“My lady, do you remember your name?”
“…..”
“Well, then where are you from?”
“…..”
“You don’t even remember how old you are?”
Nod.
Elena asked the white-haired girl, and the girl responded by nodding or shaking her head, much like a puppy.
After that, Elena talked to the white-haired girl for a while, and then she looked in my direction.
“Well, it seems that what you said is true. The woman claims she can’t recall why she is here or who she is. I find it curious how she ended up on my brother’s bed, but her lack of memories makes it impossible for me to question her now.”
“Well…”
After Sara left the Duke of Estelle with a very angry face, I couldn’t help but sigh as I looked at the white-haired lady lying on my bed. Thanks to this woman, the relationship with Sarah was ruined and ended very badly, but I think it was inevitable.
Sarah Cernard was meant to break up with me anyway, so the impact was less shocking. Even if something significant occurred, what would happen beyond another failed betrothal?
Breaking up a betrothal feels quite familiar once you’ve done it a couple of times.
To be honest, in the current situation, engagements like the one with Sarah seemed inconsequential. Through a series of events, I came to realize that everything I was experiencing was real. This kind of vision, applicable to humans, had never been heard of, and it was too vivid to be labeled a mere dream.
As a result, there was only one clear explanation for the current situation—I had traveled back in time 10 years. I didn’t know why, but this situation could only occur if I went back in time 10 years in the past, hence everything would fall into place.
Crucially, I also had a vague sense of what caused the regression.
“Elena, I have a request for you.”
“Yes, tell me, Brother.”
Elena nodded her head with her eyes shining brightly at my words. I stroked Elena’s hair once and spoke in a low tone.
“Yes, thank you. Elena, could you please leave my room for a moment?”
“Yes? Why?”
Elena’s eyes widened at my unexpected request.
“I’d like to have a little talk with this lady alone.”
I glanced at the white-haired woman, who was still looking around like a lost puppy. The things I wanted to say to that woman from now on was something I had to be very careful about, so I had no choice but to tell Elena to leave.
“Well, I see. If you ever need me, call me anytime, Brother.”
“Okay.”
Saying that, Elena quietly exited my room, displaying the composure befitting an aristocratic lady. Perhaps, the most aristocratic person in the Estel family might be none other than Elena.
However, in the current situation, that didn’t matter. I turned my head and stared at the white-haired woman still sitting quietly on my bed. No matter how I looked at it, and no matter how many times I looked at it, that beautiful face only reminded me of a face I knew well.
Yes…how could I forget that face, and those purple eyes. A face so beautiful that one couldn’t guess its age. Although, at first I was a little nervous because she looked much younger than the face I was familiar with, but as I continued to look at her, I could easily guess what the identity of that white-haired woman was.
‘The Witch of Winter…’
Yes, she possessed white hair, and once made frost bloom at her fingertips. Undoubtedly, the most potent force among humanity, a single person’s strength equaled the might of an entire expedition.
In a world painted entirely white, the witch’s appearance, touched by falling snowflakes, exuded a terrible beauty. At first, I felt enamored by that sight. It wasn’t love; she just looked beautiful.
At the last moment, I felt pity for her as she looked at me with a sorrowful expression and held me in her arms. Although I knew full well that she was the witch who brought endless winter to the world and caused
the deaths of many people, I couldn’t forget it.
[Thank you.]
I just couldn’t forget the woman who smiled broadly and said ‘thank you’ to the man who had stabbed a sword in her heart.
“……”
I continued to stare at the woman with white hair, the Witch of Winter.
“Ah, ugh…”
As soon as our eyes met, the witch recoiled. This demeanor was vastly different from the confident witches I knew.
The witch I was familiar with, was confident. In fact, it was funny to claim to know someone that I had only encountered for half a day, but I did it anyway. The witch I knew was a woman who maintained her dignity even when the whole world turned against her.
“Hmm…”
Elena’s words seem to be true. The Witch of Winter really seems to have lost her memory. To be honest, watching that trembling figure, it seemed so absurd that I couldn’t help but laugh.
However, I also thought that her look of fear, with a childlike face directed at me, oddly suited her quite well. Did that mean I was truly insane? Or perhaps, I was the type to assert strength in the face of vulnerability?
I let out a sigh that I couldn’t tell how many times I had exhaled today and asked the woman in front of me in a small voice.
“You really don’t remember anything?”
The white-haired woman nodded softly at my question.
“…yes.”
“Hmm…”
Elena seemed right. No matter how I looked at it, the woman in front of me maintained a dazed expression, as if she had amnesia.
‘Amnesia?’
It was a symptom that I had heard countless times in old stories, but it felt fresh to hear that a person who had actually lost their memory appeared in front of me.
However, it was safe to say that the infamous Witch of Winter didn’t need to pretend to be a harmless commoner in front of me, so there was a high probability that her words were true.
I looked up and down at the witch, lost in thought. The content of my thought was simple.
How to dispose of the witch. To be precise, it was a thought about whether I should ki1l the woman right here and now.
“…..”
Now that the Witch of Winter had lost all her memories and has become a harmless normal person, ki1ling her would be very easy. Ten years in the past, now the present, she was no longer a terrifying witch who brought an endless winter to the continent, but just an ordinary girl.
If I thrust a sword into that thin-looking neck now, everything would end…
An endless winter would not engulf the continent, and I would not be thrown into a dungeon. Furthermore, I would not be forcibly dragged into the expedition and harassed like a dog for a year, and the estate of the Duchy of Estelle would not be reduced to dust in Bianca’s hands.
Perhaps, unlike before the regression, everything would end with a happy ending.
However, I shake my head. Ki1ling might be the simplest way, but it wasn’t the best one. Because, to me, there were several reasons not to ki1l the witch.
“…?”
“No, nothing.”
The Witch of Winter who blinks and tilts her head when I look at her.
Yes, that’s it…the reason why I came back to the past must have been related to the witch. There was no logic, no evidence, but somehow I was certain of that fact.
To give an analogy, should I say that I had a feeling that she and I were connected by something unknown?
And that feeling whispered something to me—that I shouldn’t kill her. If I did, something irreversible might happen this time.
“…..”
Therefore, ki1ling her wasn’t the best option. In the worst case, what if ki1ling the witch led to going back 10 years in the past? The idea seemed ridiculous, but so did returning to the past just by putting a sword through her heart.
No matter how many times I thought about it, it seemed that staying in this era was a hundred times better choice, even at the cost of embracing the anxiety factor of in the form of a witch.
And secondly, actually, this was the most important reason.
“I have one more thing, I have to ask you.”
“Yes. Please speak.”
The Witch of Winter answers in a quiet tone, perhaps because she was still afraid of me.
“Do you have a place to go back to?”
“…..”
“Any family, or relatives? Do you really remember nothing?”
Nod.
Good, no it was perfect!
Currently, the witch was without any kinship or blood ties. She even lost her memory of who she was. In other words, if the Witch of Winter were cast out of the Estel family, she’d be an outcast with nowhere else to go.
And, in this situation, it was almost evident how someone extending a hand with an air of patronage would be perceived.
With such sinister intent concealed within, I delivered these words calmly, outwardly appearing to consider her welfare.
With ten years of experience as the Duke of Estel, and a regressor who had gone through all kinds hardships, it was really no big deal for me to seduce such an innocent woman with flattery.
“Then, do you have any intention of working for the Duke of Estel?”
“…yes?”
“If you have nowhere else to go, we are willing to officially hire you from the Duke of Estel. What do you think?”
Thus began the grand plan to make the Witch of Winter my faithful subordinate in this lifetime.
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