When Lynen returned from the ancestors’ era, he seemed to have regained consciousness before me.

So while preparing for his half-brother Raymon’s funeral, he grasped the situation.

“Even then, I didn’t have Lumen’s heart. I felt some lingering sense that something had been there, though.”

And apparently the heart wasn’t at the Black Forest seal site that the Ortega family had been guarding either.

That meant Lumen’s heart had been destroyed inside Lynen.

The question was when exactly it was destroyed.

That was the part I hadn’t figured out.

“The Lumen’s heart you had was your condensed death, right? You know that much?”

“Of course.”

I used it as a bomb to destroy Lumen’s heart inside Lynen precisely because I thought of it as death itself.

“But just absorbing the heart felt risky, so I transmitted my mana along with it. I needed a detonator.”

Lumen’s heart had stayed docile inside my body.

So for it to function as a bomb, it needed stimulation. I used my massive mana as the detonator.

“But I didn’t feel like I succeeded in destroying it…”

“Right. The heart wasn’t destroyed at that moment. One more condition was needed.”

“What condition?”

“When the saint separated Lumen’s heart from you, you said it. That you still felt a connection.”

“Ah.”

I did feel that strange sensation. I forgot about it quickly because my suddenly returned mana grabbed all my attention.

“A remaining connection means Lumen’s heart’s activation conditions were still tied to you.”

The condition for Lumen’s heart to activate.

My death.

And my death happened at similar times, with slight variations. It was the future Porsche had fixed.

“Right, that exact moment had to come. Even the current you passed the point when you should have met your death. Lumen’s heart reacted then, and the power tangled with your mana mixed together and destroyed the other heart too, it seems.”

Just my guess, Lynen added.

“I asked the retainers, and apparently I fell seriously ill around that time. They said I nearly died.”

An event that hadn’t existed in Lynen’s original memory had appeared.

Then was this the future where I didn’t have Lumen’s heart… where it was hidden in Lynen’s body?

I was dumbfounded.

In the first place, I’d decided to just crack Lumen’s heart rather than destroy it in the ancestors’ era because of my death and repeated regressions.

I thought if there was a future without Lumen’s heart, I wouldn’t survive either.

“But that… was possible? Because Lumen’s heart and I were connected?”

Still, though… if we were connected that strongly, I couldn’t have just forgotten about it.

Then a message came to mind.

Right before returning to the present, the message that appeared with the quest completion.

[Reward: Being a Mom]

And the strange sight of it scattering like sand and flowing into Lynen.

“…No way.”

“Calliphe?”

At Lynen’s worried call, I quietly shook my head.

Apparently the one who barely saved their life wasn’t Lynen but me.

At least everyone was safe, so that was fortunate…

“Wait a minute! If reality completely changed, what happened to everyone else? What about Noah? Does he even remember me?”

“Calm down and sit.”

Lynen pressed down on my shoulders as I jumped up.

But I couldn’t calm down easily.

“If there’s no Lumen’s heart, a lot must have changed since I possessed this body?”

“I thought so too and investigated, but there weren’t as many big changes as expected.”

“How is that possible?”

“Even without Lumen’s heart, Prince Blaine was still a black mage with special abilities.”

Ah.

Right. Lumen’s heart was just a medium to make things easier and more covert in Blaine’s grand plan to become the Empire’s parent.

Even without it, Blaine was already a powerful black mage with special abilities, so he had no reason not to execute his plan.

The difference was just that without Lumen’s heart, he left more traces with each action.

“In the end, the prince’s secret schemes were exposed at his talent institute.”

“The one we investigated?”

“Right. We were the ones who exposed it. Try to remember.”

Following his words and tracing my memories, a headache struck one side of my head.

“Ugh.”

At the same time, like forgotten memories surfacing all at once, my ‘current’ memories poured out like a flood.

Like with Blaine, Caiman was still the same.

But I didn’t get helplessly victimized like Calliphe in <Marino>.

I had ‘memories.’

The memories of meeting the ancestors.

It felt like another life painted over the life I’d originally lived.

Knowing a much clearer future, I worked hard to create the relationships and results I knew as much as possible.

Of course it wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t impossible either.

‘Thanks to not having Lumen’s heart, my mana maladaptation disappeared over time and I regained my power.’

That’s how Lynen and I exposed Prince Blaine’s secret laboratory.

“…The prince got pushed to the frontier.”

He was forced out of the imperial palace with only a tiny barren territory. Essentially a fall from grace.

And Lynen’s brother Raymon Ortega had a sickly body that caught an illness and died young.

“Hah…”

After organizing my memories, I let out a long sigh.

‘Thank goodness.’

Everything was in its place.

Then one thing remained.

When I raised my head, Lynen, who’d been waiting silently while looking out the window, met my gaze.

The rain had stopped at some point.

“Time to go see Noah.”

“Right.”

“I already told them to prepare everything so we could start as soon as the rain stopped.”

“Prepare what?”

Lynen approached and extended his hand. When I took his hand and stood up together, he escorted me.

“Preparations to show you a new Ortega family tradition I didn’t even know about.”

“Hm?”

“I think it came about because of you.”

Uh, what did I do?

* * *

In the northern night sky, stars were scattered like powder. Thanks to the bright full moon, the surroundings weren’t eerie but tranquil.

Following Lynen, I arrived at the Black Forest.

The place where Lumen’s heart had been sealed.

But now something else existed there.

“This is…?”

“A monument.”

A tower-shaped monument stood tall. Though it clashed with the surrounding forest, it had a mysterious atmosphere, perhaps because of the ancient years it conveyed.

“It’s also an ancestor’s tomb. The Ortega ancestor who defeated Lumen.”

Lynen whispered so only I could hear.

“The one we met.”

“…!”

There was another reason for erecting this extraordinary monument alone in such an unexpected place.

“You’ve arrived.”

The retainers who’d been waiting greeted us.

Noah stood in the center.

“…!!”

As soon as Noah saw me, his eyes went wide. He fidgeted restlessly, wanting to run to me right away.

Seeing that made my heart ache.

‘Noah definitely remembers me.’

Otherwise that expression full of worry and tears wouldn’t make sense.

‘Really, thank goodness!’

I wanted to run over and hug Noah too, but before I could, the retainers solemnly began the ceremony.

“Then from now on, we will ask the great guardian spirit of Ortega about the qualifications of the one who will bear the family’s glory and honor.”

After Countess Yvonne declared this before the monument, she stepped aside. Noah stepped forward to that spot.

“I am Noel Ortega, son of Raymon Ortega and rightful heir to the next generation. Today at this place, I dare to make one request to our ancestor.”

It was a solemn tone unbefitting a child. He seemed to have practiced countless times beforehand.

“The vast north and the sword that bears that responsibility are still beyond me.”

Beautiful light began flowing from the monument, sparkling.

“Therefore, I wish to yield this position to someone more worthy of protecting the family’s honor.”

Noah turned to look at Lynen.

“Namely my uncle, Lynen Ortega.”

Lynen stood beside Noah.

Together with the retainers standing on both sides, Lynen and Noah bowed their heads.

“We await the great spirit’s response.”

Then the softly flowing light gradually extended its strands and soon beautifully embroidered the night sky.

Golden waves swirled around them once, seemingly examining the descendants.

And finally, it wrapped around both Noah and Lynen before settling on Lynen’s shoulders.

Strands of light draping down like a cloak.

“He has received the spirit’s choice.”

With Countess Yvonne’s trembling voice, the retainers all bowed deeply in unison.

“We greet the new head of House Ortega.”

So this was it.

I smiled slightly while watching the mysterious and solemn scene.

‘I asked for help with Noah and Lynen’s succession issue, but I never imagined it would be resolved this way.’

Did Lord Offensa help?

That’s when it happened.

“Huh?”

The spirit’s light didn’t disappear but extended further, creating a cloak for me too.

“Th-the spirit even recognizes the head’s companion.”

“Such a thing is rare…”

The retainers murmured in surprise.

“Was this part of it too?”

“……”

At my question, Lynen looked quite flustered too. But he soon smiled gently.

“Actually, this works out better.”

He approached and took my hand.

“Now no one will dare interfere with our union.”

True, who would dare defy the sacred ancestor’s will? Even I couldn’t.

“Th-that’s right! Oh.”

When Noah shouted excitedly, the light placed a small cloak on Noah too.

It was a scene that made me laugh naturally.

‘Thank you.’

It was a night when countless starlight shone like it would never go out.