Chapter 06

Eki got out of the gym and went into the garden. Even though it was the first garden she had seen in 15 years, Eki remembered the familiar structure. She was so happy that it brought tears to her eyes.

‘If it wasn’t for this damn thing, I could have enjoyed this emotion comfortably.’

She stared at the black pattern on her palm. She entered a grove of tall cypress trees and went deeper where no one else could find her. She was still anxious even with going deeper, and she jumped over the lush trees.

She kicked the ground, swung in mid-air, stepped on a tree pole once, and once more on a branch. After she jumped just three times, she landed on a branch near the distant top. She sat on a thick branch and opened her mouth, looking through her palms.

“....Vel. Answer me.”

[Call this name properly. This body is Verdergiosa!]

A twisted voice like a wobbling drunkard rang out in her soul. She hoped it didn’t answer. Eki grimaced at the familiar feeling the demon sword gave off. She was not pleased in the least.

“What kind of stupid tone is that?”

[Hunf, I’m having a hard time here. Hey, time has turned back. So, I’m going to sleep.]

“No, don’t sleep. Since I turned back time, why are you still in my hands!”

[Various....things have.....]

“Hey, go to sleep after explaining! Hey! Hey! You damned demon sword!”

At the end of its mushy voice, the words of the magical sword Verdergiosa were no longer heard.

Eki grabbed her palm and screamed, then stretched out her hand in annoyance. Following her will, the sword protruded from the black pattern.

The Giosa series mostly uses the soul of its master as its sheath. So it was possible to pull out any Giosa from empty hands at any given time, just like this. Usually it was an advantage, but to Eki, it was disgusting. The fact that she couldn’t even throw it away was close to a curse.

“Wake up, Vel.”

She grabbed its black hilt and tapped the smooth blade. She pricked the glyph and swung it haphazardly, eventually gathering mana into her hand for the purpose of beating it up.

“Huh....?”

The mana that was trying to form into a blade did not come together and was scattered. And a sharp pain ran through her body. It felt like all her muscles were twisting. Eki, who crouched down, groaned briefly and quickly understood the cause.

“My body....was this weak?”

It was a natural result. She moved her body like she used to do before coming back in time, and with a body that had not been trained at all. Even though Eki doesn’t even have a mana core that master-level knights can form, she’s been forcefully using mana.

What would have been impossible in the first place was done naturally by the mind that had reached a level higher than that of a Master.

After checking her body, she sighed. It was a body that has never lifted something heavier than a teacup. With only moving this much, the soft soles of her feet were already hurting, her muscles were screaming and a fever was rising in a body that had been forced to accept mana.

She was literally back to her old self, a Young Lady who grew beautifully under the Count.

“I’ll have to make a core first.”

Whatever the situation, being strong is definitely better than being weak. She took a stance with the intention of creating one right away. Closing her eyes she focused on moving the mana.

It didn’t take long. She drained the mana around her and quickly gathered it in her body. It naturally pooled near her solar plexus, and a mana core was formed.

It was freshly made. It was weak because there was not much accumulated mana, but it was a clear core. The majority of knights who would reach the level of master could not make a core even if they tried for a lifetime, but Eki made hers in 10 minutes.

It was simple for her, and Eki was even distracted while making it.

‘The youngest master ever was Commander Yurien. Was he 23-years-old at the time? Even when he was 23, there was so much noise, but my age now is..March 17th, 1629, I’m....a master at 20-years-old, I will have to hide it for now.’

Then she suddenly remembered something.

“March 17, 1629.....”

Today’s date given by Lancel. It was a date she couldn’t forget. Eki moaned and buried her face in her hands.

It was the dawn of March 17, 15 years ago, when she got the magic sword. So, based on the current time, I turned back to the exact same morning. It was the most terrible dawn of her life.

In the early morning of March 17, 1629, well past midnight, Eki woke up from bed. She couldn’t sleep, so she decided to drink some warm milk.

It’s funny to think of it now, but Echinacea back then was a young lady who couldn’t even warm a glass of milk with her own hands. Eki pulled the cord by her bedside to wake Nora, her exclusive maid, to ask for a warm cup of milk.

Nora went out to get her milk, but she never came back. Unable to wait, Eki left the room with only a shawl over her pajamas and went down directly to the kitchen.

She angrily opened the kitchen door, calling out her maid’s name. It was Nora holding a magic sword that greeted her.

I can’t quite remember how I managed to avoid Nora’s attack. The dark kitchen without lamps, the outlines dimly revealed by the moonlight from outside the window, the shaky vision, the screams, and the transparent blade of the sword were the only things that remained in my memory.

But the result was unforgettable. Nora fell while trying to stab her, and Eki grabbed the sword, which Nora had dropped to survive the fall. The black, cold, and smooth handle of the sword comes to mind vividly.

The moment she held it, she felt a snake-like sensation running up her body. As the feeling led her, she stabbed the sword into Nora, who was attacking her. That was Eki’s first murder.

I didn’t want to think much about what happened after that.

In the morning after that terrible dawn, no one was alive in the mansion except for her.

However, unlike then, on the morning of March 17, the gardener was grooming the garden as usual, and Lancel was being trained by a knight from the family.

“It’s changed.....how did it change?”

Eki rubbed her forehead. It was a completely different morning from before her return. But the magic sword was still in her hand. What happened in the early morning?

‘Nora. I have to check Nora.’

The first person she killed. Her heart raced. Eki jumped from the tree. The pain all over her body disappeared as soon as mana started flowing from the freshly formed core.

She headed straight to the kitchen. The kitchen, located on the outskirts of the first floor of the mansion, had a door facing the backyard, made for the daily supply of fresh ingredients. It was morning, so the delivery man and a maid were talking at the door to show that the delivery had just arrived. The maid who found Eki opened her eyes wide.

“Miss? At this early hour.....Oh my! You’re wearing pajamas.”

“Nora? Where is Nora?”

“Nora?”

The time between the maid tilting her head and opening her mouth felt very long to Eki.

“If it’s Nora, she’s over there. Nora! The lady is calling!”

The maid who was talking to the cook came running. A look of surprise spread across her freckled face.

“Miss! Are you up already?”

“....Nora.”

“Oh my God, the clothes....and, barefoot! Come here! You, turn your eyes!”

Nora grabbed Eki and threw a harsh stare at the delivery man. The man sullenly covered his face with the hat while Eki was led indoors by Nora. She dragged Eki to the bathroom and nagged at her.

“If you wake up early, you should call me, why are you walking around like that? I can’t calm down! What if you get a wound on your fair feet? But are you feeling bad somewhere? You woke up this early but you said you couldn’t sleep until dawn? If you’re sick, tell me, I’ll call Mrs. Smith.....”

It was the nagging of her exclusive maid that she had not heard in a long time. I remember vividly how she fell down, bleeding and pierced by a transparent blade, and now Nora was alive, breathing and chattering.

Eki listened to the nagging as if possessed, and then woke up in one part of it.

“Nora, wait a minute. Did I call you in the morning?”

“Don’t you remember? You couldn’t sleep, so you asked me to bring you warm milk.”

Same situation as before. I thought my heart would stop. I swallowed dry saliva and asked again.

“So, what?”

“What?”

“So, what happened?”

“I brought it to you....? Didn’t you sleep after drinking it? You couldn’t sleep? Lack of sleep is the enemy of your skin!”

Nora wrinkled her brow and looked at Eki’s face. She let out a sigh of relief as if reassured only when she saw that the skin of the young lady she was serving was as smooth and immaculate as she had cared for with great care. Eki, who was stunned, muttered.

“You brought milk? Did I drink it and went to sleep?”

“Yes. Don’t you remember?”

“....So, Nora, did you see anything strange back then?”

“Something weird? What kind of thing, ah.”

Nora, who had questioningly asked back, nodded her head as if she remembered something.

“There was an elongated package in the kitchen that I had never seen before, so I unpacked to check it because there was nothing written on it. But it was an empty package.”

“Empty package? Why is that in the kitchen?”

“I know, right. I thought the others hadn’t cleaned up the empty bag after food or bread was delivered, but when I asked in the kitchen they said they didn’t order nor had seen something like that. So I’m going to bring it to the butler.”

The empty package originally contained a magic sword. Eki intuitively realized that fact. This time, the demon sword was already within her, that’s why Nora didn’t find anything. So this has become a different morning than before.

‘I obviously asked to be sent to a past where I killed nobody. So it should have been early in dawn before killing Nora? Why did I wake up when it was already morning, and this damn demon sword is with me instead of being inside of the original package?’

“....Do you have that package now?”

“Yes. This is it.”

Nora rustled and pulled out a folded wad of paper. Eki quickly reached out her hand.

“Give it to me.”

“What?”

“I will take care of it.”

“Yes.....”

Nora tilted her head, but gently held it out. Eki took a step and looked at the paper.

It was just plain paper and string used to wrap things in a shopping mall. A length that seems to be wrapped around a very elongated object. I spread it out and measured the length. As expected, it must have contained a magic sword.

Who the hell brought a magic sword to Count Roaz’s kitchen? Why? For what?

There was no way they would have aimed at her. Echinacea herself didn’t know that she was a sword genius. It was impossible for anyone to know her talent because she was a person who had never even done simple swordsmanship as an exercise, it was even more crazy to think that someone deliberately brought a magic sword to her.

Then why? I had to figure this out.

‘I don’t know who you are....but I will not forgive you.’