The Woman Found the Will I Wrote

14 – Ruins

I was deep in my thought, looking at the certificate of right for the ruins I received through the housekeeper.

‘The most important thing now is to retrieve ancient magic from here.’

Unfortunately, the novel did not mention anything about Lumi’s visit to the ruins.

There’s no information about what happens within the ruins or what needs to be prepared.

Even considering this lack of information, I have the property right and wealth.

Even without the information, there are ways to deal with it, such as hiring professionals or bringing in high-quality items to clear the ruins easily.

If I utilize these, I might be able to clear the ruins more effortlessly, so I wasn’t very worried.

So I decided to clear whatever is in there before the Church sneaks in and tries to steal the reward from the ruins. So I decided to enter there as soon as possible.

* * * * *

Sien was startled by the vibrant bouquet… or rather something similar to a funeral bouquet brought before her.

She never imagined she would receive a flower gift.

She was carefully touching the first bouquet she had received since she was seven when a single white letter placed in the middle caught her eye.

‘A letter…?’

Communication spells have evolved recently, and letters are rarely used.

So, receiving a letter strange enough made her feel odd.

Feeling as though someone romantically unusual sent this to her, she picked it up.

The name [Dern of Lerche] was visible.

Recognizing the unbelievable name written, she couldn’t manage her expression for a moment and mumbled in a daze.

“… Duke Dern?”

The fact that the Duke Dern, who was always harshly shunning her, had sent a letter was surprising, let alone that he had sent such pretty flowers.

At first, she suspected that her father was playing a prank on her.

‘No matter how he is, he wouldn’t play such a prank … I better assume that it really is from Duke Dern.’

It’s from Duke Dern…

Given his usual behavior toward her, he would threaten murder, he wouldn’t have sent a gift like this.

She couldn’t grasp what kind of emotional change led him to act this way.

So, rather than feeling delighted, she was confused and anxious, tilting her head.

The maid who brought Duke Dern’s gift playfully suggested.

“People change when they approach death … perhaps he’s going through an emotional change?”

Knowing it’s meant as a joke or proverb, she unusually reacts emotionally as the words echo strangely in her ears.

“Dying…? Duke Dern?”

Seeing her reaction, the maid is startled, waving her hands frantically, “No, not really dying, it’s just a saying…”

Even though she knew, her head was a bit shaken.

She didn’t want to imagine a future where Duke Dern died at all.

So, in her flustered state, the maid suggested emphatically, “Well, why not read the letter first? Maybe Duke Dern has once again felt emotions for Miss Sien.”

At her words suggesting emotions returning, her body stiffens.

If those words were true… No, first, she had to confirm it.

Deciding to verify the facts before jumping to any conclusions, she slowly opened the letter, and there it was, [Nice to meet you].

“……?”

An entirely ambiguous statement had been written.

‘What on earth does he mean by this?’

Is he truly glad? Or is it an insinuation of starting afresh? Or had he possibly sent the letter by mistake?

For fear of missing something, she examined the letter for an entire hour, even meticulously deconstructing the envelope, scanned through it, checked for hidden messages using heat.

She tried using every possible way to uncover what the letter meant.

But no matter what she did, she couldn’t decipher the hidden message.

“If I cannot understand this, Duke Dern will be extremely disappointed.’

Yet she wasn’t even able to interpret it, what a disappointment as his fiancee.

Thinking she was in a dilemma, she laid on the bed, and then

“Miss Sien! I have been thinking hard too, could ‘Nice to meet you’ be an invitation for a date?”

“…A date?”

“Yes, yes. The sentence ‘I’m glad to meet you’ means that I’m glad I got to meet you, right? So, I think it’s really just a roundabout way of saying ‘I want to meet you.'”

“Hmm.”

“Plus, look at this. They even sent us these pretty, vibrant flowers. Especially these roses, they symbolize passionate love… The more I see, the more it feels like we’re on a date!”

…Is that so?

Now that I think about it, it feels kind of true.

To be accurate, it was less that it seemed logically correct and more of a feeling of ‘I wish it was so.’

There’s no way to clearly define it, so… I decided to just believe it as it is.

“A date.”

An act I hadn’t done since childhood.

In reality, even when I was a kid, I was just playing without knowing what it all meant. So, this would technically be my first official date.

So, like a child on the eve of receiving a large gift, my heart was strangely fluttery, and I was walking around the room.

But I realized there was one big problem left.

” …clothes.”

Especially, the problem was that I had no clue what to wear for the date.

Not that I didn’t have much to wear or didn’t have fashionable clothes, but literally, I did not have any clothes suitable for a date.

‘Until now… I’ve only lived as a knight.’

I had completely excluded these things from my life and did not realize this is the aftermath.

So, I urgently sought advice on what to wear from my maid.

At my words, the maid glanced at me and extended her hand and spoke.

“Miss, you don’t need to buy new clothes. It would be best if you wore your academy uniform with your armor and sword.”

“……?”

At her incomprehensible words, I blinked.

The maid spoke with a laugh.

“At your age, that would look the prettiest!”

“My age… Are you not about the same age as me?”

“That’s why I’m saying.”

No matter how much I thought, I couldn’t understand the meaning.

But with no one else to consult, I decided for now to dress as she suggested.

‘I should at least buy an outdoors outfit. I can’t keep wearing a uniform.’

I decided to try my best, although it would be awkward, and I wanted to dress like everyone else.

* * * * *

A grand archaeological site.

The religious group Chensin increases its power exponentially by using the ‘ancient magic’ obtained here.

It was growing so fast that it had almost caught up with Lershie, based on the last thing I read.

‘It was just a student named Lumi.’

Not just the academy, but in all sorts of places, Lumi faced unreasonable situations and underwent tremendous pain.

‘The descriptions that came out then were so sad that the comment section was a mess.’

Remembering that, I took out one artifact from my arms.

[Magic Detector]

An artifact that gives an alarm when there is a certain amount of mana nearby.

It even comes with a function that makes a rough guess about what else might be here.

Despite being a tremendously rare and valuable artifact, not even the nobles could see this artifact easily.

Fortunately, it was stored in the warehouse of the Lerche family and was secretly taken out.

I activated it, rationalizing that since I would become the head of the family, everything would be mine anyway, hence I might as well make use of it now.

‘Now, let’s go in.’

With these words, I moved my steps slowly.

*

‘Maybe I should’ve brought someone with me.’

Initially, I thought of bringing an expert in relics or accompanying personnel, but considering the influence of ancient magic, I decided against it, concluding that it’s better to solve it alone since there are too many variables.

‘After all, there are too many variables.’

When thinking of an ancient magic, there is no guarantee that it won’t betray, and there is also no guarantee that none of them will gossip about this matter to the Cheonshin church.

I looked around, deciding to call someone only if I can’t solve it.

‘A library? Or a museum? The mix of these two feels familiar yet strange.’

As I wandered, finding the mixed medieval designs overly grandiose, I spotted a blue-glowing ghost flitting nearby.

‘… A ghost?’

I approached in bewilderment, and the ghost, startled, screamed at me,

“Gah, a ghost!”