ALL NOVEL Chapter 210
“Your Majesty, I have a request for a response letter from the Mokhwi Palace…”
“Shut up!”
With a shout from Acella, the secretary couldn’t utter a word and retreated.
“Documents, the documents.”
Acella’s hands trembled.
It had been a month since Lars left the Imperial Family, yet the Geass pact still bound her body.
Having sent him away from the palace only fulfilled half of the pact.
Lars would be annulled.
A written declaration Acella composed would be sent to the Gothberg Marquisate, and the contract wouldn’t be completed until Lars signed it himself.
[Annulment Declaration]
Her hands couldn’t write anything else.
Acella desperately wanted to avoid that matter. Even the last connection she had with Lars would shatter into pieces.
“Ugh, ugh…”
If she had known, she would have pretended to comply with his demands.
Holding out stubbornly, she hoped Lars might change his mind, but that was like a gambling addict flipping over a card with no chance left.
It shouldn’t have come to this. Even if she regretted it, time had already passed.
“…Your Majesty.”
The only one who could concern herself with Acella’s well-being was the secretary, who had served her for a long time.
“You’ve been having unbalanced meals and haven’t slept well for a while. You should get a check-up…”
“Don’t even mention it.”
Acella warned harshly. Chloe, the head nurse, had been waiting for a medical examination for quite a while, but mentioning doctors and medication was bound to trigger her panic.
Her mind was entirely filled with Lars. She had to return to the daily routine where he checked her magic circuits and blood pressure every morning and said, “You’re free to move.”
She wasn’t ready to accept a change just yet.
She didn’t want to change.
“Why, why did it have to be like this?”
She absolutely couldn’t understand his drastic choice.
If immediate action was needed for the country, that could be. Lars always acted, predicting several steps ahead.
But hadn’t she, the woman destined to become the Emperor’s consort, offered to provide everything?
What could possibly justify trampling her pride, ignoring her affection, and rushing into betrayal of a vow that seemed everlasting?
“…Were you that hurt?”
Acella absentmindedly stroked her upper abdomen.
That spot was now devoid of any pain.
When she had been tormented by horrendous bellyaches, she thought the next day might not come.
In the anxiety of possibly losing her breath at any moment, she whipped herself.
Acella’s behavioral patterns developed back then continue even now. That would never be corrected throughout her life.
How much pain was Lars feeling?
A person can only possess their own sensations and emotions. The limits of the body were keenly felt.
She wanted to know how he felt.
Lars had said he held a grudge against her. A grudge that was unimaginably huge.
Perhaps he committed several misdeeds during Camilla’s time. The impact could have spread all the way to the Gothberg Marquisate.
With that aching body, he had to prepare for his sword against a woman he loathed.
As the attending physician, she had managed to heal him.
Yet, he was the one floundering in the abyss of death.
“Ha.”
She felt incredibly incompetent for not granting even one of his wishes.
But she didn’t want to admit her mistake.
Her pride was far too high to accept her own imperfection.
Thoughts spiral into one another.
With each circulation of the same thought, emotions piled up layer by layer.
“Your Royal Highness.”
How much time had passed? A voice called out to her.
Not by ‘Your Majesty’ but by a familiar title, Acella jolted and looked up.
With a sturdy expression, the red-haired Tanya stood before her.
“Tanya.”
“I heard you’re harming your health.”
“Is it your job to care about my health? Go manage the knights outside. From now on, you’ll be responsible for the guard of the Moonlight Palace.”
“Guarding falls within my duties. Your Royal Highness surely wouldn’t want the teacher to be upset over your refusal to be examined.”
“That name!”
Acella snapped at Tanya. Though the front of her hair swayed from her spirited response, Tanya didn’t flinch.
“Are you trying to mock me? Abandoned by your master, annulled, a pitiful sight.”
“That can’t be. Do I appear to you as a petty person, who needs to put others down to fill my ego?”
“…Hoo.”
Acella sighed and calmed herself.
She suddenly felt how much she lacked sleep. Wasn’t she being irrationally confrontational even with Tanya?
Lack of sleep diminishes judgment; her attending physician always said that.
When it was tough, he even prescribed light sedatives.
He had advised against becoming reliant on medications and suggested warm milk and foot baths first.
When was the last time she had called him to come to her room and massage her feet just to put him in a bind?
“…Ha.”
She was wrong, terribly wrong.
No matter what thoughts she had, they ultimately led back to Lars.
Her daily life couldn’t function without him; he had already penetrated it far too deeply.
And… within her heart as well.
Each morning when she woke up and realized she wouldn’t see him today cracked open a void somewhere inside her.
As if trying to turn away from reality, Acella pressed her palms against her eyes.
“…So, why.”
Tanya spoke to Acella.
“You need to send the annulment declaration to the Marquisate, don’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“Then, send it.”
Acella frowned at Tanya’s matter-of-fact statement.
“You think just being a Swordmaster gives you some power to speak? A knight from Gothberg, you say? You want me to do a favor for that guy?”
“It’s beneficial for you too. I may have been a knight of Gothberg, but I’m a knight of the Empire and also a knight of the Moonlight Palace.”
Tanya grasped Acella’s hand.
“I am your friend, aren’t I?”
“…Ha.”
Acella chuckled at a word she had never considered before.
“Why would that be good for me?”
“Sometimes, keeping distance can actually bring you closer.”
“I don’t understand what you mean. This isn’t about anything else; it’s an annulment. It’s completely over.”
“No.”
Tanya revealed Acella’s hand.
On her ring finger, the engagement ring still subtly radiated its existence.
“Did the doctor return the ring to you?”
“…No.”
“Then the answer is simple, isn’t it?”
Acella gazed blankly at the back of her hand.
It took a while to figure out Lars’s intention hidden in that spot.
…Was there still hope left?
If she truly bore no more grudges toward Lars.
If this document could prompt him to reconsider their relationship one more time.
Could there be a possibility that Lars might ask for reconciliation first?
Of course, she’d have to be prepared so that it would be a union of countries.
“That was some sound advice, Tanya.”
Acella acknowledged. Thanks to that, the tension in the palace eased somewhat.
Finally, she stood up from her seat.
She arranged her priorities.
First, to not repeat past mistakes.
“I misinterpreted Clairvoyance.”
A perfect Clairvoyance, gained at a cost to advance its rank.
Until now, the Clairvoyance Acella had used only showed her the possibilities of her other selves in different timelines.
But this time, it perfectly predicted her future. When she saw Lars receiving the Hero’s suggestion, she should have anticipated that he would soon express his desire to resign.
Not every scene had to be exactly the same. In the future she saw, she didn’t make him fall to the ground.
“I can intervene.”
Destinies are not predetermined.
Acella was a special person who could comprehend higher-dimensional appearances. Time flows where it already exists while splitting into new paths at every moment—a mysterious existence.
Essentially, if every future, every end, and every ‘ending’ in life was predetermined, human free will would be meaningless.
Acella didn’t believe in the rails laid down by a creator; even if such a thing existed, she believed with certainty that she could shatter it with her magic.
“I will read all the futures of my time.”
If she could know all that would happen, manipulating it would be easier than eating a cake.
Though actually, she wouldn’t be able to eat more than half a cake before feeling full.
“Bring me the wand. The artifact filled with the Phoenix’s feathers.”
Acting quickly.
After changing into her new attire and sending all court members away, Acella stood alone in the backyard.
This was her Clairvoyance she had performed countless times. While she could save on immediate casting now, she needed to be careful about not making errors, so she meticulously wrote the formulas down.
Five golden circles, completing the sixth by touching her heart.
In front of Acella, a tree materialized.
A constantly splitting time-line tree.
A singular straight line connected to her time.
To examine every scene, she would have to pay a considerable price.
‘…Wait a minute.’
Suddenly, unease crept into Acella’s heart.
—I have a limited time left.
Lars had said he would be fine for a few years.
What if…
What if his condition worsened and something went wrong before they could meet again…?
—Skreee!
The moment she thought of ‘Lars’s death.’
Numerous extremes were presented before Acella.
“What’s this…?”
She was baffled.
The number was no less than a hundred.
The timeline she originally intended to reach was drifting further away, while the branches seemed to tempt her with scenes she desired.
“What kind of scene is that…!”
Acella angrily grabbed one of them.
Her vision spun around.
“Did the Emperor call for you?”
Lars stood before her.
It seemed several years had passed. He looked more mature now, a bit more muscular. His appearance suited an adventurer rather than a doctor.
Acella wanted to rush to him with a big smile in her face, but was trapped within her body and couldn’t.
A lingering disgust.
And the reign ablaze.
As she gazed upon the Dragon Legion pouring from a hole in the sky, she spoke.
“Isn’t it beautiful? The day the curse ends.”
Acella was left dumbfounded by the incomprehensible situation.
‘…What the heck is this?’