Chapter 36
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: The One and Only Future
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When I opened my eyes, the familiar ceiling came into view.
The ornate marble ceiling I'd seen ever since becoming Tristan Ruelverta.
I sat up.
Bright sunlight poured onto my face from the window outside.
It was morning.
I stretched.
How long had I slept?
My head felt clear.
I couldn't remember the last time I'd slept this refreshingly.
But...
Something felt off.
If my memory was correct, I'd just been locked in a bloody duel with Blanche.
I'd taken a fatal wound to the abdomen and barely clung to life using 'Patience.'
"Lucky..."
It felt like I'd walked a tightrope right on the edge of death.
Aside from the bare minimum Patience needed to stay alive, I'd poured everything into fighting Blanche.
If I'd failed to maintain that balance, I would've died by her hand.
But I'd survived that fight.
I didn't even remember much of the end.
I recalled asking Wendy to call a carriage...
Did she bring me back to the mansion?
I lifted my nightshirt slightly to check the stabbed area on my abdomen.
Hm?
There wasn't a single scar.
That was when it happened.
Knock knock.
"Count, are you awake?"
The moment I saw the woman enter through the door, my face twisted.
"Wendy..."
"Yes, Count."
The girl who'd become Tristan's exclusive maid at a young age... well, not anymore.
Wendy was no longer a girl.
She had become a lady.
"Did you sleep well?"
Wendy brushed her side-swept hair back and smiled.
Her face radiated the innocent charm unique to youth.
Her neatly tied pigtails sparkled in the sunlight.
Her beauty rivaled Lady Bella's.
The crybaby klutz girl was nowhere to be seen.
Only the poised lady, Wendy, remained.
Wendy giggled as she looked at me.
"You must've been exhausted yesterday, Count. You didn't even need nighttime service and just passed out."
I pressed a hand to my temple.
An indescribable irritation surged through me.
"...Come here."
"Yes, Count."
Wendy walked over with clicking heels.
Her gait was so seductive, I wondered if this was really the Wendy I'd known.
"Come closer."
"Yes, as you command."
Wendy climbed onto the bed.
Her eyes fixed on me.
I reached out and stroked her cheek.
"Wendy..."
"Yes. Give me your orders, CouAaaah! Why are you pinching me?!"
I pinched her.
"Enough with the cheap melodrama."
"...Hmph, you don't get it. With all my personalities, how could I not act?"
"Wendy isn't that frivolous. Michaela."
At those words, the Wendy lookalikeMichaelalaughed.
"That's true now. But it could change depending on what you do."
"Change?"
"Yeah. This form of mine is just one of Wendy's many futures. What do you think? Pretty great, right?"
Michaela hopped onto the bed and spun around in Wendy's form.
Her skirt swayed precariously at my eye level.
So this was what Wendy would look like in about ten years.
"Indeed..."
It felt like seeing my grown daughter, stirring something in my chest.
Was this what being a dad felt like...?
But Michaela's voice grew slightly somber.
"Well... it's a happy future she was never supposed to have."
I understood what Michaela meant.
In both the original novel and the game scenario, Wendy was fated to die.
Her life was filled with misfortune.
Born into a poor farming family, she grew up struggling, came to the city for work, and ended up employed by the Ruelverta familyinfamous for its worst noble.
From then on, Wendy suffered Tristan's brutal abuse.
Her possible futures were only dying beaten to death, succumbing to illness, or perishing in some accidental fire.
Even with the bloodline of the world-saving hero, the world never saved her.
"But recently, she gained a new future. One that didn't exist until just a little while ago."
In that instant, Wendy vanished, replaced by a golden-haired girl.
The otherworldly goddess with all personalities, Michaela's true form.
She grinned.
"Loser, it's the future you created."
"I did?"
"Yeah. Not just heryou've already created new futures for so many characters. Like this."
Michaela clapped, and the room's lights went out.
Countless motes of light appeared in the air.
Like colorful fireflies, they floated between us.
"These are fragments of the futures I hold. All characters' futures look like this. And..."
The drifting lights gathered toward her.
But they were all dull shades, some even fading.
"These are Wendy's futures. You can tell at a glance how bleak they are, right?"
I nodded.
All her futures were dark or tainted.
"And... this is the future you created."
The light in Michaela's hand shone a pure rainbow hue.
It resembled Wendy's mana, warmly illuminating the surroundings.
"I'm happy she has even one happy future now."
Michaela smiled.
"I think I get a little why She sent you here."
She... my sister, huh.
The only god the absolute goddess Michaela believed in was my little sister.
The creator of this world who shoved me into it.
Michaela looked positively ecstatic, as if interpreting a divine oracle.
"As expected, everything She does has a reason. You get what I mean, right?"
No, not at all.
"More importantly, where is this place?"
"It's like paradise. Not the living world, not the afterlife."
"But you must have some business with me?"
"Business...? What are you talking about? Loser, you came to"
Michaela tilted her head, then clapped as realization dawned.
"Oh, right. You being here means you're on the brink of death."
"What?"
On the brink of death?
What was that supposed to mean?
Michaela giggled.
"You'll figure it out soon. Remember this: at the end of your limits, I'll always be waiting."
The room rapidly darkened.
The surrounding lights flickered out one by one.
"I'm your trial."
My voice wouldn't come out.
Only Michaela's echoed.
"You'll probably survive this time by luck... but who knows about next. Stay on your toes, loser."
Clap.
With the sound of applause, I opened my eyes.
The ceiling appeared again.
The difference was that it was unfamiliar.
A pure white ceiling.
What?
"...!"
I tried to sit up, but winced from the sharp pain in my abdomen.
I tried to touch my stomach with my right hand, but it wouldn't move.
"...Wendy."
Wendy was sleeping beside me.
Not as an adult, but as a young girl, clutching my right hand tightly in her sleep.
Only then did I realize I was in a hospital room.
My abdominal wound was wrapped in bandages.
A wound that nearly killed me.
I'd reached the limit of 'Patience' and lost consciousness.
Wendy's state was pitiful too.
Her eyes were swollen from crying, her maid uniform stained with dried blood, and her arms and legs covered in scrapes from what must've been a fall.
I didn't remember, but I could guess the situation.
I gazed quietly at Wendy's sleeping face as she breathed softly.
Michaela's vision of her grown into a lady overlapped with it.
If this girl grew up, she'd surely become that beautiful.
I placed my hand on her youthful cheek.
It was warm.
"Uuuh... I'm sorry for being useless..."
Wendy whimpered softly, pulling my hand closer.
She must be having a nightmare.
After admiring her dazed expression enough, I pinched her cheek.
"Aaah?! Hwoah!?"
"Get up already."
"...Huh?"
Her half-lidded eyes looked up at me.
It didn't take long for her sleep-fogged eyes to widen.
"C-Count?!"
"My head's pounding, so don't yell."
With quick reflexes, I grabbed a nearby pillow and clamped it over her mouth.
"Mmph... Mmm! Puhah!"
"I hate noise. So..."
"C-Count!!!"
Wendy burst into tears and threw herself into my arms.
I tried to dodge, but my body hurt too much to move.
This girl doesn't listen at all...
"I'm so glad... So glad... Hic..."
I'm suffocating...
Who knew this little body had such strength.
"Don't make a fuss. I'm alive, aren't I?"
"Hic... I-I thought you were d-dead... The doctor said you almost didn't make it... Hic..."
Yeah. I nearly died.
I held out with 'Patience' as long as I could, but the limit came.
Holding on that long was impressive.
Bella kept talking to me, and I had to brush her off.
Otherwise, I'd have collapsed right in front of her.
"How long was I out?"
"You collapsed the evening before last... It's evening now... Sob."
Wendy kept clinging, leaving me immobile.
This was awkward.
I couldn't just push her away with magic...
I had no choice but to stay put until she calmed down.
Stroking her small head.
But... was that a weird smell?
Looking around, I realized the source.
"Wendy..."
"Y-Yes...? Sniff..."
Wendy looked up at me, swallowing her sobs.
I spoke to the loyal girl who'd stayed by my side since the day before last.
"Go wash up first."