Chapter 76
After one more sweep to clear out the monsters, we finally settled down and set up camp.
Just before dinner, Dana walked in, her face twisted with irritation.
“Looks like your plan is going splendidly.”
“……Yes. He must be thinking I’m completely smitten with him.”
Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen Dana all day—so she must have been with the Second Prince.
“And about that knight in the robe you mentioned.”
“Did you see his face or hear his voice?”
“I saw him enter just before I left the Second Prince’s tent. What’s strange is, I never once saw him before that.”
I muttered without thinking.
“Could it have been magic?”
Everyone in the tent turned their eyes on me at once.
I blinked at Wished.
“……What? Did I say something wrong?”
Magic does exist in this world.
Of course, it’s not commonly used, nor something just anyone can access. The Mage Tower is an isolated, secretive, and independent group.
Even the Imperial Family only has two court magicians.
The Mage Tower itself holds one Grand Magus and his five disciples. And for the past twenty years, not a single new magician has appeared.
Though difficult, simple spells are sometimes inscribed on scrolls and traded in secret.
So while magic is indeed rare, what I had said wasn’t completely absurd.
“No, you didn’t say anything wrong.”
“Lady Luna is right. Among magic, there must be one that can erase or blur one’s presence, like becoming invisible.”
Kaiman’s voice grew louder as if enlightenment was dawning on him.
His face, which had looked troubled for days, brightened at last.
“I’ll try contacting Lord Lowen. The information we can gather here is too limited and will take too long. Lord Wished, at this pace, how long do you think it will take to reach the center of the Holy Land?”
“At today’s speed, three days. At our previous speed, ten.”
Wished really had been running wild today like an untamed colt.
“Since it’s magic, it may take some time. Could you delay things by about a week?”
“I’ll try to pace it out. Oh, Dana—while passing information to them, make sure to get intel on the Second Prince too.”
“How much should I leak?”
“The Second Prince is stupid enough to underestimate us, so it’s fine to give away everything we know.”
Wished clearly thought of the Second Prince as nothing more than a passing ant.
After Dana left, Kaiman approached Wished and handed him a note.
“This came from Lord Lowen.”
Peeking at the note from the side, my eyes widened.
“Count Condra has returned to his territory.”
Condra Boa.
Wished’s uncle—and another contender for the ducal seat.
Knowing full well that Condra was openly aiming for his position, Wished simply smirked and crumpled the note.
“Looks like they’re having fun while I’m away.”
Ah……
I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed inwardly.
Why do they keep poking at a snake that’s lying still? Why?!
Let me explain Condra Boa a little more deeply. For starters, he’s Wished’s great-uncle.
But that’s just the family register story—the real secret is elsewhere.
Wished’s great-grandparents originally planned to marry off their own children to one another, so the bloodline would continue pure.
But between those cousins, children didn’t come easily. Married as early as sixteen, they only managed to have their first child fifteen years later.
It was a girl.
Three years later, the woman finally became pregnant again, but after suffering two miscarriages, her body could no longer carry a child safely.
Growing desperate, the Duke secretly fathered a child outside. Fortunately, the second—and final—child she bore was a son.
Later, the Duke learned that the illegitimate child he had outside was a girl. She was considered a failure, unable to properly inherit the bloodline of the Black Mamba. But the Duke confessed everything to his wife and entered her into the family register.
However, that illegitimate child was immediately stripped of succession rights and ignored by everyone.
But when Wished’s grandparents died and the great-grandparents were gone, that illegitimate daughter’s son—Condra Boa—stepped out of the shadows at last.
Even though his mother’s birth was dubious and his right to succession revoked, the elders welcomed him.
Perhaps to them, it was enough just to have someone who could keep Wished in check.
Though he had no succession rights, if he gained approval from the Emperor and the Four Dukes, he could reclaim them.
Of course, Wished himself was among those Four Dukes.
In other words, unless Wished went insane, Condra Boa could never regain his claim to the title.
If my memory is correct, in the original story, Condra Boa tried to curry favor with Wished, only to eventually defect to Reynard.
But that didn’t last long, and in the end, unable to abandon his greed, he died at Reynard’s hand.
Wished seems to know all this already.
I could no longer deny it.
It’s different from the original.
Not entirely different, no.
The main flow is similar, but the details diverge.
Wished knows things he didn’t in the original. Swan’s actions, Reynard’s movements—they’re all a little different.
Are these differences just the limits of narration… or is this truly another world?
If it is another world—
Then what exactly am I?
Facing the question I had desperately tried to avoid, my breath caught in my throat.
Unconsciously, I rubbed my wrist.
Back when I was a chinchilla, the necklace I wore had turned into a bracelet. I stroked the small jewel-studded band and tried to steady my breathing.
The wind blew, brushing hair into my face.
I’d gotten used to this unusual hair color by now.
It was harder to find black hair in this place. That’s why, whenever I saw it, I couldn’t help but stare.
When the original story ends, what will happen to me?
If it wraps up with, “the heroine and the hero lived happily ever after,” will I return?
Back to my world?
The cramped studio apartment, the suffocatingly busy life.
I inhaled sharply.
“……Do I not want to go back?”
Am I happier here?
A hollow laugh escaped me before I knew it.
Wished is the man destined to kill me, and yet here I was, feeling happiness at his side.
I finally understood why I was growing indifferent to death despite being so close to him.
I’d been expecting it.
That dying would send me back.
Just like in other possession novels, where the protagonist longs for their old life, I unconsciously thought I should feel the same.
But even if I returned, there’d be no family, no friends to welcome me—only student debt.
“……Luna.”
A voice cut through the quiet rustling of the wind. I turned my head.
Wished was approaching.
“You didn’t come back, even after a while.”
“The tent’s right next door anyway.”
Though I’d wandered into the woods alone, I stayed on a path where people often passed, clearly visible from the camp.
I took Wished’s hand and stood up.
Though hidden beneath my sleeve, goosebumps prickled along my arm.
As we walked out together, I glanced back.
The small clearing where I’d been sitting was empty and silent.
So empty, it was hard to believe anyone had been there at all.
It wasn’t Wished.
Someone had called my name.
If Wished hadn’t arrived at that exact moment, then…
I swallowed hard and gripped Wished’s hand tighter.
