Chapter 19
“…Huh?”
Lisbet’s mouth fell open in shock before she burst into laughter.
“Really… My lady, you…”
At that moment, instead of coming out, the woman who had gone to the room with the children suddenly jumped down from the second floor, a protective barrier surrounding her body. As Cecenia watched Lisbet, she clapped her hands at the woman.
“Congratulations on your safe escape.”
“Are you insane?!”
The woman, who had always moved lifelessly as if she had no will to live, now shouted with an expression she had never shown before.
“Because of the fire, the magic circle on the floor was broken. Thanks to that, you were able to escape. Shouldn’t you be grateful?”
“That…!”
“Is this really the time to ask how I knew all that?”
The woman looked at Cecenia with a pale face.
“Instead of questioning me, wouldn’t it be better to run before the owner returns and realizes the magic circle is broken?”
“…Where are the children?!”
“If I were going to tell you that, I wouldn’t have done all this in the first place. Honestly, if you weren’t trapped by that magic circle, you could have escaped on your own. So just be thankful and leave.”
Lisbet tilted her head at Cecenia’s overly confident attitude, but Cecenia didn’t even glance at her. She was too focused on the woman.
“Or am I wrong?”
“…”
“Are you afraid of what comes next? That this might put a target on your back? But let me tell you something. Even if the children survived and safely reached the Salmond Kingdom, you would have been killed.”
As if waiting for that statement, the woman shouted.
“What do you know?!”
“Eliminating used pawns to erase evidence—that’s what powerful people usually do.”
Cecenia tapped her temple with a long finger.
“That’s just how their minds work.”
It was obvious. In the future Cecenia knew, in the future Lisbet had spoken of, this woman did not exist.
‘Back then, she might have been killed for failing to hold onto the children. But even if the twins had made it safely to the Salmond Empire, she wouldn’t have survived.’
If they had planned to keep her alive, they wouldn’t have used a magic circle to trap her here in the first place.
Cecenia stared at the woman.
“What exactly do you know?!”
“The orphanage was about to collapse. The dust-filled place, but a strangely clean floor. A teacher who had no interest in the children—only the orphanage director mattered to her. Doesn’t that seem suspicious to anyone?”
“Just because it was suspicious, how did you know we were from Salmond? Who sent you? Who told you to take the children?!”
“I didn’t take them. I simply gave those poor children their freedom. If I had kidnapped them, would I still be here talking to you? And earlier, I told you: ‘If you are a citizen of the empire, or even if you are from another country but running an orphanage on imperial land, you must follow imperial law.’ Yet, you didn’t dispute that at all. That’s how I knew you weren’t from this country.”
“T-That doesn’t make sense! You figured out everything from just that?!”
Cecenia smirked.
‘Of course not.’
If she hadn’t seen the past, she wouldn’t have known anything. She wouldn’t have even known this orphanage existed, let alone who the twins were.
As the empress, she had heard of the children, but not in such detail. Everything she knew now was thanks to Lisbet. The rest was just her own deductions.
‘Judging from her reaction, everything I guessed must be right.”
“You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to. But you do understand that you don’t have much time, don’t you?”
“…”
“Go to the Empire’s Mage Tower. No matter your origins, they will accept you there.”
“Are you telling me to rely on the Empire’s Mage Tower?!”
“What other choice do you have? You have no power, no allies. How else will you survive?”
The woman’s expression hardened at Cecenia’s sharp words.
“Don’t let your pride get in the way. If you want to live, you need to seek shelter—even if it’s in another country’s Mage Tower. Besides, they welcome anyone with power. It’s not the worst place to go.”
If the Salmond royal twins ended up at the Mage Tower, their fate would be grim, if not outright tragic. But this woman was different. A mage with decent skills, seeking asylum because she wasn’t safe in her own country—someone like her would be highly valued.
“…”
Realizing that arguing wouldn’t benefit her, the woman bit her lip.
The twins were gone. Even if she searched, she wouldn’t find them. She knew how difficult it had been to bring them here in the first place. Others had barely managed to catch those runaway Salmond royal twins.
‘Impossible. I’ll never find them… Then I have no choice…’
She had never had a choice to begin with. How Cecenia Vestel knew about her was irrelevant.
The only thing that mattered was that the long-standing magic binding her here had been broken. And she already understood…
Even if the twins made it safely back to Salmond, she was likely to be killed. Just like her fellow caretaker had been.
“…Erianer.”
“Hmm?”
“That’s my name. No matter what happens… I owe you for getting me out of there, so I’ll at least tell you that much.”
“I hope we never meet again—for good or for bad. I hope I never hear of you again. I’ll pray for that.”
That was the end. Erianer disappeared quickly. She had acted as if she would chase after the twins, but the likelihood of her actually doing so was slim.
Cecenia turned and walked toward the carriage.
“Let’s go.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Of course.”
“Did you do all of this… just to let her go?”
Ted trusted Cecenia completely. Even if she had committed murder, he would still believe in her. Lisbet, however, looked utterly confused.
“Do I need a reason for everything I do?”
“Of course! If an investigation starts, there will be trouble. The orphanage owner will ask questions, and even though this place is secluded, it’s not completely isolated…”
Listening to Lisbet, Cecenia stepped into the carriage.
“My lady…?”
“Even if someone saw, it doesn’t matter. Even if I burned it down, the owner of this place wouldn’t dare question me.”
“Huh…?”
“You heard it yourself. This place wasn’t a real orphanage. There were children here, but not for a good reason.”
“…My lady, you know too much. How do you know all of this?”
Lisbet’s expression changed slightly.
‘I knew it.’
Little by little, things were becoming clear. The Lisbet standing before her was not the same as the Lisbet she had once known. Or rather, she was, but she, too, had memories of the future.
“Does it matter? I just want to live this life perfectly.”
And with that, the carriage started moving once more.
