“Changing the past…?”

“Just like you peeked into my memories, I peeked into yours too.”

“…”

“If you go back to before you met him and change the past, you can save all your precious people. He’ll die, of course, but he was destined to die anyway, wasn’t he?”

“…”

“How about it? If you go back to the past and change the fate of meeting him, I can help you.”

Elisa whispered in her ear. It was truly tempting words.

The banquet when she was ten years old. If she returned to that day and didn’t meet Cesar, if she didn’t catch his eye, then the people of Flora Village and her mother wouldn’t die. Cesar would die, but she could change her own future.

“…”

“Think carefully. You only get one chance. If you miss this opportunity, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life…”

However, Elisa couldn’t continue her words. Beyond Lesia’s blue eyes that met her gaze directly, she saw an unbreakable resolve.

“I don’t want that.”

“…You’re giving up on your precious people?”

“…Cesar is also precious to me. I don’t want to change the future in that way.”

Was this the right choice? Did she really have confidence that she wouldn’t regret it? She asked herself the question.

The answer didn’t come immediately. It wasn’t even firm. There might come a day when she’d look back on this moment and regret it.

But right now, at this moment, this was Lesia’s choice.

“I have something I absolutely must say to Cesar. I have to tell him.”

Elisa stared at Lesia intently, then suddenly burst into laughter. Lesia watched with blank eyes as she laughed, even holding her stomach. Eventually, she spoke.

“If we had been like you two, would our history have been a little different?”

“…Elisa?”

“Cesar said he was looking for a child of Velius.”

“Yes, yes!”

“He actually came by here just a little while ago.”

“Cesar…!”

Lesia’s eyes widened. From the moment she heard that Cesar had visited this place, Lesia’s heart began to race. A faint smile spread across Lesia’s lips.

‘I can meet him again.’

Cesar, again.

At that moment, Elisa’s voice suddenly interrupted.

“Cesar Velius, that child says he’s going to set right what went wrong.”

“What went wrong? What exactly…”

“The lakeside when you were ten.”

Lesia’s eyes opened wide.

“He says he has something to do by going back to that day.”

“No way…”

Lesia’s pupils shook violently.

“No… Let me meet Cesar.”

Lesia urgently grabbed Elisa. Elisa quietly looked down at Lesia and said.

“I called you here because I have a favor to ask. If you grant my request, I’ll let you meet Cesar.”

“A favor? What is it?”

Lesia looked ready to grant any favor without hesitation. Elisa’s expression, which had been wearing a faint smile, suddenly became sad.

“Please eliminate the Velius curse… the wrongful mistake that Luke and I made.”

“You want me to eliminate the Velius curse…”

Lesia’s momentum diminished slightly. And for good reason – for hundreds of years, successive generations of Velius and the Cruce family had used every method to eliminate the Velius curse. But the Velius curse still remained strong.

To ask her to eliminate such a thing – how exactly?

Then Elisa smiled reassuringly.

“It’s a curse created by the power of Reilat. It can be eliminated by the power of Reilat. However, since it’s a curse that has aged for a long time, eliminating it will cause all of Reilat’s power to be lost.”

Elisa spoke carefully. Only then did Lesia realize what Elisa wanted.

The power of Reilat. She was saying that power, which could shake the world in some ways, would disappear.

What. A smile appeared on Lesia’s lips.

“I want to meet Cesar.”

“Hmm?”

“You can take all of Reilat’s power. Just please let me meet him.”

“Ah.”

Lesia showed unwavering determination without a hint of hesitation. Elisa’s expression became strange as she watched her.

She looked like someone seeing something she missed, and she smiled sadly.

“If I had this kind of decisiveness, at least he wouldn’t have died cursing himself.”

Elisa showed tears for the first time. She approached Lesia and gently stroked her cheek. Eventually, her touch moved down to Lesia’s lips.

At that moment, Lesia felt power draining from within her. Without thinking, Lesia asked.

“After eliminating the curse, what happens to you?”

“I’m also a remnant of Reilat’s power. The Velius curse can only be eliminated by including me.”

“…You’ll disappear.”

“Don’t be sad. I’m finally becoming free.”

Elisa smiled brightly. She removed her hand and spoke with a much more relieved face.

“You’re so lovely that I’ll tell you just one thing. Listen carefully.”

“…”

“Even if you turn back time, Kaian won’t return.”

“What?”

“Kaian completely vanished from your mindscape. No matter how much you turn back time, Kaian won’t return. I was testing you, yes. Please understand that I did it because I was jealous of you who would achieve what I ultimately couldn’t.”

“What do you mean…”

Lesia didn’t have time to ask back. Before she knew it, Elisa had come behind her and pushed her back with a light touch.

At that moment, a cliff appeared in front of Lesia and she fell below it.

“Thank you, Lesia.”

Elisa’s body, waving her hand, turned into white light and soon burst with a pop. Pure white flower petals fell gently like snow.

Lesia instinctively realized that she had shed her form and become the power of Reilat.

‘Elisa…’

Putting aside the bitterness that she would never meet her again, Lesia turned her body and looked down. The ground wasn’t visible. Only endless darkness continued.

But Lesia wasn’t afraid or hesitant.

Cesar, just like you came to Callista looking for me.

“I’ll come looking for you too.”

Eventually, bright light rose from the end of the darkness. Lesia closed her eyes at the mass of light that seemed like it would burn her eyes.

And when she opened her eyes again, she was lying by a nighttime lake.

* * *

“Mmm…”

Her head hurt terribly. Lesia, who got up holding her forehead, tried to assess the situation.

The first thing she saw was clearly the night sky filled with moon and stars, and the next thing she saw were lush trees. And the moment she turned her head, Lesia realized where this was.

“The lake…”

The nighttime lake. The place where, on that day in her childhood, the boy who saved her from trouble at the Velius banquet she attended despite her mother’s opposition had led her to.

The most beautiful place in Lesia’s life.

This wasn’t a fantasy, was it? Lesia crawled to the lakeside. And the moment she lowered her head, she was startled to see her reflection in the water.

“What, what!”

Her snow-white hair and clear blue eyes were still the same. But her cheeks were plump, and her skin was much more vibrant and milky. The blush on both cheeks was as lovely as strawberry milk.

Moreover, the clothes she wore were exactly the dress that Uncle Jordan had given her as an apology. Everything had returned to when she was ten years old.

‘Did Elisa send me here?’

The place where Cesar said he would set right what went wrong was right here?

Lesia instinctively looked around. At that moment, she heard the rustling sound of bushes moving.

Lesia’s head whipped toward that direction. The bushes were lying sideways like something had just passed through them.

“…Cesar.”

Lesia instinctively knew that the person who had passed through there was Cesar. There was no time to think about why Cesar had left her behind and disappeared.

Lesia moved her feet faster than expected. Her quick steps soon turned into a full sprint.

And in the distance, Lesia was finally able to find the back of the person she wanted. A small child with jet-black hair in formal wear.

“Cesar!!”

Lesia picked up even more speed. Had she ever run so desperately in her life?

To the point where her breath was completely blocked in her throat, where sweat dripped like rain without pause, where it felt like the soles of her feet would wear away to nothing. Lesia ran with all her might.

And finally.

“Cesar, you!”

Feeling that Cesar’s steps had quickened, Lesia jumped and tackled his back.

“Ugh!”

Unable to overcome the force of her running momentum, both of them rolled on the ground. However, Lesia wasn’t hurt or dirty at all. It was because Cesar had held her tightly.

After rolling several more times, they finally stopped. Lesia, who had ended up in Cesar’s arms, slightly lifted her head.

Immediately, a voice fell from above her head.

“Lesia, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere! Why so recklessly…!”

Even though he was covered in dirt, he didn’t care about his own appearance and was only worried about Lesia. He looked young like when he was ten, just like Lesia, but really.

“…It’s really Cesar.”

“…”

She wanted to capture every bit of him in her eyes, but tears welled up and his image began to waver. Lesia, who wiped away her tears firmly, raised her hand just like that.

Cesar closed his eyes. Lesia’s fingertips trembled. If she followed her heart, she wanted to hit him and burst out in anger.

Why did he make that choice? Did he think she’d be grateful if he died instead? Did he know what he had done?

She wanted to pour out all that resentment to him without missing a single bit, but…

Lesia’s hand, which had been coming down to strike, wrapped tightly around Cesar’s back. She clung to him.

Cesar opened his closed eyes and looked down at her. Resentment and anger surged up. Fury and guilt accompanied them.

But what came before all those emotions was.

“I love you, Cesar.”

“…!”

“I missed you so much, I felt like I’d die if I didn’t see you right away, so I came all the way here to find you.”

“Lesi…”

Cesar’s eyes opened wide like they might tear. Like he couldn’t believe it, his ruby-like pupils shook violently.

Looking directly at those eyes from right below, Lesia closed her eyes. And she put strength into both hands and pulled him down.