"Wait, the thing you're wearing… could it be?"
Aisha stared in disbelief at the mysterious girl who had crawled out of the cramped space, and at the object hanging from the girl's chest, which was without a doubt exactly the same Millennium Puzzle as her own.
"Oh, you mean this Millennium Puzzle?"
Compared to Aisha, the mysterious girl looked quite calm. "What's there to be surprised about? Don't you have one too?"
As she spoke, the girl gestured at her own chest, then pointed at Aisha.
"Mhm. Even though we both have a Millennium Puzzle, it's obvious that I win."
She lost without question.
As for the position where the Millennium Puzzle hung, the girl's was visibly far more… well-rounded than Aisha's.
"(;≧Д≦)y What kind of competition is that supposed to be? I never fight meaningless battles! Besides, this has nothing to do with the Millennium Puzzle!"
"It really has nothing to do with it, but I have a very strong competitive streak."
"But the real issue should be… why are there two Millennium Puzzles?"
Aisha had never known that there could be multiple Millennium Items of the same kind.
No, wait, there actually had been something like that before.
The counterfeit Millennium Ring.
Somehow, the Holy Varian Empire had copied a bunch of Millennium Rings and could even use the fakes to start Shadow Games.
"Could it be that yours is a fake?" Aisha asked suspiciously.
"That's rude. Mine's the real thing."
Aisha carefully examined the mysterious girl's Millennium Puzzle. To be honest, she couldn't tell the difference between a fake and the real thing.
Judging by appearance alone, the most Aisha could tell was that the Millennium Puzzle hanging on the girl's chest looked older. On the surface of the pyramid shape were traces of wear from the passage of time.
Meanwhile, her own Millennium Puzzle had only been summoned half a year ago, and with Aisha's daily careful maintenance, it looked incredibly brand new.
Old and new.
(*??Д?) Why did hers seem more like the fake instead?
No, no, no. Inside hers was a genuine, invincible spirit. How could it possibly be fake?
Narrowing her eyes, the mysterious girl seemed to see right through Aisha's thoughts.
"Of course, yours should also be a real Millennium Puzzle. It's just that, judging by my feeling, although it's genuine, it's a different version."
"A different version? Huh, wait—"
Catching her off guard, the mysterious girl suddenly leaned in close to Aisha, stretching out her nose and sniffing the scent of Aisha's cheek and hair.
"You give off a really friendly feeling. Talking out here feels kind of uncomfortable. How about we go inside and sit down?"
"Go inside?"
What the mysterious girl meant by 'inside' was none other than the secret base Aisha had secretly built as a child.
That space, designed entirely around Aisha's body when she was a little girl… no matter how slim it was now, there was no way it could fit two people.
"(￣ー￣) No need. I think we should just talk out here. Besides, even though you seem to treat this as your home, it's actually just a place I casually built when I was little."
"You built this?"
That shocking fact made the mysterious girl's expression change far more dramatically than when she had just seen two Millennium Puzzles.
"Then are you also a Carlos?"
"That's right. Aisha Carlos is my name."
"No, no, tell me your full name!" the mysterious girl urged impatiently.
"My full name? Aisha Yuna Carlos."
As if she had heard the answer she was hoping for, the girl's lips curved upward in a satisfied smile.
"That's it."
"Could it be that you know Yuna?"
Since she had specifically asked for her full name, the only possibility Aisha could think of was the middle name.
Carlos's ancestor, Yuna, and the girl wearing the Millennium Puzzle, who had appeared in the old photos when Aisha looked through the Carlos family album yesterday.
Maintaining a faint smile, the mysterious girl did not answer Aisha's question about Ancestor Yuna.
"Since you don't want to go inside to talk, I'll just tell you directly out here. About the two Millennium Puzzles."
With her fair fingers touching the back of her neck, the mysterious girl unfastened the chain of the Millennium Puzzle and took it off.
"What I'm about to say might scare you. Actually, in this world, there are seven other divine relics like the Millennium Puzzle!"
"(￣ー￣) Oh. So?"
"Huh, you don't look scared at all."
"That's because I've already seen all seven Millennium Items."
"Such efficiency! No, rather, that's the fate of divine relic bearers being drawn to each other."
"But," Aisha asked the key point, "if both of these Millennium Puzzles are real, then wouldn't that make eight Millennium Items in this world?"
"I said they're different versions, didn't I? Actually, your Millennium Puzzle doesn't belong to this world's version at all. It was summoned here from another world."
"Summoned… from another world…"
With that single statement, whether it was 'another world' or 'summoned,' Aisha had no way to refute it.
The mysterious girl continued, "I think your Millennium Puzzle was brought here from another world by some kind of power, right?"
"0v0 That's right."
"That said, in fact, the seven Millennium Items of this world have existed for a very long time. They weren't 'summoned' here—they were 'born' here. In other words, this is the original Millennium Puzzle."
The original Millennium Puzzle that had existed since ancient times—combined with the evidence from the Carlos family album, that old photograph showing the Millennium Puzzle—left Aisha with no room to doubt.
"Then what about the spirit?" Aisha asked curiously. "Since it's a Millennium Puzzle, there should be an incredibly powerful lingering spirit inside it, right?"
The mysterious girl's expression changed. In her gem-like emerald eyes appeared a trace of nostalgia and sorrow.
"There was indeed one. Powerful, gentle, and utterly reliable."
"Then is he still inside now?"
"No. He left a long time ago and will never appear in the Millennium Puzzle again. The Puzzle now is nothing more than an empty shell that has lost its power."
"Left… will never appear in the Puzzle again…"
Murmuring to herself and thinking of her own situation, this was probably the answer Aisha least wanted to hear.
"Why… why did he leave?"
"I think…"
The mysterious girl gently stroked the Millennium Puzzle in her hand, her fingertips wiping over the golden surface and the marks left by the long passage of time.
"I think, just like the fate that divine relic bearers are destined to be drawn to one another, every lingering spirit behind a Millennium Puzzle will leave after completing their mission. That, too, is an unchangeable destiny."
"No! There's no such destiny!"
She blurted it out in protest, rejecting with instinct the ending Aisha could not accept.
Miles was destined to leave? That was something Aisha, who had already planned out their married life and even how many children they would have, could never accept.
Wait, Aisha, didn't you just say when you ran off, "And Mr. Miles, I don't want to like you anymore either!"?
Words spoken in the heat of the moment… how could anyone take them seriously?
In fact, while she was running blindly, Aisha had already begun to realize, just as Alice had expected, how absurd that whole idea was. There was simply no way such a thing could have happened.
Even though she had been deeply shaken by the sight of her sister and Miles walking out of the same inn room together.
Despite that, no matter how she thought about it afterward, there was no reason for those two to do something like that.
They were both the most important people to her.
The mysterious girl smiled. "I can tell. The one by your side is also gentle, strong, and reliable."
"0v0 Yeah! Mr. Miles is the best!"
"Hehe. In that case."
Holding the Millennium Puzzle in one hand, the mysterious girl reached out with the other and lightly touched the Millennium Puzzle on Aisha's chest.
"Consider this a thank-you. Because of the secret base you built, I've had such a comfortable 'home' all these years. To show my gratitude, I'll give you the original Millennium Puzzle as a keepsake."
"Wait, you're giving me the Millennium Puzzle?"
Just to thank her for a secret base she had casually built with stones as a child, she was going to give her the original Millennium Puzzle of this world?
Even in the legendary story of The Straw Millionaire, you had to trade up from straw little by little to finally get a mansion. And here she was, leaping classes in one go.
"It's not anything that precious. I said it already—this is just the empty shell left behind after the spirit departed. The original Millennium Puzzle is useless to me now. But in your hands, even if the chances are slim, it might be able to help you."
Without giving Aisha any chance to refuse, in that instant, the mysterious girl seemed to make the two Millennium Puzzles in contact with each hand resonate with each other.
The next second, the Millennium Puzzle in the girl's hand vanished, leaving only the one on Aisha's chest, now glowing even more brilliantly as if it had been amplified.
"Who are you, exactly?"
Not only did she possess the original Millennium Puzzle, she could even casually do something like fusing two Millennium Puzzles.
The mysterious girl's identity—anyone could tell it was anything but simple.
"Hehe." The girl gave Aisha a radiant smile.
"A member of the Carlos family. In this world filled with farewells and reunions, both beautiful and cruel, keep moving toward the future and write a brand-new history."
Leaving behind those meaningful words, the mysterious girl vanished in the blink of Aisha's eyes.
If not for the faint glow still emanating from the Millennium Puzzle on her chest, Aisha would have suspected that the past few minutes had been nothing more than a figment of her imagination.
"The original Millennium Puzzle…"
Though there was no obvious change in appearance, Aisha—who wore the Millennium Puzzle almost all the time except when sleeping—could distinctly feel it.
It wasn't a difference in "weight," but in "concept." The Millennium Puzzle she was wearing had indeed become "two."
"Ah, I forgot to ask!"
Only after the mysterious girl left did Aisha remember another important thing.
"I forgot to ask about Ancestor Yuna."
The mysterious girl had insisted that Aisha give her full name—Aisha Yuna Carlos—before revealing more of the truth.
Yet when Aisha wanted to ask more about Yuna, the girl had cleverly changed the subject and cut her off.
Anyhow, compared to the original Millennium Puzzle, compared to Ancestor Yuna, what concerned Aisha most was what the girl had said just now.
That every lingering spirit of a Millennium Puzzle could not escape the fate of eventually leaving.
She absolutely could not let Miles leave!
Now was not the time to be angry over misunderstandings anymore.
"Let's go back."
The more time she could spend by Miles' side, the greater her chances of keeping him with her.
For Aisha, who had no idea what the future held, this was the only thing she could do for now.
---
"Hahahahaha, you mean Sister and Miles? Aisha, you really have a vivid imagination~"
Back at the Carlos manor, before she had even figured out how to face Miles and the sister she had punched, Aisha was immediately laughed at by Irena.
"Why can you be so calm, senpai? It's definitely because you didn't see it!"
"Heh heh, even if I had, I wouldn't be like you." Irena's lips curled up confidently. "I left a surveillance array in the inn room, you know!"
At the time, Irena had sprawled out on the inn bed in a starfish pose, looking lazy on the surface, but in truth, she had secretly left a monitoring mark on Miles' bed.
It wasn't for peeping—just that if Miles did anything weird on the bed with someone else, Irena would receive a special alert.
That kind of precaution was necessary.
After all, Irena had heard that small inns usually provided certain… special services, and she was worried Miles might not be able to resist.
So since Irena never received any alert, it proved that Miles had not been "tainted."
"Spelling out criminal evidence so openly… impressive."
Miles gave Irena, who was sitting by the dining table, a solid knock on the head.
"Still, it's good that the misunderstanding can be cleared up." Alice glanced at Irena with gratitude. "Last night I really did just go out to deal with some urgent matters."
As she mentioned it, Alice's cheeks flushed from time to time.
Misunderstanding or not, for Alice—who had zero experience with romance—it was all far too embarrassing.
"But since Sister can accept Mr. Miles now, it looks like my hard struggle yesterday wasn't for nothing!"
Miles, who had been kicked out just yesterday at dinner, was already sitting back at the breakfast table today as if nothing had happened.
Of course, that had nothing to do with Aisha's struggle. In Alice's eyes, it was simply her little sister's rebellious phase.
The reason Alice could accept Miles was because she herself had realized the truth about lingering spirits, and because the trip to the Holy Varian Empire, with the entire country in turmoil, would require Miles' strength.
"Oh, right, Sister. Do you know about Ancestor Yuna?" Aisha suddenly asked at the breakfast table. "The Yuna in my name."
"Oh, you mean Ancestor Yuna." Alice tilted her head, thinking back. "About that, checking the family genealogy would be more detailed than me explaining it."
"The genealogy? Where is it? Where is it?"
The three of them had searched all over the study yesterday but hadn't found anything like a genealogy.
"Hasn't the genealogy always been in your room, Aisha?"
"Σ(?д?lll) Huh? How come I had no idea at all?"
"You never asked."
---
If you want to support, please consider Patreon and read advanced chapters! Your support keeps this series going! [Patreon.com/RedZTL]