Chapter 118
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Hitchhiker Traveling the Timelines
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‘Alright, let’s sort out the current situation first.’
Standing there with my mouth agape in a daze, I soon broke out in cold sweat and began organizing the situation in my mind.
‘In trying to steal the Saintess’s regression and forcing my own, I ended up coming back to decades ago in the past as a side effect.’
Honestly, I still couldn’t believe it, but there were too many clear pieces of evidence backing it up.
‘And right in front of me now is...’
For example, the black-haired girl who had been pointing a knife at me and radiating terrifying killing intent from earlier.
“...Don’t move a muscle.”
Even though I’d been standing still this whole time, every time she inhaled, she whispered with a chilling expression. Her identity was none other than...
‘Young Astridje. In other words, my mother.’
The fact that my mother looked about the same age as me at a glance was the strongest proof that this absurd situation was really happening.
‘What should I do from here?’
The problem was figuring out how to resolve this going forward...
There’s no way I have to live in this era forever, right...?
Skill system under emergency repair...
Returning to the original timeline will take some time.
As I glanced nervously at Big Sister System while thinking that, a new message popped up in front of me. I finally let out a sigh of relief and relaxed.
‘Phew, one worry down for now...’
But it wasn’t time to relax yet—that much was clear from the chilling voice that followed right after.
“I told you not to move.”
Before I knew it, the knife the past Mother had been aiming at me was right up against my throat.
‘I can’t get killed by my mother from when she was young...!’
Honestly, I had no idea how strong the past Mother was, but from the way she acted, it was obvious she’d overcome countless crises that I couldn’t even compare to.
“...Um, excuse me. There seems to be some misunderstanding here.”
“As long as you have Crimson Eyes, there’s no misunderstanding.”
The sheer intensity of her killing intent felt like facing both of my sisters from two years ago at the same time.
“I’m going to wring every bit of info out of you and then kill you.”
“Eek.”
“Don’t think a pitiful look will save you.”
What shook me even more was the ice-cold tone coming from the mother who had only ever shown me boundless love.
“My second brother made that same face before smashing me over the head from behind.”
“......”
“...If it weren’t for my personal maid, I would’ve died that day.”
But the moment I realized what kind of life had forged that tone, that’s when my heart shook the most.
“So...”
Anyway, to avoid provoking the Mother in front of me as much as possible, I clamped my mouth shut and just listened quietly. That’s when—
- Grroooowl...
A sudden growl erupted from the stomach of my young mother, who still had her knife trained on me.
“...Ngh.”
Right after, she gritted her teeth slightly and let out a low groan.
“A-Are you hungry by any chance?”
“Ngh.”
“I-If that’s the case...!”
Seizing that opening, I quickly slipped my hand into my pocket.
“Here, take this!”
“......”
“It’s a snack I’m giving you!”
I pulled out one of the snacks the maids had been giving me lately and held it out to Mother.
“...How can you guarantee there’s no poison in it?”
But Mother stepped back slightly with a frosty expression, glaring at me suspiciously.
“Well, that’s...”
Come to think of it, Lilien often said that even up to two years ago, letting your guard down around food in Belverk was unthinkable.
‘...That’s too harsh.’
But Belverk now was different.
And I wanted to prove our family bond to the mother standing before me.
“Nom nom.”
“...!”
“See? It’s really safe to eat!”
I’d spoken grandly, but all I did was take a small bite from the snack I was offering.
“The part you didn’t eat could still be poisoned...”
Even after I proved it was safe, Mother muttered in a trembling voice. But then—
- Groooowl...
Her stomach growled again, plunging the garden into silence.
“......”
In that silence, as Mother bit her lip with a face full of shame, I flashed a bright smile and held out the snack again.
“Go on!”
After hesitating for a long while, Mother suddenly took a single step forward. Right then—
“Nom nom nom...”
In Belverk’s garden, with a cool breeze blowing, the sound of eager munching echoed.
‘She’s eating well.’
Watching Mother devour the snack with crumbs all over her mouth—no trace left of her initial wariness—I felt a warm satisfaction. Then a question popped into my head, and I tilted it in confusion.
‘But... was the garden always this quiet?’
The Belverk garden I knew always had at least one or two servants resting or patrolling.
Yet the garden where Mother and I stood felt different in both scenery and atmosphere from the usual one.
As if it were separated from the original garden space somehow...?
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“Got any more?”
I was puzzled by the doubt when Mother’s question came from in front. I turned with wide eyes.
“You must be really hungry.”
“It’s not that.”
I first thought it was just young Mother being prideful, but her next words revealed the real reason.
“...I need to bring some for my little sibling too.”
Ah, she wanted to share with her sibling? Yeah, that I could respect...
Wait, sibling?
I could guess what happened to her brothers and sisters, but did Mother even have a younger sibling?
“My sibling is so frail they can barely move, and their bloodline is so thick they can’t even go out during the day.”
“Ah......”
“So I have to look after them a bit more.”
It was hard to believe, but since it was coming from Mother herself, I had no choice but to accept it.
“You’re so kind!”
“...What?”
Once I decided to believe her, there was only one thing left to say.
“Even though you’re struggling yourself, taking care of your sibling like that is so cool!”
After two years together, I’d learned Mother was weak to praise.
Probably because she’d never really received any in her life.
“You’re amazing!”
“......”
“The best!”
In other words, praise was the way to win her over here.
“...Is that so.”
Sure enough, after spacing out to my compliments for a bit, Mother looked down slightly and murmured softly.
“I’ve... never heard words like that before.”
Seeing her cheeks faintly flush—subtle but there—I quietly curled my lips up.
“Hah.”
But Mother caught that tiny change in expression and instantly switched back to full alert, knife pointed at me again.
“Reveal your identity and name.”
“Eek.”
“You thought something like this would make me drop my guard?”
From the Mother now glaring at me with dark eyes, I could feel an immense, inescapable darkness.
“Anyway, since you have Crimson Eyes too, you’re my rival.”
“......”
“No matter how nice you act, we’re fated to fight to the death.”
Unlike me, who’d been living happily thanks to Mother’s love and my sisters’ tolerance, the Mother of this era must have been in hellish days.
A life where she had to battle her own closest family to the death for the family head position—something kids not even adults couldn’t handle.
I thought it was the greatest miracle that Belverk’s savage traditions had continued this long.
“...Then, are you going to fight your sibling too?”
But if Mother herself was the one who’d eventually break those traditions, maybe my persuasion could work.
“That’s...”
And as expected, Mother hesitated, her hand trembling.
“That’s... different.”
She spoke in a gloomy voice.
“My sibling is my eternal ally.”
“Really?”
“We promised each other. Never to betray until death.”
It seemed Mother and her sibling shared an incredibly special bond.
But then, why wasn’t there any sign of that sibling in the Belverk I knew?
“So, for my sibling’s sake too, I need to nip this bud early...”
As I pondered that and racked my brain on how to persuade her next—
“Big Sis!”
“...!”
“Where are you?”
Suddenly, a very frail voice called from the far end of the garden.
“You’re supposed to be in the secret garden like we promised, right?”
“......”
“It’s rare outside time... Let’s play together...”
The moment she heard that, Mother’s face—who’d been threatening me—went pale.
- Tremble tremble...
The hand holding the knife on me began to shake, then slowly lowered.
“Looking at you again, you don’t seem like much of a dangerous bud.”
“W-Why?”
I stared at her wide-eyed as she suddenly changed her tune, and her shocking answer came.
“You’re too cute compared to my brothers and sisters.”
What? Even young Mother saying that?
I’d bulked up quite a bit compared to two years ago, you know?
“And...”
Thanks to that, I’d been frowning at her, but her next words made my expression return to normal.
“I don’t want to commit another murder in front of my sibling.”
That made me understand the otherwise emotionless Mother toward almost everyone else a bit better.
Then, could I find the key here to fully awaken that halted maternal instinct?
“...I’ll let it slide just this once.”
“......”
“Leave Belverk and never show your face again.”
But finding that key seemed impossible.
“If you appear again, I’ll kill you with my own hands.”
As she said that and shoved me forward, my body was flung out of the garden like being bounced from a barrier.
Skill system emergency repair complete!
Returning to the original timeline!
“Sis?”
Obscured by the message, but right before the world flipped again, the sibling I glimpsed holding a parasol to block the sun...
‘...Huh?’
Was wearing a somewhat familiar white mask.
“...Ngh.”
As my wildly spinning vision settled back to normal, I couldn’t hold back the nausea rushing in and bent over.
“Urk... Bleeech...”
I heaved up my already empty stomach once more, and urgent voices rang out from behind.
“Kairen!”
“Kid!”
Thankfully, they weren’t the Saintess who’d infiltrated as a tutor, but Mother and Lilien.
“Are you hurt anywhere?!”
“Y-You vanished so suddenly, you scared us!”
“Haa, haa...”
Feeling relief wash over me, I hurriedly wiped my mouth with my sleeve and looked up.
“The intruder’s dead. Well, not completely finished, but...”
“Her body was just an empty shell to begin with. The real one’s elsewhere.”
“Still, we took her ability, so that’s a relief at least...”
Mother and Lilien patted my back, speaking in gentle tones.
“But it’s not over yet. If anything, this is just the beginning.”
“......”
“So first, we need an urgent family meeting...”
But at that point, I couldn’t focus on their words at all.
“Kid?”
“What’s wrong?”
Of course, I wanted to tell them I was fine, but I couldn’t for a certain reason.
Error in Skill: Retry (EX)
Side Effect: Periodic time travel to unpredictable eras.
I’ll try to fix it as fast as possible.
The system window in front of me was flashing a stark red warning.
And what it meant was all too clear.
“...I’m screwed.”
Looks like from now on, I’ll have to keep in mind the chance of getting killed by Mother from the past.