Rosaria’s response had been excellent.
I had thought I might need to cover for her if things went awry, but she delivered a flawless performance without any prior coordination.
“This is good so far, but…”
Lying on the bed in my lodgings, I stared up at the ceiling.
I had been deep in thought, mulling over a new problem.
Had I ever met Rosaria again in the first four regressions?
If I had, how did I treat her?
Had Claria recognized her and simply pretended not to?
One question after another surfaced, none yielding a clear answer.
“Ugh, this is giving me a headache.”
I sat up and perched at the edge of the bed.
Not being able to observe other timelines was frustrating.
I prided myself on knowing Claria quite well, but that alone wasn’t enough to resolve all my uncertainties.
The only thing I could do was formulate hypotheses and check for contradictions.
“Claria knows who Rosaria is.”
I considered the worst-case scenario.
If I blindly assumed things were as I wished, I would be caught off guard if reality proved otherwise.
“She knows Rosaria, but she doesn’t know what kind of person she is.”
This was a slightly looser assumption.
If that weren’t the case, Claria would have likely wondered, “Why is she acting like that?”
If I had adhered strictly to my absolute rules through all four regressions—
If today’s unexpected incident hadn’t occurred—
Then Rosaria and I would have remained strangers.
Even if she had come looking for me, that would have been the end of it.
I would have made sure she didn’t return or grow obsessed.
In that case, Claria wouldn’t have had any reason to take notice of her.
Everything lined up perfectly.
The only unsettling possibility was if the version of me thinking this was the fifth-cycle me.
Suppose I rolled the dice in the sixth cycle and ended up in a different village.
Then the chances of the three of us meeting would be extremely low, and the whole debt situation wouldn’t exist.
But what if, in the sixth cycle or beyond, Rosaria and Claria met?
They would realize that things were completely different from what they had seen in the fifth cycle and find it suspicious.
Even if they couldn’t figure out that I was aware of Claria’s regression, they would still become more wary than before.
In short, it had been a risky move.
It was a reckless gamble, but there was also some merit to attempting it.
I hadn’t been in the fifth cycle for long.
Right after regressing, I had traveled directly from the City of Knights to Fran’s house by carriage.
Then, after quickly making my preparations, I had come to this village.
Not even a week had passed.
“The sixth cycle shouldn’t have started yet.”
If a save point was updated after my arrival in this village, then my relationship with Rosaria would also be set in stone.
The gap between the first and second cycles had been short, but the ones after that had been longer.
On average, this should be a safe period, but…
Knock, knock, knock.
Suddenly, the sound of knocking echoed through the room.
Was there anyone who would come looking for me at this hour?
“Yes, just a moment.”
When I opened the door, Rosaria was standing there.
“Sir Theo, I’m here!”
Before she had even finished speaking, she threw her arms around me.
Her silky silver hair fluttered as a sweet yet subtle fragrance tickled my nose.
“W-Wait a second…! You can’t do this.”
Hurriedly, I craned my neck to check the hallway.
Fortunately, there were no signs of anyone nearby.
I was on edge, wondering if someone might be watching.
“Don’t worry. I made sure to check my surroundings before coming here.”
She spoke casually as she loosened her arms.
Rosaria flashed a playful smile.
“Phew… Sorry for the trouble.”
I decided to apologize first.
“It must have been confusing to act so suddenly. I just didn’t want that mage Claria to find out that we know each other.”
“I figured as much. You must really dislike her if she makes you want to leave the hero’s party.”
“Well… that’s true, but…”
She accepted my words without pressing further.
It was a situation where she could have questioned me, yet…
“Just tell me one thing first. Our bond hasn’t changed, has it?”
“No, it hasn’t changed.”
“That’s all I needed to hear!”
Rosaria smiled brightly.
Even though she likely told herself it wouldn’t be the case, she still seemed anxious that I might be trying to distance myself from her.
I pulled the door open wide.
“Come in.”
I couldn’t just leave her standing outside, so I decided to let her in.
As Rosaria stepped into the room, she glanced around curiously.
“So this is where you’re staying, Sir Theo…”
Her voice carried the wonder of someone seeing something unusual.
But it was just an ordinary, cost-effective inn.
Was this her first time experiencing life as a commoner?
I sat on the bed while Rosaria took a seat on a chair.
“Aren’t you at least a little shocked?”
Out of nowhere, I slapped her across the cheek.
However, instead of getting angry, she continued to take my side.
“It’s only natural to be baffled. I suddenly had to play the role of a villain, after all.”
“I have no excuse. I honestly never intended to push things that far, but somehow… it just happened.”
“May I ask why you did it?”
“Of course. I was already thinking that I needed to explain.”
Since she had made the effort to come find me, it was necessary to make sure we were on the same page.
Where should I start?
After a few seconds of deliberation, I opened my mouth.
“Claria is my sworn enemy.”
“Enemy…?”
The real villain was her.
A piece of trash who saw others as nothing more than convenient tools.
She ruthlessly cut down anyone who stood in her way and never hesitated to resort to cowardly tactics.
“I was thoroughly used. Not just during the one month we were in the same party, but for far longer than that.”
I had no desire to list out every disgrace I had suffered.
I decided to keep it simple.
“My naïve self once believed that people could change. But I was wrong.”
The story in the original work was fiction, after all.
I had repeated my regressions, thinking that with enough effort, things could improve.
But all that ever came back was despair.
“If she finds out that we have a close relationship, Claria will undoubtedly try to interfere. If all she does is sow discord, that would be a mercy. She’s capable of far worse.”
“What a total bit*h!”
After hearing my story, Rosaria frowned and cursed.
She looked furious, as if she had experienced it herself.
“Do you believe me?”
“Of course! There’s no way Sir Theo would lie!”
An immediate answer.
It was absolute trust, without a hint of doubt.
“Thanks to you, I can finally breathe a little easier.”
“Fufu, well, I owe you my life too, Sir Theo.”
She cleared her throat and suddenly struck a graceful pose.
“O~hohoho! With my masterful acting, I shall deceive that damned mage without fail!”
“…….”
When I said nothing, Rosaria’s face flushed with embarrassment.
“Say something… please…!”
“Well… it’s a bit late to ask, but what exactly was that just now?”
“I’m playing the role of a villainous noblewoman. It seemed fitting for someone collecting debts.”
I understood the concept.
Whether it suited her, though, was another matter.
“They say poison must be fought with poison. My idea is to become an even nastier noble and keep your enemy in check!”
Rosaria puffed out her chest as if waiting for my approval.
“We can’t let people get too bad of an impression of you.”
“It’s fine. I’ll only act wicked toward Sir Theo. I’ll still do my job as a healer like always.”
“Wait, that’s…”
That sounded downright psychopathic.
A villainess who fixated on tormenting a single person.
Could someone in the running for sainthood really do that…?
***
Claria walked through the forest, trying to quell her anger.
“How dare he refuse when I offered to lend him money…?”
She gritted her teeth and muttered to herself, making sure her companions at the back couldn’t hear.
In this timeline, Theo, for some reason, was buried under a mountain of debt.
He looked like he was being tormented by a particularly mean-spirited noblewoman.
“What was he planning to do with a million gold?”
She rested her chin on her hand and pondered.
He was meticulous and rarely left any openings.
He wasn’t the type to gamble, either.
It was more reasonable to assume that he had borrowed the money for a plan. One that had ultimately failed.
“This never happened in the first four rounds.”
Throughout her regressions, she had encountered probability-based events before.
Like monsters attacking a village once every two attempts.
Or a particular person’s promotion being delayed.
Analyzing this situation in the same way led her to a conclusion.
—Theo had been borrowing large sums of money to profit from his adventures, but in the fifth round, he had failed to pay off his debts.
She had always thought of him as almost unrealistically capable.
Somehow, he had gotten his hands on a magic sword, covered himself with rare magical artifacts, and conquered dungeons and monsters alike.
But he shouldn’t have been that wealthy.
As a commoner, Theo was, if anything, closer to being poor.
He had no significant connections and no realistic way to acquire a million gold.
Which meant he must have borrowed it.
No—more precisely, he had tried to steal it and failed.
He had tricked a gullible noblewoman into funding him, used that money to grow stronger, and…
“Heh… How lucky.”
If she were to regress to the sixth round, she would return to the moment right after his failure.
The past would be set in stone, with him unable to shake off the noblewoman he owed money to.
“Things are about to get interesting.”
The plan to gain favor by repaying his debt had fallen through, but he had essentially thrown away his own luck.
Claria let out a euphoric laugh as she strode out of the forest.
***
[The sixth regression of Claria has been completed.]
[A new timeline has been activated.]
Just as I was about to begin my investigation to track down the Cyclops, a message appeared.
With this, Rosaria’s debut as a villainous noblewoman was now irreversible.
Whether that was a good thing or not…
I wasn’t entirely sure, but considering it had been an improvised move, it wasn’t a bad outcome.
At the very least, no one would be able to sow discord between us.
There was no need to divide sides over the saintess candidacy. Through Claria’s perspective, we would already appear to be enemies.
“I can breathe a little easier now.”
Keeping my distance from Rosaria wasn’t just because I didn’t want to lose her.
It was to protect her.
Part of it was also to ensure she wouldn’t become a target of Claria, who had no qualms about resorting to dirty tactics.
Now that I had confirmed the start of the sixth round, I could consider this issue settled for the time being.
-Gwoooooooh!
A deafening roar shook the entire forest.
The Cyclops was close.
“Time to get to work.”
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