HGOS – Chapter 47

“I merely…turned back time for that person, to the time before they died.”

Cassia’s breath grew shallow as she mulled over Raergo’s words.

A magic stone containing the power to turn back time. Yes, it was possible. It was also possible that someone had deciphered the formula of that magic stone and used the magic sealed within.

But the reason Cassia was so stunned right now was the way Raergo’s eyes gleamed right in front of her, as if he knew something, as though he knew something about her, a woman who had returned ten years in time.

He had come to Havelyn claiming to know how to use high-grade magic stones, and insisted on meeting her, a woman he had never seen before. Now, here he was, speaking of magic that turned back time, while looking her directly in the eyes.

This man definitely knew something.

Cassia pressed a hand over her racing heart, struggling to calm herself.

“Amazing. How… how were you able to use a magic stone like that?”

Drian asked with an incredulous expression.

“All high-grade magic stones require an ‘offering’ to function. Low-grade magic stones, which contain relatively weaker spells, only require ‘materials’ to wield their power. But using high-grade magic, which is closer to the power of the gods, demands a much steeper price.”

“What do you mean by ‘offering’?”

“It varies. The price must be equivalent to the value gained by casting the high-grade magic. But since most high-grade magic create extraordinary results, the offering needed is rarely simple.”

Cassia thought hard.

Time-reversal magic. She must have gained these ten years through such magic. But what price was equivalent for ten years of time?

“That doesn’t sound easy to use…”

Drian sighed, and the Count Ruberno swallowed hard.

“Indeed. However, there are many in this world desperate enough to pay any price to access such ancient power.”

As Raergo uttered those meaningful words, his gaze, for some reason, filled with a poignant tenderness, was fixed solely on Cassia.

Cassia was now certain that Raergo knew something. At the very least, he knew about her return, or he might have even been directly involved in the process. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sought her out under such a vague excuse or spoken of time-reversal magic while looking at her with such knowing eyes.

Once Drian and Raergo were shown to their rooms, Cassia hurriedly followed after Raergo. As if expecting her, he stood alone in front of the guest room, having dismissed the servants.

Raergo turned around to face the urgently approaching Cassia, a peculiar smile on his face.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

“I would like to speak with you. Alone.”

“Ah, it would be my honor, my lady.”

Raergo showed no surprise, as if he had known Cassia would seek him out. Following him into his assigned room, Cassia tried to gauge the intentions of this inscrutable man.

Seated across from each other with a table between them, the two began to size each other up. No, to be precise, it was only Cassia sizing up Raergo. Raergo simply met her gaze, with a faint smile on his lips.

“I’ll be direct. You are aware of my situation, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

Cassia blinked. She hadn’t expected a direct answer from someone who had been acting so evasively.

“How do you know? Don’t tell me you’re the one responsible for sending me back in time?”

“Hmm…perhaps I had an indirect influence.”

His response was vague.

“It was a time-reversal spell sealed in a high-grade magic stone that brought me here, isn’t it?”

“Hmm. Perhaps. Perhaps not.”

“Look here!”

Feeling impatient, Cassia’s voice rose and she bit her lips. She couldn’t understand his intention in answering so ambiguously.

“Why did you approach me then? Isn’t it to explain what happened to me?”

“Well… not exactly. I didn’t approach you just to tell you that a time-reversal spell brought you back in time. Someone as sharp as you, Baroness, would’ve figured that out even without me, don’t you think?”

He had a point. Aside from magic, nothing in this world could explain such impossible events and all the magic left in the world was sealed in those magic stones.

“Then why did you want to meet me?”

“To use high-grade magic, one must pay a price, an offering. That’s all I can say.”

“Why are you being so vague? You’re frustrating me. You seem to want me to understand something.”

“That is correct. I do want you to realize something, Baroness.”

“Then why don’t you come out and say it?’

“Because there is something called ‘taboo’ in magic. It does not like the intervention of ‘one who knows’. I am considered ‘one who knows’, and as the subject of the spell, you are not allowed to know certain details related to your return. Things like who cast the magic on you, what the reason was, and what offering was used.”

“Who decides what this ‘intervention’ is? And what happens if you break the taboo?”

“I would die, perhaps?”

Cassia began to understand.

This man, Raergo was walking a fine line, answering her as best he could without causing an ‘intervention’ which would break magic’s taboo.

But why was he helping her?

Cassia’s head began to ache. This wasn’t something she could figure out that quickly.

“And yet, you said earlier that you’ve used time-reversal magic once. Isn’t that a violation of the taboo, telling me that?”

“I’m not sure I understand. You say it’s taboo to tell me who performed this magic and yet you yourself said you’ve used time-reversal magic once…”

Cassia trailed off, stopping mid-sentence. Raergo’s words were both a lie and a hint.

If Raergo had truly been the one who used that magic on her, then admitting he used it would be breaking the taboo, and he would suffer the consequences. She didn’t know the specifics, but it was probably, as he said, death or something close to it.

But he didn’t look like he was under any such restriction. That meant some other being was the caster of the time-reversal magic and Raergo was merely ‘one who knows’ who was indirectly involved in the reversal magic.

Once Cassia came to that conclusion, she stared at him and Raergo smiled brightly.

“Phew, what a relief. I knew that if it’s you, Baroness, you could figure out enough information without me having to break the taboo and reveal the specifics.

He exhaled with a hand over his chest, as if he could see right through her and knew she had caught on.

Then one more question arose.

Who in the world was this man, that he was tiptoe along the edge of a magical taboo just to try and help her? Clearly, he desperately wanted Cassia to know the truth.

He wanted her to know something and to do something.

When she asked why he approached her, he gave the bizarre answer that an ‘offering’ was needed for high-grade magic. In other words, he wanted Cassia to find out who performed the reversal magic and what offering they used.

Cassia had found out everything she could about her own return in time. There was much more she wanted to ask, but if answering them meant hurting this man, she wasn’t going to push it.

“Then is it okay to ask about general rules of time-reversal? Not just my own?”

“Perhaps?”

Once again, a vague answer.

Cassia asked the question that had been weighing on her most.

“I already know that unless I act differently from the past, the events that happened my previous life will repeat. I have already changed many things because there is much I wanted to do differently, but there are also things I wish would happen again, just as they did before.”

“Like what?”

“My children. I had two children in my past life. I want them to be born safely again.”

At Cassia’s words, Raergo’s perpetually calm smile faltered, and his expression stiffened.

“D-Don’t tell me, it’s impossible?”

“Ah, no, that’s not it. I was just a little… surprised.”

“What’s so surprising about that?”

“Well, you’ve been given a new life so why are you trying to have the same children again? I’m sure you’ll develop the same affection for your new children.”

Raergo replied, his composure quickly returning but Cassia frowned at his question.

“You. You’ve never had children, have you?”

“Hahaha… no. Don’t I look quite young?”

“My children were everything to me. It’s only natural that I want to see them again.”

Raergo’s expression shifted strangely.

“Right. That’s the kind of person you were.”

A peculiar comment from a peculiar expression. As if he knew her. No, as if he had known her.

But Cassia was sure she had never met this man named Raergo in this life or the last, not even in passing. But, the more they talked, the more she felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.

“There is a way for you to see the same children again, but it’s difficult. Several conditions have to be met.”

“What are the conditions? I’m all ears.”

“For every creature’s birth and death, God assigns a star date. If the conditions of their conception match perfectly, including the nature of both parents and the precise star date, the same child can be born again. It sounds complex, but to put it simply, the exact same events must occur on the exact same day.”

Raergo said this with a slight smile.

“Hm, but that would be difficult. After all, you must know the exact day your children were conceived, and you must conceive with the Baron on that exact day.”

“That—!”

Cassia slammed her hand on the table, her eyes alight with excitement.

“I know! I remember the exact days my first and second child were conceived! Is that really all it takes?”

How could she not remember? In her previous life, her relations with Zester had been few and far between, and she had even happily marked the days that Rael and Lucy were conceived and born on the calendar.

“No, how can you possibly remember…”

Raergo tilted his head in disbelief, then he quickly realized why she would remember the exact dates. Covering his mouth with a hand, he gave her a sympathetic look. Cassia blushed.

“…I take it your relationship with the Baron wasn’t exactly affectionate in your past life.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Still, I’m glad. Your relationship seems to be rather affectionate relationship this time around.”

Raergo smiled faintly.

How did he know that? Did he secretly peek at her when she was looking fondly at Zester from the reception room earlier?

“Anyway, is that the only condition?”

“Ah, there is one more. You must not create a preceding event that influences a succeeding event.”

“What does that mean?”

“Creations have many diverging paths of fate, and when one path is chosen, the others are not. If you have a new child which you did not have in your previous life, the fate in which your desired child is born will not be chosen. To put it simply, before your first child is conceived, a new first child that didn’t originally exist cannot be born first.”

Cassia flinched at Raergo’s words.

That means if she had another child before Rael, then Rael might never exist.

The very thing she had been worried about, the ‘what if,’ was now reality and Cassia’s face went pale.

Her eyes trembled as she instinctively brought a hand to her lower abdomen.

Raergo tilted his head in concern.

“Is something wrong?”

“W-what do I do? If, if by some chance, I’m pregnant right now, that would be a problem, wouldn’t it?”

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