Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

Time passed and it was now fully winter.

“Coming through, make way!”

From early morning, there were people running hurriedly through the Rayes mansion.

They were the mages of the magical tool development team.

The laboratory that was initially worked in by Rizen alone was now bustling with his assistants.

Rizen, who used to bear the label of Magic Tower dropout and failed mage, had now become a mage second to none in the Empire.

As the magical tool business thrived, they quickly became short-handed, and at Ria’s suggestion, Rizen brought in mages in similar situations to form a team.

The Rayes magical tool development team was spending busy days due to the approaching New Year’s festival and the resulting increase in demand for magical heaters.

Watching this scene through the window, Ria drank hot chocolate personally brewed by the Duke.

Her body relaxed comfortably at the sweet scent.

“The president seems to be doing well.”

At Ria’s words, Duke Rayes nodded.

The father and daughter with identical silver hair particularly suited winter.

Their silver hair, unforgettable once seen, was as brilliant as the snow fluttering outside the window.

Even their posture holding teacups was similar, so Drehan, who was standing guard beside them, smiled and said:

“It seems the consumer segments have clearly been divided thanks to the magical heaters developed as luxury items.”

“Yes. There will no longer be scarcity among commoners, and the dissatisfaction of nobles and merchants will decrease as well.”

Rizen was a much more capable mage than Ria had thought.

And he was a trustworthy person.

Rizen cast a binding spell on himself for Ria, who was worried he might be kidnapped again.

With one call from Ria, Rizen would be summoned by the binding spell no matter where he was.

It was usually a spell that nobles cast on their loyal servants.

At first, Ria tried to dissuade Rizen, saying there was no need to go that far.

-I’ll stay by your side until my hair turns gray, Miss! If you keep refusing, I’m scared I’ll be abandoned again…

Seeing Rizen’s pitiful appearance like a puppy with drooping ears, Ria couldn’t refuse any longer.

Did he think she would consider him a nuisance if another kidnapping occurred?

Rizen was quite blindly obedient to Ria, so he finally smiled brightly as he handed Ria the leash of the binding spell.

‘The president must have pure madness no less than Luka…’

Ria recalled what had happened recently as she took another sip of the warm hot chocolate.

* * *

A gold-embossed invitation fluttered on the desk in the winter wind.

The New Year’s festival, which was approaching soon, was a large-scale celebration hosted by the imperial family to commemorate the first day of the new year.

‘Luka and I will each grow a year older… And Luka’s final succession test will begin.’

That was the beginning of war.

Although it was considered a somewhat barbaric succession method, there were no forces opposing the Greffin Empire, called the conqueror of the continent.

I felt uneasy and looked back at the ancient book I had been reading.

The interpretation of the parchment found with the Elven Stone was now almost complete.

“To summarize, when the regressed person meets all three mediators, their memories return.”

The time prank I saw at the clock tower.

There, I was clearly reading the Elf King’s stone tablet.

‘Moreover, since then I’ve been able to read elven language that I didn’t know at all before.’

It was a natural progression to become certain that I might be involved, whether as the regressor or a mediator.

‘Then will the memories from before the regression return someday?!’

Thinking about it again, that was the case.

I jumped up from the bed and almost rolled off to the side.

The secret of birth, no, the secret of regression discovered after 15 years of reincarnation?!

I’m not sure if I should say it’s amazing or troublesome.

I was dumbfounded for a while before finally coming to my senses.

What would my time that I don’t know about feel like?

“There’s a mark on the back of the mediators’ hands that only the regressor can see. When the regressor absorbs all of them… the memories return.”

I spoke aloud the last part that I had read many times.

Until now, I had no idea what would happen to me at the New Year’s festival.

* * *

“Miss, you need to wake up.”

At a gentle voice, I opened my eyes groggily.

“You’re already sixteen, Miss. Time really flies.”

New light for the new year shone through the wide open curtains.

Today was the day of the New Year’s festival.

“I don’t seem any different…”

Garnett chuckled as she looked at me stumbling out of bed.

“It’s hard to notice changes in yourself. But from what I see, you’ve really grown a lot, Miss.”

Garnett led my hand, which could barely open my eyes, to the mirror.

When I finally raised my eyelids and saw my reflection in the mirror…

‘To think this is the face that just woke up.’

Suddenly I realized again that the thing I liked most about this life was this appearance.

“You’ve grown much taller than when you first came, and you’ve become even more beautiful.”

Certainly, compared to when I escaped from Troy Orphanage looking scruffy, it was a complete transformation.

Anyone would see me as looking noble, like a descendant of a great noble family.

“Now, we need to get you ready before His Highness the Crown Prince arrives.”

I yawned as Garnett dragged me along.

A snow-white dress covered my ankles generously.

The small jewels attached to the dress sparkled like the Milky Way with every turn.

“Laveria Shop is developing day by day.”

It was a dress made by Laveria Shop, Miller’s first gift to me and my consistent source of pocket money.

Although it was a busy time at the end of the year, it showed signs of being quite elaborately made.

“The designer seems to know better than anyone what kind of dress suits you well, Miss.”

Garnett let down my silver tresses and delicately added decorations.

Finally, placing the small tiara Luka had gifted when requesting to be my partner, an incomparably radiant girl appeared in the mirror.

“Wow…”

“It’s dazzling…!”

The surrounding maids let out exclamations one by one.

“Heh… Thank you.”

Knock knock-

Just as I spoke with a shy smile, the sound of a servant knocking on the door was heard.

“His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived, Miss.”

When I nodded, a maid quickly went to open the door.

Soon Luka, who appeared through the door, widened his eyes when he saw me.

I was the same.

‘M-My admiration in front of the mirror just now seems insignificant…’

Luka, wearing a white suit with a red cape draped to one side, looked unreal to the point of seeming sacred.

He approached me.

And he took the thick red cape hanging on the chair and draped it over my exposed shoulders.

Doing so made us look similarly dressed.

“It’s been a while, Luka.”

Luka had been particularly busy recently preparing for the final succession test, so I hadn’t seen him often.

Nevertheless, although it wasn’t awkward because he had been consistently contacting me through the communication device, it wasn’t an illusion that he seemed to have grown more in the time we hadn’t met.

“Have you grown taller in the meantime?”

“Frustratingly, I’m not sure if I’m actually growing when I stand next to you.”

At my grumpy tone, Luka smiled handsomely and comforted me, saying I had definitely grown.

“Shall we go then?”

“Yes, yes.”

I smiled and grasped Luka’s outstretched hand.

Flash-

It was at that moment.

A white pattern like a wagon wheel appeared on the back of Luka’s hand that I was holding.

‘…!’

I was startled and suddenly stopped walking.

Then I pulled Luka’s hand that I was holding to look closely at that pattern.

“Could this be…”

Luka said to me, who had an astonished expression:

“Is there some problem?”

“C-Can’t you see this?”

“What? I don’t see anything…”

[Only the regressed person can see that mark.]

At that moment, the content written on the parchment flashed through my mind.

“…It was me.”

I muttered as if dazed, holding Luka’s warm hand.

Although I had suspected to some extent, when faced with the situation that confirmed it, my heart pounded greatly.

The parchment said that the mark appears to all mediators at an unexpected moment.

And now seemed to be that moment.

“Ria, Ria! Are you alright?”

As I fell into confusion, Luka grabbed my shoulders and spoke worriedly.

At the same time, I came to my senses again and looked up at Luka.

‘Then…’

Luka was the one who was with me at the moment of regression.

What on earth happened to us?

What kind of relationship were we in the time that neither of us knows?

And why did I turn back time?

‘Did you… like me like now?’

For now, I hid my expression tinged with confusion and led Luka’s hand out of the room.

“It’s nothing. Let’s hurry and go.”

* * *

“Ria, is there some problem with my hand? If you’ll hold it like this all the time, I don’t mind problems occurring over and over…”

“What are you saying when you’re about to hold a sword on the battlefield soon. It’s not like that.”

In the carriage heading towards the imperial palace, I constantly caressed Luka’s hand.

Well…

‘How do I absorb that mark?!’

It’s not just pie in the sky, I finally found it but I have no idea how to absorb it.

No matter how much I caress it, there’s no particular reaction.

‘Could it be…’

I pulled Luka’s hand and kissed the mark, as Luka often does to me.

“…!”

“Not this either.”

But still the mark remained quiet.

Rather, the reaction came from Luka.

His ears turned bright red to a pitiful degree.

“You. You do it so easily to me, but when I do it to you, you get so shy.”

Though that’s much more fun and cute.

Just as I smiled and brought my face close to Luka’s, it happened.

[Stop teasing and try placing the hand with the sun pattern on the mark. It will be absorbed if you use magic.]

“…!”

A neutral voice suddenly spoke in my ear.

It was the same voice as the being that had spoken to me through Layola’s body after her demise.

Just like then, it seemed only I could hear it, as Luka showed no signs of noticing.

I placed the sun pattern that appears on healing mages’ palms over the back of Luka’s hand, half in doubt.

And when I let a small amount of healing magic flow, I felt a hot sensation flowing into me.

When I removed my hand, the white mark that had been visible on the back of Luka’s hand had disappeared without a trace.

‘Just who…’

Who is the owner of that voice that only speaks and then disappears?