Chapter 1

What is life?

For me, that was a question that I had an answer to. The question itself sounded like something deep and philosophical, not something you would ask your friend randomly, and clearly not something you would say at the start of a book, but for me at least, life was just a repeat of days, with varying small events throughout each day making them different.

Wake up, go to work, then go home, play some games or watch something, sleep, repeat.

Sometimes things would happen in between, and some days would be different from others. But at the end of the day, they were all just abnormalities in a boringly normal routine.

Today was supposed to be the same until I went home from work. I lived in a small apartment on the side of the city, a 45-minute drive from work. It wasn’t anything noteworthy, just your ol’ regular cheap apartment. It was already 7 pm by the time I arrived back at my apartment, not really unusual. The skies were already dark, faint stars glowing in the distant galaxy. The weather was as clear as it can be, with not a single cloud in sight, not unusual in this season. What was unusual, however, was the girl lying motionless in the street in front of my building.

She looked to be a young adult, roughly my age. Maybe twenty-three? Regardless, that wasn’t important. I pondered on what to do. There was no one else nearby. My neighbors weren’t home, or at least I don’t think they were. Even if they were home, they would probably be asleep, proven by the dark windows. I kneeled down beside her and put my fingers on her wrist. I could still feel her heartbeat.

How do I say this? It was... normal. Not too fast, not too slow.

Her pulse made me wonder what was the cause of this, as it didn’t seem to come from a health condition. I wonder if she was one of those overworked office workers? I entertained the idea of her collapsing during her walk back to work, but I soon found it quite unlikely, mainly because of the long dress she was wearing. It was similar in style to the expensive dresses that rich people in the past used to wear. Colored mainly with red, it had a black accent on the bottom. Her long glossy black hair was messy as if she didn’t treat it for a long time. I noticed her rather round face, which made her look young.

I eventually came to my senses and realized that we were out in the open, in the cold dark night, where someone might see us. I thought that calling the police would be a hassle, as I would be an eyewitness and would be questioned about all sorts of nonsense. She didn’t look like she was in grave danger anyway, so I reached a conclusion and took her into my apartment. She wasn’t heavy, so carrying her inside wasn’t a big deal. I lay her down on my bed, and let her recover. If she didn’t wake up within a 24-hour timeframe, I would be forced to call the medic. Hopefully, she would still be alive by then.

I looked at her, making sure she was in a comfortable position. I then decided to make dinner and turned around, but I immediately heard the sound of rustling cloth from behind me. I turned back and found her moving. Her eyes were still closed, so I pulled a seat and sat down beside the bed. I put my hand on her forehead. Her body temperature was normal. Apparently, she could feel my hand on her face, as she opened her eyes after that, albeit very slowly.

“You’re awake?”

I asked, her ruby-red eyes staring at me, still half closed. I assumed she hadn’t fully woken up yet and decided to wait there. She then stared up at the ceiling, before turning toward the wall on her left. She stretched out her hand and touched the wall’s surface. She then moved her attention to the bed. She poked the mattress and pressed her head on the pillow. Her actions got me worried, thinking there was something wrong. I pulled the chair closer to her, now sitting directly beside the bed. She then redirected her attention to me. Her lips opened and closed, trying to get some words out.

“So... you’re my husband?”

...

What? Is this some kind of new greeting that I’m not aware of?

“What... what do you mean?”

I asked, puzzled. She didn’t answer but instead, she sat up straight and looked around the room. My room wasn’t an interesting place. It was a small, gray-colored room, nothing noteworthy. My bedroom, where she was sitting down now, had only a white bed with a brown wardrobe across it and a small table beside it, really not interesting, yet she took the views in with great interest.

Maybe she came from one of the surrounding villages? Well, that would be the best explanation, as this city was relatively new. I myself only moved here for work.

“You’re my husband?”

She said, or rather, asked, again. She stopped looking at the room and started scanning me, looking at me as if I were some kind of quest objective.

“Huh?”

By the way, I’m still single, just in case it wasn’t clear enough. I’m not someone interesting enough to the point that someone would willingly date me. There was no way I would be married.

“You’re not too bad...”

That should be a compliment, yet I couldn’t feel happy for some reason.

“Is that a compliment?”

I asked, making sure. Suddenly, her eyes went wide.

“Ah, you can hear me?”

She asked, her voice high-pitched in panic.

“Wait, what’s going on here? I really don’t get it.”

“Me neither.”

She cocked her head. She continued looking at me, her eyeballs going through me from top to bottom. She then took a deep breath. She shook her head strongly, crossed her feet above the bed, and clasped her hand.

“First things first, I’m sorry!”

“For?”

“Saying you’re not too bad.”

That wasn’t something I particularly worry about, as it was the truth.

“Oh... it’s fine.”

“Okay.”

She took my words literally and in a slightly cheerful manner.

Not gonna lie, this is starting to creep me out.

“Say, who are you?”

I asked, unsure of what kind of response I would receive. I thought that she was drunk, but she didn’t seem the least bit hazy. Her responses were clear and sure, her face bright as day.

“Oh, so She doesn’t tell you anything?”

“She?”

“I see... let me explain.”

She then stood up beside the bed. She tidied her clothes and her hair and looked straight at me.

“Basically, I’m not from here.”

“I could tell.”

“Well, so I told her I wanted to live a peaceful life with a good husband, and She said the first person I met would be my husband.”

Is this... some kind of scam?

“Let’s go to the hospital?”

“What’s a hospital?”

“Umm... where did you come from exactly?”

“Taladia.”

“That means you shouldn’t have come far from here.”

“What year is this... exactly?”

“2047.”

“I see, so exactly 1000 years in the future.”

Was that something you could say so casually? Wait, her tone wasn’t the thing I should be thinking about, but rather, the content of that sentence. The sentence contained something so absurd that my mind didn’t register it at first.

“You came from 1047? Who are you... exactly?”

“My birth name is Layysitaste Kulksinimema.”

Ah, so it was her. I had heard her name in history class before. Her death sent the entire kingdom into shock and caused a large war. The king at the time blamed it on a neighboring country, and the war caused the collapse of both nations involved.

It was 1000 years ago, though, hardly relevant today...

Exactly 1000 years ago... The 30th of May, 1047.

And this very city stood on the grounds where Taladia was located 1000 years ago. From the ruins, people built this massive metropolis. It was very different from the castle town that preceded it though.

Anyway, that was not the issue. Should I even trust her as the real princess? This all could be just some elaborate scam. I should test her.

“Can you use magic?”

Magic was an art that had gradually descended to obscurity in this modern world. Back then, all nobles were taught how to use magic. The lessons were hard and expensive, so if even the common people back then couldn’t use them, a scammer today would fail as well. This was a very easy way to prove her as a fake, a scammer, I was so sure of it.

Or so I thought.

“Like this?”

She snapped her fingers and a small fire appeared from the tip of her right index finger. She then skillfully played with the fire, enlarging it and throwing it into the palm of her left hand, before turning it into a waterball.

“Wow...”

Magic wasn’t something that was easy to learn, and thanks to technology, few people even bothered with it. But learning magic alone wasn’t impossible, it just takes a lot of willpower, and depending on the era, money. So there should be another test. I thought of any possible tests. For one, history was out of the question. If I asked her about some events that came from that time, it would be easy for her, assuming she studied that period before. Besides, my own knowledge of that time wasn’t plentiful. She could be spouting some random bullshit and I would wholly believe her.

She clearly could do magic, so what else were the things that nobles from that time do that people today can’t?

...

“Can you use healing magic?”

Yeah, I couldn’t think of anything.

But here’s the thing, healing magic wasn’t something some noob could use. It was a very difficult type of magic, even most nobles couldn’t use it. This wouldn’t prove her as a fake, though, as she could easily use the fact that other people can’t as a way out, but since I’m not interested in prolonging this conversation, I thought asking her for the impossible was the best possible choice.

“Which part hurts?”

She seemed to take the bait, albeit her face sported a concerned expression. I wasn’t actually hurt, though, so I took an unnaturally long time to thought about anything that I feel weird even in the slightest. During the minute wait for me, she stood there silent, not asking anything, rather, examining me for herself.

“Umm... I have a bit of a headache.”

I am feeling a slight dizziness, probably from my lack of sleep. It was very, very faint, though.

“Alright.”

She bend down and placed her right hand on my head. The very faint dizziness that I was feeling a moment ago immediately disappeared.

“... Thanks.”

“No problem.”

She answered with a smile.

I... I had to think about something. That slight dizziness wasn’t enough to prove anything, heck, it might not even be real, only something from my imagination as a result of me actively trying to find pain. I need to think about something that wasn’t subjective, something to prove she was not a fake...

“I’m going to cook something.”

“Alright.”

If I burnt myself, then that would be the ultimate proof. It was a very risky move, but if I did that, I could expose her character as well. I went to the kitchen and ripped open some instant noodles. I turned on the stove, and put my hand close to the fire.

“Ouch!”

I yelled and jumped back. I brought my finger to my mouth and quickly blow on it. My original intention was to hover my finger above the stove, make it hot and see if she could cool it down, by my mind was so messed up that I accidentally burnt my finger. Hearing my yell, she ran into the kitchen. She saw what was going on and immediately went for my hand. In an instant, the pain dissipated.

“Thank you...”

She... she could heal.

My thoughts went blank. I looked at the finger, not a single trace of pain. With that kind of ability, finding work shouldn’t be hard. If anything, people would flock to her, and make her a lot of money, so it made absolutely no sense for someone like her to be out here for a scam.

But still, it was weird. People didn’t just pop up in front of your doorstep and ask to marry you, you know. While I was thinking about that, she was staring intensely into the fire.

“What is that?”

She asked curiously.

“It’s a stove.”

“Is it a magic item?”

“No, it’s not.”

Considering she came from that far back in time, it would make sense for her to not know. At the time, the technology existed in the form of magic items. As their names suggested, these items used magic to operate, meaning the average people didn’t have access to them. People do have normal stoves, the ones that you need to manually put wood in. Maybe that was what she used?

“And what’s that?”

“Refrigerator, used to cool things.”

“... It’s not a magic item either, right?”

“Yeah. It used electricity.”

“I have so much to learn...”

She said as she approached the refrigerator. She then pointed to it and looked back at me. I nodded, and she held the handle. At first, she tried to pull the handle to the side The door wouldn’t budge. She stared at it, and then pushed the door, but it still wouldn’t move. She understood the mechanisms on her third try and pulled the door open. The cool air flood out of the white container.

“Wow... it’s cold... and this doesn’t use magic?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Ah, I wish I have this in my room.”

She opened her mouth and let the cold air flow to her face. She eventually closed the door and looked around the kitchen. Today’s kitchen must be very different from what she used to see 1000 years ago.

“What else changed?”

“Did you really expect me to list all the changelogs from the last 1000 updates?”

“... What are changelogs?”

"Sigh... forget about it. Follow me.”

I decided that I need someone more ‘professional’ to help me handle this issue. I would need to phone a friend, so I brought her back into my room.

“Sit down. I need to do something.”

“Alright.”

She followed my orders and sat down on the bed.

“Don’t move until I return, alright?”

I gave her a ridiculous order. If this was a scam, then surely she would react with something.

“Alright.”

She said as she froze on top of the bed.

“... Okay...”

I turned around and left the room. I was slightly concerned with the fact that she readily agreed to freeze in place. I purposely left the door slightly open, placing the tip exactly above the edge of one of the floor tiles. I also memorized two folded sections of the bed sheet right beside her. If she moved even the slightest, then I would notice.

Although it would be unfair for me to judge her based on that minor movement, but I really had nothing else to trust, no objectively correct way of testing.

I went out and grabbed my phone. I stood on the balcony that was tucked at the rear end of my apartment, a distance away from my room. Gazing at the distant lights, I dialed a number.

“Mali, I have a problem.”

“Did you leave something in the office again?”

“No-”

“Your car broke down?”

“Not that either, it’s-”

“Ah, I know! You must’ve locked yourself in the bathroom again!”

“I never even locked myself in the bathroom! It’s way more serious than that!”

“How is there anything more serious than locking yourself in the bathroom?”

“A girl collapsed in front of my apartment.”

“Oh, how is that serious? Wait, she’s not dead, is she?”

“No, she woke up.”

“So... how is that more serious compared to getting locked up in a bathroom?”

“Well, the first thing she said when she woke up is that she wanted to marry me... no, she already married me. She called me her husband in a casual tone.”

“... Yeah, that’s more serious than getting locked up in the bathroom.”

“Why are you even thinking about that?”

“Because I’m locked up in a bathroom myself. My wife is on the way to rescue me. She should be here in any- Ah, thank you, honey.”

...

“Shouldn’t you fix that door by now?”

“I’ll fix it by Sunday. So, you were saying?”

“Someone just proposed to me out of the blue.”

“Then marry her.”

“Are you dumb? It could be a scam.”

“Well, isn’t pretending to collapse a risky way to scam someone? Even if she had ill intentions, it would be very risky for her. Besides, you’re not even that rich. Bold of you to assume she didn’t miss her target.”

“... Well, you’re not wrong.”

“Besides, what kind of girl even is she?”

“She’s obedient... she could use magic, and she claimed she came from 1000 years ago.”

“Well, even today we’re not lacking in weirdos. What kind of magic?”

“She could do basic fire and water.”

“That’s it?”

“Healing too.”

For five seconds, the phone went silent.

“What kind of... healing?”

“I burnt my hand and she instantly healed it.”

“... Marry her.”

“Huh?”