Rose’s gaze was firmly locked onto Julien’s neck.
More specifically, it was locked onto the visible handprint on his neck, and for a brief moment, she fell into a daze, her mind wandering away from the present.
She was reminded of what had happened a long time ago.
It was a distant past, one that she had long forgotten about, but staring at that handprint that reminded her so much of her own, she felt her chest quiver.
She wouldn’t have cared so much had it just been the handprint, but feeling the familiar mana trace that the handprint gave off left her completely unsettled.
That…
‘No, but it’s not possible.’
Back then, following her actions, she had felt like she had killed the one who had infiltrated the place. She remembered burning their entire body to a crisp.
The Seat of Dawn was also present.
Given that he didn’t say anything else back then, she thought she had killed him.
And yet…
“Kh—!”
All of a sudden, startling her out of her thoughts was Julien as he suddenly took a step back.
“Hey, what is wrong with you?”
Kiera’s voice suddenly echoed, startling Rose out of her thoughts. Taking a closer look at Julien, she saw his face turning pale.
Rose frowned.
‘Is this some sort of act? What is he doing?’
Rose didn’t buy whatever he was doing at first, but that quickly changed when his knee suddenly buckled.
Thump—
Covering his mouth, Julien’s face turned even paler as his expression started to twist.
“Julien?”
There was something unsettling about what was happening to Julien. Before Rose or Kiera could make sense of it, his entire demeanor began to shift.
His body started to convulse all of a sudden as he brought his hands towards his neck, seemingly trying to choke himself.
“W-what…?”
His sudden action startled the two of them with Kiera looking the more startled.
On the other hand, Rose’s eyes squinted as she took a step back.
“Kh, kh—!”
Spit started to flow out of Julien’s mouth all of a sudden, and just when things started to intensify, it all stopped.
“….”
A strange silence filled the room shortly after.
As the two pairs of crimson eyes locked onto Julien, his arms fell limply.
“Julien?”
Kiera was the first to call out for him as she moved closer to him, her brows furrowed and her face filled with unease.
She was just about to take a step towards him when Rose stopped her.
“What are you doing?”
Kiera’s face twisted at the sight of her aunt.
Used to such gaze, Rose was completely unaffected. Right now, something about Julien felt off. While she still didn’t take him for a threat, she still remained cautious.
“Uh, wait!”
But just as she focused her attention on him, Kiera managed to slip past her and move towards where Julien was.
‘Ah, shit.’
Rose was quick to react as she tried to pull Kiera back, but by then, it was already too late.
Kiera arrived before Julien and just as she was about to reach him, Julien’s head flicked up, his arm shooting towards her neck and firmly grasping it.
“Kh!”
“You—!”
Rose’s eyes hardened at the sight. But just as she prepared to act, she heard Kiera’s pained groan, freezing her in place for a moment.
“You, what are you doing?”
Her words were met with a strange silence.
With his gaze firmly placed on Kiera, and then shifting towards Rose, Julien’s hazel eyes flickered with a certain coldness that felt almost chilling.
As the tension reached a standstill, his lips slowly parted, his voice coming out hoarse.
“…Who are you?”
***
A grand white palace stretched before my vision. It was a palace I had grown accustomed to, and it was also the same place where the mirror was supposedly stored.
“Do you think you’ve made the right decision?”
Pebble suddenly asked, staring at me from the side.
I shrugged my shoulders.
“…I don’t know.”
As of right now, I was no longer in control of my body.
I had completely given up control of it.
It was a bit of a gamble from my side, but seeing the way she was looking at me, I felt like this was the best way for me to disrupt her thoughts.
‘At the very least, it’ll make her more confused.’
Whether it worked or not was up to the future to decide but as of right now, I had more pressing matters to tend to.
Entering the palace, I made my way towards the backroom where I had previously stored the mirror and entered.
Clank—
A familiar sight greeted me the moment I entered the room and my face lit up the moment I caught the sight of the mirror.
“As expected, my feeling wasn’t wrong.”
I had felt the presence of the mirror the moment I came back from the past. However, I wasn’t entirely sure.
However, things were different now.
Seeing it right before my very eyes, I knew that I was right.
‘I really managed to bring it back with me.’
Alongside the appearance of the mirror, I was also finally able to clear up a few of the things that I was confused about. In the end, the reason why the mirror ended up missing with no one able to find it was because the future me had taken it.
Future? …Or was it present?
“Ugh.”
I ruffled my head.
“…Talk about some weird twist.”
Whatever the case was, now that the mirror was here, it was time for me to figure out how to use it. Releasing the seal and allowing Julien to take over was a risk in itself.
“Thankfully, it looks like my worries are unfounded.”
I reached out to grasp the mirror, the coolness of the metal handle reaching the tips of my fingers.
Just as I pulled the mirror to stare at my reflection, I paused.
“Hm?”
Shifting my attention away from the mirror, my eyes drifted toward a certain diary, and I felt my face subtly change.
“…Right, I almost forgot there was that.”
I had almost completely forgotten about it, but indeed, I did recall putting it in the ring alongside the mirror.
I paused for a moment, alternating my gaze between the mirror and the diary.
After a little bit of thought, I brought my attention away from the diary. I could always find time to check the diary later.
The mirror was more important.
“How does this work?”
I stared straight into my reflection.
A pair of familiar hazel eyes stared back at me.
I tightened my grip on the mirror, channeling mana into it. At first, it remained still, unresponsive. But as I fed it more and more mana, I began to see subtle shifts—small, almost imperceptible changes that grew more noticeable with each surge of mana.
My reflection started to ripple and the mana started to drain even further.
The rate at which my mana was being sucked was quite alarming. To the point where I started to question whether Julien was doing alright.
…The mana was coming directly from the main body after all.
‘He definitely isn’t having a good time.’
But who was I to care? The worse he was, the better things were for me.
Swoosh—
Changes continued to occur within the mirror.
More ripples formed and the reflection started to distort, changing into something else.
“Uh?”
The more things progressed the more surprised and shocked I became. That was because I noticed the figure within the mirror change into something else entirely.
Into…
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…”
Staring at the visage that I hadn’t seen in a very long time, I felt my heart press tightly against my chest as my lips suddenly grew parched.
“What is it?”
I could hear Pebble’s curious voice from the side as it hopped over my shoulder to stare at my reflection.
Its head titlted in confusion.
“Is that you?”
“…..”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I kept my gaze focused on the mirror. No, it was more like I couldn’t tear my gaze away from it.
From the emerald green eyes to the familiar black hair and well-defined jaw, I recognized the reflection almost instantly.
My breath caught in my throat as I swallowed quietly.
This…
This was without a doubt me. Or more precisely, the past me.
Staring at the visage I hadn’t seen in so long, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the reflection. It had been so long that I had almost forgotten what I looked like, and seeing myself again brought a rush of emotions I couldn’t quite put into words.
Yes, I wasn’t anywhere near as handsome as I currently was, but I wasn’t ugly at all.
In fact, I was on the better-looking side.
More importantly, I didn’t look sick. In the final year of my life, my hair had begun to thin, and my weight had steadily dropped.
Seeing myself like this…
‘It feels weird.’
I wasn’t used to seeing such sight and my grip of the mirror unkowingly tightened.
“Hooh.”
Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I stared back at the reflection, my mind racing. ‘Is this what the mirror does? Does it show how my soul really looks? Does it reflect the true face of someone, beyond what one can see at face value?’
“…If it’s really the case then I can see a bunch of Clerics fight over this thing.”
It was a practical cheat code for them.
No disguise would ever work in front of the mirror.
I could see why those from the Inverted Sky were so desperate for the mirror. But of course, I understood that there was more to the mirror than just this.
‘As far as I know, it can help me completely seal Julien’s soul away.’
This was the other propert that I knew of.
But I was certain things didn’t stop there. Surely there was more to it. I was almost certain of it.
“But what exactly coul—Uh?”
Stopping mid-sentence, my head flicked directly towards the mirror as I noticed a subtle change once again.
Unlike last time, there were no ripples or any changes of the sort.
No, the changes seem to be coming directly from… my reflection?
“What?”
I focused intently on my old visage, trying to make sense of what was happening. It was only when I zeroed in on it that I saw the shift—the reflection’s head moved.
“——!”
I almost ended up dropping the mirror in shock.
I barely managed to stop myself from reacting, and when I refocused on the mirror, I saw my old face blink. As if on cue, the background behind it began to shift, transforming into a place I recognized all too well.
My home…
Before I could make sense of what was happening, my reflection opened its mouth, and an all too familiar voice echoed in the air
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out.
This…
What in the world was happening?
