The Romance Fantasy Novel MC is Only Into Me

Yeah.
The reason why I hadn’t sensed anything strange until now, or even if I did, why I didn’t give it much meaning—
Maybe it was the accumulated misfortune or unhappiness inside Ransell over the years.

Maybe this was the normalized world. Maybe what I’d been going through was just unjust suffering.
Maybe I took the wrong path, maybe I was incompetent, ignorant, and utterly lazy, and that’s why I myself ruined this peaceful world until now.
Maybe, in truth, it was a pretty good world.

...That self-mocking thought occasionally tugged at his leash.
“The regression is over. That’s a good thing. Yeah, it’s a good thing.”
So,

Ransell tried to just accept the regression that ended without any signs. He tried hard to shake off the lingering unease in his heart.
But at the moment the emperor—who should have been dead by now—waved his hand,
the doubt inside him finally woke up.
Sunlight.

Cheers.
Festival.
Petal rain.

Every paused scene was a festival beautiful like a painting.
If there was a camera, it would be a life portrait worth capturing.
“No wonder everything went too smoothly.”

It was almost regrettable. It was fake. This dazzling world of ephemeral beauty was an illusion.
Swish.
“Ransell-nim.”

Marigold linked her arm with his. She gently rested her head and closed her eyes.
“Everything was for you, Ransell-nim. Please know that much.”
Her voice was calm.

“Even if it’s fake, an illusion, or a dream… if it makes you happy, that’s enough. If we can be together, that’s all that matters.”
“If I didn’t know, maybe I could have believed that. But I already know it’s fake.”
“I can make you not know.”

Marigold’s voice was sincere.
“I can return you to a state where you know nothing.”
“Is that even possible?”
“I’ve lived for this alone. That much isn’t hard.”

“Scary.”
How much had she grown, the Archmage Marigold.
“When did it start? I can’t pinpoint exactly when it became fake.”

Marigold was silent for a while. When she finally spoke, her answer was beyond expectation.
“This whole life.”
“...?”

“I set it so that your and my memories keep going back to when we first met. On a 30-year cycle.”
“The first time... is that when Baron Janis unveiled the airship?”
“Yes. You remember.”

Marigold’s voice sounded calm.
Her hands, overlapping Ransell’s palms, trembled slightly. Her heartbeat echoed—steady but fast.
‘Created another loop within the loop?’

If their memories reset every time, then it wasn’t even regression.
She and Ransell were just NPCs living their lives in a loop, unaware of any anomalies every 30 years.
—You are Baron Janis’s... disciple?

It meant they repeated going back to the day they first met infinitely.
“But I didn’t lie. Your true memories won’t come back unless you realize it. Until you become aware, the real self can never interfere in this world.”
I thought so.

It was somewhat expected. Marigold wasn’t good at acting. If she lied even a little, Ransell would have caught it immediately.
If so, Ransell would have realized the truth about this world much earlier. Maybe even that was part of Marigold’s design.
‘Scary, really scary.’
How many times had the loop repeated? Ransell didn’t have the courage to ask.

The thought that the number might be beyond imagination kept his mouth sealed.
“Now that I know, send me back.”
“No.”

...
It was a firm refusal.
“They say even if you roll in the mud, reality is better.”

“I’ve never heard that.”
“There is such a saying. In another world.”
“That’s a disgusting world. How could such nonsense exist?”

Marigold’s /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ strength tightened as she hugged her arms around him. He felt her obsession not to let him go.
“It’s okay if you hate me. I won’t send you back. You will also come to understand why I’m doing this.”
Thunk!

At that moment,
the scenery changed.
“Ahhhhh!”

“Help, save me!”
“Ugh!”
“Aaah!”

Cheers turned into screams.
Petals into flames.
Festival into chaos.

‘War...’
The screams of the crowd struck his ears.
The sharp scent of blood flowing from scattered pools drifted through the smoke-filled air and brushed past Ransell’s nose.

The petals on the ground turned into a puddle of blood that ran down the paved road of the capital.
A massive war and massacre shook Rodnis, filling his sight.
Familiar faces were among them.

Baron Evil Shen fleeing in terror, maid Hesti, Professor Laura Court with an injured arm, the Seventh Prince stabbed and falling, and countless faces Ransell had seen at the academy.
The airship flying above the capital was engulfed in flames and slowly crashing. Baron Janis knelt helplessly, looking up at the sky.
Following the tilted trajectory of the airship, burning parts rained down. Baron Janis did not dodge until the debris engulfed him.

His eyes, filled with despair, seemed to wait for death to end this moment.
Bang!
The falling fragments scattered sparks as they swallowed him whole.

Flames soared to the sky, covering the area in an updraft.
“The first.”
Marigold’s low voice.

Familiar figures appeared in Ransell’s eyes.
Ransell, soaked in blood and cloaked, was held in Marigold’s arms. It was himself.
His entire body was covered with wounds. He was limp, drained of energy, about to close his eyes.

He weakly pushed Marigold’s hair back with his arm. Under the full moon, a small horn protruded above her crying head.
“...Returning to reality.”
His voice was hoarse.

Marigold’s body clinging to his arm trembled. Wrapped in a trauma-like fear, she painfully spoke each word.
“The second.”
And then,

Everything returned to the beginning.
“Waaaah!”
The screams, flames, war, death, crashing airship, and the full moon in the sky—all disappeared like a lie.

“It’s the emperor’s procession!”
“Long live the emperor!”
“Long live the Freesia Empire!”

In place of that was cheer, petals, festival, happiness, a slowly drifting airship, and a dazzling sun—a scene as if the world had been flipped and reversed.
“...Keep imagining happiness.”
The shock from the contrast between the two scenes was truly tremendous.

“Do you still think the real world is better, Ransell-nim?”
Feeling Marigold’s trembling, Ransell quietly bowed his head.
At his feet, the sandwich basket still lay.

Yeah.
Maybe this isn’t an illusion.
This sandwich, made in the early morning by a hungover Marigold who had been dozing off, was definitely sincere.

At least between Ransell and her in this world, there was nothing fake.
No matter how many times it repeated, Marigold was Marigold, and no matter how many lives she lived, she remained Marigold.
Therefore,

“Mary.”
Ransell spoke.
“You already know what I’m going to say.”

Because he was sincere too.
—I won’t send you back.
“Send me back.”

—You’ll come to understand why I’m doing this too.
“I want you to know why I’m doing this.”
 
It wasn’t hard to guess why Marigold trapped him in the illusion.

It was probably because of the ‘death of Ransell’ she showed him earlier.
“You mean, even if I go back and die?”
“Yes. Even if you die.”

Thinking about it, there was a simple solution.
He could have just revealed he was a regressor. Just saying, “We’ll meet again soon, so why worry?” would have been enough.
But now, that didn’t work on Marigold.

“Anyway, again...”
“I heard you.”
The reply was immediate.

“I already heard it. The promise that we’ll meet again.”
“...Did I say that?”
“This isn’t the first time you noticed this world isn’t real, Ransell-nim.”

“Really?”
“But it’s the first time you caught it this early.”
She already had the power and means to hold onto Ransell.

“I wouldn’t send you to death just with such a promise.”
Ransell immediately closed his mouth.
“To me, Ransell-nim, this moment is all there is. You and I can be happy forever in this world. There’s no reason to wake from this dream. I know this is stubborn of me. But please, just listen to this one thing. Everything else can be whatever, just this one...”

—Master, all these moments I see and hear with you are my last.
The voice of warrior Marigold awakened him again. Yes. For Marigold, this life was unique and irreplaceable.
No matter how many times the loops repeated, or how many times regressor Marigold appeared before him again, there was no guarantee she would return from this life immediately.

But.
“My answer doesn’t change. Mary.”
Ransell intended to make her happy in the real world. Fake is fake.

He wanted to prove that somewhere in this world there was a better choice than dreaming.
That was all.
“...”

Marigold’s expression grew cold.
Her color drained, a fleeting sadness passing over her.
“If that’s what you say, Ransell-nim.”

At that moment.
Thunk!
Once again, the scenery changed.

He regained consciousness in a familiar place.
‘The academy?’
More precisely, the academy’s training grounds. The very place where knights and magicians used to spar.

The difference was that Ransell was no longer here as a ‘professor’. In his hand was a sharp sword handle.
‘No way.’
Ransell lifted his head.

“Ransell-nim.”
Marigold faced him holding a large staff raised.
A terrifying magic subtly bubbled around her. Dirt and gravel slowly circled her like satellites.

It was like looking into the eye of a storm.
“Please give me a chance to ‘persuade’ you.”
“Per-sua-de?”

Thunk!
A flash of light burst from the tip of Marigold’s staff, spreading in all directions.
Krak-krak-krak-bang!

A powerful lightning bolt struck, darkening the surroundings for a moment. A series of ear-splitting booms echoed in succession.
Just one release of magic had turned the entire area into a wasteland. Marigold’s hair fluttered in the empty air. Hot winds swirled like a storm, and crackling sparks flew intermittently.
“Yes, persuasion.”

Marigold’s emerald eyes emitted a chilling glow. It was an expression she had never shown toward Ransell before. She truly intended to put all her power into him.
“You said this works best on knights.”
Hmm.

Scary.
‘Can I win this?’
The continent’s strongest magician Marigold.

The continent’s strongest knight... former Ransell.
Anyone could see the odds favored the former.