The knight who had gone back down to find out what had happened at the royal palace lowered his head the moment his eyes met Leah’s, his face twisted with despair.

“……No.”

Leah shook her head.

She staggered toward him and grabbed the hem of his clothes.

“Tell me it isn’t true! Tell me my brother is all right!”

“Princess.”

His voice trembled.

“His Majesty… has passed away.”

Sixteen years later.

Nortia, a vassal state of the Terra Empire.

King Nella, the ruler of the country, clicked her tongue as she looked at the woman sitting listlessly on the bed.

Her faded golden hair had been cut short like a man’s, and the ends had grown out unevenly.

She had heard that the woman refused to let anyone touch it, even when they tried to tidy it up.

“Do you know how much the bounty on your head is?”

“……”

“To think the Red Wraith whom the Empire is so desperate to capture and kill has ended up like this. I suppose I picked up a corpse.”

Nella grasped the woman’s chin and lifted her face.

Her cheeks had filled out a little, no longer as gaunt as before, but her green eyes were still lifeless.

“I hear you don’t say a single word. Are you unable to speak, or simply unwilling?”

When Nella released her, Leah’s head dropped helplessly again.

There was only one thought occupying Leah’s mind.

Why am I still alive?

The years she had spent going from a powerless princess who had lost her kingdom to becoming the leader of a rebellion fighting against the Empire flashed rapidly through her mind.

Once again, she had lost everything.

Overwhelmed by despair and self-loathing, Leah’s consciousness wandered aimlessly.

Nella sat down on the chair beside the bed and watched Leah silently for a while before suddenly speaking.

“If you could go back to the past, would you?”

Leah slowly raised her head.

Her eyes, now filled with light, stared at somewhere far away.

The source of the light that had brought her back to life was not the energy of life, but hatred and despair.

A strange glint passed through Nella’s eyes. One corner of her lips lifted slightly.

She knew.

The strongest motivation that kept a human being alive was anger.

“If I could go back to the past, I would sell even my soul.”

Her voice, which had not been used for a long time, came out rough and hoarse.

“What would you be able to do if you went back?”

“I only need to stop one person. Just one person. Everything collapsed that day because of the hands of a single person.”

“Who is that person?”

“Neria. My half-sister.”

“You remember when that day was.”

“How could I ever forget?”

Leah spoke dryly, her eyes blazing with intensity.

Nella could see the ember buried deep beneath that dry exterior, just waiting to explode.

“If you truly went back to the past, are you confident you could change it?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“Even if you lost something precious to you as the price?”

Something precious?

Leah let out a hollow laugh.

There was no way anything like that was still left to her.

“Spirit.”

Leah’s eyes widened in shock.

“How…?”

A clear focus returned to Leah’s eyes.

With a sneer, she took in the face of the person standing before her.

A middle-aged noblewoman with hair that was half black and half white smiled coldly and elegantly.

“You finally look useful.”

Leah could not tear her eyes away as she met those crimson eyes.

She felt as though she had been thrown before an overwhelming beast—ferocious, beautiful, and so powerful that resisting it would be meaningless.

“Let’s make a plan.”

Leah stared blankly at Nella, unable to understand what she was saying.

“I don’t need your soul.”

“Princess! Good morning!”

With a cheerful voice, the curtains were drawn open, and bright morning sunlight poured into the room.

A woman with dark brown hair, light brown eyes, and a face covered in adorable freckles smiled brightly.

Was the reason Leah’s eyes felt dazzled because of the sunlight?

Or was it because she could see that bright smile again?

“Princess, I have wonderful news that will surprise you! Can you guess what it is?”

“……Nasim gave birth during the night.”

“How did you know? Nasim gave birth to her foals, but…”

“Twins, right? Two of them.”

“What? You must have heard it from somewhere already!”

Leah immediately jumped out of bed and threw her arms around Penny.

“Princess?”

“Because I’m happy.”

“Oh, my goodness, Princess. Are you really that happy? I told you not to worry. Nasim is healthy, so she was bound to give birth safely.”

Still hugging Penny tightly, Leah closed her eyes as they grew hot with tears.

The window flew wide open, and a strong gust of wind swept through the room and over the two of them.

Their clothes fluttered, and their hair scattered in every direction.

“Oh! What a gust of wind!”

Penny let out a short cry of surprise before breaking into laughter.

Leah gently curled her hand into a fist, as though trying to grasp the wind.

The wind slipped into her palm and flowed away again.

It’s you, isn’t it? You came back with me too, didn’t you?

As if answering her, the wind brushed against her cheek.

On that day when she was twenty, the day she learned of her brother’s death, Leah had awakened to the power of the spirit as she felt a despair that seemed to choke the life out of her.

⌜The probability is extremely low.⌟

Nella had told her.

⌜You are going against the laws of the world by returning to the past. The chances of success are extremely slim. The probability that you will awaken the power of the spirit again will be even lower.⌟

I succeeded, Your Majesty. And a miracle happened.

She had returned to the past together with the spirit.

It was not a matter of awakening the power of the spirit anew.

Something had happened that surpassed all predictions.

There was no other way to describe it except as a miracle.

Leah squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again.

A fierce light flashed in her gaze.

Neria.

Tonight, I will stop you.

Zephyrus, the desert kingdom at the southernmost edge of the continent.

In the kingdom’s sacred temple stood a great holy relic known as the Eye of Zephyrus.

The Eye of Zephyrus was a mysterious artifact that summoned a sandstorm whenever an enemy crossed the border, sweeping them away.

Thanks to this perfect defensive artifact, the kingdom had survived as a thousand-year-old kingdom.

Even in an age when the Empire had emerged on the continent and every nation had bowed beneath its influence, the Kingdom of Zephyrus maintained its proud independence.

Under the protection of the holy relic, the kingdom was peaceful and safe.

Is that really true?

Leah stood atop a high tower of the royal palace, looking down coldly at the kingdom spread out below.

This isn’t peace. It’s slowly sinking.

Born as a princess of the kingdom, Leah had spent a happy childhood without a single worry.

She had loved her kingdom and believed this place was paradise.

She had believed that Zephyrus, protected by such a mysterious holy relic, was truly blessed by the gods.

But…

At some point, the kingdom’s holy relic had become a poison slowly eating away at the kingdom itself.

The fact that no one had noticed was even more unfortunate.

Leah only realized it after losing her kingdom.

Relying on the power of the holy relic had made the kingdom lazy and stagnant.

One day, it would have eventually collapsed under even the slightest insignificant sandstorm.

But that doesn’t mean what you did can ever be forgiven, Neria.

Although the Eye of Zephyrus was the greatest treasure among the kingdom’s treasures, its security was not particularly strict.

That was because anyone except members of the royal bloodline who approached it would have their minds crushed beneath its power, rendering them unable to move.

There was an old legend that only someone of Zephyrus’s royal blood could destroy the Eye of Zephyrus.

Leah had never taken that legend particularly seriously.

How could someone of the royal bloodline possibly destroy the holy relic?

The holy relic was the very foundation of Zephyrus.

And yet, Leah’s half-sister and princess of the kingdom, Neria, had actually committed such a terrible act.

Tonight was that very day.

“Leah.”

Leah whipped her head around.

A handsome young man with the same golden hair and green eyes as Leah looked at her in confusion.

“Why did you suddenly call me all the way out here…?”

Before Aren could finish speaking, Leah suddenly threw herself into his arms, leaving him bewildered.

Then he became even more startled when he felt his younger sister’s shoulders trembling.

“Leah, what’s wrong? What happened?”

This was not how Leah had originally planned things.

But the moment she saw Aren’s face, she could no longer hold back the tears that burst forth.

She was afraid that being able to see her living brother again, to touch him like this, might all be a dream.

And yet, she was happy because it was real.

Aren patiently waited, gently patting her back until Leah stopped crying.

Just as she remembered him.

Her brother had always been so kind.

“Your Majesty.”

Aren’s eyebrows rose slightly.

“Your Majesty?”

“Please listen to what I’m about to say. This concerns the fate of both you and me, and the fate of our kingdom.”

Aren stared at Leah for a moment before nodding.

The younger sister he knew might be a little spoiled at times, but she was not a girl who would say nonsense.

“I received a divine revelation.”

Leah did not want to explain every single thing she had experienced.

It would take too long, and it would sound completely absurd.

Someone might argue that bringing up a divine revelation was even more absurd, but this was the Kingdom of Zephyrus—a country that was genuinely under the protection of a god.

“Something terrible will happen tonight. Many people will die, and the kingdom will be in danger of collapsing.”

“What?”

“I can’t tell you what will happen right now.”

If she told him that the holy relic might be destroyed, Aren would strengthen its security.

She could not allow that.

Everything had to happen exactly as it was supposed to.

“I can stop it. I have to stop it. So please, don’t ask me anything and trust me just for today. Whatever else may happen, you know I would never lie when the fate of our kingdom is at stake.”

Aren silently looked at Leah before lightly tapping the tip of her nose with his finger.

“Look at that red nose of yours. If you had a nightmare, go back to sleep for another hour.”

“Brother!”

“I don’t have the luxury of listening to nonsense, but I suppose other people might.”

Seeing the playful smile at the corners of Aren’s lips, Leah blinked.

“……Brother.”

Aren grinned.

“What can I do to help?”

“Tonight… please don’t go to sleep. Keep the knights on standby.”

Her throat tightened on its own, and her voice came out trembling.

“Again?”

“That’s all I need.”