Chapter 18
“Eh? What’s… there…?”
The moment Sir Rachel turned to follow my gesture, I bolted.
As I ran toward our family’s carriage, I could hear Sir Rachel’s shocked voice behind me, realizing he had been tricked.
I felt sorry for him, but I wasn’t just well-fed and strong—I was fast, too. I could easily outrun even an active knight.
“Miss! Stop right now!”
“Sir Rachel, I’m really sorry!”
I reached the carriage just in time, opened the door, and jumped in. Then, I slammed the door shut behind me.
“Miss!”
Thwarted by my speed, Sir Rachel slammed both hands against the carriage, shouting. I ignored his cries and even drew the curtains over the window. Then, I hurriedly checked on the children.
They were huddled together on the carriage floor, clinging to each other protectively.
Seeing their flushed faces and ragged breaths from the high fever, I calmly opened a glass vial of holy water.
“Where’s the key!”
Outside, I could hear Sir Rachel shouting as he walked toward someone.
I grabbed the little girl of the two children and held her, bringing the vial to her lips and slowly pouring the holy water into her mouth.
Fortunately, she swallowed it without issue, perhaps because she was thirsty.
After finishing the vial for her, I reached for the boy and gave him the same treatment, then waited for a reaction.
In the original story, the children reacted immediately after drinking the holy water containing the remedy. Their fever would drop instantly, and the red spots covering their skin would vanish as if by magic.
But something was wrong. No matter how long I waited, the children’s fevers didn’t subside. The spots didn’t disappear.
What’s going on? What’s wrong? I alternated my gaze between the two children in confusion.
“Find the key quickly!”
“J-just a moment!”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just break the door down?”
Outside the carriage was still noisy, and inside, only the children’s labored breaths filled the air.
It wasn’t working. The holy water had no effect. The red rash wasn’t disappearing.
My own ragged breaths overlaid the children’s suffering.
Instinctively, I knew something was wrong.
Why? Why isn’t it working? Did I misremember the story?
Could it be… the holy water doesn’t have the remedy in it yet?
As I considered the possibilities, my gaze fell to the empty vial in my hand.
I didn’t want to believe it, but the holy water I received from Jade most likely didn’t contain the remedy.
“Huh… ugh… gahh.”
I heard a choking sound. The little girl seemed unconscious, limp, and the boy was gasping in distress.
My heart pounded rapidly. My hand holding the vial trembled, and my eyes shook uncontrollably.
What should I do? What can I do?
I hadn’t come here for holy water. Maybe Rixion Luhanes was right—it might have been better to take the children to a doctor. At least then, I could have tried to lower their fevers and find a way to save them.
If I left them like this, they would die.
Realizing that, my mind went blank.
No. I can’t leave them like this.
I tried to rise, pressing my trembling hands to the floor. Maybe it wasn’t too late. I had to go and fetch a doctor.
Just as I reached for the carriage door handle, a tiny hand reached out and grabbed my arm.
It was burning-hot yet so fragile.
When I looked down in surprise, the little girl who had been unconscious all this time trembled. Slowly, she opened her eyes and weakly met my gaze.
Her pale lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to speak, but no sound came out.
Yet somehow, I understood what she was trying to say.
“Help me.”
The only words the child managed to utter through her labored breaths.
Her lips barely moved before she slowly closed her eyes again. She looked as if she had stopped breathing. Terrified, I grabbed the children’s arms and shook them desperately.
“No, get up.”
The little girl finally looked at me again. A tear slid down her bloodshot cheek.
Her lips moved again, but this time I couldn’t understand what she was trying to say.
“I don’t understand. Say it again.”
After that, the child no longer opened her eyes. Their limp bodies and scorching heat overwhelmed my mind.
I had to take them to a doctor.
But even if I did, I knew it wouldn’t help.
Knowing there was nothing more I could do for the children left me in despair.
If only Jieunha had been here, they might have survived.
These were children who would have shaped a future different from what had happened in the main episode—living alongside Jieunha and Rixion Luhanes, instead of ending life remembering only the insults and rotten fruit thrown by worthless adults. They could have grown up learning to laugh like children.
But now, this future might never be theirs. Because Jieunha wasn’t here.
And because I, someone who didn’t exist in the original story, had dared to imitate Jieunha.
My body trembled uncontrollably.
I gasped in agony and lowered my head.
“No…”
I leaned my head against the child’s arm, as she had done, and pleaded toward someone.
“Please.”
I had wanted to believe that my birth as Elizabeth Christener in this world was a coincidence. I wanted to believe it was a coincidence.
So that someday, I could find a chance to return to my original world without interference.
I wanted to be a dust-like existence, leaving no trace or influence on the story The Saintess of Erendel.
Up until now, I had lived quietly, unnoticed. I thought all I needed to do was wait for time to pass.
But once I got entangled with Rixion Luhanes and the children appeared before me, my thoughts changed.
Maybe my birth as Elizabeth Christener wasn’t a mere coincidence.
Maybe I had been brought to this world by someone with a purpose.
And if that purpose demanded I act as Jieunha’s substitute…
“…Save them.”
A cracked, dry voice emerged from my trembling lips. Rage, aimed at no one in particular, flared inside me like a wildfire.
“Save them!”
I lifted my head and screamed in rage.
“You didn’t bring Jieunha! I didn’t choose to become a substitute! Because Jieunha isn’t here, no one is saving these kids, so I had no choice but to take her place! If you wanted me as a substitute, you should have taught me how to save them! So why—!”
I unleashed my helpless anger into the void, twisting my face in grief.
Tears threatened to overflow, and I squeezed my eyes shut, collapsing.
“Why… aren’t you helping these children?”
Finally, my tears fell onto the children’s arms.
Flash!
At that moment, I felt a warm energy spreading from my fingertips.
Startled, I opened my eyes. A strong light burst from my hands touching the children.
In an instant, the blinding glow filled the carriage and was absorbed entirely into the children’s bodies.
Frozen in shock, I watched as the red spots on the children rapidly disappeared.
Even their labored breathing gradually eased.
“Miss!”
Behind me, something crashed and shattered. Then I heard Sir Rachel calling my name.
I turned, squeaking like a broken doll.
The first figure I saw wasn’t Sir Rachel—it was Rixion Luhanes.
He was holding the carriage door as if he had ripped it from its frame. I blinked in shock.
This carriage—our brother had spent a fortune on it.
It was supposed to be reinforced with first-grade magic, so even a bear couldn’t budge it…
“What are you doing?”
Rixion panted, unnaturally flustered, speaking to me.
His chest heaving, his rough breathing, the worried, contorted look in his eyes, and his angry voice—it all felt… completely unfamiliar to me.
