Chapter 82

A shadow crossed Reyes’s face. Helio reading Ashton’s memories wasn’t entirely welcome—it could reveal Reyes’s own lies.

But the information Helio sought reassured him.

“In that man’s head, I saw the image of my master’s heart being extracted. That seems to be what he’s planning.”

“What?”

Reyes’s expression instantly turned fierce.

The one who must take Sabina’s heart was none other than Reyes Brinita. If Ashton Bryant was also after Sabina’s heart, it had to be stopped.

Reyes anxiously touched his lips.

“Yes, the heart of a time mage is something anyone would covet……”

‘Anyone would covet?’

Helio’s eyes narrowed at Reyes’s careless words.

“Well done, Helio. Well done. That’s a decisive piece of information. Now all that’s left is to protect Sabina from that guy.”

Reyes tried to stay calm, fearing he might excite Helio and give him reason to doubt. But Helio’s suspicion was already growing.

The boy hid his true feelings and spoke politely.

“Your Highness, you are right. I’m on your side.”

Reyes couldn’t be happier. He always craved subordinates he could use like limbs. Now, he had a talented, young, and innocent boy in his grasp—how delightful.

Helio saw that Reyes was pleased and felt relieved. Now Reyes would monitor Ashton more sharply, and Ashton might fall into danger, but Helio didn’t care. Just as Ashton disliked Helio, Helio disliked Ashton.

“It seems something serious and dangerous is lurking, right?”

The boy carefully placed his hand on Reyes’s arm. The Prince accepted the intimate contact naturally. Helio wore a worried expression. Though it was somewhat awkward, Reyes didn’t notice.

He just thought Helio was nervous.

The boy slowly spoke his prepared lines.

“I’ll cooperate as much as possible with whatever you instruct, Your Highness. So, I hope you will trust me completely.”

“Of course. I will.”

“Yes.”

Helio gently grasped the fur coat Reyes wore.

Reyes wasn’t tense. He didn’t see Helio as a threat, so the protective device in his heavy clothing didn’t activate against the boy.

That was all Helio needed to confirm.

“Your Highness, you and I will go ‘together.’”

Both Reyes Brinita and Ashton Bryant only sought to use Helio in the end. Only Sabina never tried to use him. Even if he was treated like a child and denied the right to see her true feelings, Helio’s destination would always be Sabina.

‘For my master alone……’

* * *

The words Helio whispered to Reyes dominated Reyes’s thoughts all day.

「In that man’s head, I saw the image of my master’s heart being extracted. That seems to be what he’s planning.」

Reyes decided he needed to reevaluate Ashton.

He wasn’t just a man who suddenly, accidentally barged into Reedblon. If he was a mage after Sabina’s heart, then everything he’d done since summer was part of a meticulous plan.

‘How infuriating.’

Reyes didn’t blame himself for foolishly underestimating Ashton. He evaluated himself too highly and liked himself too much for that.

Instead, he pondered—something didn’t quite add up.

If Helio could read Reyes’s mind for his ‘purpose,’ what would he see?

Probably the image of two newborn babies being switched. At most, perhaps Sabina’s heart.

But what Helio saw in Ashton Bryant’s mind was the opposite—not the core of the plan, but the shell of Sabina with her heart taken.

Why did that image remain?

After long thought, Reyes reached a conclusion.

Perhaps what Helio saw in Ashton’s mind was not the man’s goal, but what he feared.

It was strange. Why would a man with no connection fear Sabina’s heart being taken?

Reyes thought this far, folded his arms, and closed his eyes. He decided to think in a slightly different direction.

‘Come to think of it, did Helio really break the seal?’

This thought made his brow furrow.

‘Wait, Helio broke someone else’s magic?’

The three conditions for breaking magic are tiresome to repeat now. If Ashton cast magic on Helio, it should be impossible for Helio to break it.

But Helio had partially broken the seal and conveyed information about Ashton to Reyes.

Was Helio making things up? Or was there never a seal to begin with?

Reyes recalled the awkward, gullible boy who trusted others easily. Helio’s words didn’t seem like lies. It was hard to imagine such meticulousness—communicating only by nodding or shaking his head, never once slipping up and speaking.

No need to complicate things—just accept Helio’s words as truth.

Ashton, who supposedly cast magic on Helio, was alive and well. If he’d manipulated Helio’s mind to silence him, Helio’s magic affinity shouldn’t be incompatible.

Was the theory wrong? Were they exceptions? But……

Reyes, who had been biting his knuckles in thought, suddenly opened his eyes wide.

“Wait.”

A person who, like Helio, fears Sabina’s heart being taken, and possesses the same magic.

Come to think of it, Helio wondered if he could break the seal, because Ashton had said, ‘You can break the seal.’

Reyes, like Sabina, recalled the previous timeline.

On the day of execution in the previous timeline, Reyes encountered Helio in the hallway. Helio was nervous around Reyes, who was Sabina’s lover and a royal. The boy’s slight jealousy only made Reyes more intimidating.

Helio, nervous, dropped his book. Reyes absentmindedly picked it up and handed it back, wanting to assert dominance by showing kindness. Hearing thanks from someone who disliked him was strangely satisfying.

Helio reluctantly said, “Thank you,” and took the book. Their fingers brushed slightly.

The boy seemed to want to say something, but then dropped his head and walked down the hall. Reyes watched Helio turn the corner toward his room, then entered Sabina’s bedroom.

It was when he, acting as a loving partner, drew his knife.

Sabina’s scream rang out sharply.

「Sabina!」

But the boy, who seemed to have disappeared, soon burst into Sabina’s room. Reyes, sweating and frantically rummaging through Sabina’s insides, grew irritated.

Sabina seemed to have lost consciousness long ago from shock. Reyes ignored the boy who’d rushed in and grabbed Sabina’s heart, about to sever the veins and cut it out.

Sabina then began to cast time magic.

The boy attacked Reyes from behind. The dull blade cut the boy’s shoulder and thigh. Helio’s eyes looked wild. In the struggle, Reyes lost hold of Sabina’s heart.

And in the next moment, he found himself at Sabina’s academy graduation party.

Sabina, her eyes full of wariness, immediately ran away, and Reyes gritted his teeth.

“Helio.”

Reyes murmured blankly.

* * *

The next morning, Reyes rushed to Certanon Academy and pressured the administrative staff to call Helio. Since it was a royal request, the staff had no choice but to bring Helio.

Helio didn’t look well. He didn’t seem eager to meet Reyes. The boy asked anxiously,

“What’s wrong? My master will be here soon……”

It was the day Sabina was supposed to come and deliver notes, like during midterms.

For Helio, meeting Sabina was more important than anything, but for Reyes, it was different. Delivering news came first. And if Helio heard it, he might change his mind.

“Just talk here. I’ll speak quickly and leave.”

There was no need for a reception room. The open outdoors sufficed. It was a cold winter, just two weeks before exams, so the academy grounds were quiet. Reyes pulled Helio’s arm and whispered in his ear.

Ashton Bryant is the same person as you.

Naturally, Helio did not understand at first. He was himself, Ashton was Ashton—how could they be the same person?

So Reyes explained further, omitting anything that might make Helio resent him, and even adding malicious distortion.

“You, of all people, is after Sabina D’Vialis’s heart……”

The boy’s face slowly turned pale.

Helio knew he couldn’t trust all of Reyes’s words. But the core of the claim and the evidence were undeniable.

‘That person is me?’

I became like that?

Reyes’s whisper in Helio’s ear no longer sounded clear. Was the one who mocked, tormented, and toyed with him actually another version of himself?

The images Reyes had planted in Helio’s mind and the talk about the time mage’s heart also confused the boy.

If Ashton was really after Sabina’s heart…

How could a person fall so far? Had he forgotten all gratitude for being saved by Sabina?

And yet Sabina… didn’t even know…

Helio’s expression twisted in fierce anger.

‘How dare you…’

How!

Just as Helio opened his mouth to say something to Reyes, Reyes was preparing instructions for Helio, careful not to let his own lies be discovered.

“Helio?”

A thin voice came from behind. Helio stiffly turned around.

Sabina, leaning on an Albatross cane and carrying a black handbag, blinked slowly. She called Helio, but her gaze was fixed on her adversary.

Sabina’s voice trembled.

“You two… were meeting?”

Helio’s heart sank.