The Villainess turns the Hourglass
chapter-41

The next day. It was around when the Sun was in the middle of the sky that Aria opened her eyes. Jessie had been unable to wake her up for breakfast, but she was able to come to her senses by lunchtime.

“You’re not sick, are you? Shall I call a doctor?”

“No, it’s OK. It’s not like that.”

Jessie became very worried by Aria’s words. She had skipped breakfast and decided to have lunch in her room.

Despite her worries, however, Aria had just slept too long, so she didn’t have an appetite. Drinking cool juice made her sober up a little.

“How could I sleep for so long?”

“I’ve been calling you since yesterday, but you didn’t answer. I didn’t ask for permission to come in because I thought you were ill, but even when I shook your body, you didn’t get up, remaining sound asleep.”

“Why was I so tired though? I didn’t do much.”

“Do you want me to call a doctor now?” asked Jessie with a worried look.

But Aria didn’t feel the need for that, so she shook her head and refused it. She didn’t feel sick anywhere, and because she felt as good as usual, she didn’t think that illness was the issue.

When the last drop of juice had been emptied, Jessie urged her to have some dessert, “Would you like dessert?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“Yes, miss. Then, I’ll clean it up.”

Jessie left the room after taking the empty bowl.

As she followed Jessie with her eyes, Aria suddenly found the hourglass on the corner of the table. She had forgotten to put it away after checking to see if it was alright, and had fallen asleep with it out, leaving it unattended.

After her late meal, she was so sleepy that she lifted up the hourglass without thinking about it and turned it over. Chareureuk! After that faint noise, she put her hand on her chin to watch the falling grains of sand.

That’s when she heard Jessie’s voice suddenly, “I’ve been calling you since yesterday, but you didn’t answer. I didn’t ask for permission to come in because I thought you were ill, but even when I shook your body, you didn’t get up, remaining sound asleep.”

“… What?”

As Aria stared at her, who was repeating what she had said just a little while ago, Jessie asked with a worried face, “Do you want me to call a doctor now?”

“No…”

‘Why are you here again?’

Aria didn’t understand why Jessie was in her room. She was sure that she had taken the dishes and left the room. The dishes were all scattered on the table and had returned to their former locations.

“Didn’t you say you were going to clean up the bowls?”

“Yes? No. You haven’t finished the juice yet. Shall I clean it up still?” Jessie asked with a very perplexed look.

‘I didn’t finish the juice? I’m sure I finished my drinks and I heard Jessie asking about dessert!’

As she lowered her gaze, she found that the glass that had had its contents emptied just now still had juice in it.

There was no way Jessie could have refilled it in that short time. Aria hadn’t seen her line up the dishes again, so she wouldn’t have been able to.

‘What the hell is this?… Maybe!’

It was a very short time, but she was back in the past.

It wasn’t an illusion. There was no doubt that if the glass had still had juice in it, she would not have realized it. However, since it had been empty and it was now full again…

‘Did this happen yesterday too? When I finished writing the letter and handed it to Jessie, did it return to the state with only Oscar’s name written?’

She knew it was a ridiculous hypothesis, but she couldn’t stop thinking like that.

‘What the hell is the cause…?’

She searched her memory of the previous day and of that day. There had to be some reason for it to happen.

‘What in the world did I do before things got strange?’

The middle of her forehead narrowed by itself, but she had no memory of doing anything special.

“Well, miss?”

“…”

Aria, in agony and with a serious expression, remained without answering Jessie’s question of: “Can I clean up the dishes?”

Desperate for what to do, Jessie wandered around for a while, but soon, decided to clean up the room until Aria finished wondering. It was a little messy since she hadn’t been able to clean up the day before, because Aria had fallen asleep early.

Her master had almost finished the meal, but there was no word yet to clean it up, so she sorted out the papers and took the quill and ink. Finally, she tried to pick up the hourglass with the intention of putting it back in the box.

At that moment, Aria, whose eyes were following Jessie, suddenly jumped up, pointed at Jessie and screamed, “Hourglass!”

“Yes?!”

Not exactly at Jessie, but at the hourglass she was trying to pick up.

Jessie, who was surprised, fell back on her butt. Luckily, she was the only one who got hurt since she had not grabbed the hourglass yet.

Aria, who did not care about this, raised her voice as if she had found the answer, “It was the hourglass!”

Something special had happened. Yesterday, she had pulled the frame out, revealing the secret space, and touched the hourglass. And as soon as she had turned it over, Jessie, who had left the room, had come back in and asked for a letter again, despite the fact that she had already given it to her.

Today, she had also turned the hourglass over on the table. Then, Jessie had immediately appeared and repeated what she had said, and the juice that had been cleanly emptied was filling the glass again.

Aria’s gaze was naturally thrust at the hourglass. The quiet grains of sand that sat there as if nothing had happened seemed a little different. It was very mysterious and beautiful to see the light shining through them.

“How can this be?!” Aria screamed suddenly, and Jessie looked at her with embarrassment. Aria had her hands clasped while smiling this time.

‘Is she OK? Do I have to call a doctor?’ Those were the questions going through Jessie’s mind.

As if to add a question to her questions, Aria said suddenly and nonsensically. “Jessie, God seems to love me!”

Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been likely for God to have sent such a great thing to her, even though He had revived her. No, it might be that He had given her His grace in the name of punishing the wicked woman.

Whatever it was, it was a blessing and a miracle to Aria.

“So, I have to fulfill that expectation, don’t I?”

Chareureuk! After checking all of the sand had settled at the bottom, she overturned the hourglass again. Nothing happened this time. Nevertheless, facing Jessie’s worried expression, Aria did not remove her very bright smile. Somehow, she seemed to have figured out how the hourglass worked.

Once a day, if she overturned the hourglass, she would go back by a very short time.

The time was approximately five minutes. She was able to go back for as long as it took for all of the sand to reach the bottom. Fortunately, no one other than Aria could use it. She had figured that out after running a test on Jessie.

Aria had ordered Jessie to sit quietly in her room for about five minutes. Then, she had left the room and had told Jessie to turn the hourglass over before telling Aria to come back. If the hourglass had worked for Jessie like it had for her, she would’ve been unable to remember Jessie sitting quietly.

After several similar experiments, not once did things go back. It was God’s blessing for Aria only. The hour of the day was irrelevant. The five-minute restriction cleared every day. The only side effect was that when she used the hourglass, she became very tired.

‘Don’t tell me… Is it eating my life?’ she thought suddenly. ‘What kind of dream would that be to run back time for nothing!’

But, her assumption wasn’t absurd when she took her extreme fatigue into account. It felt as if she was making up that time with sleep, but it might also be that her overall lifespan was shortening.