95

Cornelia smiled silently.

“You don’t have to be afraid.”

The real Cornelia smiled like an angel. I thought she had come to reclaim her body. I wasn’t surprised—I’d been mentally prepared for it—but I was curious.

“What happens to me now?”

She tilted her head as if considering my question, then shook it.

“Well. I’m already a dead soul. I can’t go back to that body.”

“…!”

A dead soul? Then when I had the fever, does that mean Cornelia was already dead?

The real Cornelia stepped toward me slowly.

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for a day I could explain this to you. There was nothing like the Daijo candle for entering dreams.”

So the candle had that power. The power within it had caused this situation.

“I came to explain how you came to enter my body.”

She gestured, and a small chair and table appeared beside us. The story would be long. As I sat, I could see my sleeping form on the bed more clearly. It felt strange.

“I want to say this first: I’m grateful to you. Very much. You don’t need to worry that your soul stole my body. Because…”

The real Cornelia inhaled deeply and continued.

“I made a wish.”

“…A wish?”

I furrowed my brow.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I always had a frail body. I’ve had many small ailments since childhood. Olgard, Marcella, and Julie were healthy, but Rio and I were not. We were always struggling to pay for medicine.”

Since the time of Possession I had suspected she was fragile. Her stamina had been low for her age, but I’d thought it manageable.

“Our parents said the eldest son was important to raise the family and sent him to study abroad despite our poor circumstances. Since the Empire was expensive, they sent him to an academy in Mokoko. In the process, they sold most of the house and jewelry. I worried about the future, but I thought my brother would be fine. We siblings were very close. Then our parents died in a carriage accident.”

It was adding insult to injury. Bad things always seemed to come all at once.

“Marcella had no choice but to go out and work immediately. I was weak, and Julie and Rio were too young. But seeing my brother suffer, I couldn’t just stay at home. It was hard to cover Rio’s medicine costs. On top of that, we realized we weren’t nobles anymore. So I found a job at Daijo. As you can see… I wasn’t very good at it, right?”

“….”

I remained silent. Cornelia let out a small laugh.

“I would forget things, make a mess, break things — it was chaos. I slept so heavily in the mornings. My stamina was poor, so I’d be ill for days at a time. Still, I couldn’t give up. I hated being idle. But then… I got seriously ill. I had an instinct I wouldn’t live long.”

Her tone stayed light, but her eyes were dark and hollow.

“Everyone worried, but I thought it might be better this way. If I died, maybe it would help with living expenses or Rio’s medicine. They’d be furious if they knew I thought that. At the same time, I was torn. Brother Olgard couldn’t be reached, and leaving just the three of them felt wrong. So I made a wish. I wished for it so desperately until the day I left.”

I had an idea what she meant.

“That someone would enter this body and live as a healthy Cornelia, making the family happy.”

“….”

“It’s a really selfish wish, isn’t it?”

I listened without replying. I didn’t feel like saying it was okay or scolding her.

“Miraculously, that wish reached the deity Remer. The deity found a soul in a situation similar to mine, and you came to inhabit my body.”

For a moment I didn’t grasp the last part and asked again.

“Wait. What do you mean by a soul in a similar situation? Do you mean a soul without parents?”

“No. So, honestly, I didn’t know how to explain it to you.”

“What do you mean…?”

“Being in a similar situation to me means… someone who is about to die.”

“That’s ridiculous…!”

I glanced at myself on the bed. I was definitely asleep. No — I thought I was asleep…? I sprang up and pressed my hand to my nose.

I wasn’t breathing.

“I… died…?”

I hadn’t possessed Cornelia while asleep and come here; I’d died in my sleep and been brought to this other world.

I remembered falling asleep the night before my first day at work like usual, but that memory now felt wrong.

I covered my mouth with my hand and slumped.

“Why… why?”

Cornelia took my hand as if feeling sorry for me.

“I heard it was death from overwork.”

“…!”

Death from overwork? Could that really have happened to me? I’d always pushed myself without rest, but I hadn’t thought it would end like this.

“It seemed all the burdens overwhelmed you at once.”

“….”

No one to lean on, throwing yourself into work out of loneliness. That was the result.

“So this is your second life. I selfishly wished for someone to live for me, but the deity seemed to want to give a new opportunity. And you did very well.”

In my shock the rest of her words washed over me. I had died… which meant there was nowhere to return.

“So, what happens to me then? Do I keep living in this body like this?”

I wondered if the real Cornelia actually wanted to return to her body. She shook her head.

“My soul is weak, so even if I went back, the body’s condition would be as it was before. And… I think my life as this body ended that day. I prefer being healthy now. As for your life going forward…”

At that moment, a white dove flew in through the window and landed on Cornelia’s shoulder. It must have been Olgard’s dove, but its eyes were glowing.

“You can choose.”

The deity had entered. Cornelia, as if used to it, didn’t move and only smiled.

“What do you mean I can choose?”

As someone with complicated feelings about gods, I cared more about the matter than reverence. The deity Remer spoke in a gentle tone, unconcerned.

“If I’d known you’d be this anxious, I would have left more of my power. We’ve only just met. It was my mistake. I’m sorry.”

Contrary to my expectations, this deity wasn’t arrogant or dismissive of humans. That eased me a little. Remer continued.

“You can come up to live in heaven like the Cornelia here. Or you can continue living here in Cornelia’s body. And you can return to the original Kim Won-young’s body.”

“I could return?”

“It will take quite a bit of effort since the body is already dead, but since it was my mistake, I should take responsibility for this. I’ll respect your choice.”

An unexpected choice. If I returned to Kim Won-young, I could work at the big company I’d wanted. If I hated corporate life, I could give it all up and follow the deity. Or I could continue living here as Cornelia.

In truth, the answer was already in my heart.

“I…”

“Coco! Coco!”

“Gasp!”

I snapped awake. Elysia was shaking my shoulders.

“Are you okay? You looked like you were having a bad dream.”

I was drenched in cold sweat. The Daijo candle on the bedside table had burned down and gone out. Only then did I grasp the situation.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

I must have slept a long time; the sun was high. Elysia had already washed and finished getting ready.

“You were groaning like you had seasickness — it startled me.”

“Really?”

The events in the dream had drained me. I kept giving automatic replies.

“Back then, the Supreme Justice stayed by Coco’s side, nursing you like crazy.”

“What?”

The mention of the Chief Justice snapped me to attention.

“You don’t remember, right? He nursed you so devotedly. Since Coco was in such agony, he even grabbed the captain by the collar. It’s a good thing not many people saw that scene.”

So that meant it wasn’t a dream.

This wasn’t how things should be. I had to see him.

“Where is the Supreme Justice now? I should at least thank him.”

“He should be at the Yuno Central Department? Right, I heard from Illya the aide earlier that something happened at the Imperial Palace. He might return to Rusera today.”

“What?”

That’s a disaster. I washed quickly, threw on clothes, and dashed out of the lodging.

“Coco! Where are you—!”

Elysia’s shout chased after me as I ran.

I had to see him now. And I wanted to tell him.

Because I had decided.

‘To stay here.’