I, the Female Lead, Ruined the Original

Rakrensius was the only one Selleana could turn to.

The transformation of Agnesia was truly sudden. No one had thought she would be influenced by Margrave Gotenfrid or her father, given what she endured from them. It was impossible to believe she had made such a decision on her own. Though she said it wasn’t due to threats, this was a fantasy world where illogical things were possible, like magic, for example.

Regardless of wishing Agnesia a happy life with the choices she made, it was necessary to confirm if it was truly her will.

“

… Did Priestess Agnesia perhaps not understand your words correctly?”

“No, we had no issues communicating.

“

“Was there any abnormal pause in the conversation, or anything like that…?”

“

, no, there wasn’t.” Michi quickly responded.

“So, it doesn’t seem like she was under the control of someone not present there.”

“…Yes. Probably…?”

“

…” Rakrensius leaned back on the sofa, rubbing his chin. “Well, as you guessed, such a type of disruptive magic does exist.”

“Are you saying there’s magic that induces hypnosis?”

“Wizards don’t call it hypnosis, but yes. There is magic that can manipulate someone into performing actions as desired by the caster. However…”

“However?”

“Firstly, it’s first-class confidential magic.”

Selleana’s eyes widened in surprise for two reasons. First, because of the grand nature of the magic itself. And… wasn’t he the one who was surprised when she first asked him to use second-class confidential magic? For him to mention the first-class confidential magic without hesitation…

The moment Selleana felt her heart race uncontrollably, Michi, who was with her every day, could not miss it. “Now’s not the time, Milady,” she nudged Selleana’s ribs with her elbow to calm her smile.

Meanwhile, Rakrensius’s expression grew more serious, unaware of such exchanges. “However… as far as I know, when that magic is used, it’s impossible for the affected person to interact with their surroundings in real-time as you two described.”

“So, the person can only perform actions input by the caster?”

“Exactly. It completely robs the person of their will. They can’t make up words to fit a specific value system on their own.”

“So then… could it be someone shared Nesia’s vision, spying on us and controlling her in real-time?”

“Or using a magically created life form… like a homunculus? To monitor us.”

As they bombarded him with questions, Rakrensius raised his eyebrows in bewilderment.

“…Well, yes, that’s a possibility… but you two seem quite knowledgeable about magic?”

“

, well.”

“

…”

Their source for such mentions all came from novels they had read in their previous lives—romance fantasy novels. Since these were either classified or undeveloped magics, Rakrensius found their imagination remarkable.

“

, we just have a bit of an imagination…”

“Anyway, is that possibility there?”

“… It’s difficult.” Rakrensius shook his head. “All wizards are registered with the Magic Tower, and to use confidential magic, they must receive prior approval. If confidential magic was used clandestinely, the Tower Master of that region would know.”

“That region means…”

“Nepelsian is within our Magic Tower’s jurisdiction.” And Rakrensius himself had not detected any such magic being used.

As Selleana pondered his words, her face darkened. Despite the discomfort it may cause, Rakrensius couldn’t lie.

“Unless Priestess Agnesia was taken outside the empire…”

That couldn’t be. Doloret tightly controlled Nepelsian’s entry and exit records.

“Or, what if Nesia was taken out of the empire using teleportation?”

“That would be impossible for just anyone to achieve.”

“What?” Selleana, who had greatly benefited from Rakrensius’s teleportation magic, was shocked.

“This isn’t a spell created by the Magic Tower’s formulas. It’s something I learned from my mother, and for some reason, the Magic Tower’s wizards haven’t been able to learn it. The same system of formulas is used in other Magic Towers, so it wouldn’t be different elsewhere.”

“Oh gosh, our Master of Tower is…”

“So OP…”

“Pardon?”

Confused by the unfamiliar term, Rakrensius found himself perplexed while Selleana and Michi sank deeper into despair.

So, Agnesia, who had never left Nepelsian and had interacted perfectly well with them, couldn’t have been controlled by magic.

“Do you have any other possibilities in mind after hearing our story…?”

“No…”

“…”

“…”

As their last hope vanished, the atmosphere became irretrievably heavy.

“Maybe this is all because—”

“It’s not because of the Master of Tower!” Selleana immediately recognized and shouted at the habitual conclusion Rakrensius was about to make.

* * *

“I’ll take my leave then.”

“May Orot’s blessing be with you on this peaceful night.”

“It was nice meeting you.”

“May the harmony of the equal bless you. Take care on your way back.”

At the same time, in a reception room located within the imperial palace’s inner sanctum, Emperor Tashur II and his wife smiled pleasantly as they watched the Marquis Benichi and his daughter leave after enjoying dinner together.

“Truly, Lady Benichi has a spirit, unlike any other lady.”

“Is that so?”

“Had she been born a man, she would have stirred great winds across the empire…”

The empress laughed, covering her mouth with her fan, at the emperor’s sincere compliment.

“With the empress’s blessing, surely Benichi will inject even greater vitality into the empire’s economy.”

“I do hope so.”

A few months ago, the real head of Benichi, the young lady, had weighed Lady Elard’s fate and the repayment deadline for the national debt. The imperial family had taken a step back, but extending a hand first for a stronger relationship between sovereign and subject was the duty of a magnanimous emperor.

“Then, Your Majesty, you should retire for the night.”

“…”

Or should it be said, the duty of the imperial family…

With a brief gesture from the empress, expression suddenly vanished from Tashur II’s face, and he abruptly turned and disappeared into the inner part of the parlor, like a marionette controlled by someone. Thus, only the empress remained in the parlor.

“My son.”

As Empress Arshilla waved her hand through the air, a figure that had been invisible to all eyes appeared. As if he had been there all along, the boy’s expression remained unchanged.

“Did you watch carefully?”

“…”

“What do you think of the heir to the Marquis Benichi?”

Prince Eonel, with his pitch-black eyes fixed on the door through which the guests had left, spoke in a detached tone. “She seemed to be struggling quite hard.”

“Struggling,

.” Arshilla smiled lightly, caressing the cheek of her son, who looked so much like her. “That’s right. How adorable, the struggle of a mere leak…”

Despite the unfamiliar term, the boy showed no sign of confusion. Being his mother’s spitting image, he couldn’t possibly not understand.

“It was quite troublesome. Among the leaks, that one caused the most significant change…”

Her pitch-black eyes, capable of absorbing all light, intensely followed her son’s gaze to the closed door.

“Well, that’s all over now.”

Leaks. Those who betray the equilibrium of Orot. Those who deny the fate originally assigned to them.

The appearance of such leaks troubling Arshilla began about ten years ago, around the time her son Eonel was conceived and born. For a saintess, an apostle of Orot, producing offspring wasn’t a mission. Her true, unrecorded purpose was to descend upon the continent when leaks appeared and corrected the twisted equilibrium.

This time, due to the peculiar magic used by the leaks, correcting the equilibrium wasn’t easy, so the saintess balanced it in a different way. It was by twisting the already twisted equilibrium once more herself. And so, Eonel was born. However, this caused an even greater imbalance, resulting in more leaks.

Those who became aware of the absurdity of their fate totaled five. They were Lady Elard and her friends. The girls, around ten years old at the time, somehow recognized each other and began to grow their influence. Even so, there was just a priestess and noble ladies who would marry off eventually, so she left them alone…

But their entanglement with ‘him’ was utterly unexpected.

Arshilla let the leaks run rampant for the sake of Eonel. Since their leakage began with Eonel’s existence, the more they deviated from their fate, the stronger Eonel’s power could become.

Whoever dominated the market, whether the flower of society was Lady Elard or Lady Glen, whether coffee became popular in this continent or not, whether ice makers appeared in the world or not. The trivial pranks of mere creatures made no difference to the grand flow of the world. But it could no longer be ignored.

“It’s ironic, isn’t it? Without my son, no one in this world can live as they truly wish…”

“Yes. Even you, mother, do not know what kind of life I will lead.”

“You truly are my son.”

Regrettably, there was one more. Holding her son in her arms, Arshilla gestured towards the void behind his back.

As Eonel’s eyelids gently closed, the air melted away following the circle drawn by her fingertips, revealing a completely different scene. It was the office in the Magic Tower, located on the outskirts of the capital. Sitting in the seat of the parlor, a man with his loosely tied hair warming his ears red.

<…I understand. Within the limits of not endangering the lady, I’ll try to understand the situation as much as possible.>

Arshilla grimaced, recalling the time 10 years ago when she manipulated the emperor to place him under her surveillance.