12.
Wait a second.
How old is she at this point in time? She seems to be around his age, right?
I was the one who got agitated this time, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him.
“Raspi, is your twin brother also a black-haired, green-eyed boy like you?”
“……That is correct.”
Ignoring his flustered state, I clutched my head, stunned by this absurd secret of his birth.
“No way. Then why did Rosemary just leave you alone?!”
In the previous timeline, Rosemary was the youngest of the three siblings adopted into the Papiope Ducal House. She was the last person to walk through the door of the family I was currently aiming to be adopted into.
[Overwriting the current timeline onto Timeline 1.]
Frowning deeply, I turned to Raspi, my voice bordering on a plea.
“I’m going to go verify if it’s the Rosemary I know, so you stay right here and wait for me.”
“What is this…….”
Having quickly saved the current timeline, I moved to the future to confirm if my hunch was real.
The morning of the day I gambled away all the money I had at the betting house.
In other words…… I went back to the previous timeline, the one where I was an adult.
[Loading Timeline 3.]
✦ ✦ ✦
I have a total of four timeline save slots.
Slots 1 and 2 were used interchangeably for saving and backups. Slot 3 was the future timeline, and Slot 4 was for resets.
I had discarded the timeline where I was an adult, but I kept it for later use. Think about it: I’m not a genius. How could I possibly remember such vast amounts of information? It was far more profitable to write it all down in the adult timeline and return to check it whenever I needed. It was safer, and more accurate.
And…….
Sometimes, when I missed him, I could go back to visit my friend Elision.
Having saved the timeline early that morning, I immediately took a carriage to the Papiope Ducal House. The butler noticed my arrival and greeted me with a troubled look.
“Lady Tania, my apologies, but Lord Elision is not currently at the residence.”
The reason the butler mentioned Elision as a matter of course was simple: Elision, too, was an adoptee of the Papiope Ducal House. In other words, Elision and Rosemary were siblings without blood ties.
“I didn’t come to see Sion. I’m here for Lady Rosemary.”
“……The youngest young lady?”
“Yes.”
“I do not know if she will be able to receive you—she is a heavy sleeper in the mornings—but I shall inform her.”
“It’s urgent. Tell her I’ve brought news that will make her eyes pop out.”
“Yes. I shall relay that as well.”
Shown to the reception room, I sat on a plush chair and sorted through my thoughts. If Rosemary really was the sister of that beast tamer Raspi, how did the two of them end up living such drastically different lives? It was all the more puzzling because it was Rosemary, not Raspi, who had been captured by the traffickers.
Before I could finish my thoughts, Rosemary appeared in the reception room, dressed in light attire. I jumped up from my seat to greet her.
“Hello, Lady Rosemary.”
“A lot of interesting things are happening since early this morning.”
“Interesting things?”
“My second brother suddenly let out a strange scream and bolted out of the ducal residence.”
“……Sion did that?”
That was bizarre. A grand mage capable of long-distance teleportation running out the front door screaming? How desperate must he have been to forget he had magic at his disposal?
“Yes. And not long after, you came looking for me, claiming you had news that would make my eyes pop out.” She added softly, then asked with a relaxed smile, “I’m curious, Tania. What business do you have with me, and not my brother?”
“I have a question. It’s a very important matter.”
“I see. If it’s important enough for you to come so urgently, I will answer you with equal seriousness.”
It was fortunate, if nothing else, that I had become acquainted with her thanks to Elision. I had no intention of lingering in a timeline I had already discarded, so I got straight to the point.
“Lady Rosemary, do you have a biological older brother from whom you were separated when you were young?”
The ease that had been on Rosemary’s face shattered.
“Why would you ask such a…….”
“So you do.”
“Tania!”
“Then, is the beast tamer who died the year before last your biological brother?”
As I revealed the truth, the stiff composure Rosemary had barely been maintaining crumbled.
“Ho…… how do you know that…….”
“When I was young, I met your brother.”
“W-when you were young, around what age was that?”
“When you were dragged away by the traffickers, Lady Rosemary. The sight of him moving with bloodshot eyes, determined to save his sister who had been stolen by adults, is still vivid in my mind.”
Rosemary’s breathing turned ragged.
“However, I couldn’t get any news after that, so I was wondering if you knew anything. Because I made a promise to that child…….”
She looked at me with eyes full of fear. Not even the Empire had been able to uncover anything regarding the war criminal who had ignited the beast war. She was clearly struggling to comprehend how I knew they were kin.
I added a few words to put her at ease.
“Raspi. That is a name the Empire never managed to uncover. I heard it directly from him. So, believe me.”
“……You’re right. Raspi is the name of my twin brother.”
The moment she said the name, tears spilled from her eyes like a broken faucet.
“When we were caught by the traffickers, I…… I was trapped in an underground dungeon. I escaped only by taking advantage of the chaos caused by the beasts’ intrusion.”
Raspi’s ability was that of a beast tamer. It meant he had tried to save his sister, even with his body in a ruinous state.
But at her next words, I couldn’t help but sigh.
“But Raspi, who came to save me, couldn’t do it. He was subdued by the traffickers and captured.”
“Ah…….”
“I searched for my brother like crazy after that, but I couldn’t find him. So I just assumed he was dead.”
Now I understood why he had stayed silent for so long, spiraling into such a state. She had known nothing of his whereabouts.
“Then one day, a man called a beast tamer suddenly appeared in the Empire, and…….”
“Lady Rosemary, you must have been certain he was your twin brother upon seeing his portrait.”
“Yes.”
It seemed that while Raspi had attempted to save his sister, he hadn’t been able to save himself. It was just a guess, but it seemed he had been caught by the traffickers, used to the fullest, and then escaped when an opportunity finally arose.
After escaping, he must have wanted revenge. He needed a place to vent his rage. I understood those feelings. Being bought and sold like an object, treated like livestock—how horrific must it have been?
Yet, countless innocent lives had been extinguished in the war he sparked.
Now that I had identified the cause, I had to prevent Raspi from attempting to save his sister alone and being captured in return.
“……Ha.”
Raspi. I thought he was just a madman who declared war on the Empire, but he was a man with a story, wasn’t he?
I was weak when it came to children. Especially pathetic ones. As I looked up at the ceiling, my heart heavy with pity, Rosemary moved her lips, her face tense.
“Tania, may I know what the promise you made to my brother was?”
There was no reason to hide it. She would lose her memory the moment I returned to the original timeline anyway.
“Rosemary, it was to find out whether you were alive or dead and let him know.”
She bit down hard on her lower lip, as if something were welling up inside her.
“Since my brother is already dead, you won’t be able to keep that promise.”
“No. He won’t die, and the promise will be kept.”
“……What?”
“I told you. That Raspi, shouting that he had to save you with bloodshot eyes, is still vivid in my mind. Actually, I saw him just a little while ago.”
“……Are you teasing me?”
“Rosemary, my ability—you see, it’s not actually a precognition ability like the world believes.”
As if she suddenly realized something, Rosemary’s pupils dilated. She hurriedly opened her mouth, desperate to ask.
“Tania, don’t tell me……!”