‘What is this?’

Tantania thought to herself, standing motionless. It was a strange dream.

A pure white space. In front of her, thin white wall-like structures surrounded her on all sides, each densely covered with text.

Reading a bit, it seemed like a popular novel…… Tantania, who preferred poetry collections to novels, thought this was quite a bizarre dream.

She wished she would wake up soon. Just as she was thinking this, suddenly a flash of light burst forth before her.

It happened in an instant. Those letters aggressively rushed toward her.

As they penetrated her mind, the surroundings distorted and the vision began.

〈……Cecilia was loved by everyone. Every time her lovely pink hair swayed, the cheeks of the men watching her turned red as well……〉

Letters rapidly passed before her eyes. And a woman moving according to the description in those letters.

Tantania was bound to the vision, unable to move even a fingertip by her own will.

〈”Can we be together in the Olders Empire? No, such a thing would never be permitted.”〉

With the woman’s sorrowful voice, the scene changed instantly.

A woman fleeing. And a man chasing after her.

〈……Cecilia, who had escaped from the Grand Duke’s obsession, went to find the Crown Prince. And……〉

A man embracing a collapsed woman against a backdrop of numerous corpses.

Like the night wind brushing against the cheeks of the fallen bodies, the pronouncement of doom fell coldly.

〈”If I cannot have you, I will gladly destroy everything. Cecilia, everything except you. This world and even myself.”〉

Tantania awoke from her dream with the man’s desperate baritone voice.

The final fragment of the dream showed a world where even despair and screams had sunk into death.

“Haa, haa……”

On this night of nightmares, the room was filled with bluish darkness. Since the sun had set when she went to bed, it meant the next day had not yet dawned.

After catching her breath, Tantania calmly turned to sit on the edge of the bed and drank water from the nightstand. Then she began to carefully search through her mind.

“……What was that?”

The contents of a story she had clearly never read before were densely packed in her mind.

It was strange enough that those scenes and sentences remained in her memory in such detail, but the content was even more bizarre.

“……The world is destroyed? The Grand Duke suddenly summoned monsters and destroyed the Empire? And everyone dies like that?”

Each scene from the dream was vividly depicted, making Tantania shudder.

It was a strange dream, but too ominous a vision to simply dismiss as mere oddity.

Tantania rubbed away the goosebumps on her arms and tilted her head.

“Was I always this imaginative?”

But no matter how much she pondered, this wasn’t the kind of content she would come up with.

The story was set in the Empire thirteen years in the future. The protagonist, ‘Cecilia,’ met various men and fell in love with one of them.

What was peculiar was that when her love with one man ended, the story would start again from the beginning. No, it was impossible to tell which story was the original, as the narrative branched out into dozens of different paths.

The scenes showing Cecilia achieving one love varied with each man, but the phrase at the conclusion was always the same.

[ Cecilia failed to achieve true love.

The Olders Empire was destroyed by the demonic beast raised by the Grand Duke. ]

Indeed. There must have been at least dozens of branches to the story, but all those numerous endings spoke of the Empire’s destruction.

Then came someone’s outpouring of anguish. The scene of a strange room briefly flashed by, and the story began again. Showing Cecilia making different choices.

And all those choices and endings were now inside Tantania’s head.

If only this hadn’t suddenly poured into her mind, it might have been quite an interesting story, but……

“For now, let’s sleep.”

Tantania, who had been frowning deeply, smoothed her expression with a deep breath and lay back down on the bed.

After all, all worries tend to dissipate after a good night’s sleep. It seemed best to sleep first and then judge whether this was something worth worrying about when she woke up.

Tantania tried to regain her composure as she went to bed. Fortunately, her dreams this time were peaceful.

The gentle and cozy cradle of night embraced Tantania, and only the sound of steady breathing filled the Count’s bedroom.

※※※

“Mmm……”

Tantania woke up, squinting slightly at the sunlight filtering through the muslin curtains.

It was a day just like any other. She wore an elegant bell dress even inside the house, without a corset.

Tap.

As Tantania set down her utensil, servants naturally approached to clear the table. A maid came up to her as she wiped her mouth with a napkin.

“Count, the child who was at the mansion’s main gate yesterday has regained consciousness. As you instructed, we’ve bathed and fed them, but they wish to pay their respects before leaving. What should we do?”

The maid, who had been with Tantania for a long time, conveyed only the necessary information without needing to be asked twice.

Only then remembering her casual act of kindness from the day before, Tantania leaned back against the chair and nodded.

“Paying respects, is it? Very well. I’m not busy today, so bring them in.”

Upon Tantania’s approval, the maid bowed slightly and withdrew.

Shortly after, Tantania sat at a table she had instructed the servants to prepare with sweet pastries and milk that a child might enjoy, waiting to receive them.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

The same maid from before, Marilyn, soon entered the reception room with the child.

Tantania, who had been looking indifferently at the glass of milk placed before her, turned her head toward the door.

As Marilyn gently pushed the child’s back, they walked hesitantly toward Tantania and bowed deeply, delivering what was clearly a hastily memorized greeting.

“I, I am in the presence of Count Magellan. Um… that is to say, it’s an honor? I thank you for your grace, no, I am deeply grateful.”

Tantania stared at the child quite intently, unlike her usual self.

Normally, she wouldn’t take such interest in someone she’d only known for a day, but…… There was something strangely captivating about this child.

“I’m Cecilia. Thanks to you, I’ve had a full stomach for the first time in ages. Thank you, Count.”

After glancing around nervously, the child finally raised their head and spoke clearly, as if that was their true nature. Tantania’s gaze was fixed on the child’s eyes.

Light pink hair like delicate spring petals fluttering softly. And above them, light green eyes that captured the sparkling sunlight.

At that moment, something clicked repeatedly in Tantania’s mind.

〈”No one has ever stirred me like this. Who are you? Who are you to make me……”〉

“……What is this?”

“Pardon?”

Suddenly, last night’s story unfolded densely in Tantania’s mind.

As if someone were forcibly opening the pages of the story before her eyes, it clearly revealed its contents to her.

“Your name is Cecilia, you say?”

As a mere dream invaded reality, Tantania’s face creased deeply. Seeing this, the child responded nervously, clearly trying to read the situation.

“Yes…… I’ve heard that noble people have family names, but I’m just Cecilia. Everyone around me calls me that.”

〈”I’m Cecilia. That’s all there is.”〉

Ah, Tantania recognized who this child was.

Cecilia. The woman known only by that name, without a family name, was the protagonist of the story that had entered her mind.

A story that resembled despair more than a conventional love story.

A story where the female protagonist receives love from many men, but if she doesn’t end up with the right person, the Empire inevitably falls.

As Tantania slightly furrowed her brow, the child fidgeted nervously, wringing their hands together.

“Sigh……”

Tantania considered the situation as she sorted through the momentary confusion.

Looking carefully at the child’s face, it was haggard beyond their years, but with proper feeding and some weight gain, those round, large eyes would make them a pretty child.

“Cecilia.”

“Yes!”

Tantania chuckled at the child’s prompt response to the name she had murmured thoughtlessly.

Yes. The best way to eliminate worry was to remove its cause.

Tantania beckoned to Marilyn while addressing the child.

“Come sit across from me. These are prepared for you, so please enjoy them.”

“May I really eat these?”

“Yes. You may eat all of it.”

Watching the child who pretended to be cautious but said whatever they wanted, Tantania realized the child had quite a bold personality.

Well, in the story too, wasn’t she the one who acted so confidently toward men of higher status than herself?

Noticing that her thoughts were unconsciously flowing toward the story in her mind, she let out a small sigh.

It was a waste of time to worry about something beyond her control. Tantania decided to dismiss this as a mystical phenomenon and let it go.

“Marilyn, have you learned anything about this child?”

“Yes. She’s one of the children cared for at the Henz Cathedral on the hill near the outskirts of Ruail village.”

“Henz Cathedral? Child, is this correct?”

“Ah! Yesh!” (Yes!)

In that brief moment, Cecilia had stuffed so many pastries into her mouth that both her cheeks were bulging.

She answered with a muffled pronunciation and hurriedly picked up the milk, trying to swallow what was in her mouth.

“Hmm…… Parents?”

“I understand that Henz Cathedral only cares for children without guardians.”

“Yes, I’m an orphan.”

Cecilia answered in a clear voice while swinging her little feet slightly. She seemed to have relaxed a bit.