“W-what do I do? If, if by some chance, I’m pregnant right now, that would be a problem, wouldn’t it?”
Her period was a little late. In her previous life, she would have brushed it off as just another irregular cycle, but this time was different. This time, she had actually shared a bed with Zester, something that hadn’t happened before.
Cassia trembled as she spoke, and Raergo, who had been quietly watching, suddenly burst out laughing. She stared at him wondering what was so funny and her eyes narrowed.
“I don’t think you need to worry about that.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I’m not called a philosopher for nothing. Just one look and I can tell that you…”
Can philosophers even detect pregnancy? As Cassia tilted her head, frowning at the incomprehensible answer…
“Guh—!”
“Kyaa!”
Raergo suddenly coughed up blood. A thick clot of it splattered across the table. Drops of blood flew, some landing on the hem of Cassia’s dress and her face. Trickles of blood that Raergo failed to contain flowed between the fingers of his hand which was clamped over his mouth.
“H-Hey! Are you okay?”
Shocked, Cassia shot up from her seat and rushed to his side. He held up his other hand as if to say he was fine, still covering his mouth, and then he smiled.
“Hahaha, haha, I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine at all!”
“I must’ve said something that broke the taboo. My goodness. Hahaha…”
“This isn’t something to laugh about! You can’t even tell which answers break the taboo? If it’s something that hurts you like this, then I don’t need you to answer it!”
“Ah, I was trying to be careful but… this is my first time too, you see. My first time meeting someone who’s returned through time, and having a conversation while trying to walk the line without breaking a taboo. No wonder I made a mistake. These ‘lines’ are awfully vague… Haha!”
Despite blood trickling from his lips, Raergo continued laughing like he found it amusing. Cassia frantically waved her hands in exasperation.
“Stop. That’s enough. I’ve heard enough, don’t say anything more.”
“You can ask more, if you want…”
“No! How can you sit here, confidently offering to answer when you don’t even know what answers are dangerous?”
She couldn’t explain why, but perhaps because he was the only being in this world who knew she had returned in time, she felt a strange sense of kinship with Raergo. Which is why seeing him in pain bothered her and made her feel sorry for him.
With a grimace, Cassia unconsciously lifted her sleeve and wiped the blood from his lips. Raergo flinched at her touch, then smiled faintly.
“You really…haven’t changed at all.”
One more thing had become certain. In some way or another, Raergo had known her before
Cassia wanted to ask more but her concern over his condition outweighed her curiosity. She pretended not to hear his quiet muttering.
***
Back in her room, Cassia lay staring at the ceiling, replaying her conversation with Raergo.
There was much she needed to think about and figure out on her own. How Raergo knew her, what he wanted from her…
Unraveling the secrets of her return wasn’t necessarily something she had to do but there had to be a reason why Raergo had gone out of his way to seek her out and tell her these things.
She didn’t know if solving the mystery would help her or not, but Cassia felt a sense of obligation to the bottom of things. The knowledge that someone had paid a great price to bring her back weighed heavily on her heart.
Once she figured out who had cast the time-reversal magic and what they had sacrificed, she would naturally learn what Raergo wanted too.
‘Who would wish for me to live again?’
First, her family. She thought of Count and Countess Ruberno, Estella and Allen.
She knew her father’s character well. It’s not that he didn’t love his children, but his children did not come before his own life. He was the type to act rationally after weighing the pros and cons.
Would such a man have paid the price required to cast the magic? A price so great it was called an ‘offering’?
Her mother and her siblings were out of the question. Not only had she had no contact with them for ten years after leaving for Greze, but they had no interest in magic or magic stones in the first place. They weren’t the kind of people who would embark on a convoluted magical quest just to bring her back.
In that case, it would have to be someone who understood the nature of magic stones, was close to her, and would not hesitate to pay such a price…
Drian?
She also hadn’t contacted him in those ten years.
Still, she couldn’t rule him out entirely. Of everyone she knew, he had been most devoted to magic stone research.
‘I have no clue at all.’
Her head began to throb with a dull ache.
“Does your head hurtt?”
At that moment, Zester, who had been lying beside her, sat up and looked down at her with worried eyes. Seeing her furrowed brow, he reached over with surprisingly gentle hands. He started massaging her temples, brushing her forehead softly.
His gaze as he looked down at her was warm enough to feel hot.
‘Could it be… my husband?’
Technically, he was family. And after marriage, he was even closer to her than her birth family, the Rubernos. But if someone asked her if the Zester from her previous life was the kind of person who would have gone to such lengths to give his dead wife a new life, her answer would be no.
‘Though I could see the man that I know now doing something like that.’
Regardless of what he thought of his wife internally, the Baron and Baroness Greze of her past life had not been particularly close. It was hard to believe that he would pay such an enormous price for her.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Maybe your head is aching because you’ve been working too hard? You did say, back when you came to Greze, that you wouldn’t do anything. You really don’t have to do anything. Don’t overwork yourself. You’re so…petite and light…”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’m just saying you look frail. Your younger brother seems to be on the fragile side too.”
“Ah, Allen? You’re right. He’s a bit like that. Anyway, I’m glad you all seem to be getting along now.”
“…You saw?”
“Mhm. I saw you guys in the garden from the reception room earlier.”
Cassia smiled softly. Zester scratched his nose and turned slightly pink.
“They’re both sweet and angelic, probably because they take after you. Especially Allen…”
The boy had a cunning side that didn’t match his age, yet for some reason, Zester seemed to have taken a great liking to him. Whatever the case, it was a relief. Cassia smiled in satisfaction.
“Seeing Allen, you know…”
“Yes?”
“It makes me curious about our future child.”
“W-what?!”
The comment caught Cassia off guard. She thought he would be embarrassed too, but besides a slight blush, he continued without faltering.
“If we had a child that looked just like you, I would be so happy. I didn’t think I was the type that liked kids but after meeting Allen, I don’t know… I started to feel greedy. I want a child, a child that looks like you.”
“R-R-Really?”
“Ah! Don’t misunderstand. I don’t mean anything weird by it!”
Zester waved his hands frantically, worried that Cassia would misunderstand that he was laying the grounds to pounce on her.
“I-I’m not misunderstanding…”
But his mention of having a child stirred up all her earlier worries again, specifically, what Raergo had told her about the conditions needed to safely give birth to her previous children.
To see Rael again, she had to conceive him exactly two years later, on the precise date she remembered. If she got pregnant before that, Rael and Lucy might never be born.
Of course, she could love a new child… but giving up Rael and Lucy wasn’t an option.
Until they were safely born, she couldn’t have any other children.
The best solution was to avoid any relations with Zester until the day Rael was conceived, but that seemed as difficult as uncovering the secret behind her return. And there wasn’t exactly a reliable method of contraception, which was frustrating.
She seemed to recall hearing about an edible herb that helped with contraception. Cassia sighed, making a mental note to find out about it as soon as she returned to Greze. There were so many things she had to worry about.
“W-Would you like a son or a daughter?”
He really seemed to want a child.
At Zester’s hesitant question, Cassia thought for a moment before replying.
“I’d like the first to be a boy… and the second, a girl. And I want the boy to look like you.”
“Me?”
“Yes. A son who looks like you, and a daughter who looks like me.”
That was exactly how it had been, Rael had looked just like Zester, and Lucy, just like Cassia.
Zester flushed, trying and failing to suppress a smile. His jaw twitched from the effort, and he eventually dove under the blanket. A smile he couldn’t quite suppress bloomed on his face as he looked at Cassia lying beside him. He seemed to be in an incredibly good mood.
This Zester was completely different from the one in her past life. He talked more, expressed more… and acted like a husband who was desperate to adore his wife even more. Cassia blushed under his gaze.
“Ah, um, I want to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
Just as Cassia was trying to change the subject from the blush-inducing topic of children, a question came to mind. It wasn’t a question that would be particularly helpful in solving the mystery of her time-reversal, but…
“Let’s say I died.”
She said it calmly like it was hypothetical, but it was a truth that would inevitably happen. Her heart ached just a bit at the thought.
“And let’s say, there’s a way to revive—no, a way to see me again.”
“…Right.”
“But to use that method and see me again, you’d have to pay a huge price. I don’t know what it would be exactly, but I don’t mean money or something material. If that happened…”
Holding her breath for a moment, Cassia turned her gaze from the ceiling to meet the eyes of Zester, who was staring intently at her.
“Would you be willing to pay that price just to see me again?”
The moment she asked, she regretted it. In her past life, they’d spent ten years together, whether happily or not, but she alone carried those memories.
To the Zester of today, she was just someone he had lived with for a little less than three months, still closer to a stranger than family.
In other words, it was a very premature and burdensome question. It would feel awkward if he answered honestly and said he’d have to think about it, but it would also feel strange for him to lie and say he would.
“Never mind. It was a silly question. Just forget I asked.”
“Cassia. I…”
Zester suddenly sat up. For some reason, his eyes burning more intensely than she had ever seen them.
“You may not believe me and if so, there’s nothing I can do, but to me…for me…”
Zester was worried she might not believe but Cassia couldn’t help but think that with his expression right now, she couldn’t help but believe whatever he said next.
“Right now.”
“…”
“If someone told me to die in your place, I would.”
- Honey, I’m Going on Strike – Chapters 47 – 49 - November 22, 2025
- Honey, I’m Going on Strike – Chapter 44-46 - November 14, 2025
- Honey, I’m Going on Strike – Chapters 42-43 - November 8, 2025