IHRS 02

Chapter – 02

“What….”

I didn’t understand.

“You were with me, weren’t you, Your Highness?”

We had even agreed to have tea after the mission was over.

But Asel’s face twisted as if he’d just heard the cruelest words in the world.

“You were spying on me?”

Excuse me?

“It’s my fault. I was careless and didn’t notice that someone was following you.”

Angel bowed deeply in front of Asel. His head hung low in an apologetic gesture.

“No, from what I see, it seems they forced the officers to extract information. That’s not something you could have stopped. There’s no need to blame yourself.”

Then they both turned to look at me, as if in perfect sync.

This felt… exactly like how people treated the arrogant villainess on the first day I woke up as Laura.

The memory of the message I heard before I fainted immediately came to mind:

-Your history will be forgotten.

‘No way.’

“Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

Asel frowned in annoyance but still answered politely.

“Do you think I am someone who secretly stole the empire’s information for the marquis, publicly slandered me, struck someone’s cheek to intimidate them, and excels at sowing discord?”

“Well, look at you being unusually self-aware. Is this a sign the empire is doomed?”

“I wonder.”

Both Asel and Angel looked uneasy at my question.

And there was the sneer implied in “unusually.”

‘Is this real?’

They remembered me as Laura from two years ago.

Luckily, traces of the achievements I had made were still present here.

“I don’t know why I have to do this again, but I didn’t come to rescue the marquis. Because the marquis—”

“Committed suicide, huh.”

What.

“There’s no way a marquis like that would have committed suicide, and he stole the sword of the royal house…”

That sword had been given to me by Asel.

When I expanded state-run projects to fill the treasury and launched aid programs to prevent the famine that had killed so many in the original story,

Asel had said to me:

[I still don’t trust you.]

[But I want to know.]

[I have been blinded by my own stubbornness and prejudice, and never tried to see your true self.]

It was strange. I recognized the sword, but I had completely forgotten that he had given it to me.

“Your Highness, do you remember the treatment centers and almshouses established in the west last year?”

“Of course. Wasn’t it the Macherta Trade Guild?”

Technically, it was a collaboration between the Macherta Guild and me.

“And the abolition of the empire’s collective punishment system?”

“Pell suffered for that.”

“And that was my work.”

“……”

“Don’t you remember what I did for the past two years by your side? Not even a single thing?”

“I do remember nearly two years.”

Asel’s mouth twisted.

“You accepted a bribe from Marquess Maten to enter the central court, humiliated Lady Leona to expel her from high society, and verbally abused artist Kalteon, preventing him from working. Wasn’t that it?”

“What.”

In a sense, the results were correct. True, but…

‘I did receive a bribe from Marquess Maten, but I refused. Leona was expelled because she had harassed the saint first! And Kalteon stopped painting because he was a plagiarist, not entirely because of me!’

I was starting to get a sense of how this curse worked.

‘Achievements remain.’

The traces of the efforts I had made to change the original story were still visible.

‘Just like the marquis didn’t come back to life and the almshouse didn’t disappear.’

The curse only altered how people remembered and perceived me.

The curse made everyone remember me as the villainous Laura.

‘So that’s what it meant when it said history would be forgotten. History is often illuminated differently depending on the observer.’

Just like the saying that history is written by the victors.

But one thing I couldn’t understand:

‘Why is it so quiet?’

Seraphina had the blessing of the goddess Rudina, and no curse could affect her.

‘The Seraphina I know would have stood by my side.’

She wasn’t even present; she made no sign of herself.

Then I realized.

“And Seraphina? She was definitely with us. Where is she?”

The heroine of this story was nowhere to be seen.

“Who’s Seraphina?”

“The only saint of the Church of Rudina.”

“That god who keeps bragging about being the god of life? That church even had a saint?”

“I’m not sure… I don’t really know.”

I couldn’t understand it. Even if my achievements had been erased by the curse, how could she forget the saint too?

‘I have to find her.’

After all, I needed Seraphina to break the curse.

So the moment I got up—

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The sword of the First Prince was aimed at me again.

“You want to detain me until I reveal whether I was in cahoots with the marquis, right? But I’m a little busy right now. Akaphilache!”

-So long!

At that shout, the darkness pooled on the cave floor stretched out.

Since Akaphilache isn’t human, it seems the curse didn’t affect him.

As the shadows cleared, a tall, handsome man appeared. Asel and Angel tensed and aimed their swords.

Akaphilache was competent. He broke Angel’s sword, freed my bonds, and covered me with shadows to move me out of the cave.

But we couldn’t go very far.

-This is as far as my power goes.

Akaphilache left me in a quiet alley where bustling streets and homes intersected.

When I got a proper look at him, his condition was visible. His shoulder was torn, and from it, darkness was leaking instead of blood.

“Th-”

-Don’t be sorry. Better to rescue the contractor and be returned than to let them die.

“……”

-Still, I won’t see you for 100 days.

That’s right. Even if a human would die from such a fatal wound, as a spirit, he could recover if he went through the healing period.

Still, it was bittersweet. Akaphilache, being a spirit, had confided in me about problems that would have been difficult to share with others.

“Ha……”

Luckily, we were close to Seraphina’s temple.

I didn’t know why Seraphina, who had been in the cave, had disappeared, but it was most likely that she was at the temple.

‘Yes, I can break the curse soon. I just need to meet Seraphina. Once I meet Seraphina, everything…’

But that hope shattered the moment I saw her.

“Why… why do you look like that?”

Seraphina stood precariously, using the wand she carried as a saint’s mark to support herself. She looked utterly exhausted.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Laura.”

As soon as our eyes met, moisture filled her azure eyes and ran down her cheeks.

“The curse… I tried to break it for you…”

“……”

“I failed. No, I completely messed it up. I miscalculated the timing…”

Seraphina had tried to turn back time to just before I was cursed.

Then, her plan had been to take the curse upon herself instead of me—because the curse couldn’t affect her.

But she failed, and the consequences erased Seraphina’s own timeline.

That explained why Asel couldn’t remember Seraphina and why he had dismissed Rudina as a false god.

‘Seraphina’s very existence and the traces she left behind had disappeared.’

As evidence, the temple had been neglected and ruined, covered in random graffiti and moss growing between the stones.

Compared to the well-kept and sparkling temple I remembered, it looked pitiful, yet I understood.

Rudina, who had once been dismissed as a false god, had expanded her church and gathered a massive number of believers and donations only after Seraphina appeared.

It seemed even her body had suffered damage; she flickered slightly and seemed on the verge of vanishing.

“Se-raphina?”

“You don’t need to worry. I received the punishment I deserved. I was careless. Time is a power only the gods are allowed.”

A faint joy appeared on her weary expression.

“But at least we found a way to break the curse, right?”

That feeling was right. Whatever method there was, it was likely closely related to Seraphina’s current state.

“Stop it.”

“I’ve already paid in advance. No refunds, so let’s just do it.”

Then she smiled again.

“So, I’d like to ask one last favor, if I may.”

“In this situation, isn’t a request more like an order?”

“That’s true.”

Then light enveloped the area, blinding everything.

Even in that state, Seraphina didn’t stop speaking.

“Fortunately, we’ll meet again. Even if history is forgotten, it will repeat. So, here’s what I want to say.”

…You must raise me.

Her voice was quiet, but the temple was so silent that I could hear her clearly.

When I grasped her meaning, my mouth fell open in shock.

“Ah?”

The moment Seraphina disappeared, the light vanished as well.

I looked down in disbelief at the child before me.

A small child barely reaching my knees.

I had never seen this child before, yet their facial features felt oddly familiar. The final confirmation came as I recalled Seraphina’s words:

[You must raise me.]

“Could it really be… Seraphina?”

The child, who had been looking at the floor, suddenly lifted their head and called out to me.

“Mama!”

“?!”

“Ma!”

What on earth is happening now?