Chapter 17
“Yes. Perhaps because they judged that I, who will be used as the sacrifice, don’t require intense brainwashing, I only enter the recuperation room once a week. But my younger sibling, who is meant to become the successor, is brainwashed there every single day except the day I go in.”
Then I revealed why I had asked her to take Ansharielle—not me—as Osiris’s disciple.
“My sibling can’t think properly right now because of the mental magic. And sometimes, very rarely, they briefly regain their senses. I managed to speak with them during one of those moments, but they didn’t even realize they were being brainwashed.”
“……”
“No matter how many times I tell them we need to escape the marquisate, they won’t understand. That’s why I’m so desperate to save them.”
When I had first transmigrated into this body, I originally planned to rescue Ansharielle later since her life wasn’t in immediate danger and instead focus on escaping myself first.
But after living in the marquis’s estate for some time, I realized that was impossible.
If I escaped first, the marquis—who blindly trusted both the mental magic and Cain’s dark magic—might eventually realize his mistake and tighten the estate’s security.
‘And if that happened, rescuing Ansharielle, whose mind was no longer whole, would become even harder.’
I cautiously added another remark while looking at Ishtar, whose face was filled with shock.
To stir her sympathy.
“To be honest, I wasn’t planning to mention the brainwashing. I thought you wouldn’t believe me.”
In truth, I had always intended to tell her.
‘Because Ishtar absolutely despises magic being used unethically.’
I had deliberately saved it as my final blow, waiting for the moment her emotions wavered.
But even after that decisive strike, she gave no reaction.
‘What’s going on? Did I mess something up? The atmosphere feels strange.’
Even Enrilsian’s gaze had turned odd.
“……Lady Ishtar?”
“Ah, sorry. I was just thinking that rotten people are the same in every era.”
She spoke bluntly.
‘Honestly, at this point it feels like she’s not even trying to hide the fact that she’s from another era.’
Though I completely agreed with her sentiment.
“Anyway, you’re saying you plan to escape to the Magic Tower to get away from the marquisate. Even then, that would only buy you time.”
As expected of the heroine—she was sharp.
From our short conversation alone, she had instantly understood my entire plan.
“That alone is enough for me. I just want to buy time until I become an adult.”
“Haa… I understand how desperate you are. But why me? This is our first meeting today. I want to believe you and help you, but I can’t ignore the possibility that you approached me with some ulterior motive.”
“It’s natural for you to suspect me after a request like this from a stranger. But I have no other options. You are my last hope, Lady Ishtar.”
“Drop the pretty words and explain properly. Why are you asking me instead of someone else?”
Her harsh tone would have frightened an ordinary noble lady.
‘According to the novel, even back when she was the Great Mage, she had a foul mouth. And because most people in the ducal household used swords, nobody ever corrected her.’
To me, who had only read about her in the novel, it actually felt strangely familiar, so I continued without hesitation.
“First, because you’ve already met the Tower Master, just as I mentioned earlier. Even if I wanted to explain my situation and ask him for help, I wouldn’t even be able to meet him.”
The current Tower Master, Osiris, was harder to meet than even the emperor.
The Magic Tower already possessed power comparable to an entire nation, but after the fall of magical civilization, the first-ever 7-circle archmage had become its master, elevating its status even further.
Even the emperor of the empire had to yield to him.
‘Honestly, it’s not that the empire is weak—the current emperor is just incompetent.’
No matter how extraordinary magic was, the military power of the Babylonian Empire, which possessed Sword Masters, was not inferior to the Magic Tower.
If a full-scale war truly broke out, the empire—with its overwhelming numbers—would naturally win.
Though the damage would be catastrophic.
Duke Achellaide knew this, which was why he refused to bow his head to the Magic Tower. However, he also knew that if the greedy emperor learned the truth, he would likely start a war, so he remained silent and merely observed.
Anyway.
Perhaps Ishtar understood just how difficult it was to meet Osiris, because she nodded and gestured for me to continue.
“And secondly, because you’re a mage just like me, Lady Ishtar.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I believed you wouldn’t ignore magic being used for evil purposes. And since we’re both mages, I thought you might feel some kinship and help me.”
“That’s all?”
“Yes.”
Ishtar replied in disbelief.
“You really have no plan at all, do you?”
That hurt.
This entire encounter had been the result of meticulous planning on my part.
“Fine, I understand. But I can’t give you a definite answer. The Tower Master isn’t someone you can meet just because you want to.”
“I can wait. My sibling is still in the marquisate.”
“Then what about you? Isn’t the soul-absorption ritual almost here?”
“Yes. Probably next week.”
“Even if your sibling is smuggled out as the Tower Master’s disciple, how exactly are you planning to escape the marquisate when your life is in immediate danger?”
“Well…”
I hesitated briefly, my mind spinning rapidly in an instant.
‘There are some truths I’ll need to hide.’
For example, Lira’s ability.
After making my decision, I spoke calmly.
“Whenever I enter the recuperation room, I fall asleep against my will, and while unconscious, I’m apparently brainwashed through mental magic. But after contracting with my familiar, I became able to stay conscious inside that room.”
“How?”
“The dark mage said it was because contracting with a familiar strengthened my sense of self.”
I deliberately omitted any mention of the purple candle and Lira’s ability that neutralized it.
“I suppose that makes sense. Mental magic becomes less effective the stronger the target’s mental strength is.”
I worried she might doubt my explanation, but fortunately she seemed convinced.
“So next week, on the day I’m sent into the recuperation room, I plan to secretly escape the estate.”
In truth, my escape plan was extremely simple.
On the day I entered the recuperation room next week, I would pretend to be brainwashed as usual. Then, once Cain left, I would open the iron door myself and walk out.
No one monitored me while I was inside the room, so even if I escaped quietly, nobody would come looking until the next morning.
I had already identified the back entrance used by the servants.
Cast a stealth spell, wait near the back gate, and slip out the moment someone opened it.
Success.
‘Escaping itself is easy. The important part of this plan is convincing Osiris before the dark ritual takes place—convincing him to take Ansharielle into the Magic Tower and allow me to stay there as well.’
In this world, the only person capable of moving Osiris was Ishtar.
‘In the original story, he even cried after learning that Ishtar had reincarnated.’
Osiris, who had wandered emptily for a thousand years after her death, was overjoyed upon meeting her again.
Even though he was over 3,000 years old, he was so painfully dense that he still hadn’t realized he loved her.
Right now, Osiris was desperate to impress Ishtar, so he would undoubtedly grant any request she made.
That was precisely why I had been so desperate to meet her.
Anyway, after I summarized my plan, Ishtar looked utterly dumbfounded.
“This plan is way too sloppy. Can that really work? If that’s all it takes, then the marquisate’s security sounds seriously flawed…”
“The knights train during the day, and ordinary servants won’t notice me because of the stealth magic. Normally, the head butler—the dark mage—keeps watch over me. Except on the days I’m locked in the recuperation room.”
Without meaning to, I ended up sounding like I was defending the marquisate, but even so, Ishtar still looked unconvinced.
“You’re supposed to be the daughter of a marquis. Don’t the servants think it’s strange that you don’t even have bodyguards?”
“They completely believe that my sibling and I suffer from a rare illness. That’s why they avoid us entirely.”
“And the marquis and the dark mage are so obsessed with mental magic that they’re carelessly assuming you can’t move at all inside the brainwashing room?”
“That’s correct.”
Ishtar crossed her arms and let out a deep sigh, falling silent as though lost in thought.
‘Is she still hesitating?’
I could roughly guess what she was struggling with when her violet eyes, which had been staring into the distance, turned back toward me.
“One last question. How do you know all of this?”
“Pardon?”
“You said you were brainwashed by mental magic before contracting with your familiar. Then how did you realize the so-called rare illness was a lie? And how are you the only one who knows the head butler is actually a dark mage?”
It was a sharp question.
‘But not an unexpected one.’
In my previous life, I had survived personal statements and pressure interviews to break through an absurdly narrow job market.
That was why I had already anticipated questions like this before meeting Ishtar, and I had prepared answers in advance.
“I spent more time training in magic, so the brainwashing on me wasn’t as deep. Because of that, I vaguely sensed that something was wrong.”
As I attended monthly imperial tea parties and spoke with children my age, I gradually realized my family was different from the others. Then, after forming my first circle and contracting with my familiar—allowing me to remain conscious even inside the recuperation room—I discovered that the room itself was hiding some kind of secret.
