Chapter 59: Early Crisis

"Lady Lydia!! At last you’re back. Where have you been? Young master Vincent had been looking out for you."

The young maid grabbed Lydia’s hands and helped her climb inside her room before quickly closing the window.

After checking that nobody had seen her return, Erin turned around with hushed panic.

"My lady, you might send me to an early funeral if you keep doing mysterious things like this." Erin whimpered as she retrieved her bracelet from Lydia.

"Do you know how worried everyone was? Young master Vincent has been looking for you!"

"Did Brother Vincent find out about my escapade?" Lydia asked cautiously. "Did he say why he was looking for me?"

Erin shook her head. "I don’t know, my lady. I only know that he knocked on your door several times and asked about you."

Hopefully Vincent wouldn’t be barging his way inside right now. He might kill me in an instant.

As if she had noticed Lydia’s concern, Erin hurried toward the wardrobe. "Never mind that for now. I’ll help you to change your clothes before he realizes you’ve been out."

"Fine. Help me change."

After helping her change into a comfortable outfit and tidying Lydia’s hair. While Erin made the final adjustments, Lydia kept wondering why Vincent was suddenly so interested in her whereabouts.

"Lydia?"

Vincent’s voice came from the other side.

Speak of the devil!

"Are you awake? Just how long will you stay asleep? Sylvain will cut your allowa—"

The door slammed open with a loud bang, making the hinges rattle violently.

"Anything but that."

Had Vincent not stepped away, his face would be as flat as a pancake from her force alone.

His gaze swept over Lydia’s freshly changed clothes before settling on her suspiciously cheerful expression.

After a brief pause, he sighed and decided to let it slide.

"Come downstairs. It’s time for lunch."

Vincent gave her an unimpressed look. "And don’t start complaining about the Imperial Hunting Competition again. We’re all attending, whether you like it or not."

Ah.

The Imperial Hunting Competition.

Lydia had almost forgotten about it. Besides, the competition itself was not particularly interesting to her.

As a Guide, there wasn’t much Lydia could do during the hunt itself, since the Sentinels were the ones who actually hunted the monsters.

"I’m not complaining," she replied.

"Just come downstairs."

He turned and walked away, leaving Lydia to follow him with a resigned sigh.

Lydia ate her lunch quietly, keeping her complaints to herself as Vincent had asked.

Arguing with him about the Imperial Hunting Competition was a waste of time anyway.

Once everyone had finished eating, Duke Valendorf brought up the important notice they had received from the Emperor.

"We have received an important notice from His Majesty. House Valendorf will need to attend the Imperial Hunting Competition earlier than originally scheduled."

Lydia paused.

Earlier? She slowly raised her head.

"The day after tomorrow," her father continued. "We will need to arrive at the hunting grounds ahead of the others. His Majesty wishes to discuss an important matter with our House."

That was strange.

In her previous life, nothing like this had happened. Emperor wasn’t someone who summoned the Empire’s Sword without a good reason.

House Valendorf was the Empire’s strongest military family, so the Emperor wouldn’t call them in without a good reason.

Whatever he wanted to discuss, it had to be important.

Could it be related to the Dimensional Rifts? The thought made her stomach tighten.

Before Lydia could consider the possibility further, Paul entered the dining room.

"Your Grace," the butler addressed politely. "A letter has arrived from His Majesty the Emperor."

After receiving it, the Duke glanced at the golden lion imperial seal before passing it to Sylvain.

"Read it."

Sylvain took the letter and opened it. His usual confident expression turned serious as he read it.

"This is bad. Dimensional Rifts are getting much more serious. His Majesty asked our House to deploy our army to send help to Luanna, the neighboring country."

Lydia recalled her previous life memories. Luanna was one of the countries that were severely affected by the Dimensional Rifts.

The high miasma levels had made the area increasingly dangerous. There were lots of S-Rank and SS-Rank Dimensional Rifts in Luanna.

In her previous life, this crisis happened a year after her graduation.

Yet the situation was already serious enough for the Emperor to order House Valendorf to deploy its army to Luanna.

Everything was happening far too early. The crisis happened three years arlier.

Lydia had expected some things to change in this life. After all, her choices had already led to events she had never experienced before.

If things had changed this much already, what else could be different?

"Father."

Vincent’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

He rose from his seat and bowed respectfully toward their father.

"I will handle this matter and resolve it quickly."

Brother Vincent took this matter seriously because he was the Head of Imperial Elite Sentinels. Still, diving head first into a war zone was kind of suicidal, wasn’t it?

"Very well." Sylvain looked at him for a moment, then nodded.

"I’ll go with father and Lydia to attend the Imperial Hunting Competition. Keep me updated about this mission, brother."

"Noted, Duke Valendorf," Vincent replied.

Sylvain gave him a flat look. "Now isn’t the proper time to tease me, Vincent."

Lydia pressed her lips together.

She had wanted to secure her future, build up her wealth, and make sure she would never have to depend on anyone again.

Lydia glanced at Vincent, who was discussing the deployment with their father and Sylvain. He looked calm, as if he were already planning the entite arrangements in his head.

Everything was so different in this timeline. Not only her family had to attend the Hunting Competition, but Luanna deployment happened much earlier as well.

Both developments were connected to the Dimensional Rifts, and neither had happened this early in her previous life.

What on earth is happening to this timeline?