Side Story. The One Who Wants Change

Did I die again?

This death was truly ridiculous. I died while eating.

“Ha... hahaha.”

A hollow laugh spilled out. How long am I supposed to keep living like this?

Even if I kill myself, it’s useless. The next day, I’m just alive again like nothing happened.

As if it were a ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) predetermined fate, until a certain time came, I had to be alive no matter what.

At first, I lived earnestly, too. Thinking of it as a gift from God, trying to make up for the mistakes I made in my previous life, trying to live a better life.

But when it’s three times, four times... when it goes past twenty times?

Everything became meaningless. All the things I’d done with so much effort snapped back to the starting point in an instant—so why should I try?

Revenge was the same.

Ersh. The one who killed Father.

I killed him and killed him and killed him, countless times.

I used every method I could to take revenge, but after a while, seeing the one standing in front of me again under the name “uncle,” I started laughing.

Why do I have to live like this alone? Why am I the only one who has to remember this situation?

Life itself gradually became boring.

The same situations, the same people, the same time.

And inside it, only me—different, alone.

“What? The Crown Prince is safe?”

“Yes.”

But for the first time, there was a change. Things clearly different from all the lives until now began to happen.

“The owner of the Mana Stone... you’re saying it’s Young Lady Sorpel?”

“That’s correct.”

And at the center of it, there was always one person.

Camilla Sorpel.

What is this? Why did it change?

In this endlessly repeating life, something that had never happened even once was happening.

No way....

For the first time in a long while, my heart raced.

Change.

A ‘change’ different from everything until now. Just that fact alone was fun.

Maybe... she might be the same kind of existence as me.

I laughed. I wanted to meet her. Desperately, to the point I couldn’t even understand myself.

“You must’ve been lonely.”

“...What?”

“You must’ve been so lonely.”

And I realized it. Why I’d wanted to meet her so much.

I was lonely. I was so lonely. At the fact that I’m left alone every time......

For the first time, I smiled without thinking.

Because meeting her was truly fun, because I was happy to meet someone who understood me for the first time.

“You’re the change I wanted.”

I didn’t want to lose this joy. Not ever.

Chapter. She Came Back

“Dorman.”

「My lady!」

Dorman’s urgent voice poured out from inside the communication orb.

「Where on earth are you?!」

“Home.”

「Home?」

“Yeah.”

「Really? No matter how much I looked, I couldn’t find you. And where are you making this call from? You said home—home where?!」

“Our home. My room.”

「What are you talking about? I’m in your room right n—!」

Dorman, who had been firing questions without even breathing, didn’t say anything for a while. Only now did he seem to have gotten the gist of something.

「No way.......」

Yeah. That “no way” is the right one.

「That home... are you perhaps talking about the main... estate over there in the Fable Empire? The Sorpel family’s residence......?」

“Yeah.”

「Y-you’re saying you returned there alone, right now?!」

“That’s what I’m saying.”

「Then what about me?!」

“You are.......”

Well.

Camilla scratched her cheek. Even she thought it was a bit absurd, but she didn’t really have anything to say.

「How... how!」

It felt like she could see him trembling.

「How could you leave me here!」

「Gyuu!」

「That’s right! King! King is here right n—!」

FWOOOOSH!

[Gyuu!] 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“...King is here, though?”

A bright light suddenly poured down, and King appeared in front of her before she knew it. The moment he confirmed her location through the communication, he flew over immediately.

It’s amazing.

「.......」

Dorman fell silent again. Expecting him to be standing there with his mouth opening and closing, Camilla let out an awkward smile.

I do feel a little bad.

She’d been moving in a frenzy and hadn’t thought at all about taking care of anyone else. She’d even left King behind, so that said it all.

Only after things were roughly settled did it hit her that she’d come here without saying anything to Gracia.

In the brief silence, Dorman found an answer and began wailing.

Hey, you know I didn’t do it on purpose, and you’re really doing this......

「How... how could you leave only me here!」

As he repeated the same words over and over, Camilla soothed him gently.

“I’ll explain everything properly to Duke Kais Escra.”

「That’s not what matters!」

“They say the magic circles will normalize soon, so just wait a little.”

「A-are you telling me to stay here alone right now?!」

“Yeah, you’ll be fine.”

「That’s cruel!」

“Yeah, fighting.”

「My lady Camilla! Ca—」

Camilla hurriedly cut the communication.

It already happened—what can I do now? There’s no way Duke Kais Escra would kick that guy out just because I’m not there, right?

“Ow!”

[Gyuu!]

She lowered her gaze at the sharp pain in her hand, and King was biting down on her hand.

Oh, you little—? Did you just bite me?

[Gyuu-gyuu!]

Normally, he would’ve immediately tucked his tail and acted cute, but his expression was still sulky. He seemed properly upset that she’d left him behind.

Camilla made an apologetic face at King, who was throwing a full-body tantrum.

“Sorry. I really didn’t have my head on straight.”

[Gyuu.......]

“Okay. I won’t ever do that again.”

[Gyuu!]

At her heartfelt apology, the baby tiger gave a prim nod like he’d let it slide this one time.

Then, as if he’d never been angry at all, he started licking the hand he’d bitten over and over.

Camilla stroked King’s head lightly and smiled softly.

“By the way, where did that man go?”

The one who brought her here—Jainer—had vanished, nowhere to be seen.

According to Zeno, when Ludville appeared, he quietly hid himself. True to an assassin, his movements made no sound and left no trace.

“Well.......”

Explaining this situation would be a little awkward.

Every magic circle that had been maintained by Mana was also in a state where problems were cropping up here and there.

In a situation like this, if it became known that I came back with Jainer’s help, a lot of people would start suspecting his identity, wouldn’t they?

“Come to think of it, it really is amazing.”

Even though the entire Fable Empire’s magic circles were temporarily paralyzed, the Khan branch base magic circles were perfectly fine.

They said they’d been freely using magic circles all this time, slipping through both countries’ surveillance nets. After experiencing this, she couldn’t help but admire their covert capabilities again.

“Did he go right back?”

[Gyuu?]

I wanted to at least say goodbye properly.

For helping with this, it felt like she should repay him somehow when she met him next time.

As she stroked King’s whiny head, Camilla sank back into thought.

Who in the world were the ones who brought down Guardian’s Tower, and what was their purpose?

Because every mage who had been standing guard died, there were no clues at all.

Not only the Magic Tower but the Imperial Family was actively investigating this incident as well, but it didn’t look like there were any results.

It’s not like there’s CCTV.

At a glance, it felt like this incident would get brushed aside, too.

“Should I go one more time?”

To the collapsed Guardian’s Tower. There might not be a single living witness, but there could be dead witnesses, couldn’t there?

But Camilla soon shook her head lightly.

No one asked her to find the culprit, so she didn’t want to go that far.

Ghosts showing up on their own was already a headache—was she supposed to go looking for ghosts herself, too?

Lately, it felt like her points of contact with ghosts had increased, so she needed to rein herself in.

At this rate, she’d end up being friends with ghosts more than with people!

“More than that, it’s strange.”

[What do you mean?]

“......! Derrin!”

At some point, the butler spirit Derrin was smiling as he looked at Camilla.

“When did you get here?”

[Just now. Welcome back, my lady.]

“Where’s Perol?”

Camilla tilted her head at not seeing Perol, the cook spirit who was always around.

[He’s probably at the café.]

“At the café?”

[He’s very interested in the desserts your friend Laila makes, so these days he often sticks close to her side.]

So Laila is still working hard. It seemed like she should go see her soon.

“Nothing happened while I was gone, right?”

[.......]

It was just a greeting, but Derrin gave a strange smile at Camilla’s question.

As Camilla was about to look at him in confusion, he turned the conversation first.

[But what did you mean just now? Is something strange?]

“Because no one asks.”

[Asks what?]

“Everything.”

It was embarrassing that she’d been worrying about how to make excuses for how she returned—because no one asked her at all.

“Everyone is just happy that I came back.”

She hadn’t heard a single question about what happened over there.

“Aren’t they curious?”

If it were me, the moment I saw my face, I would’ve bombarded me with questions.

[.......]

Watching Camilla tilt her head again and again, Derrin only smiled without answering.

“Is it because it’s the first day and they think I’m tired?”

[That might be it.]

“Right?”

Judging that it was highly likely, Camilla nodded lightly.

She organized, in her head, excuse after excuse for the questions that would be thrown at her.

*****

“Just as Alberto predicted. It really was sealed in Guardian’s Tower!”

Priest Daniel couldn’t hide his joy.

“The thing that bound all of us for so long has finally been broken.”

“You did well.”

The one sitting in the darkness also praised Daniel’s achievement in a satisfied voice. In his hand was a stone with a red light flickering within it.

“It’s only because the power that wrapped around Guardian’s Tower weakened. If it hadn’t, in the end we wouldn’t have been able to sense the aura of the holy relic.”

“Amiald will be weeping underground. Seriously—idiots.”

“Truly. Even though he warned them so thoroughly, to think they forgot all of it already.”

Archmage Amiald. After completing Guardian’s Tower, he left one request to those who came after.

To let every mage on the continent freely use this Guardian’s Tower he built.

“Five hundred years is enough time to forget.”

But as time passed, Guardian’s Tower came under the Magic Tower’s management, and they began to restrict entry.

It was out of concern that the tower might be damaged, but as a result, it turned into the worst possible move.