I Kidnapped the Hero's Women-Chapter 194: Guilt and such (11)
“What the...?”
Sylvia, terrified, clung to me, her body trembling.
I, too, was so startled that I couldn’t speak for a moment.
“I... I just thought I’d gained some kind of insight and swung the sword... but the Aura didn’t come out, and then why is this happening...?”
A huge crack appeared in the center of the office.
Inside it, incredibly, the interior of the office itself was visible.
However, the arrangement of the furniture and the overall atmosphere were distinctly different.
As I took a step to check another direction, I felt as if my breath had been taken away.
“...!?”
Sitting at the desk inside the crack was none other than the former Count Vermont.
Aslan Vermont's father, sitting just as I had seen him in Irene’s memories.
However, he didn’t seem to notice us, showing no reaction at all.
Suddenly, he stood up abruptly,
Leaving the office and slamming the door behind him.
In the now empty office inside the crack, I impulsively stuck my hand inside.
Then, whoosh, my hand slipped into the crack.
Could I really go inside?
“Sylvia, open the sixth drawer of the cabinet.”
“Yes. There’s nothing in it.”
“This is a drawer we’ve never used.”
If this wasn’t an illusion,
If it wasn’t some parallel world but a past connected to the present,
My actions would affect the present too.
I took out a pen from my pocket and,
With my hand still inside the crack, I placed it in the sixth drawer.
Then, I pulled my hand back and nodded to Sylvia.
Sylvia quickly opened the drawer, her face turning pale.
Shaking, she pulled out a pen that was exactly the same as the one I had just placed.
“Just as I thought...”
“Y-yes... It seems like... a passage to the past...”
This was a problem.
Jian, this idiot.
Why did he have to make a time machine when he wasn’t even asked to?
“The passage to the past? Wow! Waaaah...!”
“So, does that mean time travel is possible...?”
The shocking news turned the Vermont mansion upside down.
No wonder—it was nothing less than the possibility of changing the past.
Just the thought of that made a sense of exhilaration flood through me, my heart swelling with excitement.
“But... what should we do about this?”
“...”
At Yuria’s words, the office fell silent for a moment.
What should we do now?
As soon as we realized we could change the past, a million thoughts rushed through my mind.
Perhaps I could send a note with the names of stocks that would rise sharply.
Or reverse the tragic events of the past.
Everyone would think about returning to the past to fix things, right?
“I don’t plan on making drastic changes to the past. I believe every hardship led me to this point, so I can’t bring myself to touch any of it. What about you all?”
“Me too...”
“I had a tough time at the orphanage, but... I don’t want to change it either...”
But when the opportunity to change the past was right in front of us, we couldn’t make a choice.
Sure, there had been many difficult and painful times,
But without those, we might never have met or formed the relationships we have now.
There was nothing in my past that I would regret giving up,
So I couldn’t bring myself to alter the past.
Who knows how the ripple effects might change the present?
“There’s just one thing I’d like to change...”
“...?”
“The day Sylvia suffered from mana erosion. I regret not going with her that day.”
“Ah...”
But Sylvia’s mana erosion was an event I wanted to stop, even if I had to go back in time.
It happened only a month ago, so even if we stopped it, it wouldn’t cause much of a change to the present.
And most importantly, it was Sylvia’s will, and the effect caused by the sword, that led to this.
The unconscious desire to reverse the mana erosion was what brought about this phenomenon.
“What do you think, Sylvia?”
“B-but... going back to the past... It’s kind of scary... There’s no guarantee we can come back...”
Sylvia, trembling and looking hesitant, didn’t want to go.
It was understandable.
If we went back to the past and the sword caused a problem, what if we couldn’t return to the present?
That would be disastrous.
We could end up stuck in the past while trying to fix mana erosion.
Most importantly, opening the crack again by drawing the sword in this state was impossible.
It seemed like the sword’s true form had gone back to the past when the crack opened.
To move to the time Sylvia experienced mana erosion, we would have to throw ourselves into the crack.
“If you’re scared, I’ll go with you.”
“M-Master...!”
“Mister, I want to go too! I’ll go with you!”
“I’ll follow you too...”
“You all stay. It’s not confirmed to be safe yet. You should stay and protect the mansion just in case.”
“...”
I couldn’t send Sylvia alone.
As soon as I declared I would go, Charlotte and Yuria raised their hands to follow.
But I shook my head and firmly refused.
We still hadn’t ruled out the possibility of getting stuck in the past.
If we all went and got stuck together, that would be a disaster.
It was best to minimize the risks.
“Yuria. Stay with Charlotte and Yulia. I’ll be back soon. If we don’t return in a week, send this to Irene Vermont.”
“Yes...”
Just in case, I quickly wrote a brief letter.
It stated that if I didn’t return within a year, Irene would take over as the Count’s representative.
This would allow Irene to manage the family without major conflicts with the elders.
Of course, I was only preparing for the worst-case scenario.
I didn’t want to scare the children by mentioning the letter.
If things went well, I would return quickly.
I reassured the children that I would be back soon.
“Mister! Knight sister! Please be careful!”
“If you don’t come back, I’ll be mad... Hurry up and come back!...”
“I’ll protect the mansion, so don’t worry and go ahead.”
With the children’s heartfelt send-off,
I took Sylvia’s small hand and stood before the crack.
The office inside the crack was empty.
If we were going, now was the time.
“I’ll say it again, but our strategy is to leave no trace in the past. We’ll avoid contact with people and won’t interfere with anything. We can’t predict how it will affect the present.”
“Yes...!”
Sylvia answered energetically, and we stepped into the crack.
As we passed through, a chilling sensation spread through my body,
And when we finally stepped onto the floor of the office, the crack disappeared behind us.
Looking around, the room layout was the same as my office, but the atmosphere and the smell were entirely different.
We were surely in the past.
“We... we’ve arrived!”
“Shh. Quiet. First, take the sword from my mouth. Let’s move to the moment one month ago, the time you went on the magic survey mission.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Sylvia, with her voice lowered, took the sword from my mouth.
And just as she pulled the sword from its hilt, I heard something unexpected.
“Ugh. How many times a day does the Master make us clean...?”
“...!?”
The door suddenly slammed open.
Sylvia and I quickly hid behind the desk.
A young maid appeared behind the door.
Could that be the head maid...?
The young head maid, with no wrinkles on her face.
From her attire, it seemed she wasn’t the head maid yet.
It felt strange.
‘Use your stealth to circle around and leave in the opposite direction.’
I silently mouthed the instructions to Sylvia.
Sylvia, startled, fumbled for a moment, but then, realizing she had no choice, closed her eyes tightly and picked me up.
The young head maid sang a little tune as she approached the desk.
Sylvia, moving silently without making a sound, quickly hid within the shadows.
The head maid passed by the desk, glancing briefly in our direction but not noticing our presence at all.
It seemed Sylvia’s stealth technique was working perfectly.
Once the head maid turned her attention elsewhere, Sylvia swiftly moved to the next shadow,
and after several quick movements, we managed to slip out of the office unnoticed.
“Phew...”
After finally exiting the hallway, Sylvia let out a small sigh and set me down.
We barely made it out.
But looking around, the hallway was so narrow that it didn’t seem like a good place to wield a sword and create another crack.
I had to rely on Sylvia again.
We jumped from shadow to shadow, avoiding the eyes of the servants,
and eventually made our way out of the mansion.
“Phew. Hurry up and get down.”
“Was I really that heavy? I guess you were a bit weaker when you were younger.”
“I wasn’t that heavy, but your body is so much bigger now, it’s tough carrying you. If I carried you on my back, my feet would drag and make noise...”
“...”
Th𝓮 most uptodate nov𝑒ls are publish𝒆d on ƒreewebηoveℓ.com.
In any case, we finally made it to a larger area.
Now, we could create the crack and travel through time.
“Alright. I’ll excuse myself now.”
“Wait, what...?!”
“Yeah? What do you mean?”
“Just wait a moment.”
“...”
[The evil god, Cali, is yelling at us to look over there.]
Just as Sylvia was about to draw her sword,
I turned my head in surprise and had to stop her immediately.
“Your sister...?”
It was Irene from her childhood.
The same face I had seen in Irene’s memories from the other world.
Seeing the real thing in front of me, I froze, unable to move.
