II. Greywoods’ Trumpet Vine Arch

When she regained consciousness, she was in the room she had used during her girlhood.

Bed curtains decorated in low-saturation yet calm green and yellow colors caught her eye at a glance. Ririana slowly drew in a breath and blinked slowly. Her unfocused pupils appeared and disappeared beneath her eyelids several times as her vision gradually brightened.

When she straightened her head that had been tilted slightly to the side, she could see the ceiling painted with angels wishing for a child’s happiness and health.

And the mobile pieces too.

Her face reflected small on the swaying glass pieces. A young and innocent face. It was a mobile that her mother had made for her personally when she was young. That’s why she kept it hanging even after she grew up. But she had taken it with her when she got married. So it hadn’t been here after that.

So she was in the room she had used during her girlhood at the Evergreen mansion, not under the trumpet vine arch at Greywoods.

When was the last time she came here? It was probably when she came to see Father’s last moments at thirty. Her older brother had preserved her room intact for a long time. Until she died. Her older brother had no daughter, so no one coveted this room.

Because they were siblings who got along well.

So it would have been possible.

She slowly moved her head left and right to look around. The evening sun was setting slowly. She could see the glass display case by the window glowing with beautiful colors, dyed by the red sunset. She had taken that with her when she got married too. It should be at the Greywoods mansion……

But it was here now.

She was confused.

Her head was dizzy and her mind was in chaos. Ririana groaned softly and looked around once more. There was no one except herself. That was fortunate. She was given time to organize her thoughts. She took a deep breath and brought both hands together over her chest.

So what was happening now?

Was she dreaming right now?

But for a dream, everything now was too vivid. The sensation of her parched throat, her body heavy as lead, the summer breeze tickling her face, even the jingling sound of the mobile.

Everything was too vivid.

She had heard that people see a panorama of their life before dying. But that was a view of moments they remembered, not of things forgotten or events that never occurred.

So this was definitely not a dream.

Then was all those memories a dream?

But all those events were also too clear, as if she could grasp them in her hands at any moment, to have been a dream. Above all, her daughter. She was so vivid it made her chest ache. The moment that child was born, the moment she first spoke and walked into her arms, her laughing face and crying face. Dozens, hundreds of faces.

All of it was too vivid.

That could never be a dream. It was too clear and delicate for a mere count’s daughter to imagine. Then what was happening now?

Ririana tried moving her fingertips just a little.

Her body was very heavy, but she didn’t feel any pain otherwise. Her slender fingers bent into her palm as she thought and tapped her palm. It meant her physical condition wasn’t too bad. She could probably sit up like this.

She would have light dizziness and shortness of breath, but it would be okay.

When she turned her head slightly, she could see her thin, light brown hair scattered messily on the pillow. Gasping, short breaths escaped through her slightly parted lips.

What had happened?

Like in fairy tales she had read long ago in childhood, had she traveled back in time? But that was just a fairy tale. No such magic existed in the world.

Magic wasn’t like that.

The few precious beings called mages were divided into four attributes: water, wind, fire, and earth. They were born with attribute stones like gems somewhere on their bodies and used them to handle nature itself. On a large scale, they caused or restored disasters. On a small scale, they just controlled nature itself.

That was all.

They weren’t omnipotent like in fairy tales.

Sometimes non-attribute mages were born instead of the four attributes, but they didn’t handle time either. They just handled slightly different and unique magic. What she knew was light magic that lit street lamps or chandeliers used in noble houses, and identification magic that determined the gender of unborn children.

And among non-attribute mages, there were sometimes people who never figured out what their magic handled in their lifetime. There were also those whose magic was so precious that it wasn’t revealed to ordinary people. Her mother had been like that.

That was the magic she knew. Among them, there was no magic that handled time.

Then what was it?

Was it God’s arrangement?

But that was also impossible. She wasn’t even a devout believer to begin with. Her family was the same. Father and Mother always prayed to God about their family, but they weren’t devout. She and her older brother were people who didn’t even pray at all. Her husband was the same.

So God wouldn’t turn back time for her.

Above all, she hadn’t died with particular regrets. She had always lived satisfied with her life. She thought she had lived a fulfilling life.

Then perhaps……

Had she seen the future?

That seemed somewhat reasonable. Weren’t there sometimes such people? But most of those people were either those who did special things recorded in history or were frauds. She was born a weak count’s daughter and became a marquis’s wife. But she had never held power enough to change history.

Above all, she thought such things were lies to add mystique.

She couldn’t organize her thoughts.

She was always quick to decide and organize everything quickly, which was her strength…… People with weak bodies didn’t have much time. So she always had to quickly grasp, organize, and decide on situations. Otherwise, she would miss many things and make those around her suffer. So she was used to such things.

Even now.

She knew well that she should get up now and pull the bell cord to call Serina. If she didn’t eat something, she would lose consciousness again. But even so, her head was so dizzy that her body wouldn’t move well.

Why had this happened?

She groaned and twisted her body.

“……My verdant Lobelia.”

Her hoarse voice was terrible. What would happen to her beloved daughter? Could she meet that child again, her most precious one whom she loved and cherished more than anyone else in the world?

She didn’t know.

She needed certainty. Certainty that she could meet that child again. Because without that child, she felt like she couldn’t even breathe properly and would die immediately.

She missed Lobelia. Her beloved little baby.

But……

Her thoughts scattered. Her head was all foggy and dazed.

First, she had to eat something. Otherwise, she would collapse again. Then she couldn’t think or decide anything. She panted and reached out her hand. The bell cord made of intertwined green and yellow caught her hand. A breath so thin it seemed ready to break flowed out of her mouth.

The bell cord was pulled as if sliding.

And soon, noisy sounds could be heard from afar. She did her best not to lose consciousness again. It didn’t take long for the door to open. The first to rush in through the wide-open dark green door was Father. Next was Serina with a trolley, and her older brother and Lian followed behind.

However, unlike the others who poured into the room, Lian just stood quietly at the doorway without entering.

“Miss!”

“Riri, have you regained consciousness? Is there anywhere that hurts? Nothing that won’t move properly, nothing strange?”

“Are you okay, Riri?”

Even amid the flood of frantic words, Serina skillfully supported her to sit up leaning against the pillow and brought a lukewarm water glass to her lips. With delicate touches like feeding water to a baby bird, she helped her swallow very little at a time. Father took her hand and knelt down beside the bed. Her older brother stood at the foot of the bed looking at her.

Lian was still standing at the doorway without entering the room, with his head bowed.

His expression wasn’t clearly visible.

“……I’m, I’m okay.”

Her voice was terrible. Still, Father seemed relieved by the fact that she had spoken. Father quietly offered a prayer to God. Her older brother took a deep breath, and Serina carefully tended to her while putting a spoonful of honey mixed in lukewarm water into her mouth.

She had to eat something, but knowing she would have difficulty swallowing anything, Serina had prepared honey lightly mixed in water.

Serina was always like this in moments like these.

Ririana drank a little more water and gestured to Serina to call Lian over. Lian, who had been standing at the doorway, flinched and stiffened his body, then carefully approached her and knelt down like Father.

“Yes, Ririana.”

It was a familiar nickname. She had been called that for fourteen years. From the summer of nineteen to the summer of thirty-three. Ririana closed her mouth for a moment, then opened it again.

“I’m sorry for suddenly collapsing.”

“Not at all. How is your body?”

“I’m okay.”