* * *

“Haaah!”

Julian jolted awake.

“Lord Julian! Are you conscious?”

The face of a maid was the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes.

“You suddenly collapsed…”

Julian shot upright and looked around.

“Yuta! Where’s Yuta? That squinting bastard with the smug grin—where is he?!”

“Pardon?”

The maid blinked in confusion.

“He’s in the tower… But how do you even know that Lord Yuta came to the estate?”

Julian didn’t even bother answering—he bolted out the door.

He’d only overheard Caliban and Zahid talking about Yuta briefly—was he really in the tower?

Was Caliban actually going to tear him apart? It was completely within his capabilities.

During that brief unconsciousness, a sliver of Julian’s memory had returned.

“I’m the one who’s supposed to die alone in silence, so why do you get to act all noble?”

Before losing his memory, Julian had gone to Yuta.

‘So that damned theological library looked familiar because I went there!’

And he’d asked him to die.

To quietly die alone—for Rosie’s sake, according to the plan.

‘…That’s kind of messed up.’

Maybe because he hadn’t regained all his memories yet, that version of himself felt like a stranger.

‘I mean yeah, our little girl is important, but asking someone to shut up and die? What the hell was wrong with me?’

Julian ran hard, gasping for breath. He had the terrifying feeling that if he didn’t, Yuta might actually die.

And just as he reached the tower—

“Brother!”

He wasn’t the only one running to the tower.

“You—how did you…”

He met Rosie at the tower entrance, riding Fire.

* °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° * *

How long had I been unconscious?

When I opened my eyes, worried faces came into view. Zahid and Ethan.

“Rosie okay? You awake?”

Ethan asked in a panic.

When I slowly nodded, Zahid let out a deep sigh and said,

“It’s all done. Everything went according to your plan.”

“…Huh?”

“Chloe, Yuta—everyone acted exactly as you predicted. Chloe’s in the underground prison now, and Assistant Yuta… he’s in the tower…”

“What?”

I shot up.

Clara’s illusions weren’t just nightmares—they were based on real events. I realized that now.

And all those blurry, floating memories began to snap into place.

“I just… want to save her somehow. I’m the only brother she has left now…”

Yuta had definitely said “brother.”

Yuta and Julian were the same age.

They couldn’t have the same mother, so that meant they must share a father.

And right after I was locked up in the Temple, Yuta had absorbed all of my divine power. After that, he was chosen by a Divine Beast and died.

Back then, I hadn’t known much, so Zahid had just told me, “He died because he forced a Divine Beast’s recognition.”

“Your divine power… actually hasn’t worked at all since your real birthday. It’s been a while since you took the sedative.”

My real birthday was the day Yuta had scheduled a private meeting with me.

“Whatever it is, you don’t need to worry about it. Children’s problems are things adults should solve.”

So that was when he took my divine power.

I remembered the strawberry cake I’d eaten that day.

Did that mean he knew my real birthday?

‘He arranged that meeting just to celebrate my birthday, didn’t he?’

Things had played out differently since the regression, but one thing remained the same: Yuta had taken my divine power to keep the Temple from detecting it.

‘Right. Finally, it’s all starting to make sense.’

I always wondered how someone like me—a mere apprentice—could suppress Zahid’s mana rampage and become Athena’s master.

I even used a Sacred Relic to reverse time.

‘It turns out I had immense divine power all along! I don’t know why, but Yuta’s been hiding that fact for me until now!’

So from the very moment Yuta found me—

“Divine Beast. What about the rabbit?”

I asked urgently. Zahid furrowed his brow.

“He wanted to stay with Yuta, so we let him—”

“No!”

I bolted out the door.

Yuta might die.

Just like before the regression.

For me.

So that I could live a peaceful, normal life, never knowing a thing.

Even though the future was changing, this one thing might not.

‘I didn’t even know that and used Assistant Yuta to set up a trap…’

Fire approached me like he sensed my panic.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

<Get on!>

I mounted Fire swiftly and whispered,

“The tower…”

Tears were already streaking down my cheeks. Zahid had said earlier that Yuta was in the tower.

“To the tower… ugh, to Assistant Yuta…”

The moment I said his name, my throat choked up.

“Go up through the central garden, ugh, and then to the right, and there, hic, the tallest—”

I couldn’t finish the sentence.

But Fire seemed to understand my heart and took off at full speed.

Behind me, Ethan and Zahid followed. And at the tower entrance—we ran into Julian.

“Brother!”

“You—how did you…”

It had been a long time since I’d seen Julian, but there was no time to talk.

The moment our eyes met, we both realized we were after the same person.

And then—

Thudthudthudthudthud!

The ground began to shake.

“No… No!”

Unless it was a Divine Beast, no force could cause this kind of tremor.

Then the selection had begun.

Was Yuta planning to detonate and die with my divine power?

“Don’t!”

I clutched Fire tightly.

“I’m coming too!”

Julian grabbed onto Fire’s waist, wrapping his legs around the tail in a messy grip.

Without hesitation, Fire shot straight up through the quaking tower.

Far off in the distance—we saw Yuta. And the rabbit Divine Beast in his arms.

There was no guard, but a heavy lock blocked the staircase entrance.

“You bastard, don’t you fing die! You fing piece of sh*t, who said you could just die on your own?!”

Julian cursed as he yanked a piece of wire from his pocket and jammed it into the lock.

Amazingly, the prison door clicked open.

“STOP!”

There was no time to be amazed by his lock-picking skills. I screamed as I ran through the open door.

“Stop it!”

I knew instinctively. The Divine Beast selection was in progress.

Yuta was staring at Julian and me with dazed eyes.

“Stop! Please, stop!”

I practically tore the rabbit from his arms and held it close.

<I can’t.>

The rabbit shook its head.

“Ah…”

My mind went blank for a second.

The selection had already begun.

Once it ended, Yuta would die—with my divine power.

<My master wants it.>

I met the rabbit’s eyes.

Tears welled in its pitch-black pupils.

“You.”

In the trembling prison cell, I looked the rabbit in the eye and asked firmly,

“Do you want this?”

<…>

“No, you don’t.”

<I… like Yuta.>

I could feel it.

Even though I was seeing this rabbit Divine Beast for the first time, I knew.

No sentence like “The Divine Beast didn’t choose Yuta” could explain this.

The rabbit Divine Beast liked Yuta.

But if it chose him, he would die.

No human could withstand three clashing divine energies.

His own. The Divine Beast’s. Mine.

It was a matter of order. If Yuta had been planning to absorb my divine power from the beginning, then the Divine Beast’s recognition would mean his death.

“Then stop.”

I pleaded with the rabbit.

“Please… stop. Please, stop.”

There was some kind of noise from outside. But it was just a low hum. I couldn’t make it out.

It felt like the whole world had faded, and only the rabbit and I were left.

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