Crossed Paths
The father and daughter, Ainz and Scadia, fell into despair.
Though her body had always been frail due to a long-term illness, nothing truly serious had happened in the ten years since her birth. Her condition had simply deteriorated sharply over the course of a few months.
Even while drowning in grief, Ainz barely managed to pull himself together and proceed with the funeral arrangements. On the day of the service, countless guests flocked to the Maryland estate—including, of course, the Priulri family.
Luan looked at her with concern and tried to comfort her.
“Scadia, are you okay? This must be really hard on you.”
“…….”
“Scadia?”
But Scadia, lost in her sorrow, didn’t respond properly to his words. She simply remained silent. Only after several hours had passed did she wander around looking for him in regret—but she wished she hadn’t.
“Sister! I mastered all of the seventh form yesterday. Pretty good, right?”
“Yeah… But I have to go now. Father is calling for me.”
“Really? Then let’s go together!”
“No. I have to go alone. Sorry.”
“I-I see. Then I’ll wait for you! You’ll come right back after you’re done talking, right?”
“…Alright. See you later.”
Luan stared intently at Isis’s retreating figure. The overwhelming obsession, dependence, and desperate emotion radiating from him reached Scadia in an instant.
He never clung to me like that.
She was the one who had ignored him, yet the stark difference in how he treated her compared to Isis left her bitterly disappointed. The conviction that Luan loved Isis and not her grew even stronger.
Scadia wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks and left the spot.
After that, time flowed mercilessly on.
Roughly two months later, Scadia finally reached the conclusion that it was okay even if Luan loved Isis. Even if she wasn’t his first, as long as she could receive even the tiniest bit of his love, that would be enough. After all, the two were siblings, so legally she could still become his wife.
After comforting herself like that, only a few weeks passed before the letters Luan had been sending her at regular intervals suddenly stopped.
At first, she was worried. She thought something must have happened to him. But she reasoned that if it were truly serious, word would have reached her long ago.
So the next emotion that surfaced was fear. She was terrified that Luan might have completely abandoned her.
She couldn’t possibly ask Ian to confirm it. That was why she wanted to go see him immediately, but Scadia hesitated to make the choice. She was worried about Count Ainz.
Ever since Countess Lucina’s death, he had spent every day drowning in alcohol. He looked like he might follow her at any moment if she took her eyes off him even for a second, so she couldn’t leave his side.
Eventually, after three more months had passed, Scadia could no longer suppress her longing for Luan. Taking only her escort with her, she crossed the snowy mountains and headed for the Priulri estate.
“He’ll be so surprised, right?”
Scadia wore a playful smile as she adjusted her hairpin with an expression full of excitement. It was an exquisitely crafted butterfly hairpin.
And so, when she finally arrived at the estate, the one who greeted her was the butler. His face was noticeably flustered.
“My lady Scadia? What brings you here so suddenly?”
“I came to see Luan. It’s been over six months since I last saw his face. Where is he?”
“He… is still asleep. Would you wait in the reception room for a moment? I’ll bring the young master right away.”
“No, that won’t be necessary. I’ll go wake him myself.”
“M-My lady!”
Brushing off the butler’s call with ease, Scadia headed toward Luan with a hardened expression.
Something feels off.
No matter how sudden her visit was, the butler had seen her many times before, yet he was far too agitated. It was as if she wasn’t supposed to be here right now.
Her rapidly rising anxiety made her heart pound wildly. Thump! Thump! With every step she took, the beating grew stronger. By the time she reached the front of Luan’s room, it had become as loud as thunder.
“Haa… Hoo…”
After taking a deep breath, she bit her lip hard instead of knocking and threw the door open.
Creeeeak—
The moment the door opened felt like an eternity.
The first thing that caught her eye was the mess of clothes scattered haphazardly across the floor. Luan’s garments and a maid’s uniform tangled intricately together stood out in particular.
When she shifted her gaze to the bed, she saw two people.
Long, snow-white legs. A narrow waist. Voluptuous breasts. Beautiful features.
An unfamiliar maid lay there completely naked. Beside her, Luan—also without a single thread on his body—slept soundly.
Perhaps from working hard all night, his member, stained with all kinds of bodily fluids, stood rigidly erect and radiated heat.
It was irrefutable evidence that needed no excuses whatsoever.
“Ah…”
Scadia let out a small sigh.
Her vision twisted and warped. Tears flowed from rage and betrayal. For a moment she even wondered if this was a dream.
But reality was reality. No matter how much she rubbed her eyes, the scene before her didn’t change.
Scadia became certain.
Luan doesn’t love me.
Until now, she had believed his love had simply shifted to Isis. But that wasn’t it. He had simply grown tired of her.
The promise that he would love only her for the rest of his life had been discarded like a worthless rag. What he needed wasn’t her—it was simply a woman’s body to soothe him for one night.
The moment she realized that, Scadia regained her composure with shocking speed, as if the sorrow she felt had been meaningless. Her trembling heart froze over coldly, isolating every emotion.
Before she knew it, her face had become expressionless. She wiped away her tears, turned around, and left.
Creeeeak— Click!
The door closed. At the same time, the door to her heart slammed shut as well.
From then on, Scadia no longer held any lingering feelings for Luan.
“I won’t believe anymore.”
Scadia left the Priulri estate that very day. And she never visited again.
Years later, it was revealed that an overly loyal retainer of Isis had bribed the maid and the butler to orchestrate the whole thing. But Scadia’s heart remained unchanged.
Because by then, Luan no longer held any meaning in her heart.
And so, the two of them met their tragic end.
Another memory once again clouded my mind.
I examined the sins this body had committed in the past and quietly closed my mouth with a bitter expression. Honestly, I couldn’t say I didn’t understand.
At the time, Luan Priulri had clearly been driven to the edge of a cliff. His swordsmanship had stagnated, his relationship with his fiancée had grown distant, and Isis had begun avoiding him. He had been completely isolated.
Wanting to fill that loneliness with someone else’s warmth was, in a way, a natural psychological response. That it had taken the form of mixing flesh with another woman was inexcusable, though.
And if he was going to do it, he should have at least not gotten caught.
Sigh. What an idiot.
The thoughts that had begun with sympathy ended in contempt.
In the meantime, we arrived at the central staircase.
“Then I’m off.”
“Yeah.”
Alissa disappeared down the stairs without a hint of reluctance.
I looked at Deborah.
“You’re not going?”
“Um… There’s something I want to talk about. Will you come with me?”
“Right now?”
“Yes. It’s important.”
Deborah’s demeanor was calm. Her clear purple eyes had sunk deeply, as if they could see through everything about me.
Sensing something from her expression, I slowly nodded.
“Alright. Where should we go?”
“There’s a walking path behind the building. Follow me.”
Deborah took the lead, and we left the dormitory and reached the path.
We walked along it in silence. And when we had put enough distance between ourselves and the dormitory that no presence could be felt around us, Deborah finally spoke.
“Luan. Do you know?”
“Know what?”
“Huh?”
“I don’t know.”
“…….”
If she asked out of nowhere, how was I supposed to know? When I shrugged with that exact expression, Deborah pouted her lips.
“You’re no fun.”
“I wasn’t trying to be funny.”
“Anyway, just listen to what I have to say first!”
“I’m listening.”
After I kept responding to every single word without missing a beat, Deborah let out a sigh and reset the mood.
“You know about my Yeojian, right?”
“Yeah. Come to think of it, I heard some information about the Witch of Starlight from the Saintess not long ago. Are you her successor by any chance?”
When I asked with half certainty, Deborah widened her eyes in surprise before giving a faint smile.
“…That’s right. My master said that I was the one who received the blessing of starlight in this generation.”
“I see. But why bring up the Yeojian all of a sudden?”
“Well, you see… Actually…”
Deborah trailed off, then suddenly brought her hand to her eye, removed the lens, and stared at me with her sparkling purple eyes that held starlight within them.
I couldn’t help but be shocked. The girl who had lost her parents at a young age and developed trauma, refusing to use her Yeojian, was now voluntarily peering into the future.
Deborah blinked several times while observing me, then asked a question.
“Luan. What do you think I’m seeing right now?”
“…Who knows. Me raping another woman?”
As I spoke, I felt a wave of shame. Even though Deborah already knew my true identity, having it exposed like this wasn’t pleasant. I hoped desperately that the future she had seen ended simply at me committing rape. If she had seen anything beyond that, I wouldn’t be able to lift my head in front of her.
Amid my anxiety, Deborah let out a small laugh.
“Pfft! Unfortunately, that’s not it.”
“Then?”
It was a relief that it wasn’t rape, but another kind of worry immediately crept in. It wasn’t me in the bathroom, was it? Since she was laughing, I assumed it wasn’t some dirty, unpleasant scene, but I couldn’t be sure. For all I knew, Deborah might actually have a thing for scat play.
As if she had read my inner thoughts, Deborah suddenly narrowed her eyes.
“What are you thinking? Your eyes look weird.”
“I wasn’t thinking anything. So what did you see?”
She scrutinized my face suspiciously for a moment before finally getting to the point.
“Nothing.”
“What?”
“I couldn’t see anything. Luan’s future is invisible to me.”
“Invisible…?”
My expression hardened.
What does that mean?
There was no way Deborah’s Yeojian wouldn’t work on me, so there had to be another reason. Why couldn’t it see my future?
While I was lost in thought, I suddenly felt Deborah’s persistent gaze. She looked at me with great interest, as if she knew exactly what I was thinking. When our eyes met, she smiled sweetly and dropped a bombshell.
“Luan. You’re a transmigrator, aren’t you?”
My heart sank with a heavy thud.