She’s trying to swindle people, that’s what this is, right? If I mess this up, I’ll end up handing over every last coin I have... Get a grip!

“What are you talking about? I paid the deposit, and I took care of the remaining balance too.”

“Ah, did you?”

“‘Ah’?”

Watching Jainer grin shamelessly, Camilla flicked her eyes away in exasperation. Where did he get the nerve to try collecting the money twice?

The place she’d assigned to handle Dorald’s shop this time was Khan.

She hadn’t met Jainer directly—she’d gone to an official Khan branch base and filed a request.

Once a day, shoot a warning arrow at Dorald.

No. Not one—two arrows.

One arrow carried an exact tally of the money the shop had lost due to everything they’d done.

The other arrow carried the warning. The closer it got to D-Day, the more hollow Dorald’s face became—because of that.

“Did you get the money properly?”

“Thanks to you.”

In the end, when an arrow flew in yesterday and lodged extremely close to his heart, Dorald sent someone over with the compensation.

She even extracted a firm promise that he wouldn’t harass the café anymore.

“What were you going to do if he didn’t react at all, all the way to the last day?”

There had been no assassination in Camilla’s request. Meaning, even if it became the last day, she wouldn’t have killed him.

“I would’ve found another way.”

“Money wasn’t the goal, was it? You wanted to stop him from harassing the shop, wasn’t that it?”

“That’s right.”

A little over a thousand gold. For ordinary people, it was an enormous sum, but to her—whose earnings from Mana Stones were on an entirely different scale—it was pocket change.

She had absolutely no intention of hiring a contract-killing outfit just to get paid.

That’s not what matters.

What she wanted was to stop Dorald—who kept clinging on like a bug and causing damage—once and for all.

And she wanted, at least in part, to pay him back for the mental suffering Laila and the other employees had endured.

“Putting up with it after I’ve been hit... doesn’t suit me.”

“If that’s the case, there’s an even simpler way to handle it.”

“A simpler way?”

As Camilla watched Jainer’s eyes crease nicely at her question, a short sigh slipped from her lips.

Because she understood immediately what he meant by “simpler.”

She clicked her tongue at the way he still treated a human life... no, the very concept of death... as something light.

I really don’t understand you.

Was it his nature, or the product of living the same life over and over?

“Take this.”

“What is it?”

Camilla opened the small drawer beside the bed, pulled something out, and held it toward him. It was a rose-shaped brooch with a black sheen.

“A Mana Stone?”

“You recognize it right away. It has a protective spell inside. I had it specially commissioned.”

“You’re giving it to me?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Wariness rose on his face. His mouth still held that gentle curve, but his eyes flashed as if he were trying to read her intent.

“To repay you for last time.”

Back then, she’d been out of her mind and hadn’t even managed to thank him properly.

Handing him words now felt a little ridiculous, so she’d prepared a small gift instead.

Jainer took the brooch and stared at it with a faintly blank look.

But soon, as if by habit, a smile settled at the corner of his mouth.

“But why are there two?”

“Huh?”

“Why are there two brooches?”

“Ah...”

Should I have just made one, after all?

While making the rose brooch, she’d prepared one more—for someone else.

After all, when she’d been in the Gracia Empire, she’d received a lot of help from that person, too.

But when it came time to say, Give it to him, the words wouldn’t come easily.

“Thanks. Two is generous.”

“...Yeah.”

In the end, Camilla swallowed the rest of what she’d been about to say, letting out a short sigh.

“Then can I give the other one to someone else, however I want?”

“Someone else?”

“Yeah. I’m going to give it to my father.”

“...Huh?”

“I think he’ll like it.”

At Jainer’s playful grin—like he’d known everything already—Camilla couldn’t say anything for a moment.

Then she, too, let a faint smile form and gave a small nod.

“Anyway, about Guardian’s Tower.”

Feeling awkward for no reason, Camilla hurriedly changed the subject.

“This is the first time, right?”

“That it collapsed?”

“Yeah.”

As far as anyone knew, Guardian’s Tower had never collapsed even once.

Worried her memory might be wrong—or that there was something she hadn’t recognized—Camilla asked Jainer to confirm.

“It’s the first time.”

He, too, looked like it was his first time experiencing it—he couldn’t hide the interest in his eyes.

Watching Jainer’s face—someone who didn’t care whether people lived or died, and who looked delighted when something different from before happened—Camilla let out another short sigh.

He wasn’t like this at first.

In front of her, he seemed to be hiding his true self less and less.

Whenever she faced that side of him—the side that treated other people’s lives as light as dust for the sake of his own enjoyment—goosebumps would crawl over her whole body.

“Anyway, you’re saying it’s something you don’t know either?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s strange.”

When something that’s never happened even once suddenly happens, it’s... confusing.

Rania showing up claiming she was the Duke of Sorpel’s daughter was one thing, and Guardian’s Tower collapsing was another.

Why do things like this keep happening in this life?

Was it possible that her actions—changing things little by little, unlike before—were affecting something else?

So it’s something that was always going to happen, but the timing keeps getting pulled forward?

She’d thought the same thing when she met Rania, but she knew nothing at all about what happened after the original Camilla died, so she couldn’t conclude anything.

And since Jainer said he died together with Camilla when she died, he wouldn’t know anything more about the future, either.

“But still.”

Camilla, lost in thought, heard Jainer’s voice again.

“There’s never been a time when something that happened... didn’t happen.”

“Is that so?”

Thinking about it, he was right.

There had been times when the outcome changed because of her, but there had never been a single time when the event itself didn’t occur.

“Then I guess you also know that a pretty big incident is going to blow up soon.”

“A big incident?”

Around this time... what was there—

“Ah!”

She remembered.

“Guardian’s Sword.”

Soon, that sword would be stolen.

*****

“The dessert is ready.”

“......”

“......”

“Enjoy.”

“...You want us to eat it?”

“...Are we supposed to eat this?”

“Of course.”

“What the hell is this pitch-black water?”

“This is a drink I’ve never seen before.”

Camilla invited Arsian Sephra and Petro Jevillan to the café. A new menu item had come out, and she figured it would suit the two of them perfectly.

“Coffee.”

At last, the black beans she’d been waiting and waiting for finally arrived in the Gracia Empire.

Camilla had already made everything from the grinder to the filter paper, and after countless trials and errors, she’d managed to find a coffee taste that fit her palate exactly.

It definitely wasn’t the same kind of coffee bean I knew.

Strangely, these “black beans” didn’t need roasting at all.

From the start, they looked like charcoal-black pellets, and even on their own they gave off a soft coffee fragrance. If you dried them well, the scent grew even richer.

“Coffee? What is that?”

“Just drink it first.”

For the two men who hated sweets, she left out the syrup entirely and set down pure, original Americano—loaded up with expensive ice, too.

“You seriously want us to drink it?”

“Is it safe to consume?”

These guys.

But Arsian and Petro kept repeating the same questions and still didn’t readily reach for their cups.

Just from the color, it didn’t look like something a person could possibly drink.

“Is this... poison?”

“No.”

“Are you sure people actually drink this?”

“Do you think I’d give you something you can’t drink?”

They still looked suspicious, but the two of them lifted their cups to their mouths.

Gulp.

“It’s bitter.”

“It’s bitter.”

That was their first assessment.

“But...”

“The aftertaste is clean.”

“It’s not only bitter.”

“There’s a nutty note, and I can even taste a slight sourness.”

Oh?

They picked up on coffee’s delicate balance instantly.

Maybe because it wasn’t a sweet drink, just as she’d expected, the two of them looked like they genuinely liked it—even though it was their first time.

You could tell by how, after the first sip, they kept lifting their cups and drinking a little at a time.

“This is our shop’s new product too.”

Laila set down the dessert she’d recently completed in front of them as well—tiramisu, and other desserts made using coffee.

Of course, these were desserts born purely from Camilla’s memories, too, but once again Laila recreated the flavor with ease.

Our genius pastry chef, for real.

“Hm.”

“Well?”

“It’s better than ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) the others.”

“I like it very much.”

Their evaluation of sweet desserts was still stingy, but they didn’t take one bite and fling down the fork like they used to.

Wasn’t this basically a total success?

“The sweetness pairs quite well with this drink.”

Exactly. Sweet desserts go with coffee.

Camilla nodded, satisfied. She was even planning to make coffee-and-cake a set menu and sell it at a discount.

“By the way, Petro.”

Alright, that’s enough for that. Camilla smoothly brought up a different topic.

Because there had been an original reason she arranged this meeting today.

“The Duke of Jevillan is doing well, yes?”

At the question, Petro’s eyes widened slightly. It must’ve surprised him. It wasn’t like they’d been close.

If anything, they’d been distant.

But Petro soon filled his mouth with his usual gentle smile.

“Yes. I’ll pass along your regards to Father.”

No, you really don’t have to.

“Just in case...”

“......?”

“Is the duke going to be leaving for somewhere far away soon?”

“Pardon?”

“I mean—something that would keep him away from the ducal house for a long time.”

Because it was such an unexpected question, Petro stared at Camilla for a moment without speaking.

He looked puzzled about why she was asking.

Then he gave a small nod.

“Next week, by His Majesty’s order, he’ll be leaving for the Everlica Kingdom. It’s related to inter-state business, so it’s difficult for me to explain in detail. Please understand, Camilla.”

“That’s it!”

“Excuse me?”

“Ah... haha...”

Camilla sprang up without realizing it and shouted, then slid back into her seat, letting out an awkward laugh.

So that’s when it happens.

That was probably when Guardian’s Sword would be stolen.