“Yeah......”

I let out a hollow laugh as I stared at that balloon.

It wasn’t something to laugh about, but the mystery unraveling in my head made me laugh anyway.

I had always thought the Sacred Relic of Time had reacted to me because I was special.

At the time, I had almost no divine power, which seemed suspicious—but I had just ignored that. Even when Aietar kept insisting, “You are not special.”

Just the fact that the Sacred Relic of Time reacted to me had made me overconfident.

But only now could I finally understand.

I was never special to begin with.

That regression back then... was caused by this power now.

Now, by choosing this balloon, the wish I once made was fulfilled.

Aietar’s divine power, already tremendous and then further amplified after passing through the Sacred Relic of Power twice... and my own divine power as the heir, and then—one by one, small but earnest—each of the four Divine Beasts’ divine power as well.

All I had done was send ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) that power from this space to that point in time.

In truth, the me back then really didn’t have any divine power.

“Rosie......”

“This is it, Zahid.”

I pointed at the violet balloon.

“This is what... allowed the me of the past to regress.”

Zahid’s eyes widened.

“If I choose this... the me from the previous life will regress and live this life instead.”

Then this power now will no longer affect this life.

“I kept my promise, Zahid.”

I murmured, my voice choked.

“To survive... I didn’t give up until the end—I struggled with everything I had.”

Now that the wish from my past life was fulfilled, the divine power I stole from Aietar and sent to that time would ensure that my life would continue from there.

“Thank you.”

There were times I had wanted to just die from the pain, and at the very end, I truly wanted to give up everything...

“But it was thanks to you.”

I endured and endured, and by giving it my all, I finally found the way forward.

“So let’s go back, Zahid.”

I gripped his hand tightly. Then together, we reached out to the balloon.

“Let’s return to our only life, Zahid.”

* * *

“The carriage can’t go any further. We should lie low around here.”

At the outskirts of Arhad, Shulva finally brought the carriage to a stop.

“Ah, there’s a mountain lodge over there. Seems like a good place to kill time and pretend we rushed over after everything was already over.”

Caliban stepped down from the carriage, following Shulva.

The Sinesse carriage following behind seemed to have come to the same conclusion. With his aide, Abraham descended from the carriage with a nimble step.

‘Hmph.’

Caliban glanced sidelong at Abraham, displeased.

‘I thought he might be suffering from the same illness as Penelope since he never comes to the capital... but I guess not. He walks just fine......’

Abraham straightened his posture after stepping down, his gaze landing on Caliban.

‘Damn it.’

No matter where he went, Caliban had always been called a “hulking, pirate-like old man,” and he had lived up to it. But just this once, he couldn’t help flinching a little in front of Abraham.

The very act of marrying Penelope and reviving the Noart Count Family... might have seemed, in Abraham’s eyes, like a cowardly move.

If it hadn’t been Caliban, Penelope might have knelt before Abraham, apologized, and crawled her way back into her family.

‘So this is why people say you can’t live with guilt.’

At the time, it had been the best decision for him—but he still felt somewhat guilty about it.

“It’s been a long time, Count.”

Abraham was the first to speak.

“What has it been... thirty years?”

Caliban responded while paying close attention to Abraham’s upright posture, elegant gait, and noble accent.

“Yes, sir.”

Abraham was five years older than Caliban. By both rank and age, it was only proper for Caliban to use honorifics.

Even with that obvious fact, Shulva looked genuinely shocked. It was the first time she’d ever seen Caliban speak so politely.

Until now, Caliban had always been the uncouth old man who hurled vulgarities at even the much younger Duke Zahid, calling him a brat or a sly fox.

“What brings you here...?”

Caliban asked awkwardly, and Abraham replied with dignity.

“Likely the same reason as you.”

“Huh?”

“I came to see Rosie. I overheard that Arhad was the final destination.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaat?! Rosie’s in that war zone?!”

Caliban was startled out of his wits.

He didn’t even have the presence of mind to ask how Abraham knew Rosie.

And his shocked reaction was so dramatic that even Abraham was taken aback.

“I mean, if you didn’t come to see Rosie, then why are you here?”

“I came to see Julian!”

Caliban looked utterly dumbfounded.

“Wait, that boy got his memories back? Then there’s no way he’d let Rosie go to a place like that! No matter how many people tried to drag her there, Julian would’ve smuggled her away somehow!”

“Hmm.”

Shulva interjected.

“Well, things got a bit tangled. So who knows.”

“Anyway.”

Abraham turned his sharp blue eyes toward the chaos unfolding in the distance—Arhad, now a complete mess.

“I’m not a combatant. I should wait here until everything’s over.”

Caliban looked at Abraham, who had reached the exact same conclusion as he had, with visible distaste.

“...But, Marquess, why did you come for Rosie? You’re known for never leaving the Sinesse March...”

“Well.”

Abraham showed a faint, mysterious smile.

“I just had a feeling that when everything’s over, and that child is tired and worn out... there might be something I can do for her.”

Caliban resisted the urge to scoff with all his might. Instead, he spoke with maximum politeness.

“Then perhaps you can return. Since I’m the one who personally raised that child for a ve-ry long time, I can do anything she needs.”

It was an overt declaration of battle.

But Abraham showed no signs of being shaken. He merely gave a short, mocking reply.

“Anything?”

“Yes, sir.”

Caliban truly believed it.

So far, money had solved everything—except for one thing: fully integrating into the oldest noble families.

But in all their lives, that had never actually been something they needed.

Worried about good marriage prospects?

Rosie brought home the Duke of Dyfenril herself.

Julian? He’d never been that interested in women. But if he set his mind to it, there was no reason he couldn’t land some noble girl obsessed with handsome faces.

And the Noart Count Family was much wealthier than the Sinesse March. In fact, absurdly so.

Before Caliban’s confident gaze, Abraham crossed his arms leisurely.

“Well then, let’s see about that.”

Shulva’s eyes sparkled with amusement as she watched the oddly persistent power struggle between the two old men.

* * *

“RosieRosie! RosieRosiiiiiiiiiiiiiie!”

It was almost like the cry of a wild beast.

“Nooooooo!”

Julian was screaming from far away.

Rosie, covered in blood, had one hand still placed on Aietar—while the other gripped the Sacred Relic of Time.

As light swept through everything, she lost consciousness.

In that instant, Fire and Zahid were the first to rush toward Rosie as she collapsed.

Athena, who had drowned all the Holy Knights before flying over, enveloped Rosie next.

Then Cashie, who had been gracefully burying Holy Knights just as efficiently as Athena, landed elegantly and pressed himself against Rosie.

Finally, Liri—who had been maintaining the vines binding Aietar—quietly nestled into Rosie’s arms.

It was just like...

That moment a hundred years ago, when the four Divine Beasts surrounded Aietar and had their power stolen.

Except back then, they hadn’t even known what was happening—they’d simply been forced to cling to one person.

Now, it was entirely the will of the Divine Beasts.

“...But why is Zahid in there? He’s not even a Divine Beast,”

Linna tilted her head curiously.

But no one could answer her.