1.
I had gambled away my entire fortune.
“Young lady, are you alright…?”
When an elderly gentleman nearby asked with concern, Tania curved her lips into an arc.
“I’m fine. It’s just that my life is ruined, that’s all.”
The surrounding area grew even more somber at those words, but she simply laughed nonchalantly.
A youthful, pretty face that looked like she had just reached adulthood. It was an appearance that didn’t fit in a gambling den at all.
“You’re a kind soul to worry for others in a gambling den, a place as precarious as thin ice.”
Tania twisted her pale, rose-gold hair with her fingers.
“Haa, I guess I’m just really not cut out for gambling. That was a close call.”
At that, the people around her stared at Tania with faces that seemed to say, ‘I think the “close call” already happened.’
“I don’t know how rich your family is, young lady, but for this amount of money…”
Despite the concern pouring in from here and there, she only smiled listlessly.
“That’s right. It’s enough money to have gambled away several buildings in the center of the capital.”
And who was it that earned that money?
She knew the value of that sum better than anyone.
“But this round wasn’t my fault. The opponent cheated by bottom-dealing, so there’s no reason for me to be the one losing money, right?”
She had clearly memorized every card, yet the fact that it kept differing from her predictions was proof enough.
“This is why you shouldn’t even bother playing against professional card sharps.”
Tania clicked her tongue as if she had wasted her time, then suddenly shrugged lightly.
“But it’s fine. I can just use my ability to resolve this.”
From the start, she hadn’t played the game fairly herself, having memorized the cards in advance.
As Tania spoke as if she might flip the table at any moment, the guards focused on her and approached.
Feeling the physical pressure, she gathered her brows as if things had become a pity.
“Unfortunately, I’m not very good at physical combat. Isn’t it fortunate that saving has become a habit for me?”
Tania smiled brightly and personally introduced her motto to the others.
“Let’s all make saving a part of our daily lives. Backups are not an option, but a necessity.”
[Loading point 1.]
In an instant, her vision flipped and the scenery changed.
As Tania used her ability, everyone in the gambling den, including herself, vanished, leaving only silence behind.
No, it wasn’t that people had vanished. Everything that had just occurred was rendered as if it had never happened.
✦ ✦ ✦
I fiddled with my fingers in front of the tightly shut door.
It’s fine that I came to see Elision, my only friend, before leaving for a faraway place.
But knowing it was the last time, I couldn’t bring myself to knock.
…Wait a second. We *are* friends, right?
Suddenly contemplating our ambiguous relationship, I pushed the stray thoughts away and knocked softly.
“Sion, it’s me.”
When I tapped on the door to Elision’s laboratory, a small voice leaked out from inside.
“There is no such person here.”
Excuse me? Then whose familiar voice is that I hear right now?
I briefly considered forcing the door open, but out of spite, I waited patiently for him to open it.
“Fine. I’ll hold my breath until you open the door.”
Ten minutes later.
I raised my voice, dripping with a sense of betrayal, as if to make sure he heard.
“You murderous bastard!”
To think he wouldn’t open the door for so long—long enough for someone to have died—wasn’t that too cruel?
That was when it happened. As if my voice had finally carried, the locked door rattled and clicked open by magic.
He was going to open it eventually.
I shrugged lightly and walked into his lab.
“Hello. You look busy.”
Elision calmly set down the quill that had been moving busily and turned his gaze toward me.
“Tania, didn’t I explicitly ask you to tell me a year in advance if you ever had a request?”
The corners of Elision’s mouth were full of mischief as he said that.
If he wanted me to tell him a year in advance, didn’t that just mean never asking him for a request at all?
“I just came to see you today because I missed you. Should I go back?”
“…Welcome to my laboratory.”
Perhaps pleased by the remark that I had come because I missed him, he got up from his seat and began preparing to brew tea himself.
He glanced at me, seemingly puzzled as his hands moved busily.
“For you to come see me without even having a request is…”
“A first, isn’t it?”
“Is something the matter?”
At the remark that hit the bullseye, I couldn’t manage my expression for a second.
I hurriedly composed my face and asked in a teasing tone.
“Sion, have you ever accidentally, or unfairly, lost data you worked hard to compile?”
If you translate that to Earth, it’s like a blue screen of death suddenly appearing just as you’re about to save a file.
Or the electricity going out unexpectedly before you hit save.
Or accidentally overwriting a completed file with another one, for instance.
At my question, Elision furrowed his brows deeply and looked repulsed.
“Why are you talking about such a horrible thing all of a sudden?”
“Oh. Your expression is worth seeing.”
I tugged the corners of my mouth up crookedly. It was a slightly more amusing reaction than I expected.
Well, he was a wizard, so he must have dealt with such catastrophes quite often.
For instance, research compiled over several months being blown away in an explosion during an experiment, or…
“Anyway, how do you feel when that happens?”
“I want to throw it all away.”
“Anything else?”
“The thought of wanting to turn back time?”
“Exactly.”
I smiled softly and poured out the thought I had been holding onto without telling anyone.
“Actually, my life is like that right now. I want to return to the beginning.”
“Tania.”
Elision’s blue eyes darkened and sank.
“Your life is brilliant even now, with nothing left to be desired. Why on earth are you thinking such things?”
I let out a faint, self-deprecating laugh.
“I have plenty of money. But I don’t have a family to share my happiness with, do I?”
“…Shall I be your husband, then?”
I giggled softly at his joke.
“Sion, you wouldn’t know, but I had someone precious who was like family to me. They passed away five years ago.”
Aiden.
He was the one who had suffered his whole life just to raise me, even though I wasn’t his own child.
How could I just let him go easily, telling him to rest well in heaven?
I had only one option left.
To abandon everything I had built here and go to meet him.
Ever since he passed away, I had been collecting information to use in my next life.
Broadly, past weather patterns and political trends; on a smaller scale, various scandals of the nobility.
Since I had decided to discard this life the moment I confirmed his death, I didn’t regret anything I had built up so far.
The only thing I had a bit of lingering attachment to was…
I stared at Elision blankly.
His silver hair, sparkling in the light. Even his blue eyes, reminiscent of the sea.
He stayed up all night for work countless times, yet not a single flaw could be seen on his face.
I always thought his handsome appearance felt like it was filled with God’s favoritism.
I suddenly lowered my head and, before he could even process it, grabbed his collar and kissed him.
The warmth of his lips against mine was vivid. My heart pounded in a pleasant way.
Pulling away after the simple kiss, I smiled bashfully.
“That’s a parting gift.”
“Ah…?”
He looked at me with dazed eyes, as if he hadn’t even processed the words “parting gift” due to the shock.
How much time had passed?
Elision’s face turned fiery red in an instant as he grasped what had happened.
He covered his lips with both hands in a way that didn’t suit him and hurriedly backed away from me.
“You, you…!”
I hid the corners of my mouth as they crept upward and giggled like a mischievous boy.
“Sion, you like me, don’t you?”
“…What?”
Watching me with a momentarily stunned expression, he shouted with a somewhat agitated face.
“What! It was you who had been liking me for a long time from before, wasn’t it?”
“Hm?”
I blinked my eyes.
Because I knew I would have to part with Elision someday, I had deliberately kept my distance all this time.
Besides…
No matter how I thought about it, it was he who had visited me every day from our first meeting without any particular business.
When I wanted to use a precious wizard to run errands and made various requests, he would fulfill them without a word of complaint.
And yet, I liked him?
Purely out of curiosity, I tilted my head.
“Why do you think that?”
“Because…!”
He opened his mouth as if he had much to say, then hesitated and bit his lip.
I smirked and poked his cheek with my index finger.
“If you don’t like me, that’s actually a relief.”
I’d be able to leave without any regrets.
I swallowed the rest of the words and smiled brightly at Elision.
“Take care.”
Then, I quietly closed my eyes and used my ability.
[Which point in time would you like to load?]
▶Point 1
Imperial Era 286, September 28th.
19:41:42 (19 years old)
▶Point 2
Imperial Era 286, August 1st.
15:50:29 (19 years old)
▶Point 3
Imperial Era 286, October 1st.
12:41:42 (19 years old)
▶Point 4
Imperial Era 274, April 20th.
13:07:42 (7 years old)
Do you know what the greatest advantage of a save-and-load is?
The answer is that you can always discard a ruined outcome and start over from a saved point.
Yes, I was planning to start my life over.
To the only time period I would never have returned to if not for the fact that Aiden was still alive…
To my seven-year-old, worst days.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Take care.”
“Tania, what is that supposed to…”
Elision spoke into an empty room, having been transported to a place that wasn’t his laboratory, the person who had been right in front of him until just a moment ago having vanished.
He realized that Tania had turned back time again and ground his teeth.
“Now you’re trying to act like it never happened even after kissing me?”
Ha! It was laughable.
If nothing else, shouldn’t she have left this monumental moment for him to remember?
Besides, a farewell greeting? And acting like we would never see each other again?
I don’t know what you are planning, but I won’t let you leave me like this.
Elision’s blue eyes gleamed sharply, like a predator spotting its prey.
“If you’re going to seduce someone so openly, you’ll have to take responsibility.”
But at this moment, he didn’t know.
That Tania had turned back time to a distant, far-off past that couldn’t even be compared to anything until now.