Woke Up And I'm A Married Woman (17 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 3

[During those three years, what if my sister fell for some guy and got married? That would be a disaster. Right now, if my sister dies, the inheritance is mine—but if she gets married, it’ll belong to her husband.]

I never knew my younger sister was that kind of person until my dying day. Then again, it made sense—I’d been holed up in the academy for so long that we rarely met, and whenever we did, she always greeted me with a sweet smile and only ever said kind things.

[You’re my pride, sister.] [I’m happy because I have you.] [I hope you’ll soon be officially recognized as a mage.]

So I worked hard, and in the end, I became an archmage. I even inherited the unexpected legacy left behind by a distant ancestor.

And the result was death.

But there was one thing Diana hadn’t anticipated—namely, that I was the mage who had researched time more than anyone else in this world.

‘Thank goodness I studied space-time magic.’

The moment Diana, convinced of my death, revealed her true colors and mocked me, I reversed time. I’d only ever researched it—I’d never actually reversed time on such a grand scale before.

Only one thought filled my mind.

‘This time, I’ll run away.’

Wasn’t it ridiculous that the nation’s sole archmage would be murdered by her own sister? Everyone trusted Diana—that’s why they fell for her trap so easily. I wouldn’t be fooled twice.

‘I’ll run away to some far-off place where Diana can never reach me, and I’ll claim the inheritance all to myself.’

I’d also given a little thought to revenge—but honestly, the best revenge would simply be for me to live happily on my own, spending the inheritance as I pleased.

‘I’ll never be fooled by you again.’

With that firm resolution, I reversed time—back to the moment right after I became an archmage.

But there was one thing I’d forgotten.

No matter how perfect a human’s plan may be, life is always full of the unexpected.

My magic succeeded. I precisely reversed time back to the very day I received my archmage certification.

Everything was exactly the same. Diana arriving at the ceremony to congratulate me, my fellow magic department students celebrating my graduation, professors suddenly treating me with utmost respect, and everyone shocked by the announcement of my immense inheritance.

Except for one thing.

“What on earth…?”

Everyone, that is—except me.

Could it be because I’d just performed an unprecedented, world-altering spell that reversed time globally?

“My magic power is gone.”

All the immense magic power—the kind that, even as a child, had overloaded every magic meter at the academy—had vanished completely.

[This is the timeline separator]

The Academy—the cradle of the nation’s greatest scholars.

Within it, the Department of Magical Studies, gathering only the rarest intellectuals.

Passing through its halls, one might occasionally witness professors and students from the Department of Magical Circuitry amiably setting up an offering table and bowing in ritual prayer.

“Isn’t Magical Circuitry the most empirically grounded field within magical studies?”

“Exactly.”

Magical Circuitry—the study of how magic power flows, essential for collaborating on new spells. After all, when a spell fails, you must examine the magical circuit.

So how could such a logical, meticulous field involve its professors and students performing superstitious rituals for good luck?

One day, utterly baffled, I asked a professor directly.

“Why do you hold rituals? Isn’t that just superstition?”

At my question, the professor adopted an extremely solemn expression—though the cockatoo feather stuck in his hair made him look utterly ridiculous.

“This world cannot be solved by reason and logic alone. Sometimes, the most irrational action is the answer itself.”

“What do you mean by that?”

If something remains unsolved, isn’t it simply because the analysis was insufficient? To my objection, the professor replied:

“When you pray, your mind feels at ease. That’s all. And if you’re lucky, the problem might solve itself without your intervention.”

“…Huh?”

Only now, having lost all my magic power, did I finally understand those words I couldn’t grasp back then.

‘Damn it! Did you really have to phrase it so cryptically just to say all you can do is pray!’

I clutched my head in frustration. Countless magical theories and knowledge still vividly remained in my mind.

Only one thing had changed—my magic power was gone.

But that one change was catastrophic. I could no longer cast spells as I once did, not even with all the knowledge of an archmage.

“It’s not that there’s no way to gather magic power—but regaining my former immense capacity is impossible.”

Various tools have been developed to let even non-magical people cast simple spells: runes that accumulate magic, magic stones that store and release power.

But none of them could ever hold such a tremendous amount of magic.

“So what am I supposed to do now?”

I’d reversed time, yet lost the very magic power that was my strongest defense.

“Should I just run away right now?”

I considered it, then shook my head. I’d just returned home, but Diana had been living here all along. If I showed even a hint of fleeing, everyone would immediately inform Diana of my movements.

“Nelly!”

“Nelly! At least listen to your aunt!”

“Aunt? I’m your paternal aunt!”

And my dreadful relatives would surely follow me too.

“So what in the world do I do now?”

I sank down helplessly. Just then, a faint flicker of light blinked from a dark corner of the room. I looked up.

It was the communication crystal Grisha had given me before I left the academy.

‘He’d laughed, asking if it was really alright to give me the world’s very first one.’

In my utter isolation, receiving a message felt incredibly heartening. Crawling over, I pressed my palm against the crystal just as Grisha had instructed.

A calm voice flowed from the little orb.

—“Big sister.”

Hearing that voice stirred my heart like a pebble tossed into a still lake.

“Grisha.”

—“What’s wrong, big sister?”

At that instant, my composure crumbled, and tears burst forth uncontrollably. Hearing my choked sobs, Grisha’s tone turned serious.

—“Big sister, what’s going on? Seriously, what happened?”

“I just… can’t trust people anymore.”

As soon as I spoke the words aloud, tears streamed down my face. Wiping them with my sleeve, I told Grisha,

“…I want to go back to the academy.”

Ah, I never imagined I’d ever say those words in my life.

Only after becoming an archmage did I finally understand just how painful it is to be unable to trust those around you.

[This is the timeline separator]

I confessed everything to Grisha.

“Maybe because I cast such an immensely wide-scale spell, my magic power is completely drained—I can’t cast magic anymore.”

—“You can’t cast any magic at all?”

“No, not exactly. I just need time to rebuild my magic power.”

—“That’s a relief, then.”

Grisha let out a sigh of relief, then immediately asked in a tense voice,

—“No one else knows about this, right?”

“Of course not. You’re the first person I’m telling.”

It was strange—though I couldn’t trust my own family, I could confide everything to Grisha, who was so far away.

After silently listening to what had happened to me, Grisha spoke in a heavy tone.

—“…I’ll come to you right now.”

What?

“No! Absolutely not! Don’t you get it? If you leave now, you’ll have to start all over! They might even refuse to grant you mage certification for life!”

That was the infuriating reality of a system where recognition depended on others’ approval. If you quit midway, you’d be punished for the audacity.

‘Grisha’s endured so much already—I can’t let all his efforts go to waste.’

That was precisely why I’d gritted my teeth and pushed through at the academy despite my parents’ deaths—because quitting meant losing everything.

Even as I panicked and pleaded with him, Grisha insisted firmly.

—“Even so, I can’t possibly leave you alone right now.”

“But then you’ll never become a mage! It’s absurd—not being allowed mage certification despite having the ability to use magic!”

—“Then I’ll just live as your personal mage, that’s all.”

You’ve really lost it!

“I won’t be even a little happy if you come in person. I appreciate your concern, but absolutely do not come. If you do, I swear I’ll never look at your face again for the rest of my life.”

—“Big sister…”

Though deeply touched by Grisha’s care, I couldn’t let my situation ruin his future.

After a long, silent pause, Grisha sighed and spoke in a pained voice.

—“I know you’re saying this because you care about me, but it hurts too much to be completely helpless when you’re suffering like this.”

“Just listening to me means more than enough. You’re the only one in this whole world who truly understands my situation.”

—“Big sister…”

I meant it sincerely. It made me happy knowing Grisha genuinely worried for me.

‘Right. I need to pull myself together.’

Simply knowing someone was wholly on my side—and willing to abandon years of hard work toward becoming a mage just to rush to me—warmed my heart. I discussed the situation seriously with Grisha.

“How can I survive until the inheritance is officially transferred without getting killed? Any good ideas?”

The clever Grisha quickly summarized the core issue.

—“First, we need to either create a reason Diana mustn’t kill you before the inheritance, or make it so she no longer needs to kill you at all.”

“Well, sure—but here’s the thing.”

The inheritance rights had already legally passed to me; the academy was merely holding it temporarily for three years, as stipulated in the late archmage’s will.

‘I can’t possibly demand it be handed over immediately—once rights are assigned, there’s no going back to delay it by three years.’

She must neither be able to kill me, nor feel the need to.

As I groaned, chin in hand, struggling with this unexpectedly difficult condition, Grisha proposed something I’d never have imagined.

—“Why not just sleep soundly until the inheritance is transferred?”

“Sleep? For three whole years?”

—“You know what my research is about.”

Grisha’s research focused precisely on the effects of magic power on the human body. To study how different magic levels affected physiology, he’d often come to me to take various measurements.

Grisha asked earnestly,

—“What if you fell into a magic-depletion-induced coma? Since your magic is already completely drained, this seems like the perfect opportunity.”

That was actually a brilliant idea.