Let’s Make Saving a Habit - Chapter 123

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 123
Ron’s Adam’s apple bobbed slowly as he swallowed, tension evident in every movement.
“I’m saying this again, but this is just my speculation. Nothing is certain.”
My chest felt constricted, as though suffocating.
For reasons I couldn’t explain, an instinctive unease welled up inside me.
I didn’t want to hear a single word of what Ron was about to say.
“Tania, you….”
But his mouth opened, and soon he let loose the thoughts he’d been holding back.
“Could you be the child born between Aiden and Rivera?”
For a moment, I felt as though time itself had stopped.
“Ha, haha….”
Not knowing how to respond, I laughed awkwardly.
“Ron, I didn’t know you had such a vivid imagination. That’s impossible.”
But despite my insistence that it was impossible, my heart began racing wildly against my will.
“Tania, haven’t you ever thought it strange? The way Aiden treats you—it’s not something an ordinary escort knight would display.”
I had wondered about it for a long time.
How could he have given me his house and abandoned the position he’d held his entire life for someone he’d only just met—a street orphan?
But I’d reasoned it away, telling myself he was simply a kind-hearted person by nature.
Or that I resembled his first love.
I’d simply brushed it aside.
“Think about it, Tania. You’ve questioned why Rivera shows such excessive interest in you.”
Yes, she had indeed shown me remarkably consistent attention.
“If the Tempus Duchy really did send assassins after you, why would they suddenly want you dead?”
My fingers began to tremble. It felt as though I already knew the answer.
“If you’re Rivera’s daughter, every puzzle piece fits.”
No. No. No.
That couldn’t be it.
Of course, I’d been curious about whether my biological parents were still alive.
But I’d thought it was irrelevant to me.
I’d believed I would never meet them, and there was no reason for me to search for them.
If they had any conscience, they couldn’t deceive me so brazenly while pretending to be close to me.
“Tania, you were searching for which faction Aiden was being pursued by.”
“….”
“What if that faction was actually the Tempus Family, and from the beginning, their target wasn’t Aiden—but you?”
Ron’s relentless hypothesis made my head spin.
I would have laughed it off if it were an absurd speculation.
The real problem was that every puzzle piece was fitting together with terrifying perfection.
“Your temporal ability—it’s far too great a power for an ordinary person without bloodline management like the noble families to possess by mere chance.”
Each element I’d dismissed as luck and brushed aside until now.
The fact that they all had plausible explanations filled me with resentment.
“But if the time ability was something the Tempus Duchy had been hiding all along, it would make sense.”
Everything falls into place.
“Aiden, who isn’t the type to harbor grudges, being hunted by some force. And yet the assassins’ attacks were directed at you, not him. Even the deep affection Aiden and Rivera show toward you.”
I wanted to clamp my hand over his mouth, or plug my own ears.
But oblivious to my desperation, Ron spoke the remaining words with cruel precision.
“Duke Tempus is trying to kill you to reclaim the time ability you’ve taken—to get his share back.”
Thump.
My heart plummeted.
I wrapped my trembling shoulders in my own arms, my lips quivering with irritation.
“Ron, you said yourself that this is all speculation and nothing is certain. Why do you keep speaking with such conviction?”
“That’s….”
Ron’s lips moved as if to respond, but seeing my expression, he trailed off.
“I’m sorry.”
“I want to believe it isn’t true. It has to not be true.”
Shaking my head like someone who’d lost their mind, I trembled while steeling myself to face the truth.
“But just in case. Even if your outlandish theory is one in a million, it could still be partially correct….”
A stream of petty emotions flowed endlessly through me.
I spoke without knowing what expression I wore.
“I’ll go to House Freemula as planned and ask them directly.”
As I moved as though to bolt from my seat and call for a carriage, Ron grabbed my arm.
“Tania, you don’t seem in any state to go anywhere right now. Asking Aiden at Duke Papiope’s Mansion….”
“Ron.”
It was a foolish question. How could that possibly work?
“I don’t trust myself to maintain composure if I see him right now.”
The Marchioness, with whom I’d lived as strangers, would be better.
Whoosh.
Ron’s grip on my arm loosened.
I slipped free and rushed toward the carriage.

✦ ✦ ✦
Upon arriving at House Freemula, the Marchioness who had come out to greet me welcomed me with a radiant smile.
“Welcome! It’s been such a long time since I’ve had a chance to spend time with you alone, Tania. Thank you for making time despite how busy you must be… Oh, Tania. Is something the matter?”
As she asked with such warmth, her rose-gold hair seemed to stand out unnaturally today.
The fact that it was the same color as mine made me feel all the more uneasy.
[Overlaying the current viewpoint onto Viewpoint 1.]
“Marchioness, could you please show me to the Reception Room?”
“Oh, y-yes, of course. Follow me.”
Though she appeared visibly flustered, she obediently guided me to the Reception Room.
Upon arriving, I immediately surveyed my surroundings.
Servants were stationed here and there to attend to our needs.
I couldn’t possibly discuss anything with them present.
“Could you please dismiss all the servants? Actually, please do dismiss them. And I’d appreciate it if you could ensure no one comes near the Reception Room.”
“T-Tania…?”
She looked at me with eyes asking for an explanation, but I simply gazed at her without offering one.
“Ah, I understand.”
Suddenly anxious, she hastily began ushering the servants out.
As the door closed, Raspi’s worried gaze—he who had come here with me—pierced through me one last time.
To him, I must have appeared terribly strange right now.
“I’ve dismissed all the servants as you wished, Tania. Now, will you tell me what this is about? Your expression looks dreadful.”
“No. Please wait just a moment longer until the servants are completely out of earshot.”
“Oh… y-yes. I was too hasty, wasn’t I?”
While waiting, I stared at her.
The Marchioness grew increasingly restless under my gaze, as if something troubled her deeply.
Only after enough time had passed for the servants to be sufficiently distant did I finally open my tightly sealed lips.
“Rivera, I have a question for you. Well, actually, I have quite a few.”
“…May I ask what they are?”
I had been about to ask if she was hiding something from me, but in that moment, I wondered what the point was and decided to simply ask directly.
“I’ll ask you plainly, Rivera.”
My voice trembled pathetically as I spoke.
Hoping I wouldn’t have to ask twice, I forced myself to continue deliberately.
“Am I your biological daughter?”
Time seemed to stop as a suffocating silence descended.
How much time passed?
Sweat trickled down from the Marchioness’s smooth forehead onto her cheeks.
Her lips trembled slightly as a suppressed sigh escaped.
“Ah…”
That reaction, though she hadn’t answered in words, was proof of the truth.
The tears I had been holding back all this time burst forth uncontrollably.
“You’re not, are you?”
My heart raced wildly, as though it might burst from my chest.
I shot to my feet and pressed her for an answer.
“Why can’t you give me a straight answer? It’s not that difficult—just say no! Tell me right now that it’s not true!”
“T-Tania, I….”
She still stood there, unable to decide whether to speak the truth or remain silent, her eyes fixed on me.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
Even now, I resented her for not denying it outright.
“You said earlier that you had several things you wanted to ask.”
If my biological parents were alive, there was one question I had longed to ask them since long ago.
“Why… did you abandon me?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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