Angelina could only gape, struck dumb, staring at the impossible sight. She knew that if she didn’t run now, something terrible would happen to her. And yet, for some reason, she couldn’t move. It was as if some unseen force had commanded her to stay put.
As though to confirm it, Milly slowly spoke her name. “Angelina Grey. Let me tell you one last thing. The reason I cast a barrier of silence...”
“Huh?”
“...was so your screams wouldn’t escape.”
In that instant, light exploded across Angelina’s vision, and a scream tore from her throat.
There was no pain, no suffocating agony. Only a terror so overwhelming it consumed her, until her desperate cry for help was swallowed whole by the blaze.
A dull awareness crept in. The sense of her consciousness slipping away. Was she about to die here, just like this? Her fingers could no longer even twitch. And then, from somewhere, Milly’s voice reached her.
“Since you can’t atone on your own, I’ll help you bear the weight of your sins. Good night, self-styled villainess.”
Before she could cling to those final words, Angelina Grey quietly surrendered to the dark.
✦ ✦ ✦
After delivering her parting words, Milly couldn’t help thinking she might have slipped up.
In this rewound world, Lady Angelina Grey had yet to start calling herself a villainess. The fact that Milly had let that word slip was, technically, proof that Milly was aware of the rewind, but it shouldn’t matter. Angelina lay unconscious in the garden, and with the knockout spell woven into the blast, her memories ought to be hazy at best.
“Whew. I’m a little tired, but I’d better get moving.” With a quiet breath, Milly released the soundproof barrier with a short incantation.
She had gone overboard for caution’s sake, weaving together a large-scale spell, but that only meant she’d piled on different types of magic. None of them had long durations. By her estimation, Angelina would come around in ten minutes or so. It was best to be gone before then.
It was my first time using a confession spell, so I’m not entirely sure it took hold, but it should be fine. I’m me, after all. If there was one thing Milly excelled at, it was unwarranted confidence. She turned her back on the garden and hurried toward the school building. Still, I’m relieved Angelina confessed right there.
In truth, Milly had no concrete proof that Angelina was the one pulling Brima’s strings. She’d only had a hunch, nothing more. It was a gamble. The confession gave her all the certainty she needed, and it let her use magic without hesitation. She also had Gilbert to thank for creating the opportunity to face Angelina alone. Today’s MVP was unquestionably him.
I wonder what will become of Brima now. As she made her way toward the student council room, where Brima and the others would be waiting, Milly couldn’t help but turn the matter over in her mind. From Angelina’s words, it was clear enough that Brima had been forced into it, likely threatened over her family.
Milly wasn’t well-versed in the ins and outs of noble society, but Gilbert, who knew such things far better, had once explained that House Bickel and House Grey were bound together in business. The baron’s household relied heavily on the count’s patronage. Defying a daughter of that family would have been nearly impossible.
Even so, harsh circumstances did not erase guilt. Angelina might have confessed under the compulsion of Milly’s spell, but that didn’t make Brima’s crimes vanish.
She won’t be executed. Surely not. Nicholas will find some way to smooth things over. Perhaps a convent will be the likeliest outcome. Bleak possibilities circled in her head. Milly quickened her pace, the corners of her eyes softening with worry. I want to help you, Brima.
The thought rose unbidden, but reality offered no such mercy. Brima would almost certainly be expelled. It was only right, considering what she had done, and yet when Milly thought about what awaited her, a heaviness filled her chest.
“In the end, I’m powerless, aren’t I?” came a frustrated whisper. Looking back on everything since time had turned back, Milly couldn’t name a single victory. She hadn’t restored Sierra’s shorn hair, nor had she prevented the poison from being drunk.
Brima, threatened and used like a pawn, was beyond Milly’s ability to save. At best she would be sent to a convent. At worst, she might face execution. All Milly had done was rail about revenge against Angelina, brag about gathering allies, yet she hadn’t spared a single thought for anyone else. Didn’t that show she had the same arrogance as Kyle?
In the end, I can’t even save one girl like Brima with my strength alone.
She remembered the day the world rewound, when her father had flatly refused to protect her. She had sworn then to live by her own power from that moment on. But now she knew how naive that had been.
For all her years of study and relentless training in magic, her power was still paltry. In noble society, where influence and rhetoric carried true weight, her ability to act was painfully limited.
Worse, Angelina would surely seek revenge. Angelina had memories from before the rewind, which meant she might keep plotting to harm Milly, just as she had this time.
Milly couldn’t keep falling back on forced confessions through magic. She needed a strategy to counter Angelina, something lasting. The list of things to think about only grew longer.
“Living on my own... How mad was that notion?” She laughed bitterly, mocking herself.
It had taken just under a month since time had turned back for Milly to realize the truth: She was not strong enough to live alone. She needed someone to protect her, someone who would throw themselves in harm’s way if danger came, and who could drive back Angelina when the time came. Describing such a figure, the word “guardian” almost seemed too noble. What Milly wanted was more like a watchdog.
“Couldn’t there be...an invincible pup somewhere?” The words slipped out before she could stop them, and Milly gave a small laugh at herself for spouting such a fairytale notion. No such creature existed. Someone with the clout to settle matters with a single word, with unmatched skill in magic, and close enough to serve as her personal watchdog...
“Ah.”
No, one such person did exist. Milly halted in her tracks, blinking rapidly as the realization struck.
Yes, he had been right beside her all along. A man of power, gifted in magic, silver-tongued, and, most of all, someone Milly dearly wished to keep bound to her by the leash: the perfect candidate for a watchdog.