With that last whisper, Annette chanted the spell to take her back to her time. She shut her eyes, and her body wavered during the time leap. Glen quickly supported her, and Emma took a position on her other side. A few seconds later, Annette slowly opened her eyes.
“Huh… Why am I here?”
“Heh. Annette… Thank you.”
“Huh, Emma? What’s wrong?”
Seeing her former close friend’s usual vapid smile, Emma hugged her tightly. Just as she expected, Annette remembered nothing of what happened that morning since the future Annette had inhabited her consciousness. But because of her naturally airheaded, simple disposition, she didn’t seem troubled by what was happening.
Thank goodness for the small things. She violated the one rule of time travel but did it anyway, even knowing the past couldn’t be changed… I guess she had this unknown side to her as well.
After Emma and Glen escorted Annette safely back to her dorm room, Emma questioned him.
“So…despite her lacking a time affinity right now, she was still able to return to this period.”
“Hm? Oh, yes. Just like their memories, a person’s elemental attributes are connected to their souls, not their bodies. Our consciousness is the driving force behind our abilities,” Glen explained.
That makes sense, actually.
“The Annette today… I wonder which future she returned to,” Emma mused.
“There’s only one timeline, so it must be the future that we create, the one that results from our choices.”
“But the Annette who’s here, doesn’t know what happened. If the future does change and I end up happy, then she wouldn’t have ever returned to the past in the first place. Doesn’t that create an endless loop of contradictions?”
“The present is always remaking the future, so there’s no need to force human logic on the mechanism to make it make sense. Just know that it exists,” Glen said.
“So that’s how it is, hm?”
Emma simultaneously understood what he meant and also didn’t. Though she was an honor student herself, she also knew she wasn’t nearly as intelligent as Glen. Glad once more that he was on her side, she gave up on wrapping her head around the complexities of time travel.
“I have to admit, her timing was excellent. If she had returned to a point before you obtained Ulster’s version of the time affinity, she wouldn’t have been able to change anything,” Glen said.
“I agree. Otherwise, I might have been tempted to go into the future out of worry. Now I don’t need to, so I’m grateful to her for leaping back here.”
Annette had been in high spirits because she’d been hopeful that the future would change with her action. But the reality was a little different. This world had already been remade because of Emma’s time reversal, and that’s why the future would change. I think it’s best to avoid using this power as much as possible.
“By the way… Did you notice Miss Annette was hinting at your engagement with Prince Victor?”
Resolved again to avoid meddling with her power, Emma heard the stunning revelation echo ever so casually in her ears.
“I beg your pardon?!” Her eyes widened in bewilderment. “That’s impossible. Have you forgotten I come from a low-ranked aristocratic family?”
“True. Except it would be possible once your family’s status is elevated further as a reward for your work as a time traveler.”
Glen’s conjecture was specific. He wouldn’t say something like this unless he was sure about it. Well… I can’t deny that the king is a kind person. I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt sorry for me after learning about the series of unfortunate events affecting me. On the other hand, affiancing me to his second son is too much, even for him.
In most cases, the monarchy didn’t host a celebration for time travelers retiring from their official duties. Yet, for whatever reason, the king decreed the dinner party in Emma’s honor because of how much he and his advisors appreciated her efforts. Within the history of unprecedented events, the dinner party had been extraordinary in that sense. From this perspective, she conceded that Glen might have a point.
“Perhaps Annette’s last words were meant to push me into declaring I don’t require a betrothal in the first place. Since I was apparently unable to refuse a supposed match after breaking off my engagement with Bernard?” she asked.
“That’s also a strong possibility.”
Glen… He’s from the same future as I am… Right? Staring at the sharply intuitive young man who seemed to know too much about too many things, Emma pondered everything in silence, head tilted thoughtfully.