Reunion with Rua (1)
“Erewon-nim! What is the matter?!”
Hearing my scream, the attendants and guards burst through the door with a resounding crash.
One of them grabbed my face and checked my condition.
“Oh my, Erewon-nim! Please pull yourself together. Are you all right? That scream you just let out… what exactly was that?”
I tried to snap out of it, but it was impossible.
The attendant, treating the royal family’s face without hesitation as he examined me, was none other than the nanny who had cared for me since I was born—Dillis.
Her voice and her face were so familiar.
Warmth welled up in my eyes and tears spilled over.
I still remembered all too clearly the moment I had to part with Dillis.
Back when I had just been exiled and was starting my wandering life, I could barely cook or wash clothes even though my swordsmanship was decent.
Everything that allowed me to survive those early days was thanks to Dillis.
“Even though you’re a bit of a wanderer now, my dear Erewon-nim, I know you’ll turn out fine in the end. You have such a kind nature! To think an old lady like me follows you around and annoys you, yet you let me stay…”
The problem was the bandits’ attack.
Exiled and still wearing good clothes, I had become their target. My swordsmanship kept me alive, but Dillis took a fatal blow.
“Don’t cry. Now there’s no nagging old lady left. Everything will be fine…”
That was the exact moment I knew I had to become truly strong.
I tracked down the bandits’ traces, exterminated them, stopped aimless wandering, and began serious sword training.
“Were you having a terrifying dream? Crying like this…”
“No, Nanny. Nothing’s wrong.”
“Eek!”
Dillis jumped back in shock.
When she hurriedly straightened herself, her face turned deathly pale.
“‘You’? Are you calling me ‘you’ now?”
“This is serious, very serious! Erewon-nim is using honorific speech on me! Guards! Quickly go fetch a doctor!”
“Guards! I’m fine, no need for that. Whew…”
As I tried to grab the guard who was about to leave the room, my body, which I wanted to let him go, lost balance and toppled forward.
Dillis caught me just in time.
Even though it was my own body, it didn’t feel like mine.
Dillis touched her forehead, then mine, tilting her head in confusion.
“My little prince has no fever. Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? Not even just formal speech—polite words too. You’re not the prince I know.”
“It’s me, Nanny. I must have slept poorly last night.”
“Not getting enough sleep? That’s a problem. Today the King summoned you and your sister for an important royal matter.”
Those words let me remember the exact timing.
It was the day the great flow began.
The day the King, my father, summoned me and my little sister Rua to test the prince’s values.
I hadn’t slept properly and dozed off during the summons, which became the starting point of the King’s later decision to strip me of my prince title.
Later I learned Rua had known in advance what questions my father would ask and prepared herself.
It was Rua who told me the story herself.
“Nanny, I’m really fine. Please send the attendants and guards out so I can sleep a little before the King calls for me.”
“Understood. Let me know immediately if you feel worse.”
After Dillis left with the attendants, the room fell quiet again.
Even so, I couldn’t sleep.
My mind was too cluttered, and I had been awake for too long.
First, I assessed my current situation.
I was still a fifteen-year-old prince of the knight kingdom Solea.
Three years from now, the Reichland Empire would forcibly annex Solea.
As part of that, the prince who would bind resistance forces was exiled.
Annexing Solea had been the Empire’s plan all along.
My grandfather, the former captain of the Reichland Empire’s knight order, had been granted a small vassal state after earning great merit in battle.
Since the founding king had been a knight captain, Solea boasted an exceptionally strong knight order that no ordinary army could match.
Yet because it was a vassal state, it had no choice but to obey the Reichland Empire.
The Empire used its knight numbers and magic to subdue Solea before it could grow too powerful to control.
After absorbing Solea’s knight order, the Reichland Empire became the undisputed strongest nation on the continent.
Rua’s story of becoming the Empress after being adopted as the imperial princess was still in the future.
The cold gaze the leader of the allied forces had given me when he smiled still haunted me.
Just thinking of it gave me chills.
Yet I still couldn’t understand.
Why had Rua come to hate me so?
There was a reason…
“Princess, you mustn’t do this. The prince is unwell right now!”
“That’s why I came! Open the door at once!”
“But, Princess…”
A young voice arguing with the nanny.
How had this child grown into such a ruthless ruler?
“If you don’t open it, I’ll cry!”
“Oh, all right. You win. Come in!”
The door swung open, and a small girl dashed in.
“Oppa Erewon!”
“Rua…? So you’re here.”
Despite opening my arms to greet her, I felt cold sweat break out.
Rua jumped into my arms without hesitation.
Then she began to sob.
“Oppa, are you okay? I heard you were very sick.”
“I’m fine. Who told you I was sick anyway?”
“Ah…”
Rua’s expression darkened slightly.
Only a short while had passed since the nanny and guards had come running in.
Even though my room wasn’t far from Rua’s, it was too quick for her to have learned so fast.
In this life, with her widened eyes, I now understood how she could know every move I made.
The strange mana emanating from the mirror inside my room.
It was definitely a magic tool.
Before the panicked Rua could harden further, I gently patted her back.
“Either way, that doesn’t matter. Thank you for coming because you were worried about me. You really are the only one.”
The words surprised Rua. She jumped back and retreated.
“Oppa, you must be in some pain right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oppa is acting strangely! You’ve never been this gentle before!”
Rua’s face turned pale. She dashed out of the room to find Dillis.
Then I remembered how I had treated Rua before.
Ah, right. Whenever she clung to me, I had pushed her away saying it was annoying.
Honestly, that must have looked strange.
After that, Dillis brought in a doctor, and I had to endure a full examination.
Only after the doctor confirmed nothing was wrong with my body did I finally have time alone.
‘Now I can finally begin in earnest.’
Self-diagnosis.
My body hadn’t changed.
I had simply returned to the past.
My mind was the same as in my previous life, but my body was not.
I needed to check the state of my muscles and mana.
Since my body was too full of old habits for a new one, it was essentially the same as adapting to a new body.
After ordering the guards to keep everyone out, I sat on the soft bed and focused.
Checking my body’s condition had become second nature, so it didn’t take long.
The result, however, was horrifying.
‘What is this? Where did all my mana go? And what is this muscle state?’
Back then, as a prince, I had lived a luxurious life, picking only the best foods and skipping proper exercise.
I wanted to beat the old me, just as I had roughly trained my subordinates in my previous life.
Why hadn’t I trained my body harder?
Even though the road ahead was long, the thought that it was too long made me sigh.
Yet I could smile because I knew I had it.
I had once reached the peak with a sword in this world.
I felt I understood which path to take to become stronger and how to surpass my previous life.
If I started working now, I could spend the time more meaningfully than the wasted years of the past.
I could become stronger than before!
Just as I was steeling my resolve to finish the diagnosis, a voice spoke.
Past Return Success – Fresh Feeling
— That voice, the same one I had heard before death.