Chapter 105
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105.
Even in the depths of night, true spring carried a chill.
When I emerged lightly clad and gave a soft cough, Cassian Artez, as if he'd anticipated it, draped a shawl around my shoulders.
"So that's why you brought it."
"You relax too much once your duties are finished."
At his pointed observation, I simply wrapped the shawl tighter around myself.
The Winter Palace was surrounded by few tall structures, leaving the vista remarkably open.
Though I'd grown weary of this view over the past two and a half years, I'd rarely walked through it so leisurely—it felt strangely renewed.
"Didn't you have something you wanted to say?"
As I strolled at an unhurried pace, savoring the tranquility, I noticed Cassian Artez's unusual silence and asked. He answered with a soft laugh.
"No, I simply wanted to spend a little time with you."
As he escorted me as always, something seemed to occur to him, and he intertwined his fingers with mine.
"The more duties I have, the less time we have to talk."
Though we weren't exactly conversing now.
I'd meant to tease him about that, but instead I simply laughed quietly.
He must have wanted to share this leisure with me.
As we continued walking in this gentle silence, it became all the more apparent.
How familiar we'd become with each other.
Without a single word, merely feeling each other's warmth through our clasped hands—it wasn't awkward or tedious. It was simply comfortable.
The tension that had been wound tight from countless concerns gradually began to ease.
'Though now that my mind is clearing, there are things that do trouble me.'
It was only for one day—surely I could afford to indulge myself for that long.
With that thought, I cherished this rare moment of respite and looked around.
Though the Winter Palace Garden was maintained with only modest care, spring itself was like a jewel—beautiful and wholly satisfying.
'Wait...'
As I walked slowly, hand in hand with Cassian Artez, I felt something amiss.
Not as if the air had changed or the season had shifted.
'Was that wall finish always so poorly maintained...?'
Though the Palace was old and bore the marks of time, this wasn't a place we'd neglected in our care.
Cassian Artez's meticulousness, which had changed since meeting me, should have been evident throughout the Palace.
With that realization, I felt something strange in the sensation of the hand I was holding.
The moment I turned my head sharply to look beside me, Cassian Artez's expression grew puzzled.
"What's wrong?"
I wanted to believe it was merely fatigue playing tricks on me, but his next words made my face stiffen.
"Is it because of tomorrow's banquet?"
"A banquet, you say?"
Tomorrow I'm trapped almost entirely in the Winter Palace again with a grueling schedule—setting problems, checking answers, and handling additional tasks?
There's no way Cassian Artez wouldn't have told me about something so important.
No, in a situation where Winter Palace personnel were being controlled, there wasn't a single person in the current Empire who would thoughtlessly extend a dinner invitation.
The moment I reflexively released the hand I'd been holding with Cassian, he furrowed his brow.
He was different too.
The Cassian I knew would either coax me when facing a situation like this, asking what was wrong, or attempt to charm me by feigning hurt feelings.
"—Right, even your tone. Are you already practicing? You don't need to be so tense."
Cassian Artez laughed.
It wasn't a beautiful smile meant to lure me in, but an expression where subtle dignity and naturalness had melded together.
A face I didn't know.
A chill crept through me as if the cold night air had seeped into my very bones.
Because work was demanding, because the immediate reality was pressing.
The naive wish to relax my guard for just a moment, having endured so much hardship, began to torment me instead.
And that fear—
"I'll protect you."
Words the one I knew would never say, and
"Rozi."
A different form of address struck me like a blow to the head.
"...Rozi?"
To the bewildered Cassian before my eyes.
To the 'original Cassian'.
I couldn't give any answer.
As I stepped back, he spoke again.
"Really, why are you like this, Rozi. Just trust me like you always do, yeah?"
A far more familiar tone, gestures that conveyed we'd been together for a long time.
The attempt to comfort was similar, but the method was far too different.
'This isn't real.'
I denied the man before my eyes with all my might in my heart.
*
As I stood frozen in place for a long moment, he offered to fetch water and attempted to guide me to a nearby bench.
Rather than a courteous escort, his hand reached out to grab me roughly, and I shook my head at him, feeling increasingly alienated.
With him gone, my mind became remarkably clear.
'It's fine. If I just wait a little longer, everything will return to normal.'
It had always been that way before.
I tried to comfort myself, desperate to deny reality.
But then a doubt suddenly surfaced in my mind.
'Really?'
This wasn't something written in the scroll—it was an episode from the original work.
I felt my hands and feet grow cold as the original story's details surfaced unbidden.
One of the near-death crises Roselita Salice faced in the latter half of the work.
The kidnapping episode at the banquet.
The day before, just like now, the two of them had walked through the Winter Palace discussing their concerns about the banquet.
'Has the world begun to overlap because the situation became similar?'
If so, that would almost be a relief.
But something told me that wasn't the case.
The one who had given me a separate answer had made it clear.
The worlds were merging, faster than they had anticipated.
And to prevent it, I needed to fulfill the content of the trials and the unreleased prophecy they had provided.
But with so much happening recently, I had momentarily forgotten.
As I sighed and lowered my gaze, I saw the scroll wound around my wrist, despite this being a world I didn't recognize.
A sense of relief washed over me, and I felt the urge to open it.
If I opened it and found any discrepancies in the unreleased prophecy, I could reassure myself.
Then I could truly return.
But I couldn't bring myself to touch it.
My intuition, which I couldn't logically explain, was screaming at me.
This wasn't a trial or an unreleased prophecy—it was a 'merging.'
And the painful realization that I might have brought this upon myself pierced my heart.
'I've even deliberately prevented situations where trials could occur.'
The Imperial Palace had been so chaotic, and I feared that enduring trials on top of that would be unbearable.
If it were just my problem and Cassian Artez's, it would be one thing, but others could have been drawn in.
So I postponed it.
It was for everyone's sake.
It was never just for my own selfish desires.
I gathered my scattered thoughts and quietly surveyed my surroundings.
Compared to the original Winter Palace, this place lacked any sense of comfort.
Despite being a similar space, I could tell that this version of Cassian Artez had paid almost no attention to maintaining the palace.
That it had even this much appearance was thanks to this world's Roselita Salice having tended to it.
The original Cassian Artez owed her so much gratitude.
Not me.
She had chosen to endure every conceivable pain, hardening her soft heart into steel.
Not me, merely wearing her shell like a mask.
'Honestly, I'm not confident.'
If I couldn't return, if I truly had to act like Roselita Salice from the original story, I would simply abandon everything and choose to flee.
It would be better for me to give up on this Cassian Artez.
Everything I cherished and built with Cassian Artez had no place here.
No matter how identical the name, the face, or even the similar demeanor—he wasn't the Cassian Artez I knew.
This was a world where I bore no responsibility.
'So send me back.'
To the Cassian Artez I knew so well—devilish, cunning, always trying to look a little prettier in my eyes.
Suppressing the urge to cry, I looked up at the sky.
I could see the edges of the heavens subtly unraveling.
And as if it were a hint of something, his voice brushed against my ears.
'Form of address.'
That word, stubborn and obsessive.
The fear that had bound me suddenly lifted, and my mind flooded entirely with his voice.
So I opened my mouth toward the void.
"I, Ian."
I felt something peel away above the sky in one swift motion.
*
Several seconds passed after I called out to him.
Even though he wasn't visible before my eyes, I found myself strangely reassured.
'...The walls are so clean.'
Unlike the neglected Winter Palace Garden from moments before, the meticulous pruning and weeding here put my mind at ease.
Soon he approached me with hurried steps.
I wanted to rise and run toward him.
But for some reason, my legs wouldn't obey, and without thinking, I simply opened my arms wide.
"...Roselita?"
At the familiar tone and name that followed, I could finally smile properly.
"Yes, Ian."
As I answered quietly, almost like a whisper, he smiled with relief and stepped forward, pulling me into a tight embrace.
"...I thought I'd lost you."
At the strained quality of his voice and its desperation, I wrapped my arms around him and held him close.
"No, you guided me properly."
From a place that was never mine, to here—where I have something to face and protect.
The moment I thought that, an alert chimed from the scroll wound around my arm.
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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