* * *
He’d promised to let me escape safely, only to turn around and change his tune like flipping a coin.
But rather than feeling betrayed, my main thought was—‘What do I do now?’
What happens next?
The Grand Duke is unpredictable, and Ateol is trying to turn a lie into truth.
And me, caught between them… I have no idea what to do.
From the moment I set out to make Ateol emperor, my past life’s memories had already begun to unravel.
Events weren’t happening as I remembered, and even the timing of certain visits had shifted.
By now, I should have been lazing around in bed with nothing special happening.
But instead, Ateol’s coronation—an event that shouldn’t have existed—had taken place.
And now, even Grand Duke Roanes had made an appearance.
The Grand Duke wasn’t supposed to show up until much later.
In fact, the first time I saw his face in my past life was at least a year from now.
But now, his arrival had been pushed forward dramatically, and on top of that, our relationship—previously limited to polite greetings—had taken on a strange new dynamic.
What if the words the Grand Duke spoke at the coronation were meaningless?
No, that couldn’t be.
When a gun is shown in the moonlight, it’s bound to go off.
The way he looked at me, his tone, his words—it was as clear as a gun gleaming under the moon.
The story was no longer following my past life.
My regression had lost all meaning.
Was this why the system existed?
Regression is supposed to be an advantage, allowing me to predict the future.
But if I can’t use that, then maybe the system was meant to compensate for it.
Or maybe… the system only appeared because my past life’s path had already crumbled beyond recognition.
Regression meant nothing.
My past life held no useful lessons for this one anyway.
But this time, there was Siwoo.
And in front of Siwoo’s presence, my past life’s memories were utterly useless.
‘What am I supposed to do?’
That thought came naturally.
More than anything, I just wanted to run away.
If I disappeared, then the truth—that Siwoo was the real Yuri—would come to light on its own.
Meanwhile, I could find some place to hide where no one could kill me.
Because dying… that was the last thing I wanted.
“Haa…”
I pulled my lethargic body up.
I couldn’t keep lying here—I should at least go find Siwoo.
If I raised his favorability, maybe I’d find a way out of this mess.
Would he still be at the banquet hall?
If not, I’d have to check the Fourth Prince’s palace.
I was just thinking that when I reached for the doorknob.
‘Huh…?’
Clack. Clack.
No matter how many times I turned it, the door wouldn’t budge.
‘Ateol…’
That insane bastard.
He’d locked the door from the outside.
Unbelievable.
Did he really think that would stop me from leaving?
I gathered my magic and blasted the door handle.
The door swung open weakly—but at a price.
My gauge had taken a sharp hit.
Damn it.
Right.
The me from my past life would never have been bold enough to break a door and escape.
I’d really lived too timidly.
Of course, it wasn’t my fault.
When I first possessed this body, everything in this world had been unfamiliar.
Regardless of the gauge loss, I stepped forward toward the banquet hall.
“……”
But with every step I took, my gauge dropped with a soft chime.
In the end, I had no choice but to turn back.
A curse slipped from my lips as I tilted my head toward the ceiling, trying to swallow my frustration.
That’s when a system message popped up in front of me, as if mocking me.
[Tip: If Ateol’s favorability increases, your movement restrictions will disappear!]
Ha. Are you kidding me?
I swung my fist at the air where the message hovered before stomping back to the bed, seething.
[Event triggered!]
Today, Ateol officially has a day off. Shall we go find Siwoo together?
“……”
I was fuming.
Earlier, if I even tried to step out of the room, my gauge plummeted.
But now?
Now, they were suddenly throwing me an event to go find Siwoo?
So it wasn’t about me meeting Siwoo—it was about whether I went with Ateol?
Hmph.
Maybe the system was trying to force more interactions between Ateol and Siwoo, nudging them toward something.
…Or was I overthinking it?
If that were the case, it would’ve made more sense when they were living under the same roof. Whatever.
My original goal was to see Siwoo anyway.
With an event like this, there was no reason to refuse.
So after finishing breakfast, I coaxed Ateol into heading to Siwoo with me.
“But… will you be alright?”
“What?”
“The Grand Duke is still at the Fourth Prince’s palace.”
“……”
How did he know I was uncomfortable around the Grand Duke?
I had only planned to see Siwoo, hoping he’d be the only one there.
But for some reason, things naturally unfolded into a face-to-face meeting.
The Grand Duke sat close to Siwoo, exuding a chilling presence.
In the awkward silence, Siwoo seemed unusually chatty—perhaps because his guardian was nearby.
“The lake festival is coming up soon! I’m really looking forward to it—I love swimming.”
“Ah, right.”
On the 13th of Lua’s month, the lake festival would take place.
Only about ten days left.
I’d never paid much attention to it before since I had no role to play in it.
Ateol, on the other hand, would.
During the festival, people bathe in water drawn from the lake, washing their hands and bodies in a ritual.
Traditionally, a newly crowned emperor had to take a public bath for the first time at this festival.
A kind of performance, meant to be witnessed by the people.
I wondered how many would gather to watch this young emperor immerse himself in water.
“Tower Master, when did the lake festival become a tradition? And what about other celebrations or holidays? Someone must have started them, but how did they become so widely accepted?”
“Well, the Imperial Palace and the Magic Tower took the lead in establishing them.”
I answered without thinking—only to realize how strange it sounded.
It was as if I’d personally witnessed the festival’s origins.
Siwoo, having lost his memories, had every reason to ask.
But me?
What was I doing?
Still, every question Siwoo asked seemed to pull an answer from my mouth with surprising ease.
Was I just spouting nonsense without realizing it?
Yet neither Ateol nor the Grand Duke corrected me.
Maybe… it was something I’d read in a book.
Or maybe… it was a memory from the fake magician I had become.
* * *
