The lamplight settled softly over Tie’s head.

Wearing Papa’s oversized slippers, she looked down at Marbas, who lay on her palm.

Marbas spoke.

[Last time, you even cried. You said you didn’t want to go back.]

Tie hesitated for a moment, then wiggled her toes inside the loose slippers.

"Marr, you heard everything."

[Yes. The situation seemed serious, so I did not intervene.]

"Mm, but...."

Tie awkwardly scratched the back of her head.

"Tie decided to go back. The place where Tie belongs is the Tallocium. That’s her home."

[Hmm.]

Marbas’s expression turned serious.

He raised his head.

[I understand what you mean. However, to be precise, isn’t that world on a distorted timeline?]

"A timeline?"

[Yes. That world lags seven years behind the original timeline. In other words, unless a major anomaly occurs, the original you will be born there in about seven years.]

Tie’s mouth fell slightly open.

[Didn’t Lucarion or Pupu tell you?]

"Tell me what?"

Marbas groaned and began circling in place.

[They didn’t tell you? Then perhaps I should keep quiet as well?]

Tie waited silently.

After a few minutes, Marbas—noticeably paler—stared at her.

[...My lady. Listen carefully. In the basic theory of time magic, there are terms called Orta and Rundel.]

Tie’s eyes widened.

"I know! Lucarion told me before. Rundel is the one who traveled through time, and Orta is the one who originally lived in that world, right?"

Marbas nodded.

[Correct. Therefore, from the moment you first arrived in Tallocium, you became a Rundel.]

"Mm-hm!"

[However...]

"However?"

[According to theory, Orta and Rundel cannot coexist in the same world.]

Tie’s eyes flew open.

"What do you mean they can’t coexist?"

[It means exactly that—they cannot exist together. Simply put, one of them must disappear.]

Her heart dropped.

Tie asked hesitantly,

"Who disappears?"

For some reason, Marbas fell silent.

Normally, he would eagerly answer any question at once.

But this time, only after a long pause did he speak, his voice heavy and tangled.

[I will not lie. It would be you—the Rundel—who disappears.]

Marbas let out a breath.

[Of course, this is only theory. What will actually happen—we cannot be certain. The current situation is extremely complicated.]

"...."

[Your father experienced memory synchronization. And the fact that your companion in time is Sir Lucarion.]

"...."

[Moreover, time magic is originally an extremely high-level form of magic. It has almost never been used in history, and records are scarce. As a scholar, I must give a rather irresponsible answer: the exact result will only be known when it happens. But.]

Marbas lightly bounced on her palm, as if trying to comfort her.

[If you choose to stay here, all the problems I mentioned will disappear.]

Tie pressed her lips together.

[If you stay here—even as a Rundel, in this place you will become an Orta!]

"...."

[But if you return to that world? You will have to live constantly worrying about when Orta will be born. And after she is born—either disappear according to the fate of a Rundel, or hide from everyone.]

Marbas lowered his voice.

[But here, there are the two people who raised you. And there is me, Marr!]

Marbas stared straight at her.

[Watching these past few days, I have concluded that life here is not so bad either. To live in this country as a citizen, you only need a few things. And I can easily forge them.]

"...."

[Besides, didn’t we bring some gold from Tallocium? I checked—there are quite a few ways to launder it here, and—]

"Tie will go back."

Astie spoke quietly.

[What?]

"I don’t want to be separated from Papa again. Tie and Papa are one now, so that will never happen again."

[But still...]

"And Papa always wanted to go home."

On the days when work was especially hard.

On the days when he came home late, Papa would miss his homeland the most.

"Papa’s family and friends are all there."

[.......]

"Now Tie’s family and friends are there too."

Tie turned her head and looked toward the iron door of Room 107.

"Of course, the grandma in 107 and the auntie in 203 are also Tie’s family."

She looked back at Marbas.

"But this isn’t Tie’s home. This place is like a stop where the kindergarten bus pauses for a moment. And also...."

Tears welled up in the child’s eyes.

"I miss Kkamani."

[.......]

"Even if later, after seven years, I disappear."

[.......]

"I want to be with Lucarion, Uncle Basto, and everyone else."

In the end, Tie wiped her eyes with her hand.

"I didn’t even get to say goodbye, sniff, properly!"

Marbas jumped in panic.

Seeing Tie cry, he finally understood how serious it was.

[M-my lady! I spoke out of turn!]

"Waaah...."

[I was too presumptuous! I simply thought, from a rational standpoint, that staying here would be safer and more reasonable!]

Marbas leapt off her palm and began banging his head against the concrete wall.

[Please assign me a severe punishment! If Sir Pupu finds out about this, I will not survive anyway...!]

But before he could collapse to the floor, Tie quickly picked him up.

Puffing her cheeks, she said,

"...It’s okay. Tie just cried a little because she misses everyone."

[My lady....] 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Marr. You said we’ll only know when Orta Tie is born, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) right?"

Marbas’s eyes widened.

He nodded quickly.

[Yes! At present, it cannot be said with certainty that you, as a Rundel, will definitely disappear....]

"Then it’s fine."

[What?]

"When Tie went from Jongno to Tallocium, it was the same. I was very scared I wouldn’t find Papa, and I thought I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to grandma and auntie."

[.......]

"But it all worked out, right? I found Papa, and his memories came back! And I was even able to properly say goodbye to grandma and auntie."

Tie suddenly smiled brightly, as if she had never cried.

"Tie is okay. I’m not a coward. I’ll worry about it later—for now, we need to go back and check if Auntie Ribia and the chairman are alright."

When they left, the chairman had been severely injured.

Tie had treated him, but Ribia had also nearly died, so she needed to make sure.

"So, Marr, hurry."

As the child lifted her head, the floating Harmonium descended slightly.

Marbas looked back and forth between Tie and the Harmonium in reverence.

"Go and open the passage again. Okay?"

Marbas finally nodded.

A tiny cluster of light appeared behind him.

[I will return shortly! It will only take a few minutes!]

Marbas jumped into the light.

The Harmonium followed and vanished into the passage.

Left alone beneath the streetlamp, Tie quietly stared into the empty air.

Then she carefully took off her slippers and stepped into the room.

Moving as quietly as possible, she shook Tesetan.

"Papa, Papa."

Tesetan calmly opened his eyes.

Tie smiled.

"Marr just left! He’ll open the passage soon!"

Tesetan sat up.

Tie deliberately spoke in a cheerful voice:

"Isn’t it great? I thought we wouldn’t be able to go back for a long time. But now soon we can... go home again...."

But it was strange.

She was smiling, yet tears streamed down her cheeks.

Tie tried her best not to look at the grandma from 107 or the auntie from 203.

Holding the child, Tesetan spoke softly,

"Aren’t you going to say goodbye?"

Tie shook her head.

She had already said goodbye last night.

When she saw that the Harmonium was nearly full, she had felt that they would soon have to part.

And at that moment, as if by magic, the ticking of the clock stopped.

Tie lifted her gaze.

Everything was just like before.

Under the light, a small point of subspace slowly began to expand.