Time Paradox
"F-Frey."
The young Irina, sitting in the lobby with a dazed expression, spotted Frey and rose unsteadily to her feet, her face drained of color.
"What's wrong, Irina?"
Frey asked calmly, and she began stammering out her story, at a complete loss.
"Th-that werewolf that was chasing us back then..."
"Yeah, what about it?"
"...You really don't know what it was?"
Frey replied in an even tone as he listened, but she pressed on.
"You've been talking nonsense like this for a while now. It was just a feral werewolf that happened to wander into the mountains. It's dead, we're safe—end of story."
"Frey."
But Irina cut him off, her voice trembling as she continued.
"I... I actually saw it back then."
"Saw what?"
"...The werewolf, halfway back to its true form."
Frey's face twisted for a split second at her words, but he soon tilted his head in confusion.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"And you, down on your knees in a stupor right in front of it."
"What the hell does that even—"
"I was only pretending to be unconscious back then."
She confessed with a face pale as death.
"I figured since things had gone that far, I might as well play dead for a bigger reward..."
"...Ah."
"So I saw everything. Heard everything. That werewolf... it was, in truth... actually..."
Irina trailed off there.
"...Eek."
As Frey's composure finally cracked, she collapsed back into her seat, terror-stricken.
"Irina."
Frey gazed at her.
"It was just a werewolf."
"What?"
"We were just playing around there when we ran into a werewolf... no, a wolf."
"You're telling me to believe that... right now..."
"I was the one who got us lost, I was the one who beat the wolf. It was all me."
"...Ugh."
"You were protecting me—you've got nothing to feel guilty about."
His voice shook as he picked up the scroll.
- Rip!!
"Got it?"
He tore the scroll right in front of Irina as she opened her mouth to protest.
"...Mm."
And moments later.
"What're you doing here, Frey? When did you get back?"
Young Irina rubbed her eyes and glanced warily at Frey standing before her.
"Just now."
"Oh? I see. Um, well..."
As Frey answered with a straight face, she trailed off, then flushed slightly.
"Y-you look kinda wiped... Wanna grab some fish?"
"Sorry, I'm a bit busy right now."
"Oh? Uh, yeah... okay..."
He replied coolly once more, then turned to the young version of himself staring blankly from the side.
"Let's go."
"Clana and Perloché are in the reception room."
"......."
"Mage?"
"Y-yeah."
Only then did Irina snap out of it and hurry after Frey as he walked off slowly.
"She looks way too much like me..."
".....!"
But she froze at the cold mutter from behind.
"Nah, couldn't be."
'What comes next in that sentence...'
A hazy memory from the first timeline—his childhood—flashed through his mind.
"'My boobs aren't that big anyway.'"
Just as in that memory, young Irina whispered it, and Irina's eyes widened in shock.
"...What the hell?"
That was when Irina began sensing something was off.
"Mage, hurry up!"
"...Yeah, okay."
But before she could dwell on it, Frey tugged her toward the reception room.
"Frey, what's wrong? You look awful."
"Get a grip! The princess and saintess are right here!"
"...Sorry."
Frey and Irina entered the reception room, where Clana and Perloché waited. He bowed his head in apology.
"Are you really okay...?"
"What's going on? Are you sick or something?"
They hadn't heard about Frey's mother's passing yet, but his mournful bow filled their faces with worry.
"I have something to tell you both."
"Huh? What is it—"
Frey bit his lip to steel himself, but then...
"W-wait a sec."
Perloché stood with a troubled look.
"I... gotta use the bathroom."
"...Oh, sure."
Frey nodded stiffly, and she bolted from the room.
".........""
A heavy silence fell over Frey, Clana, and Irina in the corner.
"Princess, do you remember?"
"Remember what?"
"The oath we made in the forest."
Clana smiled brightly at Frey's question.
"Of course. I serve you, and you make me emperor."
"...You remember."
"Ahem, about that, actually."
Clana eyed his grave expression, cleared her throat, and spoke softly.
"By the oath, I have to become emperor somehow... but I also have to serve you, right?"
"Yes."
"Even if you're the Starlight heir, an emperor serving someone personally? That's bound to raise issues."
She looked troubled, then glanced sideways slyly.
"So I thought it over... and there's one perfect solution."
"Princess."
"I-if I... take you as my husband..."
"Hah..."
Frey sighed deeply, making Clana flinch, sweat beading on her brow as she pressed on.
"D-don't get the wrong idea! We're just friends. This is only to honor the oath. If you don't like it, I can find another way..."
"Clana."
"...Hweh?"
Frey cut off her rambling by calling her name.
"I'm... sorry."
His face twisted in pain as he slammed his head on the table.
"We never should've made that oath... No, I shouldn't have gone to your tea party at all..."
"F-Frey?"
"If I'd known it'd come to this, I never would've crossed paths with you... I'm sorry. Truly sorry."
Clana stared in confusion, but before she could respond...
"What are you even—"
"The mage said it. This memory alteration magic erases what you want to forget... but the memories you don't want to lose? They linger in some form."
Frey's voice trembled on.
"Even with this scroll, our connection will stick. If we could just be strangers, it'd be easier for both of us..."
"Frey...?"
Clana didn't understand, but she felt his sorrow acutely.
"I don't know what's going on, but I'll help you. If your friend stands with you, we can figure it out—"
She reached tentatively for his bowed head, but...
"Still, better than nothing, I suppose."
Frey tore the scroll in half.
- Shaa...
"F-Frey? What's this? What did you do to me... Ah..."
Clana's voice faded amid swirling colors, and Frey, slumped over the table, murmured.
"...Mage sis."
He called softly to Irina in the corner.
"Take care of Perloché... and everyone else."
"H-huh?"
His expression was utter agony.
"I wanted to say goodbye before altering my memories, but I can't do it."
"Ah..."
"I'm so sorry to Perloché, my sister, and everyone... but if I adjust their memories myself, I'll chicken out halfway."
He clawed at his hair, voice raw.
"I won't ask much. Just tell them... I loved them, I'm sorry, and let's meet again."
"........."
"Please, I—"
As he bowed his head...
"...Skip Serena's scroll."
"What?"
"That one... I have to do myself."
He staggered to his feet.
"Frey..."
Irina watched him leave the room with heavy steps, pity in her eyes.
"This... this is so unfair."
She stared out the window.
"Why dump it all on Frey? Why? The Demon God runs rampant, and what are you doing?"
Her face twisted in hatred, but she cut off with a hollow laugh.
"Why make him suffer this tragedy..."
"Ha... haha... hahaha..."
The sun had already dipped below the horizon, mockingly.
"Um, excuse me!"
"...Ah."
Irina, fists clenched and lips bleeding from biting them, turned as young Perloché poked her back.
"Where's Frey?"
"Frey wanted me to tell you..."
"Huh?"
She gripped the scroll he'd given her.
"He loves you, he's sorry."
She closed her eyes tight.
"And..."
"'...Let's meet again.'"
She tore the scroll in two.
".......Huh?"
Or tried to.
"Gugu!!"
A familiar white pigeon swooped in and snatched it from her grasp.
"...Hah."
The night Irina infiltrated Frey's trial.
"What a fulfilling day!"
Perloché Astellade stretched in her dorm, plopping into her desk chair.
"Time for today's journal..."
She beamed innocently, quill in hand as always—but then.
"Gugu... gu..."
"Huh?"
Her pet pigeon flew through the window, and her eyes widened.
"Gugu! Where've you been, you come back n—"
She crossed her arms sternly, but...
"Gasp!"
Seeing its battered state, she leaped up.
"What happened to you!!"
'Finally... the time has come.'
Her expression shifted.
- Shaa...
"Gugu! Who did this? That violent owl again?"
'I've repeated it endlessly, desperately reaching this endpoint... and now I'm here.'
She infused divine power into the pigeon while her spoken words clashed with her thoughts.
"No helping it! Come in! Your wounds are too bad!"
'Do you remember? You remember. Of course you do.'
One hand pressed the now-white pigeon mass to her heart; the other unfurled the magic scroll from the merchant.
"I remember. Completely. Down to every syllable, I can recreate it perfectly."
Her mutterings turned to raw truth, beyond thought or subconscious.
"First and last chance. Fail, and there's no next time. It's all over."
Her face paled as she whispered on.
"Must fulfill all five conditions of enlightenment. Can I? Can I really pull this off—"
- Kugrrrumble...
"...Hah."
She scoffed as the sky shook.
"Finally noticed, Demon God? Guess I was shouting pretty loud."
- Kugooong!
"Rage all you want—it'll all be undone."
- Kugugooong!!
"I'm fleeing into the trial you tricked me with as a 'fake world'—straight into the past."
With that, Perloché finished.
"Time to go."
Tears streamed from her eyes.
"Down the one path to give you a happy ending."
She whispered softly.
"...Retry."
And the world flipped.
"Good job, Gugu."
Perloché gently stroked the pigeon that had snatched Irina's scroll.
"Wh-what!?"
Irina gaped at her in bewilderment.
"Irina."
Perloché ignored her, face icy.
"Did you know?"
"Know what?"
"That the dazzling sun... is just one of countless stars in the sky."
She pulled the magic scroll from her bosom—recreated perfectly, word for word—and handed it over.