TYBMB 03

Chapter 3: Body Aches
Date: 2024.01.03

The captain, who had grabbed hold of me, turned my head this way and that with somewhat rough hands, inspecting me.

“No signs of injury. No fever, either. I thought maybe you’d hit your head or were delirious from a fever, spouting nonsense.”

“……”

“Are you… really okay? Why are you thanking me instead of acting all cocky like usual?”

“…Was I that arrogant before? I apologize for that, too.”

It seemed the 25-year-old me had been more of a jerk than I remembered.

I suddenly felt sorry for the captain and the subordinates.

In the meantime, the captain sighed.

“Anyway, get some rest. In five days, we have to close the fourth rift in the count’s territory. If you cause trouble then too, I won’t let it slide.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The captain looked like he wanted to say something more but ended up just sighing again.

After that, he left the tent, and Karl followed him out to give me space.

Once they were gone, I finally took out a mirror and checked my face.

“……”

The woman reflected back at me with silver hair and violet eyes was definitely me.

My face.

But I looked much younger than the 30-year-old who had died after drinking poison.

In other words, I really had returned to the past.

But why?

It’s not like I’d done anything to cause this when I died.

I hadn’t prayed to God to turn back time.

So it couldn’t have been a divine miracle.

But then something came to mind.

My mother’s keepsake.

Come to think of it, I’d sensed a strange power from it before.

Could that be the reason?

I quickly reached for my neck, searching for the necklace.

Thankfully, it was still quietly hanging there.

I couldn’t feel anything from it now, but I had definitely felt something mysterious just before I died.

Was it really thanks to this that I was able to return?

If so… If it really was, then I had a responsibility.

A responsibility to make this new life—given to me by my mother—successful.

“……”

I silently clutched the necklace tightly in my hand.

Then I offered a prayer to my mother, who must be watching from somewhere above.

My kind and gentle mother.

Even in death, you gave your foolish daughter another chance.

To honor your love, I vowed to live this second life more gloriously, more honorably than anything else.

Perhaps because of everything that had happened, I couldn’t fall asleep easily.

I tossed and turned in the uncomfortable bed, and just when I managed to doze off, I started dreaming strange dreams.

In the dream, I was the Empress.

Ernant, my husband in the dream and the Emperor, said to me:

“I like you because you’re just dumb enough. You don’t get in the way.”

Naturally, I was offended and opened my mouth to argue—

But at that moment, the palace walls shattered and, for some reason, the captain came charging in.

He shouted at me.

“Yulia! What are you doing?! Hurry and kill the monster!”

“Monster?”

“The monster right next to you!”

Startled, I turned to look at Ernant, who was sitting beside me.

Somehow, he had become a humanoid monster.

Well, dreams often don’t make any sense, do they?

As the one dreaming, I didn’t even stop to question how or why Ernant had turned into a monster—I just instinctively drew my weapon.

A sword I was very familiar with.

And with it, I stabbed the monster-form of Ernant in the heart.

Squelch—

A disturbingly vivid sound for a dream. I could even feel the sensation of piercing his heart as I pulled out the sword.

Dark red blood sprayed everywhere.

Just then, the captain, who had come up beside me, praised me.

“Well done. Now that my brother’s dead, I’m the Emperor.”

“…What?”

That absurd dream ended there.

As I dumbly repeated, “What?” I woke up from my sleep.

“……”

Even after waking, I remained dazed, haunted by the dream.

What in the world was that supposed to mean?

Just a meaningless nightmare?

The ruler of the empire turning into a monster, and me becoming the Empress?

All I could do was hope and pray it wasn’t some kind of prophetic dream.

“……”

Deciding I’d had enough useless thoughts, I tried to go back to sleep.

Though the dream had woken me early, it was still dark outside.

I forced my eyes shut and pulled the blanket over my head, trying to sleep again—but soon I had to sit up.

“…Cold.”

Something felt wrong.

A deep chill seeped into my bones. My muscles trembled uncontrollably.

Symptoms of body aches were setting in.

And then I remembered—

After nearly dying in the third rift, I’d come down with a severe illness.

I’d been down for almost a week, and because of that, I’d been weak and a burden during the fourth rift mission.

As soon as the memory came back, I scowled and got up from the cot.

Over-the-counter fever reducers wouldn’t help. I needed to either drink a potion or ask Karl for healing.

Potions were special elixirs that could heal illnesses either when drunk or applied.

If I had one, the body ache would be cured quickly.

But because of their strong effects, potions were expensive. Before the regression, I had foolishly avoided using them and only took cheap fever reducers.

Karl had healing abilities, but I hadn’t even asked for his help back then.

Because I’d gone into the rift alone, embarrassed that I’d been hurt and looked pathetic.

At the time, I’d wanted to seem strong to Karl and the captain. Foolish pride.

But now? I had no such thoughts.

This was a cold inflicted by a monster’s icy attack—ordinary medicine wouldn’t work.

First things first: find a potion.

I forced my weak body up and began rummaging through my bag in the tent.

Unfortunately, I had none.

Should I borrow one?

To beat this sickness before it got worse, I needed to drink a potion as soon as possible.

So I staggered outside to go ask Karl.

But I never made it to Karl.

Because I unexpectedly ran into someone else.

“Where do you think you’re going in that state?”

It was Captain Martin.

For some reason, he was loitering outside and came over as he said that.

I hadn’t even taken more than a few stumbling steps when he was already in front of me.

He quickly grabbed my arm to support me.

“Didn’t I tell you to rest?”

“I have a fever. I need to drink a potion.”

“Fever…? You looked fine earlier, but now you’re sweating a lot.”

The captain reached out to touch my forehead.

While I had my eyes closed, he checked my temperature and murmured in a more serious tone,

“…You’re burning up.”

“A potion will fix it. Karl probably has three or four. He always carries plenty. If not, I’ll ask him to use his healing ability.”

“So you were heading to Karl at this hour?”

“Yes. With your permission, I’d like to continue on my way.”

I wasn’t trying to argue.

I just wanted to get the potion as quickly as possible and end the conversation.

But perhaps because of my usual stiff tone—

The captain frowned slightly.

“Heading into a tent full of men looking like that isn’t a wise idea.”

“What do you mean, ‘looking like that’?”

“……”

He paused for a while, like trying to find the right words, then muttered,

“Inappropriate. Your clothes are too thin and soaked with sweat.”

“Oh… Right, it’s too cold to be walking around in light clothing.”

“That’s not what I—never mind. If you need a potion, come with me. I’ll give you one.”

His unexpected offer surprised me.

If it were five years from now, maybe. But right now, didn’t he dislike me?

And yet he was willing to give me a costly potion?

It was confusing, but there was no reason to refuse.

More importantly, if I didn’t drink a potion soon, I felt like I would collapse.

I followed the captain to his large tent.

And upon entering, I had only one thought:

This is cozier than I expected.

Given his strict, cold personality, I thought the tent would be bare and freezing.

But it was surprisingly warm and nicely furnished.

I sat in a comfortable chair and waited while he fetched a potion and handed it to me.

I took it and bowed respectfully.

“Thank you for lending me this potion. I’ll pay you back later.”

“You’re trying to repay everything, huh. Just drink it.”

At his prompting, I opened the potion bottle.

The small vial—no bigger than my palm—contained a red liquid.

The potion.

I drank about half of it in one go, the healing power within sure to take effect.

As I did, he watched silently from nearby, his expression slightly twisting as he asked,

“You should probably drink all of it, don’t you think?”