"…As long as you hold to the principles you just described."
"What about Cadet Alice?"
"I'll join as well."
"Finally! Thank you, Cadet Echinacea, Cadet Alice! I'll do my best!"
Fatima bounced with excitement, then produced two sheets of paper from somewhere inside her robe, club enrollment forms. She ran to Echi's desk for a quill and ink, then came back at speed. Her urgency made it clear she wanted signatures before anyone reconsidered.
"You've been carrying those around?"
"Of course! Basic preparation. Here!Read carefully and sign quickly!"
She held out the quill with both hands. Echi and Alice each took an application. The club rules were as simple as Fatima had described: one weekly meeting, and nothing else binding.
As they skimmed through, Fatima remembered something.
"Oh! I was in the middle of the big news. On May 30th, the day of the academy-wide ranking tournament, there's going to be a student representative election as well."
"That's only natural. The position has been vacant."
Alice tilted her head mildly. Fatima wagged a finger to indicate that wasn't the point.
"Yeah, yeah, that's not the big news. There's a strange rumor attached to it, but that's just background noise. The real shock is something else entirely."
"What strange rumor?"
"About the former representative. It's not a pleasant story. Some things were found while clearing out his room, evidence of rather serious misconduct. Apparently it's quite bad. The investigation is still ongoing, so nothing's confirmed, but honestly you're better off not knowing the details."
Alice's eyes widened. Echi clicked her tongue. Given that Ian Pelletro had assigned someone like Brad to oversee her training, she could guess the kind of things being uncovered.
Fatima clapped her hands to shift the mood.
"Anyway... the real news!"
"What is it?"
Alice handed back her signed form. Fatima answered in a voice pitched with excitement.
"Don't react too dramatically, but Commander Yurien is getting engaged. His fiancée is arriving in Azenka soon!"
Echi's hand slipped mid-signature. Ink smeared across the page.
She lifted her head blankly.
"Who? Who's getting engaged? Which commander?"
"Is there any other commander in Azenka? Commander Yurien de Harden Kyrie, of the Celestial Knights!"
Her mind went white.
While she sat in a daze, Alice and Fatima continued talking.
"That's significant news. When does his fiancée arrive?"
"Tomorrow! She's coming specifically for the engagement ceremony."
"Wait! Then she isn't actually his fiancée yet."
"Oh, come on. She's coming to become engaged, so she's practically his fiancée. I wonder when the wedding will be. It'll be grand, won't it?"
"Considering he's not only the Commander but also a prince of the empire, it would certainly be magnificent. Who is his fiancée, by the way?"
"Uh… I remember her name started with 'Dia.' Dia-something. The surname was…"
"Could it be Diassant?"
"Yes! That's it! Lady Diassant!"
Diassant. The most powerful ducal house in the Kyrie Empire. The family that had produced the current Crown Princess.
The familiar name brought Echi back to herself.
She handed Fatima the ink-smeared form. Fatima shrieked at the mess.
"What happened to it?! It's ruined! Here, sign a new one."
"Oh. Right."
Echi signed the fresh copy and handed it over. Then she looked at Fatima and Alice.
"Um... Alice, Senior Fatima. I'm a little tired…"
"Of course. We've been chattering in front of a patient. Rest up!"
"I'll come back in the evening, so don't worry and just take it easy, Echi."
"Thank you. Both of you."
Brief farewells, and they left. Alice took the tray with her.
The moment their presence faded completely, Echi sprang up and got out of bed. She swayed from dizziness but steadied herself with mana. She sat at her desk and pulled out a blank sheet of parchment and a quill.
[Was Yurien married? Even before?]
"No. Nothing like this ever happened before."
She pressed her hand against her dizzy forehead. Before the reversal, Yurien had never been engaged, let alone married. Even at the time of his death, three years from now, he had remained alone. He had never been touched by a single scandal, which was part of why so many noble ladies of the Empire had indulged in fantasies about him. The dignified Commander who had never kept anyone by his side.
And now an engagement.
A groan escaped her. A dull ache spread through her chest, and her thoughts twisted into a mess. She clenched the quill and bit her lower lip.
[Master, what are you doing? Writing a letter?]
"No. I need to… sort things out."
[Sort what?]
"The events from before I reversed time, and the ones happening now."
Something was changing. She needed to understand what was causing these changes and how they were unfolding.
A change driven by the reversal. She thought of RakiaGiosa, which may have been tracking the distortions left by KairosGiosa, and the nodes that might result from it.
Her already exhausted body felt as though the last of its reserves were being drained.
'For now… write it down. From the beginning, up to the point Yurien died.'
Echi moved her quill across the parchment, listing the erased past and the altered present side by side.
1. March 17, 1629. Early dawn - Cursed sword discovered in the Roaz estate kitchen. Present: Empty packaging only found.
2. The demon of the cursed sword appears; massacres begin across surrounding territories, starting with the Roaz family. Present: No demon appears. No casualties.
3. Spring 1629.Celestial Knights subjugate monsters; Specter raid at camp causes multiple casualties including the death of Squire Baraha Islaf. Present: Specters dealt with in advance; a node forms at camp; Ian Pelletro dies; Baraha Islaf survives; no other casualties.
After writing that much, she took a breath. She left the opening of the fourth entry blank. Something that had never happened before. In the second line, she wrote what had appeared today, unexpectedly:
Yurien de Harden Kyrie, engaged to the daughter of House Diassant.
Her handwriting wavered.
She stared at those unsteady letters for a long time. The Lady of Diassant - who was she? She knew the Diassant ducal house had produced the current Crown Princess, but a second daughter? She couldn't recall. Before the reversal she had been a count's daughter well-versed in social circles, but that had been fifteen years of a different life ago. Much had been forgotten.
'…Nicole's VIP escort must be Lady Diassant. I can ask her. Yes. That's what I'll do.'
Echi tapped the quill absently against the name, then forced herself to look away. Staring at it wasn't going to recover lost memory. She wrote the number five.
5. Discovery of El Giosa (Saintess murder case).
This had not yet occurred in the current timeline, so it might change as the past already had.
El Giosa - one of the three missing Giosa. Of those three, one was Rakia Giosa, whose location remained unknown. The second was the one fused with her own right hand. The third was El Giosa, which the Celestial Knights had discovered around this period in the erased timeline but only after its owner had been murdered. The wielder of El Giosa had been the most vulnerable of all Giosa owners, unable to protect themselves.
Since Echi had not been part of the Order at the time, she didn't know the exact details. She only knew it had happened. And she had no idea where El Giosa was now.
If she had known, she would have found it before coming to Azenka.
'…It wouldn't have mattered, though. I can't use El Giosa. And I know too little about the saintess murder to prevent it.'
She smiled bitterly.
ElGiosa, the Sword of Healing, was forged from human compassion and adorned with human love. It chose its owner regardless of swordsmanship.
Only someone who had never harbored hatred in their life could wield it. It could not harm or kill anyone. Even if it pierced a heart, no wound would form. The only person its blade could cut was its own wielder.
A sword incapable of wounding anyone but its master. Boundless love. Boundless healing.
For Echinacea, it was untouchable.
She looked at the note about the saintess murder, then shook her head and continued.
6. Winter 1631?. Imperial Demon Subjugation Force formed; all members massacred by the demon of the cursed sword.
7. Autumn 1632. Azenka annihilated by the demon of the cursed sword; all Giosa owners killed. Yurien's death.
Both of these had happened in the past. In this timeline, neither would occur. Because Echinacea was no longer the demon.
Her quill lingered on the last word.
Death. A simple word carrying enormous weight. Ink spread from the nib like a drop of blood.
She set the quill down and let out a long breath.
These were the major events she could recall, up to Yurien's death.
So much had already changed.
Which of these shifts had led to his engagement, this inexplicable thing? Too many alterations to pinpoint a cause.
Or perhaps, Yurien's engagement wasn't a side effect of the changes at all. Perhaps it was because of something else entirely.
'Yurien remembers the erased past too. What if… there was someone he loved, and regretted never confessing before he died? And this time, he acted immediately — and got engaged?'
Her thoughts tangled further, deepening her dizziness. A hollow ache settled in her chest.
It was the fever. It had to be the fever. Once she was better and thinking clearly, she would see things differently.
Echi rolled up the parchment and put it away. Then she got back into bed.
The soft mattress pulled her in, as if she were sinking.
She exhaled quietly and closed her eyes.
Behind them, she saw his face when she emerged from the node.
Like a man watching someone he had thought dead come back to life.
Like a man who, if only for a moment, looked at her with love.