I deliberately dragged out the end of my sentence.
The sight of Helga tensing up, not knowing what I was about to say, was rather amusing.
After enjoying that reaction for a moment, I continued.
“Surely it is not that even you have not been there, Mother, so you are not acquainted with the ancestors?”
“Th-That’s not it…”
“If you do not want to this time, then go with me next time, Mother.”
“No, that’s—”
Without giving Helga any time to make something up, I cut off her stammering replies one after another.
“If you do not want to, then what about House Lansval’s tradition you mentioned…”
As I kept bringing up things she had said in the past and questioning her, she quickly exploded.
“Just go already, then! If I tell you to go, you go! Why do you have so much backtalk?!!”
Ever since the Duchess Pontus had visited during the engagement party, Helga had been holding herself back quite a bit, considering her temperament.
That was because she had come to believe that I had some connection, however slight, to the Imperial Family.
But when I kept needling her while pretending to be oblivious, her original nature surfaced in no time.
With a reaction like this from her mother-in-law, even the most socially clueless daughter-in-law would have realized that she was being sent there deliberately to be put in a difficult position.
I pretended to be frightened by Helga’s roar and nodded rapidly, saying I understood.
‘I also have a few things I want to go in and check myself.’
When I had been pushed in by Helga in my previous life, there really had been a ghost inside.
On the very first day I entered, I had come rushing out in utter panic and run straight to Helga.
“Mother, there’s a gh— no, it feels like the ancestors’ spirits are really there.”
I still couldn’t forget the satisfied grin Helga had worn at that moment.
After that, Helga would occasionally send me there under the pretext of punishing me.
But in truth, the ghost merely made its presence subtly known to me, without deliberately trying to scare or harass me.
At first, even that had frightened me, but as time went on, I got the sense that it wasn’t a ghost with ill intent toward me.
And even if it did have malice, after dying once and coming back to life, there wasn’t much left that could scare me now.
I simply felt curious about the ghost as I entered the underground crypt.
Creeeeak, thud.
The old wooden door closed heavily behind me. Despite it being daytime, the underground crypt was pitch-black.
I set the large lantern I had brought down beside me and lit candles here and there to secure my field of vision.
As it grew a little brighter, the crypt’s appearance came into view.
‘Ugh, the dust, the cobwebs…’
Naturally, a crypt that hadn’t been maintained for a long time exuded a creepy atmosphere.
Since I was already inside, I thought I’d see who was resting here, and just as I was lifting the lantern and examining each grave in turn, a thin current of air brushed through this completely sealed underground place.
‘This is…’
The chill at the back of my neck was unmistakably familiar.
When I slowly turned around, sure enough, something like a hazy cloud of smoke, about the size of a person, was floating in midair, swaying faintly.
‘As expected. Still, this is the first time I’ve actually seen it like this.’
When I had come here in my previous life, it had only felt like an eerie disturbance in the air or inexplicable sounds. This was the first time I had seen such a clearly defined form.
It had no eyes, nose, or mouth, just a semi-transparent, smoke-like shape. But just as I began to feel that it was quietly watching me, a dignified, elderly voice echoed by my ear, as if coming from nowhere.
[You have come… from a very distant place. We have met before.]
At those words, my eyes widened despite myself. This was my first time coming here in this life.
‘We have met…?’
I steadied my voice and barely managed to respond.
“You mean… you have seen me before?”
[Yes. I remember what you remember.]
By this point, what this being was implying was clear.
“How…?”
[Spiritual beings are not bound by the direction of the flow of time. I merely realized one day that time had been reversed.]
As it continued speaking, the translucent, hazy smoke gradually grew more opaque, turning a pale white, until it vaguely took on a human-like silhouette.
True to being a ghost, it was still swaying lightly in the air.
[And now that I see you, I understand. That the reversal of time was because of you.]
“But I do not have any kind of incredible power. I am just an ordinary human. It was not something I did. I was surprised too, to find myself back in the past.”
It felt a bit absurd that the first being I told the truth about my regression to was a ghost.
But even so, the fact that there was another existence besides myself who recognized this incomprehensible phenomenon was, strangely enough, reassuring.
It felt like confirmation that I wasn’t insane.
[That doesn’t mean it was done by your power. It means time was turned back for your sake.]
Since nothing he said made sense, I stupidly repeated his words and asked back,
“For my sake…?”
[No other humans besides you know that time was reversed. And you, you don’t seem to be a human with no power at all. Do you truly not know?]
What was that supposed to mean now?
“Not at all. …It sounds like we need to have a more in-depth conversation. It is late, but allow me to introduce myself. My name is Evelyn Krone.”
[Frederick Lansval.]
Even though we were already acquainted, it felt strange to properly exchange names and talk like this for the first time.
“So you really are one of House Lansval’s ancestors.”
At that, his shoulders, or what looked like shoulders, slumped.
[Yes. A House that exists, yet might as well no longer exist…]
As far as I knew, the original House Lansval hadn’t held a particularly high-ranking title, but it had been a proud family in its own right.
Then somehow the succession became tangled, the title passed to collateral branches again and again, and eventually it was sold.
Most likely, a relative with a higher noble title had inherited the Lansval barony as well, held onto it for a time, and then sold it for money.
So when the ghost — no, Frederick — said that the family line had been cut off, it was true. Rather than denying it, I simply offered some comfort.
“That must weigh heavily on you.”
I thought that, being a ghost, he would only say whatever he pleased, but Frederick unexpectedly returned the comfort with quiet dignity.
[Me? I’m already dead. It is you who has suffered, marrying into this den of beasts.]
“…!”
To think that words no one had ever said to me, even while I was going through all that hardship in my previous life, were now being spoken to me by a ghost.
For no reason, emotion welled up in my chest, and my vision blurred with tears.
As I held back my tears and tried to steady myself, Frederick brought up what he had said earlier again.
[Aren’t you a child of a family famous for special abilities? Why do you not know your own power?]
“I… do not have any special ability.”
I answered out of habit, then suddenly felt that something was strange.
The spiritual being in front of me was speaking as if he knew something, with a tone of certainty.
Frederick, who seemed to be quietly examining me, spoke again.
[Now that I look at you closely, it does seem a bit different in nature from abilities I saw before in members from House Krone. But abilities vary from person to person, so it is hard to say for sure.]
So there really was something, after all.
I had lived my life having even my worth as a person denied because I lacked special abilities.
I thought I had already given up on everything, that I had no lingering attachment to special abilities anymore, but that didn’t seem to be true.
Judging by how my heart was starting to race.
“Do you happen to know what that ability is?”
[Hmm… it is probably on the mental side.]
“Mental?”
[For example, an ability like controlling other people’s minds.]
Because the scale of it was so enormous, the expectation that had been quietly building instead cooled off instantly.
If I really had an ability like that, there was no way I would have lived such a miserable life and met such a wretched end in my previous life.
Despite the disappointment on my face, Frederick calmly added,
[However, it is extremely weak. The vessel that should be filled with power is almost empty, with only a little sloshing around at the bottom.]
“Ah… then that makes sense. It must have been so small that I didn’t even realize it existed.”
That figures. As the misery washed over me again, I gave a bitter smile.
But Frederick studied me closely and said something else.
[No. It looks like what was empty has been filled a little recently.]
“What?”
[Any adult who possesses a vessel for special abilities usually has it filled to some extent. But the you from before had maybe one or two grains at most, so empty it was almost completely vacant, which struck me as strange.]
Right. That was the me I knew.
[Most likely, you either received power from someone who holds immense strength, or you recovered a small portion of the power that had once been taken from you.]
