***

"...No matter what happens, and no matter what anyone says,... Mommy still loves you"

"..."

"So, I beg of you, don't be expressionless like that forever. A bright smile suits you more"

Melissia then smiled again. However, this time, Sylvia could tell that her mother's smile was genuine instead of the forced smile that she was cursed with.

"You deserve to live like any others"

"...Okay mom!", Sylvia returned a smile of her own.

"Hehe", Melissia chuckled. "You don't need to force a smile for me. I hope that one day... you will be able to smile genuinely again"

Seeing no reasons for her to be here anymore, Sylvia kissed Melissia on the cheeks and walked out of the room.

'Time to restart again...'

...

A day later, Sylvia was sitting in Melissia's room, staring at her corpse, waiting for the 38th regression to begin.

1 hour had passed.

'This is taking longer than usual'

2 hours had passed. One of the Serpente knights walked into the room to do their routine checkup on their captain, only to scream in fright at the sight of Sylvia staring at her mother's body.

'This is going to be a problem...', Sylvia thought as she stared at the figure of the knight calling for help while frantically dashing out of the room. 'But the timeline will reset soon enough'

5 hours had passed. Since the Serpente knight order was part of the Adrancus duchy, investigators from other knight orders were dispatched. And even the duke himself showed up.

'A- Any second now and I'll be back at my 10th birthday!'

6 hours had passed. After specialized Time mages reconstructed the scene, it was concluded that the Serpente knight captain's death wasn't a murder, but rather, a suicide.

And, unbeknownst to everyone else, Sylvia was now meeting duke Evanos Adrancus face-to-face for the first time in all of her regressions.

"..."

"..."

Staring at her father, Sylvia was now convinced that she wouldn't be able to regress anymore.

"Hic..."

She sobbed. However, she wasn't shedding fake tears to gain sympathy from the duke. Rather, it was because she had now realized how badly she had fucked things up.

'W- Why... WHY DID I GIVE UP!?'

Though impossibly small, there maybe was still a chance that she could have save her mother from dying. As such, the act of her giving up in the 37th regression was akin to her not caring about trying to alter her mother's fate.

'If only I knew that this was the last regr— NO!'

SLAP—!

Sylvia suddenly slapped her own cheeks hard to erase such thoughts off her mind. After all, she was just finding excuses to justify her unforgivable actions.

In response to seeing Sylvia's weird actions, Evanos merely sighed and placed both of his hands on her shoulders.

"Sylvia Salvant— no, Sylvia Adrancus", he hesitated before continuing. "Let's go back to our estate, my... daughter"

...

1 week had passed since the death of Melissia Salvant.

Lying on a fluffy bed after undergoing the emotions control trainings that weren't really necessary, Sylvia was deep in thoughts.

The Empire's reaction to the news that she was duke Adrancus' illegitimate daughter was not as explosive as one might have expected.

'...Just like how it happened the first time around'

After all, everyone thought that she would just be another child of his that wouldn't even survive the infamously harsh training of the North, especially when rumors of her having Star affinity were circulating.

Star mages are looked down upon, maybe not as much as Lightning mages, but they still receive looks of disdain from almost everyone nonetheless. This is in part due to the nature of Star magic.

It works by letting the user borrow powers from the Stars, or more commonly called, 'Celestials'. Although the chances of failure are usually high, as Celestials often are a haughty bunch, it doesn't have any drawbacks when the spells do fail.

In fact, when the spells work, the user can receive a big boost to his/her fighting power.

As such, the reason why Star mages are so looked down upon isn't because they were weak per se, but because most churches discriminate against Star mages.

After all, the divine powers of their Gods' Celestials won't be so 'holy' and 'sacred' anymore if some random ruffian in the street who happens to have Star affinity can wield it.

However, that was only part of the reason. The main reason why they are so looked down upon is Lumet Carsotian. More specifically, one of his companions.

Unlike other affinities, there is only 1 known Battle art dedicated to Star affinity: [V - Cosmomancy]. And the most well-known user of such a Battle art happens to be Lumet's closest aide, Stella.

Although Stella changed sides and fell in love with Arthur Vritious in the end, the atrocities she committed aren't so easily forgotten.

Pausing her thoughts there, Sylvia looked at the necklace that her mother gave her during the coming-of-age ceremony. It depicted a white snake coiling around a star.

Sadness and guilt flashed in her eyes, but it was only for a split second, as determination soon overtook such negative emotions.

'I won't give up ever again!'

Thus, she decided to find out everything about the secrets behind her regressions.

'I will definitely come back for you, mom!'

It was then that the door to Sylvia's room opened.

CLANK—!

Sylvia turned her gaze to the door, only to see a figure with silver hair like hers and deep purple eyes. And instead of a tail, he had a pair of horns and two skeletal wings protruding out of his back instead. He was—

"Hello..."

—Noah, her brother.

Although it was weird seeing her brother this small, Sylvia shrugged such thoughts off her mind and blankly gazed at him.

"Hi... young master Noah"

"Don't be so stiff. I'm your brother now, so call me as such", he frowned.

In response, Sylvia merely stared at him with an expressionless face.

'Is this how it goes...?', she thought as she tried to recall her first interaction with her brother before the 1st regression.

Sighing, Noah spoke. "Well, I won't force you if you find calling me 'brother' too uncomfortable"

"..."

"Anyways, father wants you to join us for dinner"

"B- But my Eyes..."

"Don't worry about that", he chuckled. "Father deems your training to be adequate enough to join us in our activities. Besides, nothing will happen if father and I are all there at the table. Although it doesn't look like it, I'm already at rank! Just yesterday, I've gone with the knights to..."

Noah puffed his chest out as he bragged about all of his recent accomplishments to presumably impress his new sister.

Hearing Noah's blabber, Sylvia sighed in relief. 'Good... it's going just as how I remembered it to have been'

And just like what she did before the regressions, Sylvia silently left the room and left Noah behind to blabber about his achievements to himself.

...

Crippling fear.

That was what Sylvia was supposed to feel right now.

However, she really couldn't feel scared like she did before her regressions, as the source of her supposed 'fear' was just 2 haughty nobles kids glaring at her.

"Why do we have to eat at the same table with a commoner?"

"Yeah, has our house fallen so low?"

They were Ast and Asa, the dragon twins.

'They're trying to get a reaction out of me...', Sylvia was fully aware of what they were trying to do.

If they knew that Sylvia's Eyes were the deadliest weapon she had right now, they wouldn't have dared to try and provoke her.

Ignorance is truly bliss.

Staring at the twins with a cold gaze, Sylvia responded with a shaky voice that didn't fit her expressionless face.

"B- But I'm a n- noble too!"

That was the truth, since knight captains are considered honorary nobles in the Adrancus duchy.

In response, however, Asa just snorted at her. "Yeah right, it's because of your mother, isn't it? And who did she serve again?"

"T- The Adrancus duchy...?"

"Exactly! That means you're our servant!"

"I- Is that so...?"

Although the sigh of Sylvia stuttering while keeping an aloof face was disconcerting, the twins didn't care about any of that.

"That's right! Now bow down to us and l—"

"Ast! Asa! Stop!", Noah shouted.

He had been observing the situation for quite a while now, and he decided that this would be the perfect time to intervene. After all, what would fit the image of a reliable older brother more than rescuing his sister from being bullied?

Of course, Sylvia knew about Noah's intentions. That wasn't to say that the past Sylvia knew about it though. As such, she looked at Noah with a grateful gaze, which he noticed and returned with an assuring smile.

"Why are you defending that commoner, brother?", Asa asked innocently.

Frowning, Noah spoke. "This is the first time you've met your new sibling and the first thing you did was to insult her! Stop this right now or I'll tell father!"

Hearing this, Asa clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Tch! You'd better pray you don't end up in Unit 44 like your dear brother Raehalk"

Instantly, Noah's face darkened, and he clenched his fists in anger. "This brat! What did you sa—"

CLANK—!

Before Noah could give Asa and Ast a good beating, however, the door to the dinning room was swung open, revealing the duke in his fancy clothes.

And it wasn't just him who got into the room, as his wives were there with him too.

To the right of him was the demoness Annabeth, the duke's first wife and Noah's mother.

To the left of him was dragoness Hertrie, the duke's second wife and the twin's mother.

Completely disinterested in the children's quarrel, they sat down at the table imposingly.

Soon after, the maids and butlers brought their food in. And in a flash, the table was filled with trays of delicious food.

"Let us start the dinner", Evanos spoke coldly.

Clank— Clank—!

Sounds of cutleries clanking could be heard as everyone, including Sylvia, simultaneously picked up the silverwares.

Cutting a steak up into small pieces, Sylvia looked up from her plate and observed the situation.

Surprisingly, the twins were entirely focused on their meal and didn't make fun of her.

Similarly keeping silent, Noah put the food in his mouth and ate in a dignified manner.

Unlike the children, however, the duke's wives were more talkative.

"Your servants are responsible for today's dinner, aren't they, Hertrie?"

"That is the case, my dear Annabeth"

"Then it's no wonder why the food today is so tasteless! Truly, like servants like master!"

"Is that so my dear Annabeth? While you may be right, at least the food here is better than what your eldest son is currently eating in Unit 44"

'It would have helped the atmosphere more if they weren't always throwing jabs at each other...', Sylvia thought.

During all of this, duke Evanos just ate his meal while also observing the situation with an emotionless face like Sylvia. There was no doubt that he was absolutely bored.

'I sympathize with you, father'

After all, this was basically the average dinner in the Adrancus estate.

However, the seemingly tense dinner became a bit tenser when Sylvia heard a small whisper belonging to Noah. "Sylvia, I didn't expect you to have such impeccable table manners"

It was then that she realized that she had been using proper noble's table manners from the start.

"W- Well...", she tried to come up with an excuse to not arouse too much suspicion. "...I- I'm a fast learner! A- And besides, mother also taught me this before!"

"Is that so?", Noah nodded his head thoughtfully. "As expected, my sister is a genius!"

With a chuckle, Noah focused back on his meal.

Sighing inwardly in relief, Sylvia also got back to finishing her meal.

...

The dinner was over.

Today was Annabeth's turn, and as such, she went into the bedroom with Evanos right after dinner.

Hertrie, not really having anything to do today, took the twins back to her room to make them study.

None of Evanos' wives even spared Sylvia a glance, which just goes to show up little everyone in the mansion thought of her.

Well, everyone but Noah, who was facing her in the hallways.

"Sorry about today...", he scratched the back of his head.

"H- Huh? W- Why would you be sorry?"

"I thought today's dinner is going to be different since our family has just gained a new member but...", Noah sighed. "...I should have expected Ast, Asa, Annabeth and mother to act that way"

He then gave Sylvia a bow. "I'm truly sorry for their behavior! To compensate, I will listen to any of your requests!"

"Y- You don't have t—"

"No", Noah placed his hands on Sylvia's shoulders. "Please accept my sincerity!"

"O- Okay...", Sylvia reluctantly nodded.

Despite her outward appearance, however, Sylvia was cheering inwardly.

'Yes! It worked! I won't waste it this time!'

After all, the past Sylvia basically used Noah's compensation to... get him to buy her a stuffed animal.

She wasn't the brightest back then.

After saying goodbye to Noah, she went back to her room and fell asleep.

...

The next day, Sylvia woke up quite late and had breakfast in her room.

Having filled her stomach, she then walked towards the training ground.

'Time to test what this body can do'

...

When she arrived at the training grounds, Noah was already there, waiting for her.

"Sister, you're late, and on your first day at that"

"I- I'm sorry young master Noah!", Sylvia bowed apologetically.

Feeling that the atmosphere was going to become awkward, Noah immediately tried to change the topic.

"Keum! Anyways, it's only the first day so don't worry. Now, it's about time you pick your weapon"

Sylvia nodded.

She then walked towards the weapon rack and took out her weapon of choice.

"A Scythe?", Noah looked at her with a questioning gaze.

In response, Sylvia merely stared at him with an expressionless face.

Sighing, Noah readied his stance with a spear clutched in his hands. "I could have sworn I've seen you using spears in the Capture crystal footages, but I guess it's your choice after all"

Seeing this, Sylvia also got into a battle stance.

"Pretty good form for a beginner, as expected of my sister!", Noah grinned. "Now, let's see what you can do!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, Noah dashed towards Sylvia with a lunge.

In response, Sylvia took half a step to the right, completely dodging the attack.

Using the opening, she extended her Scythe out and slashed.

CLANG—!

However, Noah was able to respond in time and blocked the attack.

CLANG—! CLANG—! CLANG—!...

After that, their weapons clashed with each other many more times.

Sylvia could tell that Noah was going easy on her, which was understandable considering that he was at rank. However, that wasn't what she was concerned about.

'My body... it's too weak...'

After all, the weak body of her 10-year-old self was actually hindering her usage of Scythe techniques. As a result, her attacks became too stiff and rigid.

CLANG—!

With a strong attack, the Scythe was knocked out of Sylvia's hands.

"You won, young master Noah"

Instead of congratulating his sister for being able to last so long in a fight with him, however, Noah frowned as he helped Sylvia up.

"Sister, can we talk for a moment?"

Seeing this serious expression, Sylvia stuttered. "O- Okay"

'Is my cover blown? Was the techniques too advanced for a 10-year-old after all?'

Luckily for her, what Noah ended up talking about wasn't any of that.

"I'll have to be real with you, sister. You're better off not using the Scythe"

"W- Why?"

Sighing, Noah continued. "I've seen footages of you fighting with the spear. You're clearly better at using it than the Scythe!"

The fact that she was more proficient with a spear was nothing new to her. After all, she would have had to be an utter idiot to not have noticed the sheer difference in her fighting power when she used each of the weapons.

Despite the inefficiency of using the Scythe, however, Sylvia still stubbornly insisted on using it, even in Avaron. And there was a reason for that.

"I- I think I will still use the Scythe", Sylvia spoke up after a few seconds of pretending to seriously consider Noah's advice.

"But why!?"

"Th- That's..."

Seeing her refusal to answer his question, Noah fell into thoughts for a moment before widening his eyes in realization.

"Are you perhaps trying to imitate your mother?"

Sylvia's eyes shook violently upon hearing this. It wasn't her pretending like before, rather, it was her genuine emotions.

"I- I..."

Seeing this, Noah heaved a long sigh. "Look, I won't pursue this any further, so do whatever you're most comfortable with"

He then put his spear away and walked back to the mansion. "Today's practice lesson is over. I'll see you tomorrow"

...

It took Sylvia a few more minutes to remain her calm and went back into the mansion.

As she was walking in the hallway, however—

"Ow"

—She lets out a monotonous yelp as she bumped into someone while her downcast eyes were fixed to the ground.

Turning her gaze up, she was met with a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. Although the person's hair and eyes color were like that of her mother, Sylvia knew that she wasn't her.

After all, her face bore great resemblance to one of her friends.

'Well... I'm not friends with her yet anyways'

Pausing her thoughts there, Sylvia quickly got back on her feet and lightly bowed.

"I- It's a pleasure to meet you, viscount Nightshade"

Nodding her head and eyeing Sylvia closely, viscount Irene Nightshade spoke. "Aren't you the duke's illegitimate child?"

"T- That is the case, viscount"

Thinking for a while, Irene then smile at her. "To be able to remember the name of a minor noble in your father's territory, you're quite the studious child"

"I- It would be an insult to c- call the Void mage of Control who single-handedly stopped 3 major Void beast stampedes a minor noble!"

"Hah", the viscount laughed. "So you have even read up the history books to that point, huh? And it has only been over a week since the duke took you in too. What an interesting child..."

"..."

"Anyways, I'm almost late for the meeting now. See you again, young miss Sylvia"

She then walked towards the meeting room.

Staring at the viscount's back, Sylvia suddenly widened her eyes in realization.

'So it's that time of the year huh? The annual report of t— WAIT!'

The face of a familiar part-dragon came into her mind as she thought about viscount Nightshade.

Sylvia then frantically ran through the memories of her time in Avaron, specifically when she investigated the background of a certain student.

'If I remember correctly, Irene Nightshade must have taken him in by now...'

Double-checking her memories once more, Sylvia confirmed that it was the case.

'Theo...'

Although it had only been around 4 months, or well, -6 years from an outside perspective, she hadn't seen Theodore for almost 12 years.

Thus, at the mere chance of being able to meet Theodore again, tears of joy unknowingly rolled down her cheeks.

'I have to make friends with him before that girl Lyn takes him away!'

As such, Sylvia had decided on what she would use Noah's favor for.