Chapter 1

“Myaaah!!”

‘Sister!!!!!’

I sprang up from where I was lying.

I dashed right into her lap and began frantically rubbing my face—covered in tears and snot—against her chest. The cozy, familiar scent that belonged only to my sister tickled the tip of my nose.

“Whoa, what are you……! Wait, May, are you crying?”

Startled, she scooped me up into her arms. A moment later, her eyes widened in surprise as she questioned me.

“What’s wrong, hmm? Did you see something scary?”

The warm body heat enveloping me. The voice full of affection brushing against my ears.

The sister right in front of me was so full of life. Feeling that she was truly alive and well made the tip of my nose tingle with a sharp ache.

‘Oh gosh, it really is my sister.’

Sniffling, I burrowed deeper into her embrace. Feeling flustered, she gently stroked my back to soothe me.

And then.

“Did a bug pop out or something? Want me to catch it for you?”

In an instant, my tears stopped dead.

“……?”

I blankly lifted my head. My sister was looking down at me with a mischievous smirk.

“Our May is a cat, yet you can’t even catch a bug. What are you going to do without your sister?”

Seriously, sister?! You’re talking about bugs at a time like this?

Granted, it’s true that I’m terrified of bugs, but still……!

“Kyaung!”

Unable to hold back, I swung my front paw.

Predicting my move, she leaned her head back and easily dodged my attack. Then, she let out a bright grin, teasing me.

“How about that? I dodged it, didn’t I?”

Ugh, so annoying! Teasing me so well that my tears vanished into thin air is a talent in itself, really!

I flailed my limbs around in a fit of rage. Chuckling softly, my sister stood up while keeping me securely in her arms.

“My little May. It looks like you had a bad dream.”

Contrary to her playful words, the hand stroking my back was incredibly gentle. At the same time, I stopped flailing.

‘A dream……’

Could all of that really have been just a dream?

As I raised my head groppily, my sister’s eyes met mine, and she offered a sweet smile.

“Just what kind of dream did you have to make you act like such a baby?”

“Yang, nyang, uyaang.”

‘Sister, don’t you remember?’

The Saintess said Adrian died because of you. That’s why the people tied you to the pyre……

‘No.’

I racked my brain trying to figure out how to explain it before giving up. Instead, I began organizing the facts of the current situation.

The calendar with a date from ten years ago.

My sister, completely alive and well without a single singe mark on her.

Myself, still more comfortable in a cat’s body because I wasn’t used to humanization yet.

And the familiar scenery of this room.

It was certain.

‘Right now is the time when we just settled down in the capital with Adrian’s help.’

All the evidence pointed to one single conclusion.

‘I’ve somehow returned to the past!’

***

“Myaung.”

I lifted my left front paw.

In response, the pure white cat in the mirror lifted its front paw with a grumpy expression.

“Myaaung.”

I lifted my right front paw.

The cat imitated me once again. Now, the cat looked rather ridiculous, holding both paws up in a cheer. The cat’s deep blue eyes stared blankly back at me.

Yes. This was my current self.

Maybel, my sister’s one and only cat familiar!

So, what exactly is a familiar? It’s a special living being whose soul is linked to a mage. My sister had saved my life by sharing her mana with my dying self. And that was how she and I formed a unique bond, the only one of its kind in the world!

‘Well, it’s not like I can use magic as skillfully as she does, though……’

I thudded my tail against the floor in dissatisfaction for a moment, but then I grew a bit disheartened.

‘Besides, I’m just a blunder-prone familiar who can’t even humanize properly.’

When I thought about how I dragged her down, and how she ended up captured by humans because of me……

“Kyauung!”

My vision seemed to turn bright red with surging rage. My fur puffed up instantly as I huffed and puffed.

Because of those wicked humans! For my sister to suffer such a horrific fate!!

“The witch has bewitched the Hero!”

It was a completely absurd lie. In the first place, there was no reason for my sister to bewitch the Hero. She disliked humans so much that she used to live all by herself in the quiet mountains!

Then, one day.

“Myaa, mya!! (Sister, there’s a person over there!)”

While out for a walk near our house, I had discovered a heavily injured man collapsed on the ground.

Adrian von Valencia.

That guy, with his bright green eyes shining brilliantly beneath sun-like golden hair, turned out to be…… the beloved Hero of the Regalis Order, and the second son of the Duke of Valencia, the sole ducal family in the Empire!

“I’ve kept you alive, so leave at once.”

As soon as his treatment was finished, my sister had coldly declared his eviction. However, Adrian had kept clinging to her.

“Come to the capital with me. Please?”

He spoke with earnest sincerity, explaining that monsters had been rapidly increasing in number recently, and that he had been wandering the Empire alone to somehow curb their growth. Since my sister also felt a sense of crisis regarding the monsters, she eventually accepted the proposal, and that was how we ended up coming to the capital together.

But one day, Adrian went out for a monster subjugation and went missing. The people blamed Sabina for his disappearance……

“Myaoong……”

Recalling my sister’s final moments made me feel like crying again, but I forced myself to hold it in. I couldn’t afford to be a weak cat. I couldn’t lose my sister again.

‘I have to become strong, no matter what!’

I lifted my head with fierce determination. I didn’t want to drag my sister down while being completely helpless like before. To do that……

‘First, I must succeed in humanizing!’

Narrowing my eyes, I faced the tiny cat in the mirror, whose white fur was as fluffy as a cloud.

“Myaa.”

When I cried out in frustration, the cat in the mirror mimicked me. Of course, I knew my sister loved this appearance. But I couldn’t protect her in the form of a tiny cat like this, could I?

Normally, I wouldn’t have been able to humanize during this period…… but I was different now that I had regressed.

‘In this life, I’m going to humanize much faster!!’

That way, I could build up the strength to protect her somehow!

I closed my eyes tightly, groaning as I concentrated. To succeed in humanizing, first……

‘I have to draw out the mana I received from my sister.’

My vision was completely pitch black. I swallowed hard.

‘Focus.’

Even though I couldn’t see anything right now, it was fine. I just needed to recall the exact sensation of when I succeeded in humanizing for the very first time. With that desperate wish, I searched through the energy inside me.

‘It’s definitely there.’

A very warm mana, just like my sister……

After sinking deep into my inner self for quite a long time, a very small, faint light flickered within the darkness of my vision. That light, fluttering with a brilliant violet hue, was……

‘Wow!’

An involuntary cheer erupted inside me.

‘Found it!’

I extended my front paws and quickly snatched the light. At that exact moment, a pure white light burst forth from my body. It was a soft, fluffy light, like dandelion seeds or down feathers.

Finally, the light slowly faded.

Blink, blink.

I slowly lifted my heavy eyelids.

Reflected in the mirror was the figure of a little girl. Cascading, glittering silver hair. Deep blue eyes resembling the summer sky. A six-year-old child with chubby, rosy cheeks!

“Wow!”

The girl in the mirror flushed pink and clenched both her fists tightly. A silly grin slipped from my lips without me even realizing.

“I succeeded!!”

Right at that moment.

Click.

The door opened. Sabina poked her head through the gap.

“May, what are you doing here by yourse—”

Thud.

The basket slipped from her hands, and the herbs packed inside spilled all over the floor. As my sister’s face hardened terrifyingly, my entire body froze stiff.

‘Uh-oh.’

I gasped. My sister’s mana had tightly bound my body!

‘M-My body won’t move……!’

Her bloodthirsty red eyes glared sharply at me as I stood frozen, unable to twitch a single muscle.

“Who are you?”

‘S-Sister……? It’s me! It’s Maybel!!’

My face turned stark white, and I could only frantically flap my lips without a sound.