“Mother!”

As he burst into the research room, kicking the door open, he saw Guinevere’s back, her face still the same.

Guinevere slowly turned around and said with a frown:

“This time too…”

“Please save her!”

William cried out desperately.

“Please save Lara, Mother!”

Even he didn’t know why he was so desperate, but William sincerely wanted to cling to his mother’s trouser legs.

Despite knowing that Larisa wouldn’t die, he was just desperate.

“Lay her down here.”

William immediately and carefully laid Larisa on the cold, hard desk. Larisa had already lost consciousness and was pale. William felt like he was going to cry.

“Step aside.”

William stepped back and watched what Guinevere was doing. As Guinevere chanted magic, a blue magic circle seemed to envelop Larisa.

And once again, Larisa coughed up blood.

“M-Mother.”

“It’s alright, so shut up and stay put.”

William bit his lip until it bled. After a while, Guinevere’s magic ended.

“W-What did you do?”

“I slowed down Larisa’s time.”

“Can you save her?”

“We’ll have to see from now on.”

Guinevere called Hedel with her wristwatch and gave various instructions, and soon Doctor Frosch came running.

“This way.”

Guided by Guinevere, Doctor Frosch immediately began examining Larisa. He opened her eyelids to check her pupils and opened her mouth to put in some kind of paper.

When the paper came out stained black, Doctor Frosch said in a serious voice:

“She’s been poisoned.”

“Poison?”

“Yes. I don’t know what kind of poison it is, but…”

“Is it impossible to detoxify?”

“There are traces of blood vomiting. What were the symptoms?”

William answered in a trembling voice.

“She had a high fever. Then suddenly she vomited blood.”

That was all the symptoms William knew. The symptoms started as soon as he had the dream. Seemingly not enough information, Doctor Frosch frowned.

“I’ll need to check if her internal organs are damaged. I need to touch the patient’s body, is that alright?”

Doctor Frosch was asking William. William answered in a daze.

“What? Yes.”

“I’m going to remove her clothes.”

William unknowingly turned around. As he stood with his back to Larisa, trembling with anxiety, Doctor Frosch’s observations continued.

“I’d need an autopsy to know for sure, but it seems her lungs have already melted considerably.”

“No autopsy. We must save her somehow. Use all the healing potions we have for now.”

“If we use healing potions like this, the wounds will heal, but she’ll suffer permanent lung damage. Lady Rodante, as you know, healing potions only maximize natural recovery, they don’t regenerate things like severed arms. And this magic right now…”

“It’s magic that delays time.”

“If we release this magic, she might die immediately.”

William’s legs gave out and he collapsed.

‘Why am I so afraid?’

This is just a dream. It’s just peeking at the lost past through a dream. Yet, an overwhelming fear engulfed him. The heart-wrenching pain was an added bonus.

“William, you go out.”

“But, Mother.”

“You’re in the way, so get out. I’ll save Larisa somehow.”

William fled the research room. Gasping for breath, he passed through the corridor, feeling the strange gazes of the magicians still remaining in the mansion.

It seemed he hadn’t chased away the magicians in his past life. William wished to wake up from the dream soon. But even as time passed, he didn’t wake up.

Seeking a place to hide, William went to his room and slid down against the closed door.

“This is a dream.”

But it was too vivid and painful. Larisa’s hot body temperature, her feverish moans, the sticky blood, everything.

“Wake up already.”

William, an adult in body but still a 14-year-old boy in mind, unable to overcome his excessive fear, began banging his head against the wall.

It was a method to try to wake up from the dream, but it looked strange to others. Hedel, who came after being contacted by other magicians, shouted:

“William, are you crazy? Get a grip!”

Hedel grabbed William by the scruff of his neck.

“Let go of me!”

“Your lover isn’t dead yet. You need to keep your wits about you now more than ever!”

“This is a dream!”

Slap! His cheek felt like it was on fire. William looked up dazedly. Hedel had struck his cheek.

“I told you to get a grip.”

Hot tears rolled down his cheeks. Hedel squatted down in front of the sitting William and sighed.

“I’m sorry for hitting you. While the master is somehow holding onto Larisa’s time, you need to find a way. William, do you understand me?”

“Me?”

“Yes. Find a way to save her. Magic, alchemy, anything. Find something you can do.”

“H-How can I…”

“You have to. Are you going to let Larisa die like this?”

Hedel left, leaving behind the dazed William. Although William knew this was a dream, he began rummaging through alchemy books.

‘Can’t we replace the melted organs with mechanical devices?’

How much time had passed? As he was searching through books for a long time, his mother came to his room.

“Have you been eating?”

“Mother.”

“Larisa has woken up. She’s asking for you.”

William went to see Larisa, trembling. Larisa, whom he found again, was lying in a glass tube as before.

As soon as Larisa saw William, she smiled faintly.

“Willy.”

“L-Larisa. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.”

That couldn’t be true. Larisa’s face was still pale, and her lips were purple. Yet she was smiling.

“I missed you, William.”

“…”

“What’s wrong, didn’t you miss me, Willy?”

Even her playful voice was so frail it seemed about to disappear. William answered, holding back tears.

“I missed you.”

As if cursed, as soon as the words left his mouth, his heart felt like it was being squeezed.

“I love you, William.”

William couldn’t bring himself to say he loved her, even as a white lie. He was afraid that those words would become true.

He was afraid that this pain would become real, and that he would fall in love with Larisa.

Fortunately, Larisa fell asleep again. William couldn’t leave her side for a long time. Someone patted his shoulder and said:

“William, you should go eat and get some sleep too.”

“Mother. Larisa…”

“She won’t die.”

“She looks like she’s in pain.”

Guinevere didn’t answer. She had only held onto the time when Larisa had coughed up blood, unable to provide any treatment.

Of course she would be in pain, but with the warning that she might die if the magic was released, there was nothing they could do.

“William, listen carefully. We’ll find a way. A way to save Larisa. You, me, Hedel, and the other magicians will all work hard. So we’ll be able to find it.”

William nodded at his mother’s comfort. Even if it was empty consolation, he wanted to hear such words.

However, the nightmare showed no signs of ending. When he lost himself, years would pass.

“If I fall from here, will I wake up?”

William felt like he was going crazy wanting to wake up from the dream. With his back to Larisa’s glass tube, William jumped out of the research room window.

But what he hoped for didn’t happen. Waking up in a familiar room, he instinctively checked his hands first. The thick knuckles still made him despair.

“You crazy bastard, do you want to die that badly?”

“Hedel.”

“It’s lucky the master wasn’t here, if you pull that kind of stunt one more time, I won’t let it slide.”

William chuckled.

“You won’t let it slide?”

“There’s also a way to send Larisa off first.”

William momentarily flared up with anger and grabbed Hedel’s collar. As he punched wildly, Hedel spat out blood along with a tooth.

“You lunatic.”

“Don’t touch Larisa.”

“Next time, I’ll let you die and bury Larisa with you. Is that what you want?”

As William grabbed his collar again, this time Hedel threw a punch.

“You ungrateful bastard.”

Hedel said that and disappeared through teleportation. William had just wanted to wake up from the dream.

But the longer the time in the dream, the harder it became to distinguish what was real and what was a dream.

In the end, William devoted himself again to resurrection magic and alchemy. And one day, his mother said to him:

“William, I have something to tell you.”

The broken William looked up.

“The reason I was able to use magic to delay time was thanks to you. More precisely, because you turned back time. I only learned how to delay time while researching time reversal magic following you.”

William silently listened to her words.

“I think it might be faster to find a way to turn back time than to find a way to save Larisa. So why don’t you try researching time magic? I don’t know how you did it, but you have the talent to turn back time twice.”

He remembered what his mother in reality had said. Three times, William had turned back time three times. Then this must be the memory of the immediately previous life.

Guinevere had said that the dream he remembered was distorted. It wasn’t even clear if his mother had actually said these words to him.

But William somehow felt he knew what answer he had given.

He hadn’t meant to, but a smile formed on his face involuntarily. His mouth started moving on its own.

“I’m sorry, Mother. I can’t make Lara suffer any more.”

His hand moved on its own. William pulled out a dagger from his chest. The William of his past life surely wouldn’t have known he was of dragon lineage, yet why was he so confident?

William stabbed himself in the chest. The feeling of digging his hand between his ribs and grasping his beating heart was eerie. If he offered this as a sacrifice, he could turn back time.

He couldn’t remember what incantation he chanted. But how desperate Guinevere’s face looked as he lost consciousness.