IWBAACTWITOS Chapter 23

"Daughter, it's time to wake up."

"......"

"It's your birthday today."

I'm sorry to Roxana, but I wasn't the kind of energetic, strong little kid who could spring up just because it was my birthday. Besides, for some reason today my body felt especially heavy and I had no energy.

When I showed no signs of getting out of bed, Roxana lifted me up in one motion and wiped the sleep from my eyes. I looked at Roxana with my face all scrunched up.

Perhaps noticing my mood wasn't great, Roxana deliberately smiled brightly.

"We have to have a birthday party. Mom and Dad aren't even going to work today."

"......Sleepy."

"You'll feel better once you wash up. Want to take a bath with Mom after so long?"

"You want to bathe together?"

"Yeah, let's wash up together."

"Okay, then."

I washed up with Roxana and put on the dress that had been prepared beforehand. While the maids braided my hair on both sides, I nodded off drowsily until I barely opened my eyes at the word that they were done.

'Why am I so tired?'

I definitely went to bed early last night for the birthday party. Noticing my unusual lack of energy today, I pressed my hand to my forehead. But my body was just languid—I didn't have a fever.

'No, I've never been sick in this body in the first place.'

"Are you feeling unwell?"

"No, I'm just sleepy."

"Tilly, were you so excited about the birthday party you couldn't sleep?"

At Roxana's question, I answered yes. Roxana laughed as if she couldn't help it. No matter when I heard it, her low-toned laughter always improved my mood.

"Mom couldn't sleep from excitement either."

"Really?"

"Of course, I was so excited that both Dad and Mom couldn't sleep properly. Our Tilly is already five years old."

Roxana received a small tiara from the maid and placed it on top of my head. It was much heavier than the princess tiara I used to wear when I was actually five years old. Because it was made of real jewels and silver, not fake beads and plastic.

"Pretty."

"Am I pretty?"

"Of course, you're the prettiest in the world. You look just like Dad, so you're so, so pretty."

The Emperor—that is, Philius—had said before. Except for his annoying crybaby tendencies and terrible personality, Julian was perfection itself.

Especially those deep purple eyes that enchanted people—even he, who had seen them every day for decades, sometimes lost himself staring at them.

My reflection in the mirror looked like a miniaturized version of Julian, except for the hair. Unlike Royna, who resembled Roxana bit by bit in her lips and the corners of her eyes.

"I wish I looked like Mom."

At my answer, Roxana smiled softly, and the maids smiled too. After dismissing the maids, Roxana sat me on her lap.

"You resemble Mom in many ways. Because you're Mom's daughter."

"Where? I don't look like you at all except for the hair."

"Your hands."

"Hands?"

Roxana massaged my hands and told me I'd have large hands for a woman. Roxana also had rather large hands for a woman.

"Your feet are similar too, and your build takes after Mom more than Dad. I'm sure when you grow up, people will say you look like Mom."

'Well, I can't see the back of my own head, so maybe I do resemble Roxana there.'

"Tilly, you know what?"

"What?"

"In a little while, it'll be the time you were born."

At Roxana's words, I turned my head to look at the clock. The time was already approaching 10 o'clock.

"Five years ago today, do you know what Mom thought?"

"No, how would I know that?"

"I thought our Tilly was someone who changes fate."

"What does that mean?"

"The moment I saw newborn Tilly, I heard the sound of Mom's fate changing."

At these incomprehensible words, I was about to furrow my brow but nodded instead. People used expressions like bells ringing at joyful moments in life, so I thought it meant something like that.

"It's true though."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it."

At my half-hearted answer, Roxana kneaded my cheeks vigorously and lifted me off her lap. Since the birthday party would start soon, when I opened the door and went out, Julian, who was holding Royna, grinned at me.

"Dad."

"Tilly, it seems God has granted our Tilly's birthday wish. Though we'll have to have the birthday party indoors instead."

"What do you mean?"

"It's snowing right now."

At first I thought Julian was lying. Snow falling in autumn—while not impossible, it would be quite rare to see.

Besides, there was no way it would fall precisely on my birthday. When Julian pointed at the window, white snow really was falling from the sky.

'Are the maids throwing cotton from the roof or something?'

I opened the window and reached out my hand. The snow that fell on my palm was cold and quickly melted from my hand's warmth. Snow was accumulating on the fallen leaves in the garden, gradually turning everything white.

Looking at the snowflakes falling heavily enough to be called large flakes, I muttered quietly.

"That's impossible."

Long, slender hands reached toward the sky as if to catch the falling snowflakes. A priest who had brought a thick coat draped it over the Prophetess's shoulders.

"Snow in autumn is quite rare, Prophetess."

"Because it's something that shouldn't normally happen."

At the Prophetess's words, the priest laughed. He had served the Prophetess from when he was very young until now in middle age, and this was the first time such words had come from her mouth.

The Prophetess could see the past and future of every human who made contact with her. She must have foreseen that it would snow today.

"I'm joking."

"The Prophetess knows how to joke?"

"......Of course. I know how to joke at least that much."

The priest looked at the sky. Watching snow accumulate on the red-tinted maple trees was an unfamiliar but beautiful sight.

The priest, who had been staring at the snow in a daze, noticed snow accumulating on the Prophetess's robes and suggested they go inside.

"No, I'd like to stay a little longer."

"......You seem in particularly good spirits today. Even making jokes you don't usually make."

"Something I've been waiting for has begun. It seems God has finally heard my prayers."

The priest hurriedly sent an apprentice priest to bring paper and pen to record the Prophetess's words.

True to her title as Prophetess, she was an existence who delivered prophecies.

Whenever she mentioned God, a prophecy would always follow. This had been so for the thousand years since she took on the role of final Guardian and advisor to the three families with abilities.

"This isn't a prophecy."

"P-pardon?"

"I won't deliver any prophecy today. So please leave me alone for a moment."

"Understood, Prophetess."

When the priests withdrew, the Prophetess pulled back her robe's hood and walked toward the edge of the temple's domain.

Crunch, crunch—as she walked, snow accumulated on her hair and shoulders, melting away. Even though her hair was getting wet, the Prophetess felt good. She could reveal her face only when no one was watching like this.

The temple was located at the continent's edge, by the eastern sea. What could be beyond that sea? It was a curiosity she hadn't held once in a thousand years.

'But more than beyond that sea.'

The Prophetess turned around to look in the opposite direction. Going west from here lay the Aesir Empire, and beyond that the Celis Kingdom. Past the plains of the Celis Kingdom stretched a vast desert.

"I wonder if this snow is falling where you are too?"

If so, it would be nice if you could wake, even briefly, to see this sight. You would know that the predetermined fate had shifted, even if just a little.

"Prophetess, where are you!"

At the sound of the priests searching for her, the Prophetess covered her face again. When the Prophetess revealed herself, the priests breathed sighs of relief.

"Normally even when you take walks, you only go as far as the garden, don't you? You've almost never come out to the coast."

"It's the first autumn snow I've seen in a thousand years. Especially since the Holy Land has a warmer climate, isn't it the place where snow falls latest?"

At the Prophetess's words, the priests nodded.

Strolling along the beach briefly to see the falling snow wasn't a big deal. That is, if the person weren't the Prophetess.

"As the Prophetess says, isn't this a wonderful day? The falling snow now, this beautiful coast—all of it is a blessing bestowed by God. Who could say anything about the Prophetess, whom God cherishes most, enjoying that blessing?"

At the word blessing, the Prophetess smiled softly. This snow was hope rather than blessing.

The hope that the one who twisted fate at birth to save someone's life would someday save her as well.

"Cherished most by God? I'm merely one who carries out God's will."

The one truly cherished is someone else. The Prophetess swallowed those words and quickly changed the subject.

"Come to think of it, today is the first child of the Remetio family's birthday."

At the Prophetess's words, the elder priest looked momentarily surprised. She rarely singled someone out to mention like this.

'Come to think of it, the report about the second princess must have come in recently. Is she remembering because she's thinking about the baptism ceremony?'

"Yes, that's correct. The second princess was born a few months ago."

"I know. We should start preparing for the second child's baptism ceremony soon."

"We'll prepare everything without shortage."

"I'm counting on you."

I can finally meet you. The Prophetess suppressed her joy and returned to the temple.

In one year from now, she would meet the one she had waited a thousand years for.

Clear platinum hair and purple eyes.

The person who would end the Prophetess's story.