"I'm going to speak in my true voice, mkay," Laura said after a long silence, her expression weak.
"Sure," I replied.
Cough Cough
"Ehem… ehem… much better…" As Laura spoke in her true voice, I could tell she wasn't used to it as much as the last one, and this voice…
"You have a mommy voice?!"
Yup, the highly revered mommy voice was what my ears were blessed with. I stared at Laura with a dumbfounded expression, then quickly shook my head to clear my degenerate thoughts and focus on her. She seemed… on edge recently. I mean, we just met this morning, but still.
"Yeah, like I haven't heard that before." Laura rolled her eyes as she crossed her legs, making herself comfortable.
I could tell she was trying to change the subject, but I couldn't let that happen—not now at least.
"Laura." I leaned forward slightly. "Tell me what's going on."
Her eyes narrowed. "And why should I tell you anything?"
Her cold tone caught me off guard, but I understood. We had just met this morning, and now I was asking her to share her life story. Only a fool would open up that easily. Still, I could sense she needed to talk—or it'd fester and affect her later. And by extension… me.
"You don't have to tell me anything," I said calmly, "but I can tell you're under a lot of stress. And that says a lot, coming from someone you just met today."
Laura's gaze lingered on me as if weighing her options.
"Fine. But you have to promise this doesn't leave this room—now or in the future."
I nodded and extended my pinkie.
She frowned. "What's that for?"
"Where I come from, this is the highest oath you can take. It's called a pinkie swear."
"Oh…" She hesitated, then extended her pinkie and hooked it with mine.
"S-so, what happens next?"
"That's it," I said, pulling my hand back.
"Huh? Really?"
She didn't look convinced. And honestly, I couldn't blame her. In a world of flashy magic and overwhelming power, an oath that took less than a second and didn't involve spellcasting could easily be mistaken for a joke.
"Yup," I replied, all innocence.
"Urgh… whatever."
"…When I said you had the drive," she began slowly, "I meant that you were different from other reincarnators."
I straightened, listening closely.
"As I'm sure you know, you aren't the first reincarnator to appear in this world—or in any other world."
I nodded.
"Most of them either manage to go back to their worlds, become legends in the one they reincarnated into, or they die before accomplishing anything."
So does that mean the novels I read in my past life were actually real experiences?
I shook my head at the ridiculous thought.
Maybe the few who managed to return to Earth wrote about their experiences, and people turned them into fantasy novels… yeah, that sounds better.
It was an excuse, sure, but one that made the truth easier to swallow.
"I had an encounter with one of them when I was young," Laura said, her voice turning colder.
"He was one of my sister's incarnations—and a fairly strong mortal at that."
Her fists clenched slightly. She tried to hide it, but I let it slide.
"We got along well. I was lonely back then, since my sisters were always on guardian duty and rarely came home…"
Questions bubbled in my mind.
So she's not the only guardian?
How long ago was this?
Who created them?
But I stayed quiet, letting her continue.
"He told me about his adventures and stories from his past life. Sometimes he even brought me souvenirs. We treated him like family."
Her voice faltered. "And somewhere along the line, I… fell in love with him."
My brows rose slightly.
Was he that good-looking?
"I… I was young then and didn't know the rules. I just wanted to get close to him…"
"I told him our secrets, our weaknesses… everything."
"He never showed any suspicious change in expression, so I didn't think much of it—until it happened."
I leaned forward, hanging on her words.
"When my sister and I were heading to the mortal realm for my first guardian mission, he attacked us from behind."
Her aura spiked, unstable but not yet dangerous enough to alert others. I held my ground.
"He killed my sister and heavily injured me. And he had this… disgusting expression on his face as he stabbed her in the heart."
Her aura surged wildly. My system responded instantly.
---
System Alert!!!
Dangerous level of aura detected!!
Activating [Rank Nullification Lvl. 2] automatically!!
---
"Laura, calm down," I urged, not wanting to attract the guards—or worse, my yandere Miriam.
"Huuu… When she died, he came for me next. But I was lucky. One of my sisters returned from duty and fought him off, warning the others."
She took a few deep breaths, then went on.
"We eventually subdued and killed him. But the guilt—the fact that I told him everything about us—still haunts me. I'll probably never forgive myself."
Her voice shook with anger and frustration. Frustration, I guessed, that she hadn't been the one to kill him.
"So there's my sob story. Go ahead and laugh at me for falling for a human and his stupid tricks."
I frowned. "I won't. It's not your fault. You were young and inexperienced. That's no one's fault. Life just… happens."
"Oh…"
Laura fell quiet, fiddling with her fingers.
"But I do have one question," I said.
I had many, but this one had been nagging me from the start.
"Sure, go ahead." She nodded.
"Why?"
"Hm?" She tilted her head.
"Why did he attack you and your sister so suddenly? If he was strong enough to be acknowledged by beings like you, he could've just lived an easier life, no?"
I couldn't wrap my head around his choice.
Laura's teeth clenched as she recalled his words.
"The bastard thought we were hidden missions…"