256 – 75-3. First love and current love.
What is magic?
The study of ignoring basic physical laws and creating ideals desired by casters.
Mana, circuits, chanting.
Like a spark, conditions were required for the power of magic.
‘Going back through time and space… The magic circuit got twisted?’
I couldn’t help but freeze when I heard Belin Grancia’s words.
That I have reached this place beyond time and space.
Because this person in front of me knew about my true identity.
“Son-in-law, what is your name?”
“My name is Suhyun Lee.”
My mouth is dry.
The eyes that seem to see through everything stare at me.
“Then you must be a hero from another world. Nice to meet you.”
Like a detective who finds clues at the crime scene and arrives at the truth.
Empress Bellin inferred other things from her small information.
“I am Belin Grancia. As you already know, she is the empress of this empire.”
“Nice to meet you. Her Majesty the Empress. No, mother-in-law….”
I was surprised and almost made a mistake, but I just looked at the smiling empress and sorted out her title.
As a mother-in-law, could it be so easy to get permission?
“Huh, that sounds pretty good. You should brag to Locke later.”
After one awkward shout, she immediately spread out a magic circle and aimed it at my heart.
“What your son-in-law has done so far is not like a normal regression.”
“… What if?”
Then, the three-dimensional image of blood vessels projected into the air.
My magic circuit was like a Klein bottle, twisted around and full of holes.
“You must have crossed multiple world lines over and over again.”
It’s amazing that I was able to move until now even though my body is like that.
The empress speaks while touching the glass-coated heart visible from the center.
“Besides, the magic circuit is connected to our cutie Pine, right?”
On the shiny diamond-like surface, the magic circle of Fine Grancia was engraved.
The way he even noticed that the dragon heart was implanted in me.
‘This person… is not an ordinary person.’
Genius.
In my life, I have often seen people like Ki-seok who are talented enough to be called geniuses.
Bellin Grancia possessed an aspect that was unmatched by her peers.
I saw a figure of a white wolf swirling in my heart.
“There is even a miracle of a saintess here.”
It gave me goosebumps to see her deducing even the presence or absence of a nameless saintess.
“…….”
“Are people like this normal? Of course he will be my future son-in-law.”
As I made an expression as if I had been stabbed in the bone, the empress raised the corner of her mouth confidently.
You noticed my true identity from the beginning.
“Son-in-law, you must have gone through a lot of failures to get here.”
“It’s not a regression, it’s a loop.”
Not a regular regression, but a loop.
Habitually moved his hand to his chin.
Pantoz also said that I failed 24 times while looking at me.
If that’s the case, then there are many episodes that I didn’t succeed in.
“If so… don’t you suspect that I might be your enemy?”
I asked a question to judge the other person in preparation for an unexpected situation.
Does Fine’s mother really trust me?
If you do this, you might get caught in a trap and turn into a puppet that tells all the information….
“That spirit was trying to protect our cute Pine. Then it can never be.”
An insight that ordinary people cannot have.
Belin said he knew what I was worried about.
Was it true that she drank and said that even in war she never borrowed her wisdom from the empress.
It seems that my spirit was paying close attention to the fact that it was groaning in Fine’s arms.
“Your son-in-law, you have a dull mind. Fine will suffer a lot.”
“… Sorry.”
My mother-in-law spoke as if she had seen the future with her own eyes.
I apologized right away because I couldn’t refute it.
Because I gave Fine a hard time because I was careless.
“Whoops, but my daughter has chosen a pretty decent guy.”
Perhaps she liked my innocence, the empress continued with a brighter expression.
“My son-in-law now has a lot of relationships with my daughter.”
“A lot of relationships?”
He said that the relationship that connects me and Fine is different from other people.
“To be precise, it is a single thread of them.”
Several strands of thread are intertwined into one, making one big string like a rope.
‘Grand Route..!’
What Empress Bellin saw is most likely the Grand Route.
That’s because all the possibilities come together and open up a new path.
“Do you want a drink? You seem very surprised.”
“Ah, yes.. Thank you very much.”
Belin used the magic circle to bring teacups and refreshments from somewhere and floated them into the air.
The objects landed on the table softly, like a scene in a movie.
My mother-in-law stared intently at me lifting up my face mask while talking.
“Oh, fortunately you look tall. I was worried about what would happen if I looked ugly.”
Contrary to Emperor Locke, the way he liked my close relationship with Fine, even clapping his hands a little.
Is it okay for the evaluation to be so different?
“A relationship this close…. There’s only half of it. Did you get married in the future? Do you have any grandchildren?”
“Khehehehe.”
“Oh, why are you so surprised? Son-in-law.”
As if he was aiming for this.
Aiming at the moment I drink tea, I ask embarrassing questions.
I almost heard her choke so I coughed hard.
Because I haven’t crossed the line with her yet. It makes her ears tingle from such absurd fantasies.
“Mother-in-law… you are talking too much.”
“Why? If it’s our Pine’s choice, I will respect it unconditionally. I don’t know what Locke will think….”
Empress Bellin laughed as if she were having fun watching my reaction.
As her black tail gently swayed from side to side, her vigilance was relaxed.
“The Inrang tribe is not a race that can fall in love with just their faces.”
“… Yes?”
“My daughter fell in love with you at first sight. She should take responsibility for this as her mother.”
My mother-in-law told me that when I was young, Fine fell in love with me at first sight.
The Inrang people probably know that the people they like don’t change.
A race that risks its life for love or even goes mad.
As an example, there was already another world line, Fine, who had fallen into a demon.
“Ah, no way.. It can’t be.”
“If you see that he sided with a man he has never seen before, it is obvious, right?”
I shook my head and tried to deny it, but hearing that explanation made no sense.
“My first love is my current love, so it’s kind of romantic. Whoops.”
Milk tea with sweet sugar.
Contrary to the taste spreading on the tip of my tongue, there was a fact I had to tell Empress Bellin.
“Hey.. Mother-in-law. I don’t know if you believe me….”
“I know. It means that Pine or I are in danger.”
The woman looked down at her eyes as if she had noticed what I was about to say.
“The Magic Hat, which gained the power of the Demon God, will arrive here soon.”
Because coming from the future to the past isn’t common.
“Am I going to lose my life?”
Should this be called maternal love?
There must have been a reason for sending Fine outside and trying to talk alone.
It seemed that she was preparing for her death too.
“… Well. I don’t know exactly.”
Because Empress Belin was affected by powers, she was turned into her card.
If she dies, Emperor Locke will seek her revenge, even if it means burning the whole world to the ground.
“However, somehow I have come to prevent that fate.”
“Even if the future between you and our Fine is gone?”
For the first time, Empress Bellin hadn’t called her by her nickname, Fine.
Looking straight into my eyes, waiting for my answer.
Future Fine has her hair turned gray due to her trauma.
What if I could change the past and defeat Magic Hat?
What will happen to me if she ends up living a life without ties to the demon lords of the cult of warriors?
‘I wonder if everything that happened after I met Fine disappears.’
I’m not going to hide my identity at the academy.
She will lead a dignified life as the princess of the Grancia Empire.
“Still.”
I barely managed to get the words out of my mouth.
It’s okay to live a life without me.
They say that meeting you will lead to a future without everything I knew.
“… It doesn’t matter.”
Because I’m always her own black knight.
After finishing her answer while strengthening her resolve, Bellin Grancia finally raised the corner of her mouth.
“Okay. This should be my son-in-law.”
She showed an attitude that she was worrying for nothing as she even drew a soft arc on the corner of her eye.
Maybe it was the last time you tested me.
“I’m sure Fine has one eye for men.”
***
A night when time passed and the sun went down and the full moon rose brightly.
From Fine Grancia’s bedroom, the loud voices of the two women could be heard.
“My lady. So where do you think it hurts?”
“Shh, Emilia. Your voice is too loud..!”
A woman named Emilia wearing a maid outfit with her fox ears. And Fine has her hair done.
These two seemed very close, like her older sister and younger brother.
“My heart is pounding…. I have no intention of stopping.”
“Since when did that happen?”
Emilia is the exclusive maid of the Imperial Family, and she has been a servant to her since she was a baby.
She tilted her head as she listened to Fine’s cryptic explanation.
“My brother’s .. Since I saw her face ..?”
“Older brother? There shouldn’t be such a person in the imperial palace, right?”
My brother.
No matter how much she thinks about it, there is no one like her in the line she knows.
Even if you think of Lupus, her younger brother, he is not a person to be called an older brother.
If there was such a person, he would surely remain in his memory.
“Extremely.. Cute.. Handsome person..”
No matter how much I thought about the men Fine was talking about, there was no one that could fit them.
Looking at Fine with a blushing cheek as soon as he thought of a man.
“Could it be that his face still comes to mind when he closes his eyes? Does he not sleep at night?”
“Uh..? That’s right! How did you know..?”
The maid noticed that it was Fine’s love affair.
Once the Inrang people fall in love, they only look at that person.
Thus, if that ‘older brother’ meets another woman, the survival of the empire is bleak.
“Then, lady, I have a good idea.”
“What are you thinking?”
She fears that someone is not a fox, so she grins and says Emilia.
“Give him her necklace.”
“Why..?”
She whispered something to Fine as she waggled her huge tail.
“Why? I have to hold her so she can’t see other women.”
The meaning of married people.
If they see the necklace the princess gave them, other people won’t covet that man.