ITCP Ch 1.3

Ah, what now?

The door that had just closed burst open again, and this time, a woman rushed in.

As she ran toward me, her voluminous dress fluttering, I froze in place.

“…Cassandra, Unnie?”

To my astonishment, the woman before me was unmistakably my one and only sister,
Cassandra Lille Kalix, the First Princess of Kalix, who had died five years ago.

This can’t be real. Unnie died five years ago…

On the day of her wedding to the Dorgen Emperor, assassins had taken her life. And yet, here she was, standing right in front of me!

Staggering to my feet, I slowly approached her. I was afraid she might disappear if I didn’t.

This was too much. The situation was so overwhelming that I felt tears welling up.

As I reached out my hand, my sister, who was catching her breath, also reached out toward me. I was about to run into her arms for the first time in years when…

“Unn-!”

“Have you lost your mind?!”

Thwack!

Stars sparkled before my eyes.

Ouch! That hurt!

“Theodore! What on earth do you think you’re doing?!”

My sister grabbed my shoulders and shouted, shaking me relentlessly… It was unbearable.

“I’m so embarrassed that I can’t even show my face in public! The princess of the empire sneaking into a man’s bedroom?! This is an unprecedented scandal!”

“…”

“If our late mother and father knew, they’d rise from their graves in shock!”

“…”

“Theo, are you even listening to me?”

“Unnie…”

My sister, who had been pacing back and forth while scolding me, suddenly stopped. Her eyes seemed to ask if I’d finally understood her.

“Are you really Cassandra Unnie? Are you alive? You’re not an undead, right?”

At my question—whether she was a restless spirit unable to pass on—she paused again.
Then, she flashed a dazzling smile and raised her hand—no, her fist.

“Looks like you haven’t been hit enough, huh?”

Yep. That’s definitely my sister.

The sharp sting from her fist confirmed it—this was unmistakably Cassandra Unnie.

Which means…

“Cass, calm down. Theodore is already reflecting.”

Another voice chimed in, and my head instinctively turned toward it. In the distance, I saw a man running toward us.

Slightly curly black hair and warm red eyes, unlike someone else I knew. His gentle smile completed the picture.

Lucian Ruchern Dorgen…!

He was none other than the older brother of my longtime nemesis, Theodore Dorgen, and the young emperor of Dorgen.

What’s going on? Unnie is alive, and the Dorgen Emperor is alive too? What on earth is happening?!

“This is all my fault. I couldn’t fill the void left by our parents. It’s because I’m lacking…”

“That’s not true, Cass. You’re doing more than enough. I’m sure Theodore understands your feelings.”

The Dorgen Emperor wrapped his arm around my sister’s shoulder as he spoke.

For some reason, the sight of them felt oddly touching.

Wait, were they always this close?

As I stood there, mouth agape, feeling an inexplicable sense of dissonance, my sister’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“Anyway, you’re not to leave your room until the wedding day. Understood?”

“But, Unnie!”

“It’s your punishment, Theo.”

Ugh. There are still so many unanswered questions, and now I’m being confined the moment I wake up?

And to make matters worse, I’m trapped in the enemy nation’s palace, where Theodore Dorgen resides.

Ah, seriously… I don’t even know what’s going on anymore!

* * *

“Sniff… Sob… What on earth were you thinking, doing something like this?!”

After the storm had passed.

This time, a tear-streaked maid rushed in.

“Roman. You’re still Roman. Seeing you makes me feel a little better.”

“Huh? What kind of nonsense are you spouting now?”

Roman looked at me with a bewildered expression.

She had been like a childhood friend to me, someone I’d grown up with since birth. Even when I was in Kalix, we were always together, and fortunately, it seemed she had accompanied me to Dorgen as well.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I cautiously asked,

“Roman, Unnie is definitely alive, right? She didn’t die, did she?”

“Huh? What kind of nonsense are you spouting now… Your Highness, if you keep this up, His Majesty will really scold you!”

“I know. It’s just hard to believe.”

“Why are you acting like this? Did you have a strange dream last night?”

Roman asked, her face filled with concern.

She added that while our princess had always been a bit odd, today she seemed even more so.

“Uh, yeah. I had such a vivid dream that my head’s a bit of a mess. Haha.”

“I see. So that’s why you’ve been so out of it since this morning?”

“Yeah. That’s why I need your help.”

At this point, it seemed better to just say I’ve had a scary dream. If I said I’d lost my memory overnight, who knows what kind of misunderstandings might arise.

“So, Unnie is definitely alive, right?”

“Of course. She’s perfectly fine. Ah, perhaps… did something bad happen to Lady Cassandra in your dream? Oh my, to have such a dream right before the wedding… But they say dreams are the opposite, so don’t worry.”

“Yeah. Right. Dreams are the opposite.”

I nodded and brushed it off.

“And to solidify this treaty, Unnie, the princess of Kalix, is marrying the Dorgen Emperor in a political marriage, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct… but really, what’s going on? It’s like you don’t remember anything.”

“I’m just really shaken up.”

“You must have been really shocked.”

Of course. That incident had been an enormous shock to me.

“And I’m here to attend Unnie’s wedding. That’s right, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Right. That’s the problem.”

When I first woke up here and saw my reflection in the mirror, I wondered if I had somehow returned to the past. But that wasn’t the case.

Why?

Because back then, I didn’t attend the wedding.

Five years ago, my anger toward Dorgen had reached its peak, and I couldn’t understand Unnie’s decision to enter into a political marriage.

In the end, I never reconciled with her before she left Kalix. And so, I didn’t attend the wedding. It became one of my greatest regrets.

I’m glad you’re here now.

Alright, let’s sort this out.

First, this isn’t the past. And it’s definitely not the future either. It’s a world similar to the one I know, but with significant differences.

So, the remaining possibility is…

“Could I have ended up in a different world? But is that even possible?”

It sounded completely absurd, but there was no other explanation.

“So, this is a world where Kalix and Dorgen aren’t at war… No, wait. It’s too early to jump to conclusions.”

The only thing that’s changed so far is that I’m attending the wedding. In the original timeline, there was a sense of peace between the two nations until Unnie was assassinated.

So, there’s no guarantee that the tragedy won’t happen here too.

Wait, what if I stop the assassins here? What would happen then?

The key difference from the original world is that I’m attending the wedding and I already know about the assassination plot.

That alone could be a game-changer.

If the two of them marry safely and the peace treaty is successfully signed… wouldn’t that change everything?

My heart began to race as the thought crossed my mind.

“This might actually work.”

“Wait a minute. What are you plotting now that’s making you smile like that?!”

Roman clung to my arm, sniffling. She begged me to stay out of trouble and just behave.

Yeah, sorry, but that’s not happening.

“It’s fine. It’s for a good cause.”

“That’s exactly what makes me more nervous…”

Honestly, I say it’s a good thing, and she gets like this.

But before I can do anything about that.

“First, I need to meet that god.”

The god who sent me here.

I need to find him and hear the full story of what’s going on.

“But how do I meet him…?”

Unfortunately, he’s not someone I can easily meet.
So, what should I do?

Just as I was lost in thought—

“Anyway, consider yourself lucky that you got off with just house arrest. Honestly, no matter how smitten you are with Theodore, how could you even think of sneaking into his bedroom…?”

“Wait, what did you just say?”

“Huh? I said you should consider yourself lucky that you only got house arrest.”

“No, not that!”

There’s something more important here!

“I’m… what with who?”

“You’re really acting strange today. Everyone knows you’re completely head over heels for Theodore!”

“Me? That guy?”

Ah, now that I think about it,the way he looked at me this morning, as if I were some kind of pervert, suddenly came to my mind.

And then there were those absurd words that came out of his mouth.

“You’ve been following him around every day, haven’t you? You, who’ve never woken up early in your life, started getting up at dawn just to watch him during his morning training.”