Chapter 130
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------
130.
I wanted to dismiss it as absurd, but I couldn't.
The term that Maribel and Gaia—or rather, the Pot Stirrer Slave—had used to refer to me came flooding back.
That corrupted word '#@' whose meaning I couldn't decipher.
It was distinctly different from how they referred to Original Roselita.
If I had examined my memories carefully, I couldn't have missed that the original story's events were meant to be the true future.
Moreover, they had even replicated that unfamiliar email format and explicitly warned me that worlds were merging.
My mind grew tangled, and before I knew it, I clenched my fist with tension. Cassian Artez gently placed his hand over mine to soothe me.
Thanks to him, I gradually relaxed my grip and continued my thoughts.
Cassian Artez rarely interrupted me at times like these.
Instead, he draped a blanket over my lap, held me close, and rested his face against my shoulder—a silent reminder that he was here, that I shouldn't forget his presence.
I lifted my free hand and stroked his hair, my mind churning once more.
'So when exactly did the branching point diverge....'
It troubled me that Maribel was clearly aware that the original story and the present had become fundamentally different.
Of course, by her logic, it was true that my various actions had altered reality.
The Temple, for instance, held an entirely different position now compared to the original.
I had raised Wesley Morel into an excellent dragon enthusiast and sent her to the Temple—that must have played a significant role.
Her entry into the Temple was delayed, and the brainwashing never took proper hold, so she grew into a strong-willed, capable adult.
And after becoming Cassian Artez's advisor, I had subtly obstructed Scarlett Jamoti's affairs at every turn.
When she should have increased her funds by 100, I feigned ignorance and ensured she only gained 70.
I had also repeatedly maneuvered to have other families take on projects that the Jamoti Family would have originally claimed.
'Yes, I've certainly cultivated her resentment.'
Beyond that, unlike the righteous Cassian Artez of the original story, this version was cunning beyond measure.
All because of my early influence on him.
He had even deliberately conducted surveillance on the Salice Barony.
'I should have noticed the moment he became an advisor.'
The Second Prince had clawed his way to survival despite everything, so I had assumed his work competence simply had to be exceptional.
I never dreamed he had picked up those traits by watching how I worked.
I hadn't intended to exert such profound influence, but I could no longer deny that I had contributed to this world's efficient operations.
However, all those behavioral changes came after I had recovered at least some of my past-life memories.
In other words, from the moment I became aware of the 'original story'.
But Maribel seemed to have anticipated it even before that.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't precognition.
'Then where did it start.'
Everything that had happened so far far exceeded what any human could reasonably comprehend.
'The world has split.'
That's why I'm saying the two worlds are bleeding together.
The very fact that you noticed this and conveyed it to me is practically stepping into the realm of the divine, isn't it?
'I suppose if she's capable of that much, calling her the Holy Maiden is only fair....'
Though I've mentioned more than once that she's the healthiest among the Liarden princesses—
'...Surely not.'
I withdrew my hand from Cassian Artez's hair, which I'd been stroking out of habit, and stared at him intently.
"...Why?"
He gazed back at me, feigning innocence as though he had no intention of interfering.
"...Your cunning seems to run in the family—you've inherited it from Maribel Liarden."
"Suddenly showering me with such high praise? What else have you discovered about my mother?"
"I thought she'd simply left behind the fractured orb to be helpful."
Maribel Liarden had left a clue about the fact that the world had split.
An act bordering on the divine, the half-remaining treasure of Liarden that I'd momentarily mistaken for a Maiden's Orb, and those emails from Maribel's past that seemed to know of the current situation....
'She divided it intentionally, wagering her own life.'
Likely from the moment Cassian Artez was born.
And she had needed to choose that timing.
Perhaps she'd foreseen her death from the start and decided to gamble on this.
But more than anything....
"...What Maribel Liarden wanted to say was that you were more precious to her than anything else."
To her only son, she left proof of her love.
And to me, she left a confession of her deception.
She had wanted me to believe and act as though this world was the original.
Though I'd rather not admit it, I'm the only one who can prevent what she was worried about.
'The dragon said it noticed the world crumbling, so it must be something like... destruction...?'
I'd wanted nothing more than to work hard and earn my daily bread as an ordinary citizen, yet entrusting such a monumental task to me felt excessive. Still, if it was a truth I needed to understand, I had to accept it.
Which meant Maribel Liarden had peered into my old memories, identified my weak points, and gambled on them.
While my own thoughts had become somewhat organized, Cassian Artez's expression was filled only with confusion.
"...Why?"
His voice dropped to barely a whisper.
"I'm not certain, but..."
The light in Cassian Artez's eyes trembled faintly.
I raised my hand again in reassurance and stroked his hair; his eyes closed slowly, then opened again, as though he were taking a deep breath.
"It seems that was the best way Maribel Liarden could express her love to you."
After uttering such sentimental words, I withdrew from Cassian Artez's embrace, straightened myself, and gathered the fragmented pieces of my thoughts into one coherent whole.
It was another moment of confession.
*
I organized my deductions for Cassian and explained them in chronological order.
First: Maribel Liarden was born with formidable magical power and noticed an anomaly in this world that even the Temple had overlooked.
Second: To prevent it and simultaneously reclaim Liarden's rightful status, she accepted Ernest Artez's proposal of marriage after long deliberation.
Third: In that process, Maribel Liarden became aware of my existence and devised some plan.
It seemed the catalyst was likely the events surrounding her debut ball and her visit to the Capital City, though this part was difficult to deduce with certainty.
Fourth: And she gave birth to Cassian according to plan, risked her life, used Liarden's treasure to divide the world, and summoned me here.
"...She acted that way for my sake?"
"Not solely for Ian, but I suspect you were the primary reason."
Cassian's eyes darkened.
"You're thinking it was because of someone like me?"
As I asked while meeting his gaze, Cassian lifted his head as if pricked by a needle at the nape of his neck.
"If you put it that way, it seems I should apologize to Ian."
"Why?"
"Because Maribel must have glimpsed my memories and realized it."
Before I was even born in this place, she must have sensed my existence and devised all these plans.
I raised my hands and cradled both his cheeks.
"Your very existence."
"...That's not Roselita's fault."
"Which means it's not your fault either, because the choice was made by Maribel, not Ian."
I couldn't know in detail what she saw, how far she looked, or what she thought.
But I understood that the present was the result of Maribel synthesizing all those factors and making her decision.
"So you just have to accept it—and you're even allowed to resent it."
"Resent it, you say?"
Cassian let out a hollow laugh.
The emotion was plainly visible—how could he dare resent a mother who risked her life for him.
"Of course, because Maribel didn't choose the option where she could stay by your side."
"Even though she chose what she believed was best?"
"That was Maribel's best, not yours."
At my words, Cassian's eyes widened.
"And I got dragged into all this without resistance."
Someone like me, who fits the description of an ordinary citizen content with simple living, suddenly burdened with this grand, heavy scale of world-ending catastrophes and whatnot.
And she even left behind such a lovely bonus.
"If you apologize, I'll dump you on the spot."
I teased by pulling at his forehead as his eyebrows drooped, and smiled at him.
"You simply did your best. Maribel probably did too."
"Roselita...."
"So."
I nestled into his embrace and pulled his waist close, holding him tight.
My words had been nothing but complaints, but I harbored no mere resentment toward Maribel.
Life came with its share of bothersome and heavy burdens, but I knew well enough that nothing in this world came easy.
I had no taste for dwelling solely on negativity and filling my path forward with darkness.
'I understand her position, but I wonder if Maribel Liarden didn't suffer as well.'
Choosing between standing beside Cassian Artez even if it led to ruin, or leaving him alone to face every loneliness, trial, and pain necessary to reach a complete future—such a choice was not an easy one.
So I decided to understand her more gently.
No matter what difficulties arose ahead, there would always be a way to overcome them, and that was all that mattered.
After all, I had been told I possessed the strength to do so.
Gathering all such thoughts, I leaned my cheek against Cassian Artez's shoulder and spoke.
"Don't show weakness or hesitation that doesn't suit you. I'll continue to use you as my shield without mercy."
A beast must be beastly.
At my words, Cassian Artez fell silent for a moment, then pulled me into his embrace with a low chuckle.
At the same time, the scroll vibrated and unfurled with a flutter.
With content shorter than ever before.
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------