“I won’t decline. Is that alright?”

“That’s why I offered. And if your injury starts hurting again, please tell me right away.”

“I will. Thank you for your concern.”

Maintaining a refined atmosphere in their conversation, they soon arrived at the location where the rift had appeared. The area was even more of a mess than before, as the previous monster had thrashed the surrounding bushes with its large, long body. Though slightly worried, fortunately there seemed to be no signs of monsters appearing since then.

Aris picked up the magical tool that had fallen to the ground. It was the device she had dropped when the monster suddenly appeared while she was trying to analyze the changes in soil.

“Would you both please step back?”

Aris warned the two and spread a magic circle in her palm. Then, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she cast a protective spell over the wide area. She thought her failure to respond when the monster appeared last time was because she had let her guard down too much.

Next, Aris cast another high-intensity protection spell on herself. The body of the monster that came through the rift was so unusual that it would be difficult to block its attacks without special power. That’s why in her past life, Aris had been easily pierced through her stomach despite wearing a large iron armor.

Remembering that time, Aris turned and approached the two people standing a few steps away. Though their attire was somewhat suitable for combat, it was different from the armor worn on the battlefield.

“I’d like to cast protection spells on you both just in case. Excuse me, Sir Mishuan.”

Aris gently placed her hand on Mishuan’s chest and used magic. Mishuan briefly expressed amazement but then looked up somewhere and his expression hardened. Seeing Mishuan’s suddenly pale face, Aris quickly asked.

“Is the magic making you uncomfortable? Since it’s a high-intensity spell, some people might find it hard to bear.”

“Ah, no… Thank you for your consideration, Doctor.”

“I’m glad if there’s no problem. Then, Your Highness…”

Aris looked at Kalaian who was standing a bit apart. He approached in one stride as if he had been waiting for her call. Aris stared at Kalaian, who had a strangely expectant look in his eyes, then smiled softly.

“You can probably cast protection spells like this easily by yourself. I was quite impressed by how skilled you were with magic when you treated me. Just in case though, please cast the spell soon.”

She then turned around without hesitation and returned to her position. Kalaian watched her small retreating figure with a loss for words. A sound of someone trying to hold back laughter was heard beside him.

“Pfft… That was too… heh, obvious, wasn’t it? That expectant look in your eyes…”

“…Don’t make me angry.”

“No, but Your Highness’s expression just now. The way it suddenly wilted after briefly showing hope, like a withering cabbage leaf, heh…!”

Kalaian let out a hollow laugh and looked at Mishuan. His gaze was beyond threatening — it was murderous. Mishuan covered his mouth saying he wouldn’t laugh, but his shoulders kept shaking as he tried to suppress his laughter.

Kalaian opened his mouth as if about to curse, then stopped and threatened in a low voice.

“I’m letting you off only because Aristena is nearby.”

“I just felt killing intent — should I scream?”

“If you make me angry one more time…”

Just then, cutting off Kalaian’s whisper, Aristena’s short scream was heard. Their faces changed instantly at the sound, and they stopped their bickering to rush to where she was.

“Doctor, are you alright?!”

“What happened?!”

They shouted almost simultaneously as they reached Aris’s side and checked her condition. But aside from looking slightly unwell, Aris seemed fine.

Kalaian grabbed Aris’s arm, who seemed somewhat dazed.

“Miss Aristena, did something happen?”

“Ah, no… it’s nothing. But, you didn’t hear any sounds, did you?”

“Sounds? What kind of sounds are you talking about?”

“…Ah, I must have heard wrong. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

When Aris smiled apologetically, Kalaian examined her face once more before stepping back.

Aris observed their reactions, confirming they hadn’t heard anything, and fell into serious thought.

‘So it really is only me who can hear it…’

The voice spoke to her again. Just as she was about to touch the ground near the rift, the voice stopped her. Telling her not to. Startled, Aris let out a short scream.

Her heart was already pounding heavily, tense about what might jump out next.

Aris checked the two people who had stepped back again, then this time asked in an almost whisper:

“Who are you…?”

In response to Aris’s question, a sudden laughter was heard. Though it should have been eerie coming from a formless voice, the sound felt infinitely clear and pure, even bringing peace to her mind.

— How interesting that you’re speaking to me after 5 years.

The resonant voice felt as if it was speaking down to Aris from the heavens.

She was amazed, having never expected to actually be able to communicate with this voice. Somehow, she felt it might have research value, and her academic curiosity began to rise.

— I am a being born from the rift in time, and humans call me the ‘Sword of Time’. I’m also that piece of scrap metal you once possessed.

The Sword of Time?

Aris turned pale at hearing the familiar name.

That sword was the one that Aris had taken in her past life, breaking the unwritten rule that ‘only direct imperial family members could handle it,’ and had given to Kalaian.

Was she being punished for touching a forbidden sword?

Aris became frightened in advance. The voice responded to that.

— No, that’s not it. Though I can’t tell you the details. If I intervene too much, it might cause errors in the timeline.

— For now, I’ll tell you just this one thing. If you find something here, don’t waste effort — take it and examine it carefully. And when the time comes, you must throw it away.

Aris slowly pondered his words and asked when this ‘time’ would be. But there was no answer.

Find something, examine it, and throw it away…

First, she needed to find something.

Aris thought seriously before starting to move.

‘Though it’s a bit scary… I was planning to check what’s down there from the start anyway. Let’s do it quickly. It’s okay, Aristena.’

Having steeled herself, she spread a large detection spell toward the underground. A slowly rotating golden magic circle enveloped the area where the rift had been and descended into the ground.

At the same time, she could see what was below. Stones of various sizes buried in the ground and the corpses of insects killed by the rift’s influence…

The magic circle continued to descend underground. Until Aris found something and stopped the magic.

After watching for a while, Aris suddenly stopped the magic. With a meaningful expression, she called to the people behind her.

“Could you both come here?”

“Did you find something?”

Aris nodded and looked at where the magic circle had descended. As the magic circle was still stopped in that position, both of them could also clearly see the substances underground.

Following her gaze downward, they soon wore suspicious expressions.

Mishuan spoke first.

“What is that? It looks like a small bead…”

“We’ll need to take it out to know for sure. Could you protect me just in case?”

Aris asked while rummaging through her bag without hesitation. Her actions showed no trace of hesitation as she faced something unknown. Her feeling of responsibility and desire to achieve results hadn’t changed.

Aris was now filled with excitement at the possibility of finally finding answers. Kalaian, reading the passionate look in her eyes, stood beside her.

“I’ll take responsibility for protecting you, so don’t worry.”

At his reassuring words, Aris looked at Kalaian. Her lively forest-green eyes took him in completely, then broke into a warm smile.

“Yes. Thank you, Your Highness.”

Kalaian caught his breath at that smile. Aris’s gaze had already moved on. Yet still, a corner of his heart continued to race, as if tracing that smile.

Soon, he found himself smiling softly without realizing it. She was someone who could smile so radiantly. Kalaian’s heart felt like it was melting warmly.

He wanted to see more.

A little more. He wanted to see Aristena’s bright smile for a long time.

Mishuan approached his side and spoke quietly.

“Have you fallen for her?”

“Please just shut your mouth.”

By now, Aris was using a long rod-shaped magical tool to extract the bead from underground. The tool passed through other objects and precisely grabbed the bead, pulling it up.

As soon as the bead was extracted, Aris surrounded it with layers of protective magic like a barrier. Then she lifted it with one hand and examined it slowly.

“This is…”

The bead’s color resembled something familiar. As she looked at it, Aris soon turned pale.

“You two, can you recognize this color…?”

Aris turned and showed the bead to them. Shock spread across Mishuan and Kalaian’s faces one after another.

A strange color where red and black alternately bloomed irregularly, mixed, and faded again.

Mishuan muttered with a stiff expression.

“Isn’t that… the rift?”

Aris nodded.

“Yes. This is either remnants of the rift… or the form of a closed rift that didn’t properly disappear and remained condensed underground.”