Chapter 3: Declaration Of Breakup

The office of the Varhen family.

Callen von Varhen, the Head of the Family and a Baron, sighed and said.

“I’m sorry, Philia is still a bit immature.”

“It is alright. When it comes to Philia, I can wait anytime.”

In his office was a handsome young man with blond hair.

The protagonist of ‘Haelan Chronicles,’ and Philia’s childhood friend.

Andrew Richard, the second son of the Richard Earldom and later known as the ‘Sword Saint,’ was waiting eagerly for her.

Not long after, the door to the office opened and Philia entered.

“Philia…!”

“It’s been a while, Andrew.”

Philia replied to Andrew with a calm smile.

Her smile was powerful enough to make many men’s hearts flutter, but Andrew felt a strange sense of incongruity from that smile.

“…? Oh, right. It has been a while.”

‘Something is… a little strange about Philia?’

Since they had been close friends since childhood, Andrew was sensitive to Philia’s changes.

Before, when Philia met him, she would blush or be happy, but now…

‘Annoyance? Boredom?’

She was smiling, but her eyes above the smile were cold, so anyone could see it was a perfunctory expression.

Andrew felt that the childhood friend in front of him was a little, alien.

As if, the person in front of him was not Philia, but someone wearing her ‘skin’…

“Andrew.”

“Uh, uh.”

Before he could get lost in thought about Philia, she spoke first.

“What did you come for?”

“Well…”

Of course, he had simply come to visit because he wanted to see her face, but strangely, the words wouldn’t leave his mouth.

He didn’t know why.

Andrew had a ‘feeling’ that if he didn’t give his childhood friend a specific reason, he might never see her again.

What reason should he give?

As Andrew was thinking hard.

Philia’s father, unable to bear it any longer, spoke first.

“Why would he need a reason to see his fiancée? Don’t be so particular.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

As if she had just remembered such a fact existed.

Philia, without losing her smile, declared to her father.

“Head of the Family. I will break off my engagement with Andrew.”

***

“What? Philia, did I hear you wrong?”

Andrew, who was also listening, was startled by this absurd declaration of breaking the engagement.

“P-Philia. Wh-what are you saying?”

Just a little while ago, they had been whispering words of love to each other.

But now, why on earth…

“I already have someone else I like.”

Her father, Callen, felt dizzy at this irresponsible and ridiculous remark.

“Wh-what are you saying, Philia. You and Richard fell in love at first sight, didn’t you? You were happy when we made the family alliance, so suddenly what…”

Firstly, engagements between nobles are not simply done because they ‘like’ each other, but are made to secure mutual benefits.

Naturally, the principle is to carry through with it unless the other family commits a serious crime like treason.

Furthermore, the Varhen family, who are Barons, dares to break the engagement first with the Richard family, who are Earls and of higher rank?

It was clear that the Varhen family’s reputation would plummet that very day.

This was a condition he could absolutely not accept, not as Philia’s father, but as the Head of the Varhen family.

“Certainly, when I was young and immature, that was the case. But now that I’ve grown older… love seems to change.”

“How old are you to say such a thing already. I will pretend I didn’t hear what you just said.”

Suppressing the urge to grab the back of his neck, Callen intended to find the scoundrel who had exposed his devilish claws to Philia as soon as this conversation ended.

It was clear that some ruffian had surely tempted his innocent daughter.

Philia, disregarding her father’s reaction, stubbornly insisted on her opinion.

“If you are concerned about the relationship with the Richard family, I have a way. You don’t need to worry, Head of the Family. You just need to proceed with breaking the engagement.”

Philia was truly confident.

Revenge from the Richard Earldom ‘or something’ could easily be neutralized.

No, if given some time, it was not impossible for her to swallow the empire.

As Head of the Family, Callen naturally thought his daughter was simply being stubborn.

‘Philia. By what means on earth could you do that?’

It was impossible unless his daughter suddenly became a Great Mage or a Swordmaster.

And furthermore, the declaration of breaking the engagement that Philia brought up was too inappropriate to say in this ‘place’.

“Do you think I’m only concerned about the family alliance? It’s simply too rude to openly discuss breaking the engagement in front of Andrew, the party involved.”

That’s right.

Since her fiancé Andrew was also present in this place, it was not only rude but could potentially be misunderstood as an insult.

Richard, who was usually overflowing with composure, was also flustered and wanted to argue with Philia immediately, but considering that this was the Head’s office, he exercised maximum patience.

“…I am fine. However, I wish to ask Philia for the reason.”

He was not fine at all.

But Andrew was curious why Philia was so desperately pushing for this breakup.

Could it be, a kind of show, wanting him to be jealous?

He wished that were the case; the situation was too sudden and hard to accept for Andrew.

Seeing that she wouldn’t be persuaded, Philia decided to play her trump card.

“Head of the Family. The truth is, I already…”

Philia blushed as if embarrassed and stroked her belly.

Her appearance was as if she held something precious.

“Co-could it be…”

In Philia’s blushing appearance, Andrew could find glimpses of the old Philia, but that emotion was no longer directed towards him.

As Andrew was feeling tremendous confusion and anger simultaneously.

Callen, whose blood pressure had truly risen, finally couldn’t bear it and grabbed the back of his neck.

Philia certainly did not lie.

Of course, her body at the moment was pure without a single blemish, but,

In the distant future, it was something that truly ‘had happened’.

***

“Young Lady Philia has been confined?”

“Yeah. They say the Head of the Family was really angry and even declared a ban on going out.”

I couldn’t help but be flustered by the news that had just arrived.

‘Philia is confined? Was there such a thing in the original story?’

I didn’t remember the entire early story, but I recalled that around this time, the original focused heavily on events at the ‘Masked Ball,’ so there was no scene where she was confined.

‘Besides, if he even issued a ban on going out, it doesn’t seem like she’ll be released within the next week…’

This was clearly different from the original story.

‘Could it be, some kind of butterfly effect occurred from the moment I transmigrated?’

Naturally, if all my plans were messed up like this, I had no choice but to find out the reason Philia had changed.

***

The Demon of Flowers.

Philia von Varhen opened her eyes among the corpses.

It was as if she had been having a long dream.

An unpleasant sensation, as if someone from ‘above,’ not her own will, was controlling her.

Struggling with that sensation, she had committed countless massacres, but whether it was misfortune or luck, she had no detailed memories of it.

After waking up, she was confused, but,

Seeing that there were ‘flowers’ on all the corpses around her, only then did she realize her sin.

The fact that the ‘demon’ inside her body had resurrected and destroyed everyone around her.

That fact was so devastating it rendered a mere human helpless.

Guilt and self-deprecation.

She wanted to deny herself terribly.

She wanted to die.

She wanted to escape through death.

She wanted to cry out apologies.

However, she could not die.

Having already become the host of a demon, she was already immortal.

Even if she died, she was destined to plunge countless lives into misery again, having lost her will.

“I don’t know.”

What should she do?

How should she do it?

The feeling of being tossed aside by an irreversible outcome brought an indescribable sense of despair.

So she began to walk ceaselessly.

It was a journey to the point of boredom.

During her journey, she met bandits, monsters, and even other demons.

There were those who coveted her, those who wanted to kill her, and those who wanted to worship her.

Naturally, she was thoroughly indifferent to all of them.

Afterward, hearing the rumor that a man was destroying the Demonic Realms, she felt ‘hope’ for the first time.

The man who extended his hand when she lost consciousness.

The man who could ‘kill’ her, if only temporarily.

“Yes. If it’s him.”

‘He can kill me completely.’

Therefore, she began searching for him ceaselessly.

Crossing destroyed countries, traversing deserts, piercing through the coldness of glaciers.

Countless dangers lurked everywhere, but it didn’t matter to her.

No, she even wished someone would kill her along the way, but she absolutely did not die.

A long time passed.

When she found him,

He was already broken beyond description.