What was my past struggle about not having a child? I should have kissed him again instead of wasting time on that matter.

As I was venting my emotions, a soft voice suddenly sounded from behind. It was Evelyn.

“Can’t you sleep?”

“Oh, hello?”

Following the child issue, she caught me punching the air.

It seemed like I was showing too much of myself to someone I just met. I deliberately put on a quieter expression, as if to say I’m not that kind of person.

Seeing me like that, Evelyn smiled softly. However, her gentle words had an oddly firm undertone.

“You can speak comfortably. I assume formal language is not familiar to you from the beginning.”

“What?”

I furrowed my brows, wondering what she meant. She giggled and asked.

“Are you Princess Marian?”

“Well…”

Whether she knew something and was probing, or she was just asking without knowing. Unable to figure it out, I simply bit my lip.

At that moment, she first greeted me politely, bowing her head.

“I am Evelyn, the seventh disciple of Magus Yulnysia.”

“What?”

I doubted my ears.

“Yul’s disciple?”

“I’ve heard it from my master many times. Pink hair, blue eyes like the southern sea, a small and pretty face, and a powerful firepower that doesn’t match at all.”

Shocked more than I expected, I listened to Evelyn’s words in disbelief.

“Above all, that heart. I’ve seen it many times in my master’s lab, and I can’t be wrong.”

The mention of Yulnysia’s name, unexpectedly coming out, shook my heart like a stormy sea. However, I retorted to Evelyn with a cold voice.

“Don’t lie. Magus Yulnysia is a person from a hundred years ago. No matter how devoted a disciple you are, you can’t be as young as you are.”

The response that came back to my logically phrased question was even more staggering.

“My master is alive.”

“…What?”

Even if she was teasing me, it was annoying.

Attempting to ignore Evelyn’s words with a snort, I eventually stiffened with a bewildered expression. Ironically, I had recently heard Yulnysia’s name.

“[Investigate this guy for Yulnysia.]”

It was the words of the Prince of the Newcomer Birds who grabbed me when he visited the Northern region.

At that time, too, his words were quite annoying, but I let it go because it was unthinkable that my friend Yulnysia was alive.

But if what Evelyn said is true?

‘Surely the Yulnysia mentioned by the Prince of the Birds is the same Yul I know?’

It can’t be. People who live for more than 100 years are rare, but Yul was already in his twenties a hundred years ago. Surely he wouldn’t have lived close to 130 years?

The more I thought about it, the less sense it made. I shook my head. And with a wry smile, I muttered sarcastically.

“It’s an unbelievable longevity if you’re not making a heart with magic.”
Upon my casual remark, Evelyn nodded seriously.

“What my master has been continuing is research similar to that.”

“…What did you say?”

What did I say? Creating a heart with magic?

They really researched that?

Evelyn smiled faintly. Now, that smiling face no longer felt likable.

“Wasn’t it strange? People with vanished flame attribute mana and the appearance of ice monsters. All things that didn’t exist in the princess’s era.”

“…At least the fact that you know about me is true.”

People of this era don’t know the differences between the era I lived in and now. In accurately distinguishing that, she already knew that I was Princess Marian who lived 100 years ago.

Evelyn nodded gently.

“I told you. I’ve seen the princess’s heart countless times in the lab.”

“….”

Upon hearing that, I couldn’t say anything.

‘I was engulfed in mana explosion to stop Aspen. My heart must have been shattered into pieces.’

The fact that they kept that heart in the lab also sent shivers down my spine.

‘Who on earth would do such a thing?’

I thought of people who might have tried to resurrect me. My family? My friends? But no one came to mind.

‘No, that’s impossible.’

Among the people I know, there was no one who would not gracefully accept my death and sacrifice others. I vigorously shook my head. And, questioning Evelyn as if interrogating her, I asked.

“Why is the heart that was in the lab beating here now? Why study that heart?”

“Well, why would that be?”

Annoyingly, Evelyn did not provide an answer. I desperately struggled to find an answer in her words.

What did she say? That she was making a heart?

“…Is she trying to make my heart with magic? Why? Who on earth would do such a thing?”

After scratching me thoroughly, when I poured out my questions, Evelyn stepped back slightly.

“I cannot provide answers to those questions.”

“Hey!”

Who the hell is playing tricks on me now? As I got upset, Evelyn smiled slyly and said.

“Please meet my master. You will surely be pleased.”

In the end, the answer to my questions would be given by Yulnysia.

When I heard Evelyn’s suggestion, the first thought that came to my mind was this.

‘What if this is a trap?’