TYLWLQ 04

Chapter 04

Magnus flinched in surprise at the words that had just left his own mouth.

Home?
He had just told that reckless son—who had run away from home of his own accord—to go home.

Theodore was just as shocked.

The moment the word home came out of Magnus’s mouth, he froze in place.

“I said we’re taking the child to the mansion. What are you standing around for? Move immediately!”

They needed a doctor.

Not just some physician with a good reputation in the city, but a true master who had spent his life treating children like this.

And in the entire world, there was only one such doctor.

Isabel immediately understood what Magnus was thinking.

With a stiff expression, she nodded.

“…Let’s do as he says, Theo.”

“Isabel!”

“We have to save Irina first!”

Magnus thought to himself that at least one person here had some sense.

*

When Elvin Floren received word that Magnus had summoned him to the mansion, he felt instinctively that the time had finally come.

Thinking about it, it wasn’t surprising.

No matter how healthy Magnus was for his age, the truth was that he had already lived long enough that death wouldn’t be strange.

In fact, considering his awful temper, it was almost impressive he had lived this long.

If fate still has a thousand lives left for him, maybe he’ll resurrect again, Elvin thought sarcastically.

With that thought, he packed medicine good for the heart and blood vessels and hurried toward the Einhardt mansion.

“Magnus! How many times have I told you to calm that temper of yours—… What in the world are you doing right now?!”

Elvin’s face filled with shock.

The senile old man who had called him here because of a supposed health problem was calmly puffing on a cigar.

“Put that out immediately!”

He looked ready to throw water from a nearby flowerpot if necessary.

But Magnus simply stared at Elvin expressionlessly and pointed silently toward the bed.

The patient to examine was over there.

Elvin glared at Magnus but walked toward the bed anyway, fulfilling his duty as a doctor.

In the middle of the familiar old bed, something small created a mound like a tiny grave.

For a moment, Elvin felt as though he had been thrown back several decades.

Back to the time when his young niece had hovered between life and death countless times a day.

“…Magnus, who exactly is this child?”

“My granddaughter.”

Magnus answered casually.

Elvin doubted his ears.

What? Who did he say?

Had Magnus finally lost his mind?

But when Elvin turned around in shock, Magnus did not look like he was joking.

In fact, he looked extremely anxious.

Having known him for decades, Elvin could tell Magnus was in a state of deep confusion.

“Save her.”

Magnus spoke in an arrogant, commanding voice that still could not be refused.

From the bed came a faint breathing sound.

It was so weak that even someone with no medical knowledge could tell the patient’s condition was not good.

But hearing that breath strangely cleared Elvin’s mind.

This was not the past.

The child on the bed was not his niece who had died young without anyone being able to save her.

The moment he saw the girl lying there like a corpse, Elvin let out a dry laugh.

Anyone could tell from her appearance that she was clearly an Einhardt by blood.

If someone told me the dead Leona had returned, I might even believe it.

Even the dress the child was wearing resembled the ones Leona used to wear.

Since the only children’s clothes left in the mansion were Leona’s belongings, someone must have hurriedly changed the child into them.

Only then did Elvin understand Magnus’s reaction.

There were many questions he wanted to ask, but first he focused on the patient.

“So, how is she?”

“It’s not a serious illness. Her heart was simply shocked, and she fainted. She’ll wake up after some rest.”

Magnus still looked unconvinced and clicked his tongue.

Then he muttered to himself.

“A person isn’t a rabbit. How do you faint just from being startled?”

“Hah! When you shout like that, even the statues in the temple would collapse from shock!”

Elvin shook his head but continued speaking.

“…Her nutrition is good, and her bones are fairly strong. However…”

“However?”

Magnus frowned impatiently.

Elvin hesitated briefly before closing his eyes and explaining Irina’s condition.

“She was born with a weak heart. At this rate… she’ll live four years at most.”

Magnus’s eyes widened at the words weak heart.

His own heart seemed to sink.

No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, Irina’s image overlapped again and again with his daughter who had died young.

She had also been born with a weak heart.

No matter how much medicine they gave her, it never grew stronger.

And when she was around Irina’s age—

She died at fifteen.

“…What exactly happened?” Elvin asked eventually.

“Explain everything slowly.”

After a long silence, Magnus sighed heavily.

“…I met Theodore.”

“Huh? W-wait… Teddy?!”

Magnus nodded.

After losing his first two children, Magnus had raised Theodore with extreme care.

But his way of showing love had always been for his own sake, not Theodore’s.

To Theodore, that love felt like chains and shackles.

Eventually he couldn’t endure it any longer and ran away with the only person who truly understood him—Isabel.

“They say the darkest place is under the lamp. That insolent brat.”

“Good grief…”

“I knew the moment I saw her whose daughter she was.”

“And what kind of life they’ve been living.”

But then… where are the child’s parents?

Only then did Elvin realize something strange.

The people who should obviously be there were nowhere to be seen.

An uneasy thought came to mind.

“Y-You didn’t just take the granddaughter and leave them behind, did you?”

If it were anyone else, maybe not.

But Magnus was certainly capable of doing exactly that.

Magnus neither confirmed nor denied it.

He simply curled his lips into a mysterious smile.

“Magnus!”

“Forget that. My granddaughter… Irina…”

“…She’ll live longer than her aunt did, won’t she?”

Magnus leaned forward, his hands clasped together on his knees.

Even that small movement made Elvin feel pressured.

“Well… that is…”

“Answer honestly.”

And I’ll spare your life.

For a moment, Elvin almost imagined hearing those words.

“There must be some way to treat her.”

In Magnus’s world, nothing was impossible.

He possessed power, wealth, and people capable of moving the entire world.

“…I’ll do my best.”

But even Magnus could not save his daughter back then.

And now it seemed the same tragedy might repeat itself.

“For now… we’ll give her medicine to strengthen her heart and vitality.”

“She’s just entering the stage of growth.”

“You know how children at that age can even recover from broken bones overnight.”

Magnus silently nodded.

Then he let out a deep sigh.

“…Good work.”

The sense of defeat and helplessness he had felt decades ago began to resurface.

The calm mask Magnus had worn for decades cracked slightly.

It lasted only a brief moment.

But Elvin saw it.

Not the feared and respected Silver Wolf Duke.

But simply an old father and grandfather.

And that sight looked just as miserable and pitiful as it had decades ago.

*

What? Four years at most?

Thanks to the terrible smell of cigars, I had regained consciousness quite a while ago.

But the atmosphere made it impossible to open my eyes, so I kept pretending to be unconscious.

And now the doctor who examined me had just declared that I was terminally ill.

For a while, I had forgotten.

Even though I had already experienced it once and knew how horrible it was.

Lying in a hospital bed, waiting for death.

Spending long, lonely days alone.

At first, people would care for me with great devotion.

But gradually, they would grow tired as I never improved.

Even if they tried to hide it, their exhaustion would appear on their faces whenever they looked at me.

The helplessness of having to watch that change happen.

And the despair when, one day, no one came to visit anymore.

You want me to experience that again?

“No!”

I hate it. I refuse!

Four years at most?

Don’t make me laugh.

The year Grandfather was executed in the original timeline, I was eighteen.

If this happens, then returning to the past was meaningless!

Absolutely not!

I don’t want to die like this.

I don’t want to lie helplessly in bed as a patient.

That’s not why I came back!

Calm down…

There must be a way.

My parents are different from those people.

They won’t abandon me.

They won’t ignore me.

So for now, I need to focus on what’s in front of me—

Wait.

Where were my parents?

Why were only two grandfathers here beside me?

“Mm…”

“You’re awake.”

I slowly opened my eyes.

Grandfather sat in a chair, leaning back while looking at me calmly.

“Ah… um… what exactly happened…?”

“You collapsed.”

“You’re my granddaughter, so I brought you to my mansion.”

Grandfather answered while tapping ash from his half-burned cigar into an ashtray.

…Honestly, I was a little surprised.

He was acknowledging me as his granddaughter more easily than I expected.

After what happened in the museum, I thought he would say something like:

I brought you here, but that doesn’t mean I fully accept you yet.

But instead—he spoke as if it were already decided.