IBQC 05

~Chapter : 05~

5. The Purpose of Life

Alice instinctively burrowed toward warmth. Something soft wrapped her snugly.

Heaven, perhaps.

How could one imagine hell when the air was mild, the breeze gentle, and the scent so comforting?

Alice slowly opened her eyes. The bright light she hadn’t seen for so long stung her eyes.

She shut them again at the prickling pain.

“Would you like to sleep a little longer?”

Someone spoke to her.

“No, I’ll get up.”

If this truly was the world beyond life, she had no time to linger.

She must meet whoever she could, beg forgiveness, and ask for another chance.

“Oh my, why the sudden formality, my lady?”

My lady. It had been nearly eight years since she last heard that title.

Eight years since she inherited the viscountcy.

“Even if you want to sleep more, I can’t allow it. Prince Chase is coming today, remember?”

Chase? Prince?

Something was off. Alice squinted her eyes.

Her vision soon adjusted, and the room became clearer.

“Are you unwell?”

A face suddenly approached, one she knew—yet somehow felt strange.

“…Regina?”

Alice grabbed the girl’s wrist.

“You, who are you?”

“Ow, my lady! That hurts! You’re full of energy this morning. I’m Regina, don’t you recognize me? You’re not sleeping with your eyes open, right? Are you dreaming?”

Regina’s brows furrowed.

Regina? And so young?

Still suspicious, Alice looked around. Everything was familiar.

The desk she once used in her family’s manor, the chair, the wardrobe, even the view from the window—it was all the same.

“At this rate, you’ll keep His Highness waiting. Come now, my lady, get up.”

Regina tugged away the quilt with practiced hands.

Alice’s pale, smooth legs were exposed beneath the thin nightgown. Her eyes widened.

“No scars?”

At twenty, Alice had been gravely injured during a Gate investigation.

A scar had forever remained on her leg. But now her legs were unblemished.

Her body tensed. Alice turned slowly toward Regina and asked,

“Regina, how old am I this year?”

“My lady, you do realize you’re being strange? You’re nineteen this year.”

“Nineteen? Then what month is it now?”

“Oh, come on, my lady. Why are you asking like this?”

Regina gave her a suspicious look but answered anyway.

“It’s the month of Harvest. Are you that eager to become of age? Just a few more days, the New Year’s almost here.”

So it was late winter.

“Are you nervous? Because Prince Chase is bringing the engagement ring today?”

Alice shot up to her feet.

Nineteen years old. Winter. And the engagement ring!

She rushed into the bathroom and turned on the tap. Cold water poured over her head.

Her body shivered violently, and her mind cleared.

“My lady! You’ll catch a cold! Even if you’re anxious, why wash with your clothes still on? Please come out!”

Regina stomped her feet in panic, but Alice didn’t move.

I’ve come back… to nineteen? Or was everything just a dream?

But the pain had been too vivid.

Even now, her ankle ached—the one Gabriel had trampled and broken.

Her fingertips still burned from drawing magic circles until they wore away.

What I went through wasn’t a dream. Then…

Could it be that her dying wish was granted?

Had the Regression Circle truly worked?

Alice turned to the mirror. She touched her own face frantically.

Alive. She was alive—and back again!

A rush of joy coursed through her before doubt followed.

Who activated the Regression Circle?

She dug through her memories. A voice—desperately calling her name—resurfaced.

Karan.

The man who had once been rumored to be involved with her, who had come to her in her final moments.

Could it have been Karan? But he wasn’t a mage.

For such a grand magic circle—something only a Sage-class mage could wield?

Could he have been hiding his true identity?

If so, then it was possible.

But still, it didn’t make sense.

Sage-class mages were revered regardless of birth. They could restore even a ruined house to glory.

Nations would boast endlessly if such a mage was born among them.

And yet he hid it?

In Tetris, of all places—scorned as a land forsaken by God for never producing mages?

It was baffling.

“My lady, His Highness Prince Chase has arrived!”

Regina’s announcement froze Alice’s body. Her once-bright eyes turned icy.

It was time to face Chase.

“Alice!”

As she entered the drawing room, Chase leapt to his feet.

His face was adorned with a radiant smile.

My beautiful lady.

He rushed over and clasped her hand.

“Let go, Your Highness.”

But Alice’s tone was not what it used to be. Gone was the wildflower smile that used to bloom at his sight.

“Alice, is something wrong?”

“No. Something will be wrong soon enough.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

Alice looked up at him.

That clean-cut face, that well-built body—everything she had shaped with her own hands.

Now it was time to tear it all down.

The very thought of promising him a future made her sick.

I want to vomit. Let’s end this.

Alice forced her lips into a smile.

“Your Highness, the engagement—let us call it off.”

Cracks split Chase’s face. His sparkling eyes turned dull, a twitch appearing beneath them.

He might have looked pitiful, but to Alice he appeared hideous.

She turned to leave.

“Wait! Alice, I must have misheard you, right?”

He grabbed her arm.

Alice swung her hand without hesitation. Her hand struck his shoulder and fell away.

Both of them were stunned.

But she quickly composed herself.

“That was a mistake, Your Highness. But the words about breaking off the engagement are sincere.”

“Alice, why all of a sudden? Did I do something wrong?”

Sudden—for him, perhaps.

But not for Alice, who had been used until discarded at twenty-nine.

“Wrong…?”

She murmured to herself.

“Yes, Alice. If I’ve done wrong, tell me. I’ll apologize, I’ll fix it, alright?”

“Must there be someone at fault to end things?”

Her voice was frigid.

You didn’t need a reason when you discarded me. You even pinned false sins on me before pushing me away.

“Well…”

“Blame it on me, Your Highness.”

Because everything would be my fault anyway. Just as it was in the past.

Alice didn’t want to explain further.

The memories of her nightmare life weighed too heavily.

She needed rest and time to think.

“Do not seek me out again, Your Highness.”

And just as he had left her alone in a dungeon without looking back, Alice now turned away without hesitation.

“Haa…”

Back in her room, Alice locked the door and sank to the floor.

Her emotions had nearly betrayed her in front of Chase.

Despite casting her aside so easily, he had looked at her as though heartbroken.

As if he truly loved me.

But she knew better now.

His affection was nothing more than a feverish illusion, a mirage that vanished when grasped.

She still could not believe she had truly returned. She touched her body again. Warm flesh, solid life. Only then did it feel real.

It’s like waking from a terrible, endless nightmare.

But the memories were too vivid to dismiss as a dream. Even the sensation of dying lingered.

Karan’s desperate voice echoed in her ears.

“Prince Karan…”

At his name, tangled thoughts surged.

She had so many questions for him.

Most of all, why he saved her.

The two had little personal connection. They had spoken a few times during the campaign against the dragon Ragnaros, but never intimately.

Didn’t he dislike me?

He had refused her invitations to dance, to dine, even avoided her gaze.

So why had he cast the Regression Circle?

No, maybe I’m mistaken. He wasn’t even a mage… Perhaps it was coincidence…

Alice laughed bitterly. Coincidence? She had never been that lucky.

No, it was Karan.

He must have hidden his power for some reason.

With that conclusion, gratitude welled up stronger than doubt.

“I must repay him somehow.”

But what could the daughter of a mere viscount offer to a prince of Tetris?

There were other matters first.

Chase and Iris… what should I do with them?

Chase, who used her and threw her away.

Iris, who tormented her endlessly until she died.

Alice’s expression hardened as she gazed out the window.

She had been thrust back into the damned Warton household. In her previous life, she had only just become the viscount.

But her parents, Lord and Lady Warton, were as much enemies as Iris.

Abuse, neglect, cruelty…

The memories of childhood made her shiver.

This is my chance to start over. Think. This is an opportunity. I’ll live for myself this time.

She had lived for others until now.

This life, she would live for herself.

And to do that, she must remove those who stood in her way.

The first step…

Her eyes gleamed in the reflection of the window.

“…is to end the engagement once and for all.”

Originally, today was the day she received the engagement ring. A month later, she would have been formally betrothed to Chase.

But she had refused. The future would change.

Surely, Chase would not hold on to her.

“My lady, a gift has arrived.”

But that belief was shattered. Chase had sent Alice a present.