"Every time the future is changed, it demands the life of someone you hold most dear. The less likely the new future, the more people must die. One who uses the 'Eye of the Future' will ultimately gain everything, only to lose everything."
Anna said softly.
Her closest person was her sister, Annie. She would never sacrifice her sister's life just to change the fact that she was one of the Heartless, and Annie felt the same.
Therefore, even if they obtained the Sequence Six Eye of the Future, they would be unable to change their own destinies.
Because they could not pay the price to change their fate.
Lian thought of that old man, Moria, surrounded by wives and concubines, yet with no children playing at his knees.
'Did all his children die because of this?'
'Surely not? If that were the case, why didn't anyone notice?'
"Are the dead erased from existence?"
Lian asked.
Annie shook her head. "No."
"The Eye of the Future has another function,"
Anna continued,
"It can replicate projections of the dead, allowing them to appear alive and accompany the wielder. However, they can only mechanically repeat things they have done before; they will have no new thoughts or actions. And once the truth of their death is exposed, they will shatter, never to return."
'How utterly cruel. First, you cause the deaths of those closest to you, only to be forced to face projections of them, forever living in the past.'
'This isn't a blessing at all, it's a curse, isn't it?'
As Lian mulled this over, he suddenly recalled the odd behavior of Moria's wives at the ball.
They were at the ball, yet they had no interaction with him. When Moria introduced him, they paid him no mind. At the time, Lian had just assumed they were accustomed to a pampered lifestyle and looked down on him, an illegitimate child from the countryside.
'Thinking back, could they have been repeating a ball from the past?'
'If that's the case, were they already dead?'
'Is that why Moria was having affairs with half the noblewomen in Green Shade Territory?'
Moria constantly formed intimate relationships with the women around him. Only then could he keep using the "Eye of the Future."
'And the people closest to Moria would die, one by one, just like those wives, just like his children!'
'Holy shit! That old bastard!'
'He'd better not use the 'Eye of the Future' again. If everyone around him dies off, won't I be next?'
'Wait, wait… Is that why the original owner of this body died?'
'Fundamentally, I'm not really that old man's child anymore, am I?'
'No, I can't be complacent. This body, this flesh and blood, it all belongs to Lian Moria. In terms of blood ties, I'm still one of that old man's closest relatives.'
To verify his suspicions, Lian tentatively asked,
"Anna, Annie, have Lord Moria's wives and concubines shown any strange behavior?"
"They throw parties every day and always say similar things,"
Annie said.
"They are already dead."
Anna concluded. "Lord Moria simply doesn't want anyone to know the truth, so he uses the Gift to maintain the image of their existence."
Lian's brow furrowed, a barely perceptible motion.
'Since Moria can choose the future most advantageous to him from countless possibilities, was my appearance here also part of his choice?'
'Does he have the power to save Green Shade Territory, yet he still chose to flee with the Gift?'
'What is he really trying to do?'
'To learn the whole truth, I have to find Moria.'
'But there's still a mountain of problems waiting for me in Green Shade Territory.'
"Lord Lian, you could have Annie go bring Lord Moria back."
Anna saw Lian's concerns and said,
"As long as you become the new wielder of the 'Eye of the Future,' you will not die."
"Since he can see the future and change it, he naturally has ways to avoid your pursuit."
Lian thought it over rationally and concluded that, for now, the best course of action was no action.
'If Annie actually manages to catch up to that old man, and he decides he doesn't want to be caught, he could just change the future again—which would probably increase the odds of my death.'
'Since he had me take over the position of Lord, he probably won't let me die in the short term. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten intimate with so many noblewomen. He's also trying to increase my chances of survival.'
Lian rubbed his temples and continued to ask,
"Is the butler, Denis, one of your people?"
Anna and Annie shook their heads in unison.
"Mr. Denis has followed Lord Moria for twenty years and is loyal to Lord Moria."
"Did you see him leave with my father?"
"No. After Lord Moria left, Mr. Denis also disappeared."
"Has Denis acted strangely at all?"
"No, Mr. Denis is very normal. The things he does each day seem the same, but they're actually different. He's a living person,"
Anna said with certainty.
"Mr. Denis likes to grow flowers. When a new flower blooms in his garden, he personally names it. Every flower has a different name,"
Annie added.
'What kind of boring person names every single flower?'
'Fine, that only proves he's really alive. But why did he disappear?'
Lian rubbed his temples again. Yet another mystery had been added to the pile.
"Besides the seal, did my father really leave me nothing else? Like a letter or a message?"
Lian asked suspiciously.
Anna and Annie nodded in unison.
"Impossible. He must have left something."
'If Moria really left nothing, wouldn't he be afraid? Afraid that I'd learn the truth about Sequence Six and come after him recklessly, messing up the future he so carefully chose?'
Lian stood up, paced back and forth, and then began to rummage through the bedroom, searching for any clue Moria might have left behind.
"You goddamn riddler! I hate people who talk in riddles!"
"What are you looking for? Do you need help?"
Anna asked.
Annie also watched Lian curiously.
"A letter. The letter my father left for me."
Lian turned back to look at the twin maids and Sophie. "You all help me search, too."
The three nodded slightly and joined the search.
The entire bedroom, including a bathtub large enough for four people, was searched from top to bottom, but the letter was nowhere to be found.
"Was I wrong? Or was the letter not hidden in the bedroom, but somewhere else?"
Lian set down his small knife. He had already sliced open the decorative paintings and maps on the walls, yet he still hadn't found so much as a single note left by Moria.
"Lord Lian, are you certain Lord Moria left you a message?"
Anna asked.
Lian nodded. "I'm sure of it."
"Given Lord Moria's personality, he would have likely put it in the most obvious place,"
Anna said.
Lian froze for a moment. He found his only ornate jacket, reached into a pocket, and sure enough, his fingers brushed against a letter.
He suddenly began to doubt his supposed 120-plus IQ.
'Smart people just love to overthink things.'
'So that old man never intended to hide the letter at all!'
Lian tore open the envelope, pulled out the white letter paper, and read the contents—