Ruby learned something new that day.

Just because she had seen the future... Just because she possessed knowledge of facts and histories acquired from her previous life before her regression, it did not mean she knew everything.

It did not mean the widely accepted truths of that timeline were true at all.

The palace garden was quiet in the way that only gardens after funerals could be. The flowers seemed muted, even the birds had fallen silent.

Ruby walked beside the blonde-haired veiled lady, her steps careful on the gravel path, her thoughts churning like storm water. The black lace of Lady Sees’ veil kept catching the corners of her vision, reminding her what she had almost done.

"My Lady." Ruby asked. "Why did you hold me back just now?"

She glanced sideways at Lady Sees, searching for some hint of what lay beneath the veil.

"You..." Ruby hesitated. "Could it be that you already knew Lady Vera was about to..."

"Hm?" Lady Sees turned her head slightly. "What do you mean?"

Behind the veil, Cecilia rolled her eyes. Of course she had to stop this woman. This evil yet painfully naive woman...

If Ruby had actually stood and accused Damon of murder with her prophecy, Damon and Angela would have had no choice.

They would have had to bring her down. To make her miserable. To strip her of everything until she was no longer a threat. Ruby would have lost her position as the Saintess before the petals from Damon’s shattered altar had finished settling on the marble.

Cecilia could not let that happen.

Not yet.

She still needed Ruby’s visions. She needed the future the Saintess knew from her previous life, the roadmap of disasters yet to come, the calamities that Cecilia could not predict with her own mind no matter how clever she was.

Some things could only be known by someone who had already lived through them, after all.

And doing all of that without Ruby’s knowledge, extracting every useful prophecy while keeping the woman blissfully unaware that she was being used, required Cecilia to keep this little bitch propped up on her little holy throne. She needed to keep her intact and untouched, believing she was still the protagonist of her own story.

"Saintess." Lady Sees mused. "You prophesied the Emperor’s death several days ago, and it was fulfilled. But you did not see Prince Jove’s incident coming."

Ruby’s steps faltered. She caught herself, but not quickly enough to hide the flinch.

"So when I saw you about to stand," Lady Sees continued, "I was worried you were going to utter another inaccurate prophecy without thinking it through."

The words were delivered without malice. They were almost kind, which made them cut all the deeper.

"After all," Lady Sees added, "that was also how you sent men to Ark’s territory, claiming he was already dead, when he was very much alive."

Ruby’s eyes widened.

The world seemed to tilt, just slightly, the gravel path beneath her feet becoming unsteady. Did she—no. This woman... was she warning her?

Something adjacent to threat. A reminder that Ruby’s position was not as secure as she believed, and her vision, her precious gift from the gods, had already failed in ways that could be used against her if necessary.

"Though," Lady Sees hummed, "it is strange."

She turned her veiled face toward Ruby, and even through the obscuring black lace, Ruby could feel the weight of her gaze. "No one could have predicted that a second eruption would happen at Mount Saede."

Lady Sees’s full red lips curved into a smile.

"Which gave me a hunch that your prophecies are true to a certain degree. With some twists." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Ah.

Something in Ruby’s mind clicked into place.

Yes. The fixed things still happened. The Emperor still died. The second eruption still came. The broad strokes of fate remained painted across the canvas of time, unmoved and unmovable.

But in this world that had changed thanks to her decisions, many variations of the timeline had bloomed like weeds through cracked stone.

What if the reason the Dragon Lord was still alive was because of a variable she had not yet identified? Just as the second eruption had occurred but Arkai had not died this time. Just as the Emperor had still fallen, but Prince Jove had nearly followed him into the grave this time.

"Saintess Vaiva." Cecilia smiled through Lady Sees’s guise. "Did the gods show you who killed the Emperor just now?"

Ruby’s eyes faltered.

This woman... how perceptive she was!

Again. She felt it again.

This woman, she was—scary!

"What if whatever you see is only partly true?" Lady Sees reached out, and before Ruby could step back, her hand settled on the crown of Ruby’s head. She rubbed gently, the gesture patronizing in its tenderness, and Ruby flinched as though struck.

"Perhaps you simply need more time to interpret it accurately. We still do not know who truly did it. So why not wait for the truth to come out on its own?"

Disgust coiled in Ruby’s stomach.

She felt it physically. This cold, writhing thing that made her want to slap the woman’s hand away and flee down the garden path. This inferior feeling.

She was the Saintess. She had been blessed by the gods with visions of the future. She had died and been given a second chance to set the world right!

She should not be standing here, head bowed beneath the palm of some unknown, mysterious woman who had appeared from nowhere and somehow knew—

"Thank you," Ruby said, and her voice came out gentle, humble, a perfect imitation of gratitude. She even managed a small smile, the kind that made old women pat her cheek and young men fall in love. "For the advice, my Lady."

"This is not advice."

Lady Sees shook her head slowly, the black veil rippling with the motion. Her hand withdrew from Ruby’s head, but the weight of it lingered.

"This is merely a reminder that everyone expects an accurate and true prophecy from you, my good child." Her voice was kind. Infuriatingly kind. "Is it not a heavy burden to carry?"

The black-veiled lady sighed, a soft exhale of what sounded like sympathy.

But inside, Cecilia sneered.

If Ruby did not have such a stupid motive of gaining leverage from the Emperor’s death, would she have landed herself in this situation?

Cecilia had saved her ass, just this once.