The Youngest Daughter of the Swordsmanship Family Turned Great Mage - Chapter 1

“Why on earth……”

A chilling voice fell over Rosette’s head. Rosette, who had been hanging her head weakly, painfully raised it at that voice.

Her vision had already become blurry, so she couldn’t see the face of the man standing before her, but she could easily tell who he was.

Joshua Earnhardt. The First Prince of the Earnhardt Empire. He collapsed in front of Rosette as if crumbling.

Sorrowful tears poured from his eyes, which were red and bloodshot from burst capillaries.

“Why did you do it?”

In her 20 years of life, Rosette had never seen a grown man cry like this. Moreover, the person was the prince who had always been perfect in front of people.

Cold, and sometimes cynical.

“What sin did my teacher and Daniel commit for you to kill them! Why!”

He wept like a child, though it was said he hadn’t cried even when he lost his mother, the former empress.

That touched something in Rosette’s heart. She barely moved her swollen and torn lips.

“I……”

But she couldn’t say anything. As he said, it was Rosette who had killed Duke Adrien, his teacher, and Daniel Adrien, his friend.

It wasn’t even an excuse that Rosette’s heart was cursed, and that her body moved according to Duke Dallas’s orders because of that curse.

It wasn’t her own will, but Rosette had definitely killed him.

Rosette ultimately couldn’t say anything. Unable to bear the sight of Joshua’s suffering, she bowed her head deeply.

The cold stone floor was stained with his tear marks. Rosette silently endured his raw anger.

After a moment, the man stood up. His face, having composed his emotions, was terribly cold.

“Your execution date has been set.”

Was it because she had expected it? Rosette wasn’t very surprised by his words. However, she couldn’t help but be shaken by what she heard next.

“Those two won’t come back even if you die, but we can honor their souls. If you have even a shred of guilt, atone until the moment you die.”

Those words touched Rosette’s heart once again. She bit her lip to hold back the emotion welling up in her throat.

She felt like crying, but she didn’t want to cry in front of the man. She was a criminal, and she wasn’t even allowed to cry in front of him.

The man looked at Rosette with an unreadable expression before turning and walking out. Rosette was left alone in the prison with the dim moonlight streaming in.

Only then did Rosette burst into tears all at once. Tears fell once again onto the tear stains that had begun to dry.

“I……”

The moment she killed Duke Adrien and Daniel ten days ago was still vividly remembered before her eyes.

−Isn’t it painful to be used by the Duke?

Even knowing that Rosette had come to kill him, he couldn’t easily attack her.

−You remind me of my daughter. It’s not too late even now. Go back. You don’t suit this kind of thing.

It was the first time. There had been many people who died by Rosette’s hand before, but they all either knelt and begged before her or cursed at her.

He was the first to say such words to her.

Nevertheless, Rosette killed Duke Adrien. Perhaps she was able to kill a Sword Master so easily because he had no will to attack her.

From the moment she killed him, Rosette constantly regretted her life stained with blood.

If only she could go back, she wouldn’t have taken Duke Dallas’s hand…

‘Go back?’

Rosette bit her tongue with a sudden realization. She began to draw a magic circle with the blood flowing between her teeth. With her limbs bound, there was no other choice.

The blood didn’t flow properly, so she bit her tongue again several times, and though her mind became hazy in the middle, she stubbornly completed the magic circle.

A forbidden magic now, as no one had succeeded. It was a magic from an ancient book that Duke Dallas had forced her to read in the past.

−Learn the magic circle in case of emergency.

Perhaps the Duke had intended to use time-reversal magic as a last resort if his plans failed.

‘Duke Dallas probably didn’t expect it to be used like this.’

And I’m not sure if this is even possible.

Rosette collapsed and activated the magic circle.

The light that burst from the magic circle enveloped her body. Rosette vowed, looking at the now faint tear stains.

If she goes back, this time she will surely…

* * *

When she opened her eyes again, she saw a ceiling that seemed unfamiliar yet somehow familiar.

Looking at the ceiling full of cracks as if it would collapse at any moment, Rosette soon remembered where this was.

It was the orphanage where she stayed before being adopted by the Dallas family.

‘Did I really come back?’

Rosette examined her body in bewilderment. Short arms and legs, tiny hands like maple leaves.

She was still as skinny as before, but overall her body had become smaller. At a glance, it looked like the body of a young child, not an adult.

‘Was it really possible?’

Even when activating the magic circle, she wasn’t confident it would succeed. So she couldn’t tell if she had really turned back time or if she was just dreaming.

As Rosette was fumbling her cheek to determine if this was a dream or reality, it happened.

“Rose, are you still sleeping?”

The door slowly opened and a child entered. Rosette recognized the child with reddish-brown hair and green eyes at a glance.

“Sister Jane?”

It was Jane, who had cherished Rosette like her own little sister. Rosette crawled on her knees and hugged Jane.

Jane, who she embraced, was warm. The sensation was so vivid it didn’t seem like a dream.

‘I’ve come back.’

Only then did Rosette burst into tears at the overwhelming emotion.

“Rose? Why are you crying? Did you have a nightmare?”

Rosette shook her head in Jane’s arms.

“No, I’m happy… I’m happy to see you again, sister.”

Jane had died for some reason about 10 years ago. Seeing Jane again filled Rosette with elation that she could set everything right this time.

‘I will change it.’

Jane’s future, and the future of the Adrien family.

‘And that man’s future too.’

But the person she needed to focus on most right now was Jane, who was right in front of her.

Rosette recalled the old memories that still felt as vivid as yesterday, even though 13 years had passed.

A few months before Rosette was adopted by the Dallas family, Jane, who had gone to the village, was accused of being a thief. The cause was the clothes she was wearing.

The villagers misunderstood and thought she had stolen the dress that Jane had bought with money she had earned fairly by delivering milk.

−Hey, where did you get that!

−Didn’t you steal it?

To make matters worse, even the clothes shop owner who had sold it to her directly forgot that Jane had bought the dress.

Whether she really forgot or pretended not to know, the owner also accused Jane of being a thief.

−I bought this with money!

−How could you have!

−I saved money by delivering milk!

Jane earnestly claimed her innocence, but no one believed her words. They even tried to strip her clothes off.

When Jane curled up and resisted, they started throwing stones at her. Where on a tiny ten-year-old child’s body was there to hit?

At the time, Rosette had gone looking for Jane, who hadn’t returned when she should have, and witnessed the scene.

−……!

Rosette knew better than anyone that Jane was not a thief. But she couldn’t step out in front of people. She feared that if she did something wrong, she would also be stoned.

So she hid far away and just watched the scene. She couldn’t even shout to stop them, even as bright red blood flowed from Jane’s head.

And Jane, who had lost a lot of blood, breathed her last before receiving medical attention. Rosette belatedly crouched beside her and burst into tears.

Rosette regretted that incident over and over until her death.

‘Of course, even if I had stepped up, nothing would have changed.’

In the worst case, Rosette might have also been stoned and ended her life in the same way.

But still, if she had stepped up, wouldn’t things have been a little different? That thought always held Rosette back.

“Sister, I’m so, so sorry.”

Rosette muttered the apology she had always thought in her heart. Tears fell once again.

“I’m really sorry.”

Fortunately, or perhaps not, Jane didn’t take her apology seriously.

“What, did you have another dream?”

Rosette nodded her tear-stained face vigorously up and down. It was a dream if it was a dream. All those terrible things had now become events that didn’t happen because Rosette turned back time.

However, just because the future disappeared doesn’t mean those events never happened at all. At this rate, Jane would once again be accused of being a thief and die.

‘But I can change it.’

Save Jane. And run away from Duke Dallas. Then there would be no being used by him, no killing Duke Adrien.

Rosette first asked Jane for today’s date.

Fortunately, Jane answered without much suspicion. Rather, she seemed quite excited. She had been teaching Rosette numbers lately.

“January 5th! You’re just starting to learn numbers, so are you confused? Yesterday was the 4th, so today is the 5th!”

Jane had been interested in teaching Rosette since she was young. Other children looked at her with disdain, saying what use was it for an orphan to learn letters and numbers, but Jane had big ambitions.

She went to the village and learned letters and numbers little by little from the bookstore owner who was somewhat friendly to her. And she taught it all to Rosette.

It was all thanks to Jane that Rosette was able to follow her lessons without much difficulty when she first went to the Dallas family.

“My birthday is coming up soon.”

Rosette’s birthday was January 22nd. Unable to know her exact birthday, she used the day she first came to the orphanage as her birthday.

At Rosette’s murmur, Jane seemed to seize the opportunity and smiled strangely.

“Now, Rose. How old will you be after this birthday?”

That was why they were having this long question and answer session now. However, instead of saying that, Rosette roughly estimated her age based on her appearance.

“Six… years old?”

“Wrong! Six is one less than seven. You’re seven now, so you need to add one more.”

“Oh, eight years old.”

I’m about to turn eight. My body was smaller than I thought.

Rosette, who had been thinking vaguely, suddenly shuddered with goosebumps.

‘Oh my, if I’m eight years old……’

Surely it was the spring of the year she turned eight when Duke Dallas came looking for her. And Jane died before Rosette even turned eight.

That meant Jane was destined to die in a few days. If she had come back just a little later, she might not have been able to save Jane.