Chapter 4

Chapter 4

What is going through Rose’s mind? That there aren’t that many Neutrals in the Endor Kingdom to stumble over like stones on the ground.

Including Rose, there were exactly three Neutrals living in the kingdom at that time. Unfortunately, one was a grandmother with over fifty grandchildren, and another was a young man with a beautiful wife—both far from virgins.

At both the point in autumn of 968 and back in April 967, Rose was the only Neutral who also met the condition of being a virgin.

Of course, Rose had left the Mythos society five years ago, so maybe a new Neutral had been born since then… but:

if she were too young, she wouldn’t be a suitable sacrifice anyway.

All this meant was that for roughly ten years, Rose Taylor had been designated as a sacrifice by those fanatics.

Honestly, what if she had become a free-spirited adult who dated many and spent her nights passionately during those ten years?

Wait.

Could someone have been watching her?

And controlling her actions…

Just imagining it sent shivers from her toes to the crown of her head, and Rose trembled violently.

No. Calm down, Rose Taylor. Constant surveillance like that is impossible.

Taking a deep breath, she calmed her heart.

Anyway, she’d reached a conclusion.

Being a Neutral is unchangeable. You’re born that way.

But virginity could be changed by will and actions!

If that happened, the demon summoning would become impossible, and she wouldn’t have to deal with the investigation bureau she hated so much.

Besides, she had a beloved lover. What better plan could there be?

Rose stood up from the floor and stared at herself in the old mirror.

Her violet eyes shimmered with confusion before settling into calm.

Now that her goal was set, all that remained was action.

Biting her lower lip tightly, she vowed that no matter the reason or cause, the world’s end would never come to pass.

“Alright. First, I have to save Catherine.”

Checking the clock, she saw there were less than five minutes before Catherine had to leave for the public school.

Rose hurriedly changed clothes and ran down the stairs.

Mrs. Brown, annoyed by the young lady’s haste, scolded her again, but Rose barely heard it.

There was no time to answer; every second was precious.

“Catherine! No matter what happens today, take the main road—not the shortcut!”

“Huh?”

“Promise me. Even if a child or elderly person asks for help and tries to lead you down an alley, don’t follow.”

Grabbing Catherine’s shoulder just as she tried to step outside, Rose warned her with a desperation born of future knowledge.

“Rose. Why are you acting like this so suddenly?”

“Because of today’s prophecy.”

“Prophecy?”

“It’s today’s prophecy. Catherine Jones must never walk through an alley today. Understand? Promise me!”

Catherine flinched at the mention of ‘prophecy.’

Rose, an employee of the famous ‘Huckard & Blavatsky Spiritual Research Institute,’ rarely spoke about ‘prophecies,’ but when she did, they usually came true.

Mrs. Brown had once bought a lottery ticket based on Rose’s predictions and won a small prize, so she secretly looked forward to today’s forecast.

Catherine and Caroline had also benefited from Rose’s predictions before and eagerly awaited her warnings.

“Rose, it’s unfair if you only look out for me!”

“Caroline and Mrs. Brown—don’t take any alleyways today, either. No matter who asks. Got it?”

With a serious look, Rose looked at the three of them and held out her pinky.

“If you don’t promise, neither Catherine nor Caroline are allowed to go to work!”

Their eyes widened at the sudden demand, but all three linked pinkies with Rose, pledging to avoid any alleyways.

Though no explanation was given, since Rose stressed it as today’s prophecy, they figured it must be important.

“Well then, see you later!”

“See you this evening, Mrs. Brown, Rose.”

After watching Catherine and Caroline leave through the front gate, Rose turned and headed to her room upstairs.

“Miss Taylor. Since it’s Wednesday, today should be your day off, right?”

“Yes, it’s our usual day off.”

“Oh, then I should prepare your lunch too.”

“No, thank you, ma’am. I have errands and will be out today.”

Even after making them promise to avoid the alleys, Rose still felt uneasy.

Luckily, the office was always closed on Wednesdays, so she planned to meet Arthur in the morning, pick up Catherine at the public school in the afternoon, and then return straight home with her.

That was her plan.

At this time, the kingdom was disturbed by a series of mysterious murders, spreading from the border to the capital, Romberton.

Catherine Jones, beloved and kind to all, had been tragically killed by a robber, despite the increased security measures.

She had simply taken the usual shortcut.

But did that mean it had to happen again?

Since Rose knew what tragedy was about to unfold, there was no reason to let the same thing happen twice.

After finishing preparations, Rose dashed into the main road of Grolga, ignoring Mrs. Brown’s lecture on the importance of breakfast.

There was no time to waste.

The person she missed most in the world was waiting for her.

Arthur Granfield.

Ah, her beloved lover.

In this timeline they had just seen each other yesterday—but to the Rose who had lived through the world’s end, it felt entirely different.

She wanted to meet him again as soon as possible.

“Arthur…”

Calling his name aloud, tears threatened to spill.

Rose gritted her teeth, wide-eyed and determined, trying hard not to cry.

When the gates of hell opened and disaster spewed into the world, the most terrifying thing wasn’t the world’s end or the demon’s terrible power.

It was the fear that Arthur Granfield might have been swept away in that wave.

And the dread that it would be her fault if he died.

Day after day… would he be safe today? Tomorrow?

With all life dying, what use was survival?

Still, she prayed he would be safe.

It had been a hellish, literal hell week, begging and hoping for his safety.

But now, that was all in the future.

In this moment, he was still alive, and she could keep him that way.

She walked up to his house, catching her breath, and pressed the buzzer with trembling fingers.

Unfortunately, it was not Arthur who opened the door, but his roommate, Howard Hudson.

“Granfield’s gone to work today.”

“To work? But Wednesdays are usually his day off.”

“Well, maybe he has some backlog. If he’s still at the office, you might catch him if you hurry.”

“Thank you, Mr. Hudson.”

“No worries… Just don’t fight with him.”

Howard grinned mischievously and gently nudged Rose forward.

Mrs. Brown’s women-only boarding house was a twenty-minute walk from here.

The Byron Building’s third floor housed the ‘Huckard & Blavatsky Spiritual Research Institute.’

It was Rose and Arthur’s workplace.

Spirit summoning, psychic shows, mind-reading, fortune-telling—a kind of entertainment business providing suspicious yet spooky, fun mystical services for money.

Arthur Granfield had founded the institute under the alias ‘Henry Huckard,’ while Rose worked as ‘Olga Blavatsky,’ a mysterious spiritualist from Morgenia.

Since Mythos like Rose had only been taught magic, this was the fastest way to make money among Logos.

They started as street fortune-tellers, then became psychic or supernatural entertainers.

Logos, ignorant of magic, were easily fooled by even slight tricks.

Unless it was a major scam, the ‘Golden Crow’ rarely intervened.

Perhaps because of this, Arthur, who wanted to expand the business, hesitated, invoking the ‘Magician’s Omerta’, or code of silence, and kept a low profile.

Adding to that Arthur’s lukewarm attitude toward marriage, Rose had exploded after a big fight with him—the biggest they’d ever had.

My last life… the phrase sounds funny. Let me try and remember before I go in: what happened last time, when it all started to go wrong?