Chapter 28. I’ll Reserve Your Majesty’s Help as a Last Resort
And the next day.
‘…Did I do something wrong?’
Feeling as though she was being scolded for no reason, Anette wiped the cold sweat forming on her forehead.
Even in that moment, eyes sparkling as if stars were about to fall from them never left her face.
They belonged to none other than the Crown Prince, Mikhail.
When Anette had shown her power, the eyes that once looked upon her in fear as though seeing something terrifying had—within a few days of arriving in the Empire—become a thing of the past.
‘Still, I’m not used to this kind of gaze.’
Yesterday, even Grand Duke Harzent had stared quite persistently, but this boy’s gaze was burdensome in a different way.
“Um, Your Highness the Crown Prince…”
“So you’re really an adult? Really, really?”
“Yes…”
It felt like she’d answered that same question over fifty times already.
Yet the young prince, seemingly never tiring, once again opened his mouth wide and covered it with his hands in disbelief.
Watching his reaction, Anette couldn’t help but let out a small laugh despite feeling rather drained.
“Is it really that surprising?”
“Yes! It’s so amazing!”
With eyes twinkling brightly and cheeks flushed red, Mikhail responded like the eight-year-old boy he truly was.
Though his attempts to act mature when they first met had been adorable, Anette liked this version of him even more.
‘Honestly, this reaction feels far more normal.’
The way others had nonchalantly accepted her situation had been the strange part all along.
But even to Anette, Mikhail was no less fascinating.
That powerful, mysterious ability that toppled a tree without him lifting a single finger…
She had come to realize that such a power was the boy’s own Authority.
“What happened yesterday was an incident caused by a power known as the royal bloodline’s Authority. You may have already suspected this.”
That morning, the Emperor, the Empress, and Grand Duke Harzent had visited Anette and explained in detail what had happened in the garden.
Anette had already guessed that the incident was likely tied to the Arkhan imperial family’s unique Authority.
A powerful force that manifests in times of crisis for the Empire. But because the Empire had remained strong for so long, such powers had rarely surfaced, and no official information existed. All she could do was speculate.
Having heard that Mikhail had only recently awakened his power and still couldn’t control it properly, Anette nodded.
And just when she thought this explanation alone revealed enough confidential information for a mere witness…
“My Authority is related to time.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I can’t control all time in this world, but I can reverse time in a specific place, or for a specific person… I can make one minute pass like a year—or make ten years pass in a single minute.”
Speaking as though it was a trivial matter—though it clearly wasn’t—Lucius left Anette stunned.
She had never once wished to know what the Emperor’s Authority was.
But soon, she understood the Emperor’s intent.
“So… what Your Majesty is saying is… you could turn my time forward and restore my original body?”
“Yes. If you trust me and lend me your hand for a moment.”
Lucius said he wanted to repay the favor she had done for him, and while that cleared up some of Anette’s confusion, it also raised another question.
Anette had been deeply worried that her body might not return to normal and couldn’t understand how the Emperor and Empress remained so calm.
But now, it made sense—they already knew how to restore her.
Still, something didn’t sit right with her.
‘Maybe it’s just that they didn’t want to talk about the Authority… but it feels like there’s more to it than that.’
From the start, the Emperor had treated her warmly, offering kindness and consideration. Though it had only been a short time since they met, he seemed to be a gentle person.
So surely, there must have been a reason he didn’t step in sooner.
Then, a scene flashed through Anette’s mind.
Mikhail had collapsed unexpectedly with his eyes closed, and the Emperor had picked him up as though he’d anticipated it. The Grand Duke’s reassurance not to worry echoed in her ears.
“Perhaps… are there restrictions on using the Authority? Some kind of activation condition?”
When she asked this question that had popped into her head, she noticed Lucius’s face stiffen slightly.
He looked startled, as though he hadn’t expected her to figure it out.
He hesitated, trailing off with a “That’s…” before finally nodding.
“Yes. In truth, the royal Authority is powered by the user’s life force.”
Anette was even more shocked than before.
Lucius reassured her that life force did not equate to lifespan. Most of it could be recovered through rest, meals, and sleep. The royal family had exceptional physical strength and recovery ability, so they rarely pushed themselves too far.
The more one used their Authority, the stronger it became, and the more proficiently they controlled it, the less life force it consumed. He confessed that he had reversed the physical time of himself, Charlotte, and the Dowager Empress.
After hearing all of this, Anette responded.
“I understand what you’ve explained.”
“Then…”
“I’ll reserve Your Majesty’s help as a last resort.”
Lucius’s eyes widened.
He had expected Anette to immediately ask him to use his Authority—not reject it outright.
It wasn’t hard to guess her reasoning: because it would consume his life force.
Even though he had clarified it wouldn’t directly reduce his lifespan, and that rest was usually enough to recover, the princess had already caught on.
Just as Lucius had suspected, Anette realized that the life force required to accelerate her time forward would be far greater than reversing the time of the Empress or the Dowager Empress.
Currently, she was twenty-four, but—reluctantly admitting it—looked like she was eight.
Though she didn’t need to be aged up all the way, at the very least she’d need to look about eighteen. Reversing a decade in one go wasn’t something that could be recovered from with a quick nap or meal.
Lucius found himself troubled. He hadn’t brought up his Authority to test her reaction.
He simply wanted to repay her. Even if it cost him some of his vitality, he wouldn’t consider her request selfish.
Though he tried to explain and convince her otherwise, Anette was resolute.
“It’s not that I’m completely refusing Your Majesty’s help. I just mean… since His Grace the Grand Duke has already requested assistance from a mage, I’ll wait to see the results before doing anything drastic.”
Anette didn’t believe that the “way to restore her body” Kardien had mentioned referred solely to the Emperor’s power.
If it were, they wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of summoning a royal mage to draw her blood.
Still, part of her had worried that the Emperor’s ability might be the very method the Grand Duke was relying on. She glanced sideways at Kardien, seated quietly beside her.
“If that’s Your Highness’s decision, I support it.”
That was all Kardien said.
He neither pushed for her to accept the Emperor’s help nor strongly agreed with her idea of waiting for the mage’s results.
He didn’t express his own opinion at all—he only respected her will, just like when he’d told her, “Do whatever you want.”
That memory made Anette’s cheeks flush slightly.
Even so, she was anxious, unsure if she had made the right choice.
At that moment, she noticed Charlotte—the Empress—watching her with a faintly relieved expression.
Only then did Anette feel sure she hadn’t chosen wrongly.
In the end, the only one who looked displeased at the table was the Emperor.
But when Anette logically explained her desire to understand both the cause and solution of her transformation, Lucius had no choice but to concede.
On one condition.
“Very well. But we cannot indefinitely postpone the royal marriage. If no solution is found within three months, I will use my Authority then.”
Anette hesitated.
She didn’t want to shorten the Emperor’s life even a little because of her. But she couldn’t say three months was too short a time.
Originally, she was supposed to marry within a month of arriving in the Empire.
The Arkhan imperial family was planning to send a formal letter of protest regarding the poor escort that had accompanied her journey—along with the official wedding gifts.
The news of a delayed royal wedding would inevitably stir rumors and worry about the alliance falling apart.
Because of that, they couldn’t afford to delay it forever.
In the end, Anette agreed to receive the Emperor’s help if a solution hadn’t been found within three months.
As she replayed the tense conversation from earlier that day in her mind, Anette suddenly snapped out of it—still feeling the sparkling gaze fixed on her.
It was Mikhail, still staring at her in awe.
