Episode 31
[Overwriting the current point in time onto Point 1.]
After saving the point, I slipped out from the bushes and headed toward Elision. Perhaps it was the direct, brisk pace of my approach that caught his attention. He spotted me, his lips curling into a gentle, welcoming smile.
He gestured for me to hurry, his behavior as mercurial and unpredictable as ever. When I finally reached the rock where he sat, he had already laid out a handkerchief beside him, as if he had been expecting me all along.
“Tania, sit here.”
……Where on earth does a boy his age pick up such tactics? Is this a standard trait among kids these days? Is Raspi the same way?
An old-fashioned, weary thought crossed my mind, but I couldn’t deny that being treated like a lady by a little gentleman felt surprisingly nice. It was, in its own way, quite cute. I settled down beside him with a coy expression.
[Overwriting the current point in time onto Point 1.]
As I finished saving the point, Elision broke the silence.
“Tania, about you…….”
“Yeah?”
“Do you want to get adopted by the Ducal family?”
The blunt, direct nature of the question caught me off guard. There was no trace of wariness or suspicion on his face; he seemed genuinely curious whether I truly wanted to be adopted by Duke Papiope.
“……I entered the Papiope Talent Training Institute and participated in the Battle Royale because that was my goal.”
“Why? With your precognitive ability, I’m sure you could live quite comfortably without ever needing to be a noble.”
Elision tilted his head, his eyes searching. He spoke as if he already knew I lacked any real interest in the aristocracy—as if he could read straight through me.
“If you become a noble, life gets harder. There are too many eyes watching and ears listening. You’re constantly forced to keep up appearances and fret over the shifting opinions of other houses.”
“…….”
“And you wouldn’t believe how two-faced they are. They’re the type of people who would do anything for the profit and honor of their own family.”
“Sion, you speak as if you’ve lived the life of a noble yourself.”
“……That’s what I’ve heard.”
I tucked a strand of hair blown by the breeze behind my ear, offering a reply that would satisfy his curiosity.
“Actually, I didn’t think about becoming a noble from the start either. Like you said, I thought it would only bring more headaches.”
“……Then why change your mind?”
“I realized that protecting the people I care about requires more than just money.”
The death of a commoner on the street doesn’t even warrant a single line in the news. But if it were a noble? Or a knight of the Ducal house of Papiope? A death like that would be impossible to hide, and people wouldn’t even dare to touch them in the first place.
“I want to gain money, power, everything—so I can keep my people safe. My dream is to live happily with them, forever.”
Upon hearing my honest confession, Elision asked a sudden, probing question.
“Tania, about these ‘people of yours.’ How far does that circle go?”
“Hmm? Ah…… well, family and friends, I suppose.”
“Then are those guys your friends, too?”
My gaze followed his index finger. At the end of it, the twin siblings were mercilessly shattering other people’s eggs, looking entirely in their element.
“……Who knows?”
Are they closer to being a hero and a princess than friends? If they called me a friend, I wouldn’t go out of my way to deny it, but if you asked if they were the people I wanted to spend my life with? That wasn’t the case. After all, I had only met them a handful of times—hardly enough to build that kind of bond.
“I only have one real friend.”
“……Who?”
I stared blankly at Elision, who asked with a complicated look on his face. *It’s you. Who else would it be?*
The answer was so obvious, yet seeing Elision—who had no memories of me—made me feel like I might burst into tears. I hadn’t felt this emotional even when Aiden-ajusshi didn’t remember me. I pretended to yawn to hide the moisture pooling in my eyes and answered bluntly.
“There is one. Someone better looking than you.”
Elision chuckled, looking satisfied as if he found the remark amusing.
“That’s a shame. I’ve never lost when it comes to looks.”
It was hard to argue with that. His silver hair looked like spun silk, and his high, straight bridge of the nose and neatly arched eyebrows were striking even for his young age. Watching his eyes, which glinted with a mysterious blue light beneath long lashes, I found it difficult to even think of him as human. He looked like an angel descended into the mortal realm. The only person who could rival him was his adult self.
“You’re pretty, I’ll give you that. But I prefer older men……”
“Hmm. I heard that you’re about three years younger than me. Doesn’t that make me the older one?”
“Ah, well, they have to be mentally older, too.”
That was the crux of my concern. My physical age was seven, but my mental age was nineteen—an adult. Even ignoring the memories of my past life, which often felt like a dream, the twelve-year gap remained vast. To find someone with a matching mental age, I’d have to wait until I was eighteen, the age of adulthood by Imperial law, and hope for a thirty-year-old man. But the thought of dating these fresh-faced, immature boys? I didn’t have the confidence. I couldn’t even imagine this child as a man.
Whatever he made of my words, the tips of Elision’s ears turned beet red.
“……Are you confessing that I’m your ideal type?”
“What?”
What on earth was he talking about? My head was filled with question marks, and in my absurdity, I retorted just to clarify.
“I said they have to be mentally older.”
“So, that’s me, right?”
Elision smiled, his eyes folding into half-moons as if he were genuinely pleased. I pressed my lips together in a sullen line. He seemed convinced that he was more mature than me, both physically and mentally. From his perspective, I suppose that was a natural conclusion. But why was it so infuriating to watch him confidently point to himself as my ideal?
“Tania, if that was a honey trap, it seems to have succeeded. My heart fluttered a bit.”
Excuse me? The “honey trap” hadn’t even begun.
“Anyway, I understand your thoughts well. Now that we’ve talked, shall we get moving? It seems there are only three left.”
I looked around, surprised to see that, indeed, everyone had retreated into the safe zone—except for one: Raspi. Having eliminated everyone else, he was standing still, glaring at me and Elision.
“Ah…….”
I felt like an adulteress who, after telling her husband to go out and earn his keep, had been caught flirting with her lover. Not that I was trying to play around, of course. It might have looked that way, but it certainly hadn’t been my intent.
Elision, oblivious to my inner turmoil, stood up and held out his hand as if inviting me to take it. I glanced cautiously at Raspi, checked the room, and then sighed, finally taking Elision’s hand. Surely Raspi wouldn’t be jealous of something so trivial.
……I guess that was my misunderstanding.
The moment I stood up, Raspi’s eyes ignited with rage, and he began to charge toward us.
“Step away from Tania-nim at once, you impudent scoundrel!”
“What’s your problem? Are you Tania’s boyfriend or something? Why are you making such a scene?”
“……She is my master!”
What.
I was startled by Raspi’s sudden declaration of a master-servant bond, and under Elision’s suspicious gaze, I hurriedly waved my hands.
“No, that has not been agreed upon by me. He’s just thinking that on his own.”
Only then did Elision’s tense expression soften.
“Aha. So he was just some guy with a delusion problem.”
Ah, no, there’s no need to be quite that extreme…….