Chapter 116
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Great Crisis (2)
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"…Yes?"
At the main gate of the Belverk Ducal House, the tutor Rizelotte, who had been waiting for Kairen, wore a puzzled expression at the words delivered by Schwarz, who had relayed the information to her.
"Excuse me, but Young Master Kairen is not feeling well today."
"Ah…."
"So, the lesson will have to be postponed."
Schwarz continued in a cold tone to the woman.
"That can't be right."
"What did you just say…?"
"No. Nothing at all."
Rizelotte tilted her head for a moment before muttering softly to herself without realizing it.
"…That's strange."
Schwarz's ears perked up at the low voice.
"The preliminary investigation was already perfectly complete…."
"……?"
"…There was no mention of him being ill."
Her face, always full of smiles, turned as cold as her tone in an instant.
"Which means…."
Rizelotte continued muttering, oblivious to the reaction.
"Didn't you hear me?"
"……."
"Please leave."
Unable to bear watching any longer, Schwarz stepped forward, openly revealing her killing intent.
"Could she have noticed something…."
But Rizelotte, her gaze fixed on the mansion, didn't even register Schwarz's presence.
"…Well, I can just check for myself."
Whether she was simply ignoring her or fixated for another reason, Schwarz couldn't tell.
"Anyway, I should at least see his face…."
Just as she finally turned her gaze and flashed a bright smile at Schwarz—
"Last warning."
"……."
"Leave the mansion."
Having reached the end of her patience, Schwarz thrust her face close and whispered coldly.
"Hehe…."
Yet, as she stared silently at Schwarz, Rizelotte's eyes were glowing white.
"Hierarchy rank 2. Night's Demon Schwarz."
"……!"
"I don't know why you're not using your abilities despite that title, to the point of being obsessive…."
To put it simply, the Rizelotte standing before Schwarz at that moment, wearing a chilling smile, was no longer the real Rizelotte.
"…If you're not going to use your abilities against me, you deserve to die."
In the blink of an eye, the figure thrust a hand clad in holy power into Schwarz's chest, piercing it clean through—Saintess Anastasia, whom the Belverks had been desperately searching for.
"Young Master…."
Realizing the truth too late, the horrified Schwarz mustered every ounce of strength she had left to signal everyone in the mansion.
- Groooowl….
Immediately after, a massive wave of killing intent surged from the Belverk Ducal House all at once.
"Tch, this is why the Belverk maids are such a headache…."
Spotting the family guard charging through the garden at high speed, Anastasia muttered with an irritated expression.
"Should I put off the conquest for now…."
"Cough…."
Even amidst it all, Schwarz—her chest pierced by Anastasia—spread her arms wide to prevent the saintess from escaping, embracing the enemy before her.
"…But still."
"Cough…."
"I need to check on Kairen's condition."
However, just as even that final struggle began to weaken, the saintess shoved Schwarz aside with a chilling smile.
"Then…."
As the Belverk security forces closed in right before her, Anastasia replied with a mocking smile.
"Retry."
"Young Master, today…."
"Whoa, so cute…."
"Let me give you a kiss…."
When he came to, the familiar conversation was already ringing in his ears again.
"…Please do it later."
Thanks to that, after a brief dazed expression, Kairen muttered coldly upon seeing the system message floating before his eyes and grasping the situation.
"Young Master, the atmosphere is off…."
"Oh, maybe we shouldn't touch him today."
"Young Master is scary…."
Fortunately, sensing something from his tone, the Big Sister maids glanced at him and headed back toward the mansion.
Memory synchronization complete.
Watching the Big Sisters, Kairen turned his gaze back to the message floating before him and fell into thought.
'Time rewound without me even realizing it.'
He hadn't consciously noticed the time reversal, but the memories synchronized by the System clearly confirmed it.
'As expected, the saintess's doing….'
If so, there was only one possibility. The saintess, whom he had tried to send away for some reason, had refused and rewound time.
'This is a problem.'
By then, he was breaking into a cold sweat and swallowing dryly.
'Anastasia's limits on regression uses and range are all unknown.'
Anastasia, undoubtedly the black curtain of the world, was no pushover.
'More importantly, whether the other side recognizes my regressions….'
If she had noticed that he could also rewind time?
"Young Master, the tutor has arrived at the main gate."
"……!"
"Shall we go greet her?"
Just as his face darkened at the unwanted possibility, Schwarz quietly approached and delivered the information for the third time.
"Wait, hold on."
"……?"
"Let me think about it."
This time, however, he couldn't respond immediately.
- Peek, peek….
Anastasia, who had poked her head around from beyond and was peering into the mansion, was too distracting for words to come out properly.
- Hehe….
Suddenly, Anastasia flashed an ominous smile, lifting the corner of her mouth and fixing her gaze on him.
'She didn't do that before either.'
Avoiding her gaze as best he could while looking at Schwarz, Kairen began racking his brain at full speed.
'If she recognizes the time reversal too, that's really bad….'
But in that state, no viable plan came to mind.
"Schwarz, head back to the mansion first."
"Yes?"
"I want to talk to her alone."
After agonizing over it, he sent Schwarz back to the mansion and clenched his fists tightly.
'The saintess will keep rewinding time until she achieves her goal anyway….'
With things as they were, he had no choice but to try the same thing she had likely done repeatedly.
'…First, I need to perfectly grasp her objective.'
Gaining the upper hand in the information war by endlessly investing coins was a privilege only for regressors.
How much time had passed like that?
"Oh my, hello?"
"……."
"Hehe, nice to meet you, Kairen."
Rizelotte, waiting at the main gate for Kairen, looked down at him as he finally appeared before her and spoke.
"I'm Rizelotte, your tutor starting today."
But Kairen couldn't even meet her eyes, his face pale with unease.
"…Why the long face?"
"……."
"And why do you keep avoiding my eyes?"
Sensing something clearly off, Rizelotte leaned in and began pressing him.
"W-Well…."
In that situation, Kairen, who had been glancing at her nervously, finally spoke.
"…Big Sister is too pretty."
"……."
"It's hard to look you in the eyes…."
A brief silence followed.
"You're more cheeky than I thought."
"I-It's true!"
The saintess muttered softly in the silence, then threw another question with an intrigued expression at Kairen's innocent remark.
"Then, could you marry me?"
"…Yes!"
His eyes lit up as he nodded eagerly.
"…Haha."
At the same time, laughter began spilling from Rizelotte's lips.
"Ahahahahaha…."
Before long, her pupils were dyed white again.
"I can't believe I got this kind of answer on the first try, before we've even properly started…."
As she reverted to 'Anastasia,' Kairen smirked inwardly in triumph at her mutterings.
'Success!'
Of course, the Anastasia before him was quite sharp, so he had to watch his expressions.
But having finally confirmed that the saintess hadn't recognized his regression, he couldn't help it.
'Just a few more time rewinds….'
Well, there were no limits on retry counts anyway, so he could just rewind time.
Skill proficiency is insufficient compared to required difficulty!
As Kairen tried to activate his ability with that thought, he blankly opened his mouth.
Remaining uses today: 1 time
The system message before his eyes contained truly shocking content.
"What…."
But Kairen had no idea that an equally shocking statement would come right from in front of him.
"You have it too, huh?"
"……."
"…Regression."
Upon hearing those words, Kairen could only grit his teeth and slowly back away.
"…We're destined after all!"
The saintess's white-glowing eyes, watching him with a spine-chilling smile, clearly reflected the message floating beside Kairen.