When time rewinds, what’s the very first thing you should do?
There were any number of “right” answers, but Milly had concluded that gathering information came first. She needed to reacquaint herself with the world as it had been three years ago and investigate what was happening right now. Without that understanding, she couldn’t begin to act.
So, once she finished her morning preparations, Milly headed straight for the Grand Ducal House of Asteara’s archive. With a collection rivaling that of any royal library, it had always been like a second home to Milly, who had spent countless hours there reading and studying.
It seems there aren’t any major differences between this world and the one before the rewind.
If she wanted information quickly, this was the best place to get it. She began working her way through the stored newspapers from the past several months.
Every paper is reporting things I remember, and nothing seems out of place. It doesn’t appear that I’m in a parallel world after all. It feels as though the world has been rewound.
As far as her own surroundings were concerned, life after the rewind was perfectly calm. There was no sign that anyone else had noticed time turning back, and everything seemed to be a faithful recreation of life exactly three years prior.
That didn’t mean the rewind was cause for celebration, however. Pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose, Milly let out a sigh.
Well, if I keep living the same as before, I’ll be met with the exact same fate.
Exactly so. If this world had simply turned back the clock, then three years from now Milly would once again be killed at Angelina’s hands. That, at least, had to be prevented. If she allowed herself to follow the same path to the same ignoble death, then what was the point of getting another chance? She would have to take action now and change the future.
“That’s easier said than done, though,” Milly muttered to herself as she leaned back in her chair.
It was one thing to say she’d change the future, quite another to actually do it. The biggest obstacle was undoubtedly whatever Angelina had used in the garden that day. When Milly had been killed there, she hadn’t been able to offer any resistance at all. She hadn’t just been unable to use magic; she couldn’t even move her body. There was no question that some kind of power had been at work. Unless she could find a way to counter that inexplicable ability, her fate would not change.
Though Heaven had given her a chance, reality was proving it to be far from a simple fix.
Milly stretched long and slow as if to shake off the stiffness in her thoughts. In any case, first I need to find a way to fight back against that strange power. I couldn’t do it alone last time. Maybe I’ll need someone’s help.
She was still mulling that over when there came a discreet knock at the library door.
“Come in.”
Bibi peeked her head through the open door. “Pardon me, my lady. It’s nearly time for lunch.”
Has it gotten that late already? Milly blinked in mild surprise. “All right. I was just starting to get hungry anyway. I’ll be right there.”
“Ah, um, well...” Bibi babbled. When Milly narrowed her eyes at her, the maid’s brows dropped in resignation. “I-I have something to tell you, but I worry it may anger you...”
“Depends on what it is,” Milly replied coldly.
“Eh?!”
“I jest. So what is it? Don’t tell me you broke something of mine.”
Tilting her head as she asked, Milly watched Bibi shake her head furiously, her face going pale. The maid’s gaze darted around before she finally confessed in a small voice, “Well, um, you see...the master will be joining us for lunch today.”
Milly caught herself just before blurting out, What, has my father’s ghost decided to show up?
She’d completely forgotten, but in this rewound world, her father Kyle—who had been executed for treason in the original timeline—was, of course, still alive. Only now did she remember that fact.
“Hah. Him being alive is going to be its own kind of hassle,” she muttered under her breath.
“Excuse me, my lady?”
“Nothing. Just talking to myself. It’s unusual for father to be home, isn’t it?”
Closing the book she’d been reading, Milly rested her chin on one hand against the armrest. Her father, His Grace, Grand Duke Kyle Asteara, was the sort of man whose mind seemed almost entirely occupied with work at all times. His temperament was cold and high-handed. In society, people often referred to him as the Devil, the Demon Duke, or simply “the grand duke.” Truth be told, Milly herself did not have a favorable impression of him.
Relations within the family were utterly frigid. In fact, she might have gotten along better with strangers. Milly had often gone out of her way to avoid dining with Kyle. Nothing good ever came of facing him across a table.
“Um, would you prefer to take your meal later after all? I could bring it to your room.” Bibi’s brows drooped in concern as she tried to read Milly’s expression.
Before the rewind, Milly would have nodded without hesitation. She might even have added a snide remark, such as “Do I really have to spell that out for you?”
Things had changed. If she didn’t act, the future where she would be murdered three years from now would never change.
Milly’s lips curved slightly as she shook her head. “No, it’s quite all right. I should at least see father’s face after so long.”
“Huh?”
“Come along, Bibi. I’m in a rather good mood today.”
With that, she stepped lightly out of the library, leaving Bibi standing there, mouth agape.
The maid hurried after her, asking, “Are you sure? Is this really all right?”
Milly could only give a wry smile and nod. Did their relationship really look that bad to anyone peering in from the outside? She wasn’t exactly eager, but if she was going to change the humiliating future in which she was murdered, she would have to start by changing the small things. Even a conversation with her father—something she had avoided before the rewind—might hold some clue to altering her fate. The clock had been turned back. She couldn’t afford to waste this chance.
At the door to the dining room, Milly took a deep breath. For some reason, Bibi’s expression was even more severe than her own as she opened the door, revealing the vast room beyond, where her father Kyle sat eating alone.
He gave her a single glance, narrowing his eyes in mild surprise.
“Good day to you, father.”
The sight of his face after so long delayed her greeting for just a heartbeat. This was the first time she’d met him in this rewound world. The last time she had seen her father had been when his head was cleanly severed from his body, so to see him now, alive and eating in good health, was an odd sensation.
“Didn’t expect you to share a table with me.” Oblivious to his daughter’s thoughts, Kyle promptly looked away. He didn’t even return her greeting, an unvarnished reflection of their frigid relationship.
Feeling her mind cool into focus, Milly took a seat in a chair a short distance from his. “Surprised?”
“I am. You seem to be in quite a good mood today.” With a short, dry chuckle, Kyle pressed his lips into a thin line.