Chapter 1: 1

Prologue

Academy of the Principality of Liloney , attached to the western end of the empire.

Men in military uniforms of the Tales Empire arrived there, known as the so-called <ivory tower of the village>

“Take her who has the surname of Prelai!”

In an instant, they stormed into my lab at the top of the academy.

The sign on the door fell terribly and rolled on the floor.

My laboratory, which was filled with various experimental instruments, quickly became a mess.

I was in the middle of solving a formula, and I was caught without knowing why. It was really embarrassing.

I immediately protested.

“What is it, you bastards! Do you have two lives? Why don’t you let me go right away before I hit you in the head one by one with all kinds of magic tools

What the hell is this all about?”

The Imperial Army, who had been tying my wrists, spoke bluntly.

“Seukali Prelai plotted against the empire.”

 …Uh?

I was taken aback by those words and froze on the spot.

Grandfather’s name came out casually from the lips of the imperial army.

My grandfather, Duke Seukali Prelai, was a man of great power. Although his father went missing a few months ago, his two older brothers were excelling in their respective fields.

Even my cousin, Melissa Prelai, who grew up with us, recently appeared in the newspaper for her extraordinary powers.

I was the only person in the family who had problems, so I was already far away.

But the Prelai family is treacherous?

“Return the sinner to the Empire! Hurry up, we can’t be late for the hanging date!”

“han- han- han- han- hanging?”

I opened my eyes wide in surprise.

“That- that,  let’s say that my grandfather plotted against the empire because he is senile.”

And the words poured out.

“But I haven’t been to the Empire for seven years! Stuck in this rural corner, doing nothing but magical engineering research!”

It was really unfair.

When I was 16 years old, I came to the Lilowney Principality Academy. And from then until now, I hadn’t even stopped by the duke’s residence.

The Imperial Army’s answer to my logical refutation was simple.

“But anyway, you’re also a Prelai.”

He pointed to a sign that read [Professor of Magical Engineering – Kiana Eli Prelai].

“…”

In the end, I was helplessly dragged out by the imperial army.

* * *

The dean was standing in the hallway.

I looked at him as if I had met my savior.

My contributions to the academy so far have been enormous. So I wondered if he would somehow save me.

“Principal ! I .”

“Kuhm.”

The dean coughed and blocked me. And without even looking at me, he politely asked the imperial soldiers.

“I will check one more time. If Professor Kiana Prelai dies, according to the laws of the Principality of Lilowney, all patents in her name will belong to the Academy, right?”

For a moment, the world seemed to stop.

The dean who always cherished me as a paper printing machine…… What are you talking about?

The dean laughed servilely and demanded an answer from the imperial army again.

“For patents, you must follow the laws of the Principality of Liloney, not the laws of the Empire. Because we cooperated on that condition.”

It was like getting hit in the head.

If it was the treachery of the Duke of Prelai, it was a big enough event to shake the entire continent. But I didn’t know that fact until the imperial army was right in front of me.

Come to think of it, the newspapers were not delivered these days because the roads were a mess, but it seemed that the dean had taken care of all of this.

I was a genius magic engineer. Magic engineering was a study that implemented magic tools based on mathematics and physics.

Of course, there are a lot of patents in my name. The dean coveted it and decided to hand me over to the imperial army.

In an instant, tears welled up.

As I said with my own mouth, I jumped out of the great Prelai duchy on my feet and spent 7 years at the academy. It’s been a long time since I thought of the dean as a real family member.

Because he praised me, saying that I was an unprecedented genius, and letted me skip grades over and over again, even making me a professor.

I expressed my sincerity with a feeling of vomiting blood.

“You beggar, you used me to your heart’s content and sold me for money, right? Even if I go to hell, I’ll jump out somehow and make your dreams a mess for the rest of your life! Even if I make a contract with any vicious devil, I will ruin you and your descendants forever!”

One day at the age of twenty-three, when she was working as a professor at an academy in a small principality in the corner of the continent.

She  was suddenly sentenced to death by hanging and sent back to the Empire.

* * *

As soon as I returned to the empire, I was imprisoned like a beggar in the dungeon of the imperial palace.

It was then.

“Kiana!”

A woman who looked worse than me grabbed my hand from inside the prison.

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“After all, you’ve been caught too!”

It was Melissa Prelai, my cousin of the same age whom I hadn’t seen in 7 years.

“Nice to meet you! I really waited!”

Are you saying that now as a welcome greeting? Sounds like you were cursing  me… 

I didn’t like Melissa, so I immediately withdrew my hand and asked.

“How did this happen? Is our grandfather a traitor?”

Melissa answered with a whimper.

“You know Grandpa isn’t like that….We were unfairly punished.”

Then, with tears dripping down his face, he murmured.

“I…  I know the truth only I know huh…”

Up close, even during this time, Melissa was still pretty. Her blonde hair sparkled even when dirty, and her red eyes were clear as rubies.

I sighed and calmed him down.

“Melissa, don’t babble and mumble and be a bit logical.”

“You… you still haven’t changed your creepy talk, seems like that it has been really consistently growing.”

Melissa wept at my request.

“Prince Heaton came to visit me yesterday and told me. In fact, he said he was the one who accused the Prelai duchy of treason.”

“What? Why would that son of a bitch tell you that in the midst of all this?”

Melissa answered with a sniff of her nose.

“Pyeol said it was because I dumped Prince Heaton in the past. He’s so bitter that he wants to at least achieve his revenge”

Pyeol was Melissa’s yellow lark pet. She layed at Melissa’s feet, now unconscious because of the  her restraints.

Well, since childhood, Melissa has been popular with all kinds of men. Perhaps Heaton was one of them. Although she wasn’t really interested in the situation she was in now.

I sighed and touched my forehead.

“Grandfather is very old too…to fall for this … But anyway, why did Prince Heaton accuse Prelai of treason?”

The grandfather I knew was a very capable man. But how could he be so helpless?

Melissa answered in gibberish.

“Grandfather has been very sick lately. Anyway, I think it’s because Prince Heaton has been in a rush these days… It seemed that he thought that we would stand on the side of the crown prince.”

What is it, why is the prince suddenly here?

I couldn’t know the exact situation because I was away from the empire, but in the end, it seemed that I was caught up in a fight for the throne.

I flopped down.

It was really very unfortunate. To think that the man didn’t know anything about it in a foreign country was suddenly dragged in to die in vain. 

For a while, only Melissa’s whimpers echoed in the prison.

And after a while, a loud shout was heard outside.

“It’s hangman time! Bring out the sinners!”

For a moment, fear flashed in Melissa’s eyes.

It was the same for me too. Because no one can be calm in the face of death.

There was a heavy sound of footsteps trying to take us outside.

“Kiana, am I really going to die?”

For a moment, Melissa muttered.

“I…I don’t want to die.”

What do you mean by, that’s so obvious.….

It was when I looked at Melissa with dumbfounded eyes.

‘what? she.. What’s wrong with your eyes?’

It was an insane looking face. Until now, I was just sad, but the thought of dying made me panic.

“I-I will bounce.”

“What? what kind of nonsense is that? Where do you want to bounce? way to the gallows?”

It was when I was frightened because I wondered if he was really crazy.

“I have divine powers.”

Melissa muttered in a fit of madness.

“I should have entered a monastery sooner. If I threw away the Prelai surname, I would have been able to survive on my own even in this situation.”

Those with divine powers were given the right to enter monasteries and become priestesses. When they became a priestess due to her religious beliefs, they gave up her last name, they could not get married, and had to serve while wandering in remote mountainous areas for the rest of their lives.

To be honest, it was a hell of a struggle. So there were few who became priestesses

Usually, even when she manifested her divine powers, she just lived her own life. However, if you drop your last name, you will no longer be ‘Prelai’, so you will not be dragged in for treason.

I grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her.

“Hey, hold on. Unless you go back to the past, how do you suddenly get into a monastery?”

“Yes! right! That’s right! past!”

Melissa rolled her eyes and nodded her head.

“I have a lot of divine power. I’ll have to try. Don’t you think so?”

“…What?”

With a sudden sense of discomfort, I stared at Melissa.

She is kind and pretty, like the sunshine, the girl everyone loved… She was now putting on an expression that made her look worse than anyone else.

“I’ll go back in time. With all these memories, I’m going back to a year ago. So I’m going to go straight to the monastery and live a life that has nothing to do with the Prelai duchy. I will never die in vain like this!”

At that moment, the inside of the prison was bathed in bright light.

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