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~Chapter 25~
“She was always someone who thought of me in many ways.”
Kasen thought casually.
The possibility that Delphina had truly accepted their breakup had never even crossed his mind.
“I love you, Kasen.”
Lost in his own thoughts, Kasen reflexively responded to Ivelina’s words.
“I love you too, Ivelina.”
There wasn’t a shred of sincerity on his face as he said it.
Inside her room, Delphina stared blankly at the system window.
She had already realized that the system didn’t appear randomly—it reacted quite organically.
Sometimes, it even initiated conversations with her like it was giving her advice.
‘There were even quest windows sometimes saying the god Prad was surprised…’
It hadn’t been difficult to connect the system with Prad.
<The god Prad smiles kindly at Delphina. He whines, asking if she knows how frustrating it’s been.>
Delphina still didn’t know why the system appeared to her.
But seeing Prad’s name mentioned occasionally, she could only assume it was somehow related to him.
‘No way… Am I a saint or something?’
To that question, the system window answered:
<The god Prad sternly denies that.>
‘No need to get so serious about it…’
Then she wondered: could he really read all her thoughts?
<The god Prad, startled, replies that he only sees thoughts Delphina permits.>
Delphina nodded.
Even if he was a god, she definitely didn’t want all her thoughts being read.
“Then… were all the system windows up until now something you gave me?”
<The god Prad awkwardly replies that he cannot reveal that yet.>
“Then when will I know?”
<The god Prad answers: When you raise the North’s dominion enough to fulfill causality.>
“If I raise the North’s dominion, will you answer everything? Even the truth about the carriage accident?”
<The god Prad looks at Delphina with pity. He shakes his head, saying he cannot answer that.>
Delphina had only asked casually.
Even with the system windows alone, she knew just how incredible her abilities were.
‘Even if random, being able to read people’s thoughts or strengthen others through food… It’s already totally overpowered.’
And she didn’t believe such abilities had been granted by Prad without reason.
“There’s something I have to do, isn’t there?”
<The god Prad answers: A corrupt force has crept into the Empire.>
“A corrupt force?”
<The god Prad asks if she hadn’t found it odd. He says that while she was in the House of Rikaion, she had been under a spell.>
Delphina had realized the same thing after seeing the system.
‘Come to think of it, I wasn’t the type to be that meek in the first place…’
As a child, Delphina had been so wild that even the servants would shake their heads in disbelief.
But after her parents passed away, she suddenly changed completely.
Even with grief, such a drastic shift was clearly unnatural.
‘I just suddenly felt like I had to obey my uncle’s every word.’
Could that truly be explained by mere conditioning or education?
<The god Prad proudly says that it was thanks to his help that Delphina snapped out of it.>
‘So that’s why I regained memories of my past life and returned to my original self.’
Only now did she finally understand why it had felt like waking from a spell.
Once she began seeing Prad’s system windows, the corrupt force that had gripped her had disappeared.
And instinctively, Delphina felt that her parents’ deaths were also connected to that “corrupt force.”
She had many more questions, but couldn’t talk to Prad any longer.
<Due to insufficient Northern dominion, you can no longer converse with the god Prad.>
With that final message, the system window vanished before her eyes.
* * *
Delphina began getting ready from early morning.
After last night’s conversation with the god Prad, she hadn’t been able to sleep properly.
‘First, I’ll do what I can. Kasen and Ivelina are still staying in the North, after all.’
With that thought, Delphina headed straight to the kitchen.
Her volunteer work for the wall-repair laborers wasn’t finished yet.
‘I need to complete this quest—for the Lady’s sake, too.’
Delphina had been deeply moved by what the Lady had done not long ago.
‘She ate the food in front of Ivelina—for my sake.’
Walton asked Delphina,
“Are you going out again today?”
“Yes. I need to finish what I’ve started. And there are probably people waiting for me.”
As she got ready to go out, Delphina thought to herself:
‘Ivelina’s the type who can’t stand being outdone.’
She could already imagine what Ivelina might try to pull next.
‘She’ll follow me around and harass me the entire time she’s in the North… and do it all where the Lady can’t see.’
After living with the Rikaion family and attending the academy with her, Delphina knew all too well what kind of person Ivelina was.
And it wasn’t just Ivelina.
Her older brother, Dianko, had also constantly tormented Delphina.
In fact, the reason Delphina had been ostracized at the academy stemmed from Ivelina.
The other students avoided Delphina because they were wary of Ivelina’s gaze.
“Delphina, you should be grateful for my father’s mercy.”
“The only reason you’re living like a noble is because of the mercy he granted you.”
Even her fiancé Kasen had been aware of their actions.
On the day Delphina cried after being harassed by Ivelina at the academy…
Kasen approached her and said,
“Are you okay?”
That simple question had felt so warm.
“They’re awful people. When you do bad things, karma always comes back.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Yes. Ivelina and Dianko will be punished eventually.”
As he said that, Kasen wiped Delphina’s tears.
“When we graduate from the academy, let’s go to House Fuat.”
“If we go there, you’ll never have to suffer like this again.”
Delphina had once believed those words. But her eyes now turned cold.
The day she learned Kasen had betrayed her, the day she fell down the stairs…
That was the day the Delphina who loved Kasen died.
‘I died that day, Kasen.’
Now, she understood.
No—only now could she truly understand.
If Kasen had really cared for her, he would never have let Ivelina and Dianko bully her in the first place.
As the heir to House Fuat, he had the power to stop it.
Delphina had changed.
She no longer believed Kasen’s words. She no longer wavered at anything Ivelina or Dianko said.
She knew how wrong they were when they tried to tear her down—because she had regained the memories of her previous life.
Even the memories of being ostracized at the academy were something she could overcome now.
‘Grandmother… Please help me.’
Delphina closed her eyes tightly.
And sure enough—
Ivelina followed Delphina to the wall repair site.
Delphina thought,
‘She must really be bitter about what happened yesterday.’
She looked back at Ivelina trailing behind her. Ivelina walked with a deeply furrowed brow.
“What on earth are you doing this early in the morning?”
Ivelina stared at her as if she couldn’t comprehend her at all.
Delphina was wearing a cook’s hat and plain clothing.
‘Did she forget she’s a noble just because she came to the North? What is that outfit?’
Ivelina scowled and muttered,
“Vulgar, filthy…”
Yet even so, she didn’t stop following Delphina.
“Where’s Young Lord Kasen Fuat while you’re busy following me?”
“He’s gone to handle an important matter.”
“An important matter?”
“Yes. He probably won’t be back until this afternoon. He’s searching for the whereabouts of a very important person from the Empire.”
“……”
“You’re not still interested in Kasen, are you?”
The question was so ridiculous that Delphina answered without thinking:
“What are you talking about?”
