Yulli opened her eyes on a sickbed in the imperial palace.
By her side was Emperor Sopien. Behind her, as always, was Keiron as well.
“······.”
Yulli was momentarily bewildered. The nursing care was so unexpected that her eyelids blinked on their own.
“······It is not a simple injury, but a curse. And a terribly malignant one at that.”
Sopien spoke. Her voice was as dry as desert sand. Yulli, who had tried to raise her upper body in a hurry, flinched at the pain.
“Ugh!”
“It is fine. Lie still.”
“No, I—”
“This curse. I have heard you obtained it while escorting Dekyulrein.”
“······.”
Yulli said nothing. Sopien looked her body over from top to bottom.
“I, too, once suffered from a dreadful illness. It was a painful life. So painful that even the pain grew dull...... Knight, look into my eyes.”
“······.”
Yulli dared to meet the Emperor’s eyes. However, there was no life in Sopien’s pupils. No vitality. They held an astonishingly hollow light.
Sopien scoffed.
“You can see it, can you not? Though I overcame the illness of that time, another disease still gnaws at me. Its name is listlessness, or perhaps indolence.”
Saying so, she placed her hand on Yulli’s forehead.
In that moment, Yulli felt a certain refreshing sensation seeping into her body.
“Your Majesty. This is......”
“It is a runic language learned from Dekyulrein. A language of healing, but curses are not the kind that can be healed. It is merely temporary symptom relief, symptomatic treatment.”
“Ah!”
Yulli quickly raised her upper body. Seeing her hurriedly assuming a knight’s courtesy, Sopien shook her head.
“If you rise any more, it is not courtesy but discourtesy. Stay still.”
“Yes.”
“Moreover, you are not fully healed. That curse will one day kill you.”
“······Yes. I know.”
The curse gradually festered and intensified. The pain that felt like clutching at her heart had now become part of her morning routine.
“Looking at you, I am reminded of my past self.”
As if understanding that pain, Sopien muttered while looking at the moon outside the window.
“The me of then, and the me of now...... Perhaps I wish to start everything anew. Without knowing anything. Having forgotten all my memories...... This life is ruined.”
A complaint steeped in sentiment. Yulli flinched and replied in surprise.
“Please do not say such things. Ruined, Your Majesty?”
Sopien’s gaze reached her again.
“Your curse is incurable. Broadly speaking, your situation is similar to mine of old. Do you not wish to start over? Do you never think, ‘If only I had not escorted Dekyulrein then’?”
“······.”
Yulli nodded silently. Sopien asked again seriously.
“Why?”
“Because that choice, too, was my part, my life.”
“······.”
A truly knightly answer.
A small silence flowed through the sickroom.
“······Is that so.”
Sopien nodded her head slightly a couple of times, then let out a tiny, tiny smile.
“You are different from Dekyulrein.”
“······Is that so?”
Yulli thought of Dekyulrein and her face grew somewhat gloomy. The Emperor’s wide cape coat brushed Yulli’s fingers.
“Yes. Very different. Dekyulrein lives as though there are no wrong answers in her life. She does not acknowledge wrong answers, as though her path is the correct one.”
“······That is correct. The Professor is truly like that.”
“However, if you accept even wrong answers as your own, as you do, the more wrong answers you have, the more you will become riddled with scars. You will die like that.”
Sopien sneered cynically. However, Yulli’s answer was merely a warm smile.
“Your Majesty. Even if riddled with scars, a knight lives on. And I am a knight.”
“······.”
Sopien glared at Yulli intently. It somehow displeased her that the words sounded right.
“Correct. You are a true knight, but there are not many knights like you.”
“Thank you for the praise.”
“It is not praise. Rest comfortably, then leave.”
Sopien rose from her seat, fluttering the hem of her coat. Yulli managed to stand and offer courtesy to her back, and Keiron closed the sickroom door.
Thud—!
Afterward, they walked down the corridor in silence.
Thud— Thud—
Sopien’s imposing footsteps.
Over them layered Keiron’s voice.
“······Your Majesty. Do you truly wish for that.”
Sopien stopped dead. Keiron spoke to her back.
“If you wish for a new beginning, it can be so.”
“······.”
“I can make it so.”
In the end, Sopien turned to Keiron. Keiron, head bowed, continued.
“Your Majesty deserves to be happy.”
“······Hmph. Who says so.”
“Anyone would say so. If they knew of Your Majesty, who has died dozens of times, suffered for decades, and attempted suicide dozens of times. Anyone would say so.”
“What?”
Sopien was quite bewildered.
Keiron had originally been a man like a statue. Even the name of the talent bestowed by the Imperial family was 「Statue」.
Indeed, the medium through which Keiron multiplied his bodies was also a “statue.”
“Keiron. You do not know me.”
“I know, if only a little.”
Sopien furrowed her brows.
“Even if you think so, you are now rattling on too emotionally about impossible things.”
“It is not impossible. Your Majesty, there is an ‘Altar’ beneath this imperial palace.”
Keiron raised his head. His eyes gleamed with a knight’s will.
“They are gathering and trying to use Your Majesty’s authority. If we use them in reverse, we can go back.”
“Go back?”
“Yes. Your Majesty can be happy, too. Forgetting everything, you can start anew in a new world.”
The 「Devil’s Mirror」 wants Sopien.
The 「Altar」 is extracting Sopien’s “authority [Regression]” from the world within that mirror.
Keiron recalled the possibility that if they reverse-used those two, who appeared to be in a symbiotic relationship, they could construct a “new world”—that is, a “completely different past.”
It was an idea drawn from Dekyulrein’s words that the 「Devil’s Mirror」 wished to become a ‘world,’ yet a thought entirely different from Dekyulrein’s.
In Keiron’s conception, the 「Devil’s Mirror」 would become a new world, and the Sopien of that world would regress anew, having forgotten all memories of this life.
If this life was ruined, it was a proposal to truly plan for the next life.
“If the same history merely repeats?”
Sopien asked, looking into his eyes.
“I will not let it.”
“······.”
......The conversation that did not continue.
Time that seemed to stop.
Air stagnated as if suffocating.
In that silence, Sopien turned around again.
Thud, thud.
She had silently issued an order to leave, and Keiron, understanding her meaning, stood stock-still like a statue in the middle of the corridor.
* * *
A dark night.
I, who had returned to the office in the Magic Tower, was immersed in thought. Thinking as if submerged.
“······If I could understand the 「Devil’s Mirror」.”
I looked at the mirror on my desk. I activated 「Comprehension」 on that simple mirror.
The nature and attribute of the mirror were soon understood.
If you heat sand with high temperature—though of course there are several processes in between—what is made is glass, and coincidentally, earth and fire are my attributes.
“I need slightly more detailed information.”
I rose. There would be magic books related to glass or mirrors in the Magic Tower library.
Just as I came out into the corridor and was about to get on the elevator.
“Huoh!”
Some small fellow let out a strange breath.
“······.”
Ipeurin.
With a haggard and exhausted face in the world, holding a coffee in one hand.
Without even greeting, the fellow inched—inched—backward.
Ding—!
The elevator arrived.
I turned to Ipeurin and spoke.
“It doesn’t seem to be working out as you thought.”
“······Ah, no. If I just catch a clue······ it’ll work.”
“······.”
“It will, I mean, it works anyway.”
The fellow muttered. Looking at her quietly, the words Ihelm had said suddenly fluttered by my ear.
—Was that Luna’s daughter, who pretended to be loved by her father, pitiful?
Perhaps······ those words were right.
Ipeurin.
That girl is strangely pitiful to me. Since Dekyulrein hardly feels an emotion called compassion, this is probably a fragment of Gim Ujin.
“Wh-why.”
Thus, there are only a few people in this world who make me feel fragments of Gim Ujin.
Until now, there are only three: Silbia, Ipeurin, and Yeriel. Yulli is the exact opposite.
Yulli is the strongest proof of me as Dekyulrein. She is a shackle and an emotion that I simply cannot refuse.
“Conviction and diligence. Those are the two virtues that suit you.”
“······Huh?”
“Endeavor endlessly. And believe in your future self.”
“······.”
Ipeurin’s eyes went wide. I immediately got on the elevator.
Ding—!
Getting off on the first floor like that, this time Yulli was there.
“Professor.”
“······.”
Yulli greeted me with a rather awkward face. She was still in light armor.
I approached her.
“Yulli. Stop escorting me now.”
“No.”
“What do you mean no—”
“I’m sorry.”
“······.”
That apologetic voice shut my mouth. She bit her lip tightly and continued.
“I know that I have been sickly lately, and that it harms my escort of you.”
“······.”
“I’m sorry.”
My mind went blank for a moment. But soon I understood the meaning of her words and unconsciously gritted my teeth.
“Also, in the not-too-distant future, I failed to protect you.”
Countless words churned uselessly in my mouth. Some resentment welled up from the bottom of my chest.
“In these eyes, you are still vividly dying. The sword wound that pierced your body······.”
Yulli lowered her head. Her voice was moist, as if dampened.
I could not understand her.
“Professor. I understand that you are disappointed in me.”
Why is this woman, who cannot love herself, so, so foolish.
“I admit all my faults.”
I want to say.
That you are not at fault.
That we simply should not be together.
“However, please let me finish this escort mission.”
Yulli spoke resolutely. She gripped the sword at her waist tightly.
“I will try harder. Even if my body breaks, I will protect you. I will not tire—”
“Yulli.”
I did not want to hear any more of that.
“I don’t need it.”
“!”
Yulli’s breath hitched loudly. She lowered her head, trying not to show a sad face.
“Leave now. I have work at the Magic Tower library today.”
I love this foolish woman.
I do not want to refuse this maddening emotion.
“I will wait—”
“Go.”
“······I’m sorry.”
And so, Yulli leaves.
Opening the Magic Tower’s door, she went down that long path.
With unsteady steps, still not healed.
“······.”
I, who watched her, leaned my body against the wall. I placed my hand on my heart.
Dekyulrein’s resonance was spreading throughout my body.
“What is the matter.”
Then, a voice from somewhere.
Turning around, it was Ipeurin. The girl, who had somehow come down to the first floor, squirmed pointlessly and blurted out.
“······I’ll help you.”
“······.”
“Didn’t you come to do some investigation?”
“······.”
“I’m Ipeurin, a teaching assistant.”
Whether she hadn’t seen the encounter just now, or was pretending not to.
I let out a small sigh.
“Do you have time to spare.”
“Ah, well······ Honestly! ......I can’t do it. How am I supposed to understand 30,000 pages in one month. It’s impossible.”
“······.”
“Isn’t that why you gave it to me?”
I walked toward the underground library without a word. Then Ipeurin quickly followed after me.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-
I did not bother to stop that brisk pace.
Nor did I bother to let on that I noticed the sidelong glances that kept flicking my way.
……Three hours later.
“Are these the ones you mentioned, Professor?”
Epherene proved moderately helpful.
After all, in the Magic Tower library, where hundreds of thousands of books lay scattered about, few things were more bothersome than finding the book you wanted.
“That’s right.”
I had ordered everything related to “mirror magic.”
The “Demon’s Mirror,” in the end, was still a mirror. Thus, if I understood the properties of mirrors, it would surely be of help.
“Is there anything else I should bring?”
“This time, glass. Anything and everything related to glass.”
“Okay, okay~”
Glass, glass, glass, glass. Muttering to herself, Epherene went off to search for books, and I focused on the texts again.
……And so another three hours passed.
By the time morning came.
“Professor Deculein.”
An imperial knight who had suddenly appeared in the library called to me in a solemn voice. Without even looking at them, I continued reading the grimoire.
“Professor Deculein.”
“—Bweh?!”
At the second call, somewhat louder than the first, Epherene, who had been sleeping face-down, jolted awake, drooling.
Only then did I turn to look at them.
The knight spoke.
“His Imperial Majesty summons you.”
* * *
……Sophien grows accustomed to everything with ease. She learns easily, and masters things easily.
This “world,” and these “principles,” are not particularly difficult either; in truth, with a certain amount of sidelong observation, she can grasp most of them.
Because of that, she has a habit of not thinking deeply. The more she thinks, the more bothersome it becomes, and the more bothersome it is, the easier it turns.
“…….”
However, today. After dwelling on that thing called “thought” for rather longer than she had in a very long time, she was tapping at a hand mirror.
Morning had come before she knew it.
She was waiting for the person who would soon arrive.
Knock, knock—
The Emperor’s bedchamber. The moment the knock sounded, Sophien opened the door with “Telekinesis.” As expected, Deculein stood there.
“You’ve come. Enter.”
“Yes.”
Deculein stepped into the bedchamber, and the retainers closed the door.
“Sit.”
Sophien pointed to the seat before her. Deculein approached without a word and sat.
“…….”
“…….”
Sophien poured coffee into a teacup, and Deculein sat upright with perfect posture. He looked as though “etiquette” itself had been personified.
Sophien spoke first.
“Deculein.”
“Yes.”
“Today, I tried doing a bit of this thing called ‘thinking.’”
It was because of Keiron. That damned bastard Keiron’s words had made her do that wicked thing called “worry.”
“As I thought, I discovered a memory in the mirror one day. If I had to compare it to something, it was like finding a needle on a sandy beach.”
Sophien drank her coffee as she looked at Deculein.
“A distant memory of mine. There was an impudent fellow who introduced himself to me as a ‘professor.’”
Deculein’s eyes were as straight as ever. That was why she liked him.
A man who did not bow himself, did not fear her, was not bound by anything, and simply showed his honest self.
“That man said he would stay with me through my process and my end, but he never came to me again.”
Sophien let out a small sigh. It was a breath almost like a laugh.
“If that man had been there. If he had come to me as promised.”
“…….”
“It would have been bearable.”
Deculein closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. That reaction was enough.
“Keiron told me we should remake this world.”
“……Did he?”
“He did. He said that in that world, I could truly know nothing, and become a new person. Forgetting all the pain I have endured until now.”
“…….”
“It was an exceedingly tempting proposal.”
Deculein listened in silence.
“……Keiron’s intent is admirable. His heart for me is touching. However…… if I were truly to do that.”
For some reason, he felt as though he knew what Sophien would say next.
“Would that not mean losing to the devil?”
Sophien twisted the corner of her mouth. A cold sneer slipped out.
“I do not want to lose. Not to anyone.”
Then she looked at the coffee in her teacup. Its calm surface reflected Sophien.
“Your fiancée, Yulie, said even her wrong answers were her life, and you live as though you are always the correct answer. In this world, there are countless others besides you two who engrave their own answers into it.”
Sophien raised her head again.
“But there has never been anyone who rewrote an answer they had already submitted.”
“That is so.”
“Yes…… Deculein. I am beginning to feel sleepy.”
Her eyes were slowly closing. It was the price of immersing herself in worry and thought for the first time in a very long while.
“When I fall asleep now, the door underground will open……”
Sophien’s eyes were half closed. Through them, she could see Deculein’s face.
That cold visage, as though sleep itself had no place in it.
“I ask this of you. It was painful, having no one to watch over me.”
She spoke her heart honestly.
“In that underground place, my form, those countless deaths…… can you watch them for me? Can you remain in my memory……?”
Deculein answered without hesitation. That he certainly would.
But to Sophien, the tone of his voice was already growing faint.
Slowly, her consciousness was sinking.
“It may be decades, or it may be a hundred years…… I do not know what kind of life I lived, either. Will you still be all right……?”
Deculein’s voice seeped into her ears.
—Yes. As I promised last time, I will be with Your Majesty through every part of the process. Without fail.
A voice spreading busily, as though submerged in water.
—And at the end of that process, I will return to this place again.
Yet words that continued with certainty.
—And face Your Majesty.
Hwaaaaam……
Sophien answered with a yawn. As she fell asleep, Deculein watched her quietly, then rose to his feet.
Now, it was time to truly go keep his promise.