The sultan's brother's surprise visit had passed, and a peaceful, ordinary period returned to Constantinople once again.
"Nikephoros, I think I'm feeling it."
"What feeling?"
"The feeling that a new baby has come to my womb."
"...What?"
"Well, it's a familiar yet cool sensation now. Let's do a pregnancy test today."
Except for the happy news that our sixth little one had arrived, a smooth and quiet year passed without anything particularly noteworthy to mention.
In January, when it had grown considerably colder and sometimes even white snowflakes fluttered beyond the window, I looked down at the historical documents I needed to organize today with somewhat mixed feelings.
*This must be Anna from when she wasn't me...*
The historical compilation work had already reached its middle stage, and we had finally begun to deal in earnest with events after Alexios's ascension to the throne.
And these old parchments right before my eyes contained materials about the childhood of Anna Komnene, the genius princess of the Eastern Roman Empire and Alexios's eldest daughter.
*It feels strange.*
Sometimes I would have such fundamental questions.
Questions like 'Where did the real Anna go?' Just like 'What happened to my original body?', these were unresolved questions I had kept in the deepest part of my heart throughout the more than ten years since I fell into this world.
Of course, since there was no proper way to confirm this, it was also a question I had been trying to bury in an invisible corner of my mind and forget about for the past few years.
I stared at the diary written by young Anna herself for a moment, then turned to look at Nikephoros, who was busy transcribing documents beside me.
"Nikephoros."
"Yes, Princess."
Nikephoros immediately stopped writing and looked at me.
"What kind of person was Constantine, my former fiancé?"
"Um... Emperor Constantine?"
Nikephoros tilted his head quizzically.
He soon put down his pen completely and turned properly toward me.
"To be honest, I had almost no personal connection with him. By the time I was appointed as a deacon, he had already left for his hometown to recuperate."
Constantine Doukas. The son of Michael VII, Alexios's predecessor's predecessor, and the co-emperor who ruled the empire jointly with Alexios. And above all, he was also Anna Komnene's first fiancé in her childhood.
It was in 1094 that he stepped down from everything and went into seclusion for health reasons, and it was in early 1095 that Nikephoros took the position of the empire's deacon.
Timing-wise, it certainly made sense that they wouldn't have crossed paths.
"The only thing that comes to mind is that His Majesty was a man of exceptional appearance. The young princess at that time always smiled brightly and stuck close to his side."
"Hmm, really?"
"Yes, since you were only ten years old at the time."
Nikephoros glanced at my desk.
"Do you still not recall any of those childhood memories at all?"
"Well, that's right."
For now, the setup was that all memories before the age of 11 (when I became Anna) had been completely wiped out due to a fever.
"Anyway, Constantine didn't bully me or ignore me back then, right?"
"Of course not. The two of you had such a tender and affectionate relationship that just watching you would naturally bring a warm smile to anyone's face."
Then it seems unlikely that young Anna would have been pessimistic about her life or circumstances.
Honestly, one of the most plausible hypotheses I had was that, like in some movie, Anna's wish lamenting her situation resonated with my "Remove Kebab" chant, causing our bodies to suddenly switch.
But if what Nikephoros said was true, it seemed unlikely that Anna, who would have been dreaming of a sweet empress life with her handsome fiancé, would have wished for her circumstances to change.
"So, what kind of kid was I back then?"
"Um... didn't you ask about this once before?"
"Just curious again, that's all."
Nikephoros stared at me for a moment, then spoke reluctantly, as if somewhat unwilling.
"You were always sharp and prickly toward everyone except your fiancé, Emperor Constantine, and your father, Emperor Alexios. Especially to me, who was serving as Alexios's closest aide at the time, you always gave piercing glances. As if saying, 'Let my dad rest, you jerk!'"
"Then you must have found me quite annoying back then?"
"Not particularly. I could fully understand the pure heart of a child who wanted to spend as much time as possible with her father."
Nikephoros looked at me and smiled.
"Besides, even in your prickly childhood, you were a very cute-looking person."
"Oh, it's been a while since I've seen Nikephoros's pedo moment."
"Pedo? It's not like that... I mean it in the purely literal sense. It was like watching a tiny puppy the size of my fist raising its tail straight up and growling—that kind of cute feeling."
"And you ended up impregnating that fist-sized puppy six times?"
"...Sigh."
Nikephoros sighed as if to say let's not talk about this anymore.
I continued with a giggle.
"So to summarize, I was like a hedgehog who treated everyone except those I liked in a prickly manner."
"Well, yes."
"Then, I probably didn't go around saying grand things like 'I'll revive Rome!' back then, right?"
"No, even back then, you used to present various strategies for the state to the Emperor."
"Huh? Really?"
The original Anna did such things?
Nikephoros nodded. Then, for some reason, he suddenly burst into laughter and began to speak.
"Of course, most were cute and whimsical ideas that perfectly matched your age at the time."
"Cute ideas... like what?"
"What comes to mind right now is your proposal to impose a separate tax on church donations to raise the lacking military funds. One day you barged into the Emperor's audience chamber out of nowhere and declared with great confidence that this would be enough to secure the empire's military budget."
"Hmm, did I?"
It wasn't just a cute or whimsical idea as I had expected.
A church tax—honestly speaking, it's something I'd like to implement right away even now if it were possible.
*But in this age of religion, such a radical proposal couldn't possibly be accepted. Too idealistic.*
The biggest difference between Anna and me seemed to be our awareness and experience of how the world works.
Well, I've already lived for over 20 years in that other world, so it can't be helped.
"Thinking about it now, it seems you were already somewhat reckless even back then."
"Reckless? I'm an extremely rational person."
"A rational person doesn't rush to the front lines talking about holy swords and whatnot."
"Hey! How many years ago was that!"
"Haha."
Nikephoros laughed it off.
I glared at him for a moment, then turned my attention back to the materials on my desk.
"Anyway, you don't have anything else to tell me about myself from back then?"
I asked without looking back at Nikephoros.
"No, the Anna Komnene I know and love better than anyone is you from 1096 onwards, after the engagement talks began."
The guy answered in his typical Nikephoros way.
He soon got up from his seat and approached me.
"If you're that curious, why don't you ask other people who knew you well from that time?"
"Like who?"
"The person who comes to mind right now is Joy. Joy has been serving you since you stayed at the Empress Mother's residence when you were young."
As Nikephoros said, Anna Komnene spent her childhood staying at her grandmother Empress Mother Anna Dalassene's mansion, receiving imperial education.
And the nurse that her grandmother personally assigned to take care of me was Joy, who is still diligently looking after our little ones.
"Alright. I'll ask her sometime when I have the chance."
To be honest, stories about the past "me" weren't particularly important to me now.
After all, I wasn't going to write down all the trivial personal details of a mere princess in the history of the Roman Empire that I'm currently compiling.
Right now, I just had a slight human curiosity and interest in the "real Anna Komnene."
As I nodded casually, Nikephoros gently placed his hand on my shoulder and continued affectionately.
"Anyway, I prefer the princess beside me now much more than the princess from back then. And I'm sure everyone else who knows you feels exactly the same way."
"That's good to hear."
Well, if the current me is having a better influence on this Roman Empire than the original Anna, that's enough for me.
I'm sure the real Anna would gladly give me a thumbs up if she could see the fully revived Roman Empire of today.
*Right, the very fact that I became Anna Komnene is absurd in itself. The real Anna is surely living well somewhere in another world.*
The great Anna Komnene wouldn't starve to death wherever she went. After all, she was the true genius princess recorded in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Having convinced myself of this, I carefully opened the first page of the faded diary she had left behind, feeling somewhat lighter.