Navia continued to cry, hugging Lark's neck tightly.
"Are you ready to watch the video, crybaby?"
Nod.
The two sat side by side on a large sofa, placing a music box on the table in front of them.
Click.
As Lark opened the music box, a three-dimensional form immediately emerged in the air.
Tick- Crack-.
It was a sound like something tearing, as the form wavered unstably before slowly taking on the upper body of a person.
Color was applied delicately, and the form began to move.
Finally, it fully formed a slender woman with long silver hair.
The woman stepped back and sat down on a chair. It was the beginning of the recording, starting with her turning on the video recorder.
"Ah...."
Navia let out a barely audible gasp.
Sitting calmly on a simple, unadorned wooden chair, she faced the bright wall in front of her.
Her features were delicately drawn, with beautiful facial structures and smooth, long hair without a single curl.
Unlike herself, she revealed a neat forehead without bangs, but Navia could tell she was Camilla Vladina.
She looked strikingly like Navia as an adult.
Navia had been very curious about her mother when she had heard bits and pieces from Lark.
What did she look like?
How did she speak?
What kind of look was in her eyes?
Did she resemble Navia?
Navia's eyes, trembling finely, couldn't look away from Camilla.
The same was true for Lark.
Camilla wrapped her hands around her still flat belly.
'Ah. I'm inside there.'
Navia covered her mouth.
Then, Camilla opened her lips.
[Turning on this video means the two of you have become a family, right?]
A slightly gaunt face, but the smile painted on it was clearly filled with joy.
As if contagious, the two smiled together.
[I'm sure you have many questions. Where do I even begin to explain... Yes, I'll start with this. I'm pregnant. It's the 6th week now. Navia, you're growing inside me.]
Camilla's expression was one of overwhelming happiness, love for her child clearly visible in the way she caressed and cherished her belly.
Navia had never imagined that her biological parents, whom she thought had abandoned her as useless, could love her this much.
It was both incredibly happy and sad.
[I didn't even know I was pregnant until the 2nd week. If it weren't for Estelle, I would have given birth to Navia in Eseled.]
'Empress Estelle and my mother were friends.'
Navia waited anxiously for what came next.
[Estelle was my childhood friend. We lost contact after I left home at seventeen to avoid a disgusting marriage with an old man. When I didn't know I was pregnant, I suddenly craved fruit and went to the market. There were a lot of people, and I was completely disguised. Then someone grabbed my hand. They were also fully covered, but I knew it was Estelle. She had awakened as a prophetess. That's why she allowed me to copy her prophecy magic. I am a Copycat Magician.]
Lark whispered quietly.
"I knew it."
As if answering him, the video continued.
[Lark, you knew I was a Copycat. But you didn't know I could replicate others' abilities 100%.]
Camilla took a deep breath.
[So I saw the same future Estelle did. I knew how miserable Creed, Estelle's son, was, that he needed your power to survive and you needed his too.]
Tears welled up in Camilla's eyes.
[Lark, Navia. Since you both are regressors, I'll speak frankly.
The worst future I saw was remaining with Eseled and giving birth to Navia.
Navia, being a weaker incarnation than you, died immediately. I also died within less than a year.
You, desperate over our deaths, immersed yourself in research and finally succeeded in regressing back to that time.]
[Yes, that insane act of returning to being forever twenty years old.]
From that moment, Camilla began to gasp for breath, sobbing.
[Why did you do that, you fool!
Because of casting that curse again, your lifespan was reduced to two years.
From the moment you met me, just two years to be happy.
Do you know what you did after that? You were searching for a way for Navia and me not to die. Repeating hundreds of millions of regressions, collapsing at our deaths each time......
I had to prevent that situation. I searched for another future. A future where we could be happy together.
But...... there wasn't one.]
Camilla raised her head.
Her lips bitten as if they were bleeding, and fists clenched white, showed just how hard she was trying not to cry.
But her efforts were in vain as tears she couldn't hold back spilled out.
Navia felt horrible. She wanted to turn off the video and cry face down right away.
But she couldn't. She couldn't miss a moment of Camilla's appearance.
She watched Camilla obsessively, her eyes red and stinging from wiping away tears countless times.
Then Camilla spoke again.
[I cursed my ability. 100% copy...... To my father's eyes, I must have been the best hunting dog in the world.]
Navia let out a cry like a wail.
[A hunting dog. Why...... Why do we have to share such pain?
But at that moment, I was grateful for being a copycat.
Thanks to that, I could see a future where the three of us couldn't be together but could be happy......
However, to prevent the external god from finding Navia... my daughter had to suffer a horrific death, eight times......]
Camilla collapsed.
[Ah, what do I do......! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. My daughter...... Ah, Navia, I'm really sorry...... I'm sorry.
It's all my fault...... I'm sorry I couldn't protect you.]
Camilla finally broke down, sobbing uncontrollably, and stumbled off the video.
Navia screamed.
"No-!"
The video from the music box didn't flow anymore. It had stopped.
"Please don't cut it off...... Mom, mom, please don't cut it off!"
No, I wasn't tired at all. I wasn't scared at all. I'm okay. Yes, I'm okay.
'So please don't cut it off.'
Navia frantically fumbled with the music box with trembling hands, trying to get it to work again.
Please. Please. Please. Please.
"Navia!"
Lark, too, had cried so much that his eyes were completely bloodshot as he hugged Navia.
"There's more left. It's okay."
"Ah...... uh...... sob, Dad......"
"Yeah...... It's okay. Don't cry. You have a fever."
She felt dizzy from crying, her head throbbing as if it would split, and she had a fever.
But, it would be too painful and hard to watch, yet it would feel like dying not to watch.
"I want to continue watching......"
Lark nodded and then brought an anesthetic, giving Navia a sip.
Then the headache subsided, and the fever went down.
Navia, still unable to stop her sobs, took a deep breath and tightly hugged Lark.
"I was okay."
Lark hugged Navia back, his teeth clenched as if they would shatter.
He hated the situation where this child had to say she was okay.
'It's all my fault.'
Knowing well what he would be thinking, Navia added.
"Dad did nothing wrong."
"……."
"It was Eseled that made you an incarnation."
"……."
"If you blame yourself, I'll blame myself too."
"……Blackmailer."
Navia let out a rustling laugh with her tear-streaked face. Lark did the same.
The two comforted each other with their warmth for a while.
Soon, they had the strength to watch the next video.
Sizzle-.
The video turned on again.
But Camilla was different. Her belly was quite swollen.
[It took too long for my heart to calm down.]
Camilla smiled softly with a relaxed expression.
Only a few months had passed, but her eyes had matured a lot in the meantime.
Just like a regressor.
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