WTTAO CH 02

Roselia clutched the blanket tightly in her hands and tried to catch her breath, still unable to believe the reality before her.

“A-Are you all right? If you’re feeling unwell, shall I call the physician?”

Mary’s worried question brought Roselia back to her senses.

“No. I’m fine.”

She didn’t know how she had returned to the past, but this was no different from being given another chance.

‘A chance to change the horrible future!’

After calming her excitement for a moment, Roselia searched through her memories of the past.

‘What happened around this time again?’

If today was March 2nd, 1013, according to the Imperial calendar, then it had been a little over a month since her father, Count Felis Hailen, had adopted Sven, the son of his younger brother.

Furthermore, despite being born with blue eyes like all members of the water spirit mage family, Roselia’s spirit ability had still not manifested by the time she was fifteen.

And because she had been told that she was destined to live only until the age of twenty, she had believed that her father had abandoned her. As a result, she had shut herself away in her room and refused to come out.

‘And then an incident happened in the count’s household.’

This was no time to sit around.

“Mary! Where is Father right now?”

“He’s probably in his study.”

“I need to see Father immediately. Help me get ready.”

After washing up quickly and changing into a light green casual dress with Mary’s help, Roselia headed for her father’s study on the second floor.

In her previous life, she had never gone directly to her father’s study like this.

She had always stayed locked inside her room and avoided him.

Soon, Roselia arrived in front of the study.

After taking a deep breath, she knocked.

“It’s me, Father. There’s something I need to tell you.”

“…Come in.”

After a brief silence, permission came from inside.

Roselia carefully opened the study door and stepped inside.

The study had a rather plain yet antique atmosphere, with wooden bookshelves lining both sides and a large desk in the center.

Standing with his back to the window was a short-haired, silver-haired man who was examining some documents.

Her father.

He had died in an accident when she was eighteen in her previous life.

Seeing him again like this suddenly made the tip of Roselia’s nose sting with emotion.

She slowly approached him and stood silently, trying to compose herself.

The man looking over the documents eventually raised his head.

“It’s been quite a long time since I’ve seen you. What brings a girl who never leaves her room to my study?”

“…I’m sorry. I’ve caused you a lot of worry all this time, Father.”

He put down the documents he had been reading and narrowed his eyes as he quietly looked at her.

It was as though he were trying to figure something out.

“…All right. I understand. Is that all you wanted to say?”

“No. There’s something else I need to tell you.”

“I’d appreciate it if you could make it brief. I have a great deal of work to take care of today.”

Her father picked up the documents again and spoke indifferently.

“A landslide will occur near the Kiev Mine five days from now. So please evacuate the miners and the people living in the territory beforehand.”

His hand stopped.

He put the documents down with a sharp thud.

“What on earth are you talking about all of a sudden? Lying is a bad thing, Roselia Hailen.”

Her father reprimanded her in a rather stern voice.

But Roselia had expected this reaction.

Even so, she couldn’t remain silent.

In her previous life, all the miners and residents of the territory had died in this incident, and the reputation of the count’s family had suffered terribly as a result.

“I’m not lying. It will rain heavily starting tomorrow night. It will continue for an entire week. I want you to believe me, Father. I’ll be going now. I’m sorry for taking up your time when you’re busy.”

“…”

After quickly saying everything she needed to say, Roselia bowed politely to her father, who remained silent, and left the study.

Perhaps because it was the first time she had ever voiced her opinion to her father, the hand that had been tightly clutching her dress was damp with sweat.

“Is something troubling you, my lord?”

When Count Felis raised his head, he saw his butler, Jaden, standing there with tea and refreshments.

Looking out the window, he noticed that it had already grown dark.

“Troubling me? It’s nothing.”

“Is that so? If that’s the case, then why have you looked so troubled ever since Lady Roselia visited your study yesterday?”

Jaden poured him a cup of tea.

Felis took a sip and let out a quiet sigh.

“Did I really look that troubled?”

“Perhaps not to everyone. But at my age, one learns to notice such things.”

Jaden said this with a smile on his wrinkled face.

“Is Roselia staying in her room again?”

“No, my lord. After leaving your study yesterday, Lady Roselia went to the library and chose some books. Today, she took a walk in the garden.”

“…I see.”

Whooosh.

At that moment, heavy rain suddenly began pouring outside the window.

“My, how strange. The weather forecast clearly said it would be sunny…”

At Jaden’s mutter, Felis’s hand holding the teacup suddenly stopped.

“I brought the newspaper you asked for.”

Roselia hurriedly unfolded the newspaper Mary had brought rather than paying attention to the cookies sitting in front of her.

A huge headline occupied the front page.

「The Kiev Mine owned by the Count Hailen family and the neighboring village have been buried by a landslide.」

‘Father didn’t believe me after all.’

Well, if she were in her father’s position, she probably wouldn’t have easily believed a fifteen-year-old daughter telling her to evacuate the residents because a landslide was coming.

‘I thought I could stop it…’

Roselia bit her lip and lowered her head.

Knock, knock.

At that moment, someone knocked on her bedroom door, and Mary hurriedly opened it.

Standing outside was Butler Jaden.

“His Lordship would like you to have lunch with him.”

As far as Roselia knew, her father, Felis, always finished breakfast alone early in the morning and usually ate simple meals in his study for lunch and dinner.

‘But now he wants to have lunch together?’

Her mood wasn’t particularly good after reading the newspaper article, but Roselia finished getting ready and headed to the dining room.

When she entered, there was someone sitting beside her father.

Grayish hair and blue eyes.

A young, ordinary-looking face.

It was Sven.

Roselia took the seat opposite Sven.

Sven looked at her with an unmistakably displeased expression and gave her a slight nod.

“Come sit down. Let’s begin our meal.”

As soon as she sat down, the servants quickly brought out the food.

Most of the dishes were easy to digest and happened to be foods she liked.

In the quiet dining room, the only sound was the clinking of utensils.

After they had eaten for a while, her father casually spoke.

“You’ve heard that the Kiev Mine and the neighboring village were buried by a landslide, haven’t you?”

‘Of course…’

Roselia suddenly lost her appetite.

She quietly put down her spoon and lowered her gaze.

Even though she had known the future, she felt as though she were at fault for failing to prevent it.

“Yes. I heard about it this morning as well. Since the mine and village were buried, the financial losses must be enormous.”

‘Losses?! Even when he talks, he has to say something like that.’

Just as expected, the man who would eventually bring ruin upon the Hailen family had a completely different way of thinking.

“At a time like this, you should be thinking about the lives of the people before the losses suffered by the count’s family. Sven.”

Her father reprimanded Sven in a slightly stern voice.

“…I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking carefully.”

Her father’s gaze shifted from Sven to Roselia.

“But not a single person was injured or killed. Because we evacuated them beforehand.”

Roselia thought she must have heard him wrong.

“It’s all thanks to you, Roselia. Because you warned me in advance.”

‘Th-Thank goodness.’

Relieved, Roselia smiled and resumed eating.

Meanwhile, as Sven watched Roselia and their father, his grip tightened around the fork and knife in his hands.

After the meal, Roselia went for a walk in the garden.

Since it was the beginning of spring in March, the spring flowers were beginning to bloom.

‘I never realized how beautiful the garden was because I spent all my time locked inside my room before my regression.’

As she walked, admiring the spring flowers, she soon came across a marble fountain.

It was a three-tiered fountain with a statue of a cute child at the very top, tilting a jar held in their arms.

Clear water flowed down from the jar into the fountain below.

Just looking at it made her feel refreshed.

「From now on, let’s have meals together as a family more often.」

This was something that had never happened before her regression.

Perhaps because of that, Roselia felt a strange flutter in her heart.

Splash!

“Ah!”

Suddenly, an icy stream of water came crashing down over Roselia’s head like a bolt from the blue.

In an instant, she was drenched from head to toe.

Still stunned by what had just happened, Roselia quickly spun around.

“Oh, whoops. I was supposed to be training with a water spirit, but I guess things got a little out of hand. Haha. Then again, why would someone as stupid as you, who doesn’t have even the slightest bit of ability, stand so close to the water?”

As expected, Sven was standing there with his arms crossed, leaning to one side with a smug, mocking expression.