At that moment, Arseno left with a sly smile, muttering as he went. “Don’t imitate my brother much.”
“…”
“No matter how handsome you are, this is a bit troubling. To even go as far as copying his mole, seriously.”
Wow… Arseno, that guy, just how on earth does his thought process work? He was playing with my emotions, twisting them this way and that way…. And so, I really felt like grabbing him by the collar. Unfortunately, he had already vanished like the wind. F*ck…
* * *
It was after Arseno left like a sudden gust of wind. Left behind along with the horses, I turned toward the stable hand, I mean Vientin, and spoke in a low voice. “Areson is, well, um…” I was merely treading carefully with my words because I feared I might accidentally slip in a derogatory remark about my brother-in-law, but Vientin spoke out of nowhere.
“You’re asking why I didn’t tell you beforehand that Arseno was a lunatic.”
“Oh.” What a genius. Or perhaps a mind reader. Without revealing my thoughts, I murmured, “That’s right. It really will be troublesome if he actually brings the grand duke here.”
“It will be fine.”
“…For now, I think it’d be best if we leave quickly.” As soon as I finished speaking, I quietly took the controller and the watch out of my pocket. “…If you press the red button on the controller, an emergency escape is possible.”
“Are you… going to press it now?”
Lowering my gaze, I whispered softly. “No. First, could you take a good look at this watch?”
“The watch?”
The moment his eyes narrowed, I quickly looked around and confirmed once again that no one was nearby.
“Um, Vientin. You see, this thing is disguised as a watch…”
“…?”
“It’s called ‘The Butterfly Effect Meter.’”
The Butterfly Effect Meter was an item I had brought along just in case. Though shaped like an old watch for the sake of disguise, it was actually functioning as a meter.
“Since we’re time travelers, it tells us in the form of a clock just how much we’ve altered this world.”
“You even developed something like this? As expected, an archmage really is on another level.”
“It’s only meant for a quick, rough check, so its accuracy is rather low.”
“Regardless, it’s incredible, Giselle.”
Gosh, compliments like this are a bit embarrassing.
“Yes, well.”
As I stared blankly down at the watch, conscious of the heat creeping into my earlobes, he murmured as though he had noticed something curious. “Come to think of it, there’s only a single hand on this watch.”
“Yes. And normally, this watch hand should be pointing at 12 o’clock.”
“Yet right now, it’s…”
He and I both swallowed hard at the same time. I had a feeling I heard the sound of the watch hand moving earlier.
“It’s at 3 o’clock.”
“Yes. That conversation just now made the meter move a little.”
Vientin and I, people from the future, had inadvertently left an impact on this world.
“…Is it bad if that happens?”
“That’s right. It’s not allowed. However…” I looked down at the watch. What was certain was that we had influenced the past.
Just then, Vientin, who had remained silent, opened his mouth. “I understand. Let’s return.” His answer was so completely devoid of greed that it was actually I who felt embarrassed.
“…Shall we really go right away?”
“Yes. Just seeing him one more time is enough to satisfy me.” Vientin nodded several times, looking genuinely content.
After thinking it over carefully, I quietly took out the brooch. It was the apple brooch, the keepsake my father had left behind for me when I met him. This brooch… maybe, if I play my cards right, I could put it to use. Right before traveling through time… I had touched this brooch only for a very brief moment.
Blinking quietly, I soon opened my mouth. “When Lord Arseno comes back.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s meet him just one more time, and then we’ll leave.”
At those words, Vientin stared at me intently. “Yes.” He didn’t ask me for any other reason. That was the end of it.
I whispered carefully. “…If he doesn’t come within a day, we’ll just leave.”
But if he does come. If we happen to meet…
* * *
…Why on earth did I even worry that this man might not come? That was the most useless worry in the world.
I stared with dead-fish eyes at Arseno, the man standing right in front of me. Looking as amused as ever, he waved his hand toward us.
“I came to return the horse. Hi!”
The thing is, even if I’m disguised as a bottom-tier stable hand, I absolutely have to say this one thing.
“I’m sorry, but there are no horses here.”
There wasn’t an invisible horse either, so what on earth is he talking about returning?
As if noticing my thoroughly rotten expression, Arseno let out a refreshing laugh…
Instinctively feeling we had already caused a massive ripple, I let my eyes drift to the watch. Luckily, the meter hasn’t moved completely yet.
Thinking quietly to myself, I handed him the apple brooch and spoke. It was half out of impulse. “Ah, but I believe you dropped this brooch.”
“Huh?’
“This item. It doesn’t seem like something that belongs in a place like this.”
At my words, he furrowed his brows. “Huh? What’s this? Did someone give it to me?”
“No, that’s not it. It was lying on the ground, so I assumed it belonged to you, Lord Arseno.”
Arseno’s expression became ambiguous.
I softly asked him in a quiet voice. “…Is it not yours?” My tone was light and carefree, as if I were ready to take it back if it wasn’t his.
At my words, Arseno looked down at the edge of the brooch with an unreadable expression. Then, he suddenly gripped the brooch tightly in his hand. For some reason, the corners of his eyes looked strangely red.
At that moment, a ticking sound echoed in my ears. The watch’s hand was moving. The butterfly effect…
I stared at him, biting my lip tightly. I wanted to hear what Arseno had to say. But in my current state, I couldn’t afford to wait any longer. Because the time for us to leave was fast approaching.
Just as I was about to open my mouth cautiously, Arseno spoke. “…No, it’s mine.”
What was his intention? Did he notice the clue I left on the brooch? But my meter wasn’t moving.
I stopped trying to observe the situation. Because the moment I handed him the brooch, the dice of fate had already been cast. What remained was for him to do his part.
“Anyway, yeah, thanks. For finding my stuff.”
“Yes, understood.”
“…Well then, I have some research to do, so I’ll be off.” Kind even to a mere stable hand, Arseno gave a bright, cheerful smile. Then he left, waving his hand repeatedly.
I should be leaving soon, too. This would likely be the last moment I would ever face Arseno. With a heart half relieved and half heavy, I turned my gaze to Vientin. “Shall we go?”
“Yes, let’s go.”
“Then…”
I gripped Vientin’s hand tightly and closed my eyes. Then, rolling the ancient words between my teeth, I let mana flow through my fingertips. What kind of situation Vientin was in, what Arseno was feeling, or what was happening to the Butterfly Effect Meter didn’t matter right now, at this very moment. To rewind time through the authority of an archmage…
The task of returning to our original timeline required a tremendous amount of concentration. That was why I didn’t realize. The watch hand inside the Butterfly Effect Meter in my possession was violently trembling. Merely feeling the mana flow out of my fingertips, I simply believed I had completed the time magic!
* * *
“Why are we still here?”
We definitely left. No, I thought we had left!
“…”
“The magic was flawless though!”
As I scratched my head in utter bewilderment, Vientin also wore a puzzled expression.
“Indeed. The place we were supposed to return to isn’t here, is it?”
“Ah…”
Vientin and I looked around with utterly dejected expressions. So, this place was…
“So… we’re on the roof of the stable.”
“It seems so.”
“…”
To make matters worse, there was an even bigger problem. Our faces had changed completely! In other words…
“We’ve returned to our original appearances.”
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