TSF 01

Chapter 1

That day, when she was twenty.

Rea had spent the entire day in the stables, delighted by the birth of the twin foals. She happily wondered what names she should give them until she eventually fell asleep.

Then, deep in the night, she opened her eyes to the urgent touch of her nanny waking her.

“Princess, you have to get up.”

With a deathly pale face, her nanny hurriedly dressed Rea.

After running as if they were fleeing for their lives, Rea arrived at the entrance to a secret underground passage. There, she met her older brother, Aren, the King of Zephyros.

“Only the king knows about this passage. It should buy us some time.”

Tears instantly filled Rea’s eyes.

“Brother, you… you’re not coming with me?”

The moment she finished speaking through her tears, Rea burst into sobs.

Aren looked at his pitiful little sister and said,

“I’ll… follow later. Rea. We’ll meet again safely. I promise.”

That day, as soon as Rea and her attendants emerged from the secret passage, they climbed the Red Mountain to the west.

Only the sound of their hurried footsteps echoed through the darkness. No one spoke. The silence was heavier than a scream.

The mountain was dry and covered with nothing but rocks, so there were few people around. The cave they found was suitable for hiding.

The knight who had gone down to find out what was happening at the royal castle returned with a terribly grim expression. The moment his eyes met Rea’s, he lowered his head.

“……No.”

Rea shook her head.

She staggered toward him and grabbed the hem of his clothes.

“Tell me it isn’t true! Tell me Brother is all right!”

“Princess.”

His voice trembled.

“His Majesty… has passed away.”

Sixteen years later.

Nortia, a vassal state of the Terra Empire.

Nella, the ruler of the state, clicked her tongue as she looked at the woman sitting listlessly on the bed.

Her faded blonde hair had been cut short like a man’s, with the grown-out ends sticking out unevenly.

She had heard that Rea would not let anyone touch it, even when they tried to tidy it up.

“Do you know how much the bounty on your head is?”

“…….”

“To think the Red Wraith the Empire is so desperate to capture and kill would end up looking like this. I really did pick up a corpse.”

Nella grabbed the unresponsive woman by the chin and lifted her face.

Her face had once been so thin that her cheekbones stood out sharply, but she seemed to have gained a little weight and looked somewhat better now.

Yet her green eyes were still lifeless.

“They say you don’t speak a single word. Is it because you can’t speak, or because you don’t want to?”

When Nella let go, Rea’s head dropped helplessly again.

Only one thought occupied Rea’s mind.

‘Why am I still alive?’

The years she had spent going from a powerless princess who had lost her kingdom to the leader of a rebellion fighting against the Empire flashed rapidly through her mind.

She had lost everything once again.

Consumed by despair and self-hatred, Rea’s consciousness wandered aimlessly.

Nella sat down on a chair beside the bed and silently watched Rea for a while before suddenly speaking.

“If you could go back to the past, would you?”

Rea slowly raised her head.

Her eyes, now filled with a faint light, stared somewhere far away.

The source of the light that brought her back to life was not the force of life, but hatred and despair.

A strange glint appeared in Nella’s eyes. One corner of her lips lifted slightly.

She knew.

The strongest motivation that kept a human being alive was anger.

“If I could go back to the past, I would even sell my soul.”

Her voice, unused for so long, came out rough and hoarse.

“What would you do if you went back?”

“There is only one person I need to stop. Just one. Everything fell apart that day because of one person.”

“Who is that person?”

“Neria. My half-sister.”

“So you remember when that day was.”

“How could I ever forget?”

Rea spoke dryly, her eyes burning with intensity.

Nella could see the spark buried deep beneath that dry voice, ready to explode at any moment.

“Are you truly confident that you could change the past if you went back?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“Even if you had to lose something precious to you in exchange?”

‘Something precious?’

Rea let out a bitter laugh. There was no way she had anything like that left.

“A spirit.”

Rea’s eyes widened in shock.

“How…?”

A clear focus returned to Rea’s eyes. With a bitter smile, she carefully took in the face of the person before her.

A middle-aged noblewoman with hair half black and half white smiled coldly and elegantly.

“You finally look useful.”

Unable to tear her gaze away from those red eyes, Rea felt as though she had been thrown before a fierce and beautiful beast so overwhelming that resisting was utterly meaningless.

“Let’s make a plan.”

Rea stared blankly at Nella, who was saying things she could not understand.

“You don’t need to give me your soul.”

“Princess! Good morning!”

With a cheerful voice, the curtains were pulled open, and the morning sunlight poured into the room.

A woman with dark-brown hair, light-brown eyes, and adorable freckles smiled brightly.

Was the dazzling feeling because of the sunlight, or because she could see that bright smile again?

“Princess. I have wonderful news that will surprise you. Can you guess what it is?”

“……Nasim gave birth during the night.”

“How did you know? Nasim gave birth to her foals, but…”

“Twins, right? Two of them.”

“What? You already heard about it somewhere!”

Rea jumped out of bed and hugged Penny.

“Princess?”

“Because I’m happy.”

“Oh, Princess. Are you really that happy? I told you not to worry. Nasim is healthy, so she was sure to give birth safely.”

Still holding Penny tightly, Rea closed her eyes as they filled with tears.

The window suddenly swung wide open, and a strong gust of wind swept over the two of them.

Their clothes fluttered, and their hair flew in every direction.

“Oh my! What a gust of wind.”

Penny let out a short cry of surprise before bursting into laughter.

Rea gently clenched her fist as if trying to grasp the wind.

The wind slipped into the palm of her hand and flowed away again.

‘It’s you, isn’t it? You came back with me too, didn’t you?’

As if answering her, the wind brushed against her cheek.

On that day when she was twenty, when she learned of her brother’s death, Rea had awakened the power of a spirit in the midst of despair that felt as though it were choking the life out of her.

⌜The odds are extremely low.⌟

Nella had told her,

⌜You are going against the order of the world and returning to the past. The chances of success are extremely low. The chances of you awakening the power of a spirit again will be even lower.⌟

‘I succeeded, Your Majesty. And a miracle happened.’

She had returned to the past together with the spirit. She had not awakened its power anew.

Something had happened that went beyond all predictions.

There was no other way to describe it except as a miracle.

Rea squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again. Her gaze flashed fiercely.

‘Neria.’

Tonight, I will stop you no matter what.

Zephyros, a desert kingdom at the southern end of the continent.

In the kingdom’s sacred sanctuary stood a great holy relic known as the ‘Eye of Zephyros.’

The ‘Eye of Zephyros’ was a mysterious artifact that summoned a sandstorm whenever enemy forces crossed the border, sweeping them away.

Thanks to this perfect defensive artifact, the kingdom had built a thousand-year history.

Even in this age, when the Empire had emerged on the continent and every nation had bowed its head beneath the Empire’s influence, the Kingdom of Zephyros maintained its proud independence.

Under the protection of the holy relic, the kingdom was peaceful and safe.

‘Is it really?’

Rea stood atop a high tower of the royal castle, looking down coldly at the kingdom spread out below.

‘This isn’t peace. We’re slowly sinking.’

Born as a princess of the kingdom, she had spent a happy childhood without a single worry.

She had loved her kingdom and believed this place was paradise.

She had thought that Zephyros, protected by such a mysterious holy relic, was truly blessed by the gods.

But.

At some point, the kingdom’s holy relic had become a poison slowly eating away at the kingdom.

The fact that no one had noticed was even more unfortunate.

Rea only realized it after losing her kingdom.

Relying on the power of the holy relic, the kingdom had grown lazy and outdated.

One day, it would have eventually collapsed even from something as insignificant as a sandstorm.

‘But that does not mean what you did can be forgiven, Neria.’

Even though the ‘Eye of Zephyros’ was the greatest treasure among all the kingdom’s treasures, its security was not particularly strict.

Anyone except members of the royal bloodline would be unable to move if they approached it, as its power would crush their minds.

It was said that only those descended from the royal bloodline of Zephyros could destroy the Eye of Zephyros.

Rea had never taken that legend seriously.

How could someone of the royal bloodline possibly dare to destroy a holy relic?

The holy relic was the very foundation of Zephyros.

And yet, Neria, Rea’s half-sister and a princess of the kingdom, had actually committed such a terrible act.

Tonight was that very day.

“Rea.”

Rea quickly turned her head.

A handsome young man with the same blonde hair and green eyes as Rea looked at her in confusion.

“Why did you suddenly call me to a place like this…?”

Aren was startled when Rea suddenly threw herself into his arms.

But he was even more surprised when he felt his little sister’s shoulders trembling.

“Rea, what’s wrong? What happened?”

This was not how Rea had planned things.

But the moment she saw Aren’s face, she could not hold back the tears that burst forth.

She was afraid that seeing her living brother again and being able to touch him like this might all be a dream.

And she was happy because it was real.

Aren patiently patted her back and waited until Rea stopped crying.

Just as she remembered, her brother was truly kind.

“Your Majesty.”

Aren’s eyebrow slowly rose.

“Your Majesty?”

“Please listen to what I’m about to say. The fate of you, me, and our kingdom depends on this.”

Aren stared at Rea for a moment before nodding.

The little sister he knew might be a little spoiled at times, but she was not the kind of girl who would say nonsense.

“I received a divine revelation.”

Rea did not want to explain everything she had experienced in painstaking detail.

It would take too long, and it would sound absurd.

Someone might argue that mentioning a divine revelation was even more absurd, but this was the Kingdom of Zephyros, a nation that truly received the protection of the gods.

“Something terrible will happen tonight. Many people will die, and the kingdom will be in danger of collapsing.”

“What?”

“I can’t tell you what will happen right now.”

If she told Aren that the holy relic might be destroyed, he would strengthen its security.

That could not happen. Everything had to happen as it was supposed to.

“I can stop it. I have to stop it. So please, don’t ask me anything. Just trust me for today. Whatever else you may think of me, you know I would never lie when the fate of our kingdom is at stake.”

Aren silently looked at Rea before lightly tapping her nose with his fingertip.

“Look at that red nose of yours. If you had a nightmare, go back to sleep for another hour.”

“Your Majesty!”

“His Majesty has no time to listen to nonsense, but I suppose someone else might.”

Seeing the playful smile at the corners of Aren’s lips, Rea blinked.

“……Brother.”

Aren grinned.

“What can I do to help?”

“Tonight… please don’t go to sleep. Keep the knights on standby.”

Her throat tightened on its own, and her voice came out trembling.

“Again?”

“That’s all I need.”

Rea hugged Aren tightly once more.

“Thank you, Brother. I’ll tell you everything tomorrow.”

“All right.”

Feeling Aren’s gentle hand patting her shoulder, Rea’s anxiety and uneasiness slowly faded.

‘How did I manage to live after losing my brother in my past life?’

This time, I will never lose him.