The Extra's Regressor Wives

Catrina did not even look at Aldric.

The moment she arrived, she yanked the slender foil from the ground and dropped to one knee beside Lathel.

"Lathel."

Her voice trembled almost imperceptibly.

Lathel lifted his head. He barely managed to recognize the familiar mask before the last of his strength disappeared.

His body collapsed.

Catrina immediately slipped one hand behind his head, wrapped the other around his back, and pulled him into her arms.

"Lathel!"

She lowered her head and checked his breathing and pulse.

Still there.

Catrina had only just begun to relax when her eyes moved over the wounds covering him.

His lip was split.

There were clear signs of impact around his abdomen and ribs.

Dust and blood stained his clothes.

Then she looked at Lathel’s hands.

Not all of the blood on them belonged to him.

Catrina immediately turned toward the wrecked carriage nearby and Bram’s body lying beside it.

The eyes behind her mask turned cold.

Slowly, she raised her head and looked at Aldric.

"You did this?"

Her voice was calm.

That very calmness made Aldric unconsciously take half a step back.

He recognized this woman.

The masked woman from Grail Gorge.

The person who had appeared far earlier than the plot he remembered, led the Black Rose against him, and forced him to use the Void Step Talisman just to escape.

’Why is she here?’

Aldric tightened his grip on his wand.

’Again because of Lathel?’

After what happened at Grail Gorge, Aldric no longer dared assume every event would unfold exactly as he remembered.

But the sight of Catrina holding Lathel as though protecting something precious still immediately filled him with irritation.

He was about to speak when Morgana’s figure became clearer beside him.

Catrina saw her.

Her entire body stiffened.

Morgana Edevane.

Catrina’s gaze shifted toward the ring on Aldric’s hand.

The black threads between her fingers immediately pulled taut.

She remembered this soul very clearly.

In their previous life, Morgana had helped Aldric far too many times.

She had also known part of the secret behind the Fate-Line Usurpation Ritual.

But Catrina also knew that the ending between the two of them had been nowhere near as pleasant as Aldric currently believed.

Morgana studied her for several seconds before moving her lips.

No sound reached the outside world.

Instead, a sentence carried by mana traveled directly into Catrina’s ear.

"If you want him to live, take him away now. Whatever is inside his soul has pushed his body past its limit."

Catrina narrowed her eyes.

She did not trust Morgana.

At least, not yet.

But the arm holding Lathel could clearly feel his body temperature dropping, while the mana inside him was so chaotic that even a knight without healing expertise could sense something was wrong.

Catrina looked down at him for only a second.

That was enough.

She slid one arm beneath Lathel’s knees and lifted him into her arms.

Aldric immediately frowned.

"Stop!"

Catrina ignored him completely.

She only looked toward Morgana once more.

"I’ll remember this."

Morgana did not answer.

Catrina had just turned away when the pounding of hooves echoed from the distant road.

A line of female knights appeared between the trees.

White armor reflected the light.

On their chests was the unmistakable emblem of a black rose surrounded by eight spider-like legs.

The Black Rose.

The knights quickly spread around Catrina and formed a protective formation.

Aldric stared at the force in front of him and tightened his grip on his wand.

He wanted to pursue them.

But Morgana immediately appeared in front of him.

"Enough."

"Move."

"Do you want to die?"

Aldric stopped.

Morgana glanced at the dark bruising around his abdomen and the blood on his lips.

"Two ribs are showing signs of fractures. Your internal organs have been shaken, and you have less than half your mana remaining. Catrina is uninjured, and the Black Rose is behind her."

Aldric stared at the woman carrying Lathel away.

"I can still—"

"No."

Morgana cut him off coldly.

"If you chase them, she’ll kill you before you can even touch Lathel."

Aldric fell silent.

The hand holding his wand trembled with rage.

But in the end, he did not take another step.

All he could do was watch as the Black Rose rapidly withdrew from the area.

"Lathel..."

Aldric ground the name between his teeth.

A man who was never supposed to have any role in the story had beaten him until he coughed blood.

And Catrina—a woman who should have had absolutely no connection to Lathel at this point in the timeline—had personally come to save him.

"Fine."

Aldric wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

His expression gradually darkened.

"Next time, I won’t let you die so easily."

He tightened his grip until his knuckles turned white.

"I’ll break every finger. Every bone. I want to see how a mute like you begs me for death once the pain becomes unbearable."

Morgana did not respond.

Her gaze remained fixed in the direction the Black Rose had disappeared.

She remembered the black-violet energy surrounding Lathel.

The markings across his skin.

The kind of power that ignored both incantations and magic circles.

And more importantly—

the existence residing inside his soul.

’Pandora...?’

Morgana could not confirm it yet.

But there was one thing she was certain of now.

What was happening could no longer be called a few minor deviations.

Everything had left the trajectory Aldric knew a long time ago.

Nearly an hour later, the Black Rose stopped inside a forest far from the battlefield.

The female knights immediately spread out.

One group checked the trail behind them.

Another raised concealment barriers to suppress their presence and hide the surrounding area.

No one asked why Catrina had suddenly changed course and rushed to save a young man most of them had never met.

The Duchess’s orders did not require explanation.

At the center of the protective formation, Catrina sat beneath a large tree with Lathel resting against her in her lap.

A female knight experienced in healing finished examining him and removed her hand from his wrist.

"Your Grace, there are no fatal injuries. Most of the damage comes from magical shock, internal strain, and extreme exhaustion. His heartbeat has stabilized. His life is not in immediate danger."

Only then did Catrina’s hand, resting behind Lathel’s back, relax slightly.

"When will he wake?"

"It’s difficult to say. A few hours, perhaps longer. It would be best if he does not use mana again for some time."

Catrina nodded.

"Leave us."

"Yes."

The knight quickly withdrew.

The space beneath the tree fell quiet.

Catrina lowered her head and looked at Lathel.

Several streaks of dried blood remained on his face.

One cheek was slightly swollen, and the split at the corner of his mouth had already begun to crust over.

She took out a cloth and slowly cleaned each stain away.

Her fingertips trembled the moment they touched his skin.

"Late again."

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

The last time, she had also arrived too late.

By the time she heard that Aldric had broken two of Lathel’s fingers, someone else had already taken him away for treatment.

This time, she had arrived before Aldric’s final attack.

But Lathel was still injured.

Catrina stared at him for a long time before closing her eyes.

Memories from her previous life immediately surfaced.

She had once believed she still had time.

Time to deal with her family.

Time to resolve the curse.

Time to wait until she became strong enough before returning to find Lathel.

By the time she finally went back—

the person she had been looking for was already gone.

Catrina opened her eyes.

"I don’t want to repeat that."

She had already made an agreement with Leviana.

Both of them understood that the greatest advantage of a regressor was knowledge of important future events.

If they changed too much, that knowledge would gradually lose its value.

Aldric might also realize something was wrong and begin acting differently.

That was why they had agreed to remain cautious.

Intervene when necessary.

Do not destroy every event merely because emotion demanded it.

Catrina had once believed that was the correct choice.

Now she looked down at the man lying in her arms and slowly tightened her hand.

Leviana had awakened early.

The Black Rose had appeared early.

Pandora had met Lathel in an entirely different way.

Morgana had just voluntarily helped her.

Even today’s battle had never existed in the future Catrina remembered.

The so-called trajectory had already gone wrong a long time ago.

So what exactly was she still trying to preserve?

If preserving the future meant standing aside while Lathel walked through the same disasters he had suffered in their previous life, merely so they could continue exploiting their memories—

then that price was too high.

Catrina reached out and took Lathel’s hand.

She had already lost him once.

Once was enough.

"The trajectory is already wrong."

Her voice became calmer.

"Then let it stay wrong."

A breeze passed through the forest, stirring the white cloak behind her.

Catrina lowered her head and gently stroked Lathel’s hair.

She did not need every event to happen exactly as before.

She did not need to know every future opportunity.

Nor did she need some perfect timeline that followed the plans of the regressors.

She only needed Lathel to still be alive when they reached the end of it.

"Leviana is afraid Pandora will take your lifespan. Anna is trying to change what happened before. And I kept thinking everything would be easier as long as we preserved our knowledge of the future."

Catrina shook her head faintly.

"Maybe I’m the greedy one."

She wanted to save Lathel.

And she wanted to keep every advantage she possessed.

But perhaps those two things had never been compatible in the first place.

Slowly, Catrina lifted Lathel’s hand and pressed it against her mask.

"From today onward, I won’t wait for the right moment anymore."

Her voice was quiet.

But perfectly clear.

"I won’t stand at a distance and watch you fall into danger just because I’m afraid of changing the future."

Catrina lowered her head until the forehead of her mask lightly touched the back of his hand.

"If an event needs to be destroyed, I’ll destroy it."

"If what I know about the future has to become useless, then let it become useless."

She remained silent for several seconds before pulling Lathel closer against her chest.

"I already lived one life believing there was still time."

She remembered exactly where that had led.

So this time, Catrina would no longer rely on those words.

She looked through the gaps between the trees toward the Holy City far in the distance.

The eyes behind her mask gradually turned cold.

"If this so-called trajectory requires you to walk the same road again..."

Her hand tightened around Lathel’s.

"Then that trajectory doesn’t need to exist anymore."

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