Ten years had passed since my return.
I was now twenty-four.
My life had changed greatly in that time.
As an adult, it had become easier to counter Uncle Marshall’s tricks, and I had trustworthy aides by my side, including my guardian, Bel Deo.
Thanks to them, I could step away from the household now and then, secure in the knowledge that the family would still prosper.
I had grown brighter, too.
And that was largely thanks to my correspondence with Pupu.
Though we had never once met, the letters we exchanged over the past nine years had warmed my heart.
“I look like a small, cute taddy bear.”
Every season, without fail, a letter would arrive.
And every season, I found myself correcting his spelling.
“It’s not taddy bear. It’s teddy bear.”
But no matter how often I corrected him, the same mistake would appear in the next letter.
‘It’s like talking to a wall,’ I would sigh.
Still, when I thought of that round, chubby boy I remembered, even his blunders felt endearing.
So our letters continued.
Even when I was wracked with pain, even when my eyesight nearly failed in one eye—it didn’t matter.
Four times a year, without fail—spring, summer, autumn, winter—his letters arrived.
But then, at some point, Pupu’s letters began to take on a strange tone.
『Soon, peace will come to the world my sister loves!』
The spelling was still questionable, of course.
And beneath the words was a sketch of a rugged bear wielding a vicious sword.
“What on earth is this crazy bear? Some kind of coded SOS for help?”
I muttered, but I couldn’t help but smile whenever his letters arrived.
‘Every day feels brighter these days.’
That, I realized, was the power of good deeds. A lesson I had first learned thanks to Pupu.
Today as well, I visited the hospital, where the sharp scent of medicine lingered in the halls.
“Hello, everyone. Have you been well?”
“Oh! Welcome, miss!”
I greeted the nurses with a bright smile and a wave.
Using my own fortune, I had built this large hospital in the commercial district.
It had since become a refuge for the poor, offering free treatment to those who could not afford it.
“Hello!”
The boy who waved from beside the nurse was named Ron.
He came from a poor family and suffered from a rare disease.
“Ron, how are you feeling today?”
“I’m fine! What about you, sister?”
“I’m doing well too.”
Ron didn’t know I was the one funding the ward, nor that I was his sponsor.
To him, I was just a kind older sister who sometimes stopped by.
I ruffled his hair.
“You shouldn’t just be ‘fine,’ Ron. You need to get healthy. Understand?”
Clutching at his sleeve, he nodded vigorously.
“Yes! They said a new medicine is coming soon!”
“That’s wonderful,” I said with a smile before quietly making my way through the hospital, noting down supplies they would need.
‘Everything seems to be running smoothly. Good.’
A wave of satisfaction warmed me as I left.
“Yes… this life is quite fulfilling.”
But amid the joy, one truth gnawed at me.
“…Hhhk, cough…”
I leaned against the wall outside the ward, covering my mouth as a fit of coughs wracked me.
When I pulled my hand away, it was stained with red.
The episodes of coughing up blood had grown more frequent.
While the patients I sponsored found new health and happiness, my own end drew steadily closer.
Later, back at the Vietri mansion, I collapsed onto my bed.
I had no intention of resisting death when it came.
‘I made sure the family can stand without me. That’s enough.’
My illness was a secret, known only to a few trusted aides who had already begun to represent me in public.
The only thing left weighing on my heart… was something far more suspicious.
Because, at some point, this world had begun to diverge from the one I remembered.
A man who had never existed in my past life had suddenly appeared.
For years now, the empire had been flooded with reports of victories from the front lines.
And at the center of them all—Aldehyde.
A man who came out of nowhere, conquered the continent with his overwhelming might, and ushered peace into the empire.
Rumor said he had returned to the capital just last week.
“…He’s suspicious. Far too suspicious.”
I had been too ill to investigate him until now, but I intended to look into him carefully.
Still, there were more immediate concerns.
A few months ago, a rift had opened near the capital, and monsters from the underworld had poured out. Casualties mounted as cracks continued to appear.
Such rifts weren’t unusual—I had witnessed them in my previous life.
But tonight, things would be different.
‘The largest rift in history will open here, at the opera house.’
When I first resolved to do good, I had decided: I’ll save as many lives as I can before I die.
Because the joy of others’ smiles was the one thing that made me truly happy.
And so, wrapping myself in a shawl, I stepped outside into the winter air.
In front of the opera house.
‘Tonight, it will open here.’
Until now, the capital had only suffered from minor cracks, little more than tremors, spitting out weak creatures like slimes.
But tonight’s rift would be different.
The warnings had been too strong to ignore—something powerful was about to emerge.
I glanced at my watch.
Five minutes. In five minutes, chaos would erupt.
‘I must be ready to evacuate the crowd when it happens.’
For now, the streets remained quiet. Too quiet.
BOOM—! BOOM—!
The ground shuddered violently.
“…It’s too early. What’s going on?”
The paving stones cracked, the earth splitting as if in an earthquake.
I rushed toward the ticket booth, but some unseen barrier stopped me short.
“Move back! Everyone, move back now!”
…What? Knights? Why were knights gathered here?
Confusion overtook me as I found myself corralled with the other citizens, trapped behind the cordon.
‘What is this…?’
Then, not far away—perhaps fifty meters—a man appeared.
“Come along, my cute little monster friends.”
His voice was cold, his face set in an unsettling smile.
And he was… destroying the opera house.
No—that wasn’t quite it. Not destroying.
He was wielding… a spade.
A small gardening spade, to be exact.
‘Why in the world… is he holding a trowel? Is he planning to plant flowers in the middle of this?’
Baffled, I could only stare as he smirked.
Then, with a casual flick of his finger, he nudged the monsters that crawled up from the rift.
“Cute little things, aren’t you?”
Orcs. Spiders. Basilisks.
Hundreds of them swarmed the plaza.
Yet the man only grinned as if delighted—like some lunatic savoring the chaos.
And his madness… was only just beginning.
