Chapter 31
Waaah, waaah, waaah!
She opened her eyes.
The crying sound coming from far away and the dark forest felt familiar.
But she couldn’t tell whose cry it was or where she was.
“Oh dear, how did it end up like this…?”
Waaah! Waaah!
An old woman’s worried voice overlapped with the wailing of a baby.
She felt dizzy, like she had motion sickness.
Asilie lifted her head with difficulty and looked up at the sky.
It seemed to be evening. The sky was turning purple and dark, but she couldn’t see it clearly because of the tall trees.
It felt like the sky was spinning.
No, it really was spinning round and round.
‘I’m scared.’
The sky got darker and darker.
The baby’s cry grew more distant.
She was afraid.
It felt like she would be left alone here.
Asilie didn’t like that. She didn’t want that.
‘I don’t want to be left alone. Someone, please…’
“Ahhh! Help!”
She had woken up before after hearing someone scream like that.
So she thought she knew what was going on.
It was strange. She couldn’t remember what she had just been dreaming about, but every time she had this kind of dream, similar things seemed to happen.
“Ahhh!”
“Damn it, run!”
“The escape route is blocked!”
One thing was different from usual: today, there were no sharp sounds of swords clashing, only the screams of men filling the room.
Ah, there was one more thing.
A strong, smoky smell like meat being grilled filled her nose.
It was so strong it made her nose sting.
‘Why does it smell like this?’
She couldn’t understand it.
There was no reason for such a smell or smoke to be coming from a bedroom.
Did the intruders start a fire on purpose?
Asilie blinked her heavy eyelids to check the situation.
At first, her eyelids didn’t move, as if they weren’t hers. But after several attempts, they barely trembled open.
Her vision slowly cleared, but all she could see was a white ceiling with a chandelier.
She tried to turn her head. But she couldn’t.
She couldn’t move her head, couldn’t sit up, couldn’t even speak.
Her body and tongue were stiff. The only thing she could move was her eyelids.
Though her tongue was stiff, she could still taste something.
It was a bitter herbal taste with a metallic scent—familiar somehow.
‘No way, this is…’
If she could move her facial muscles, Asilie would’ve opened her eyes wide in shock.
She couldn’t believe it. She had experienced this taste and this paralysis before.
“It’s a tea that’s good for the body.”
“Tea?”
“You’re carrying a child of the Bonaparte count’s family. Of course, you should be treated properly. I got this specially for you, with great effort.”
The man she gave her heart to smiled as he said that.
His smile alone made her feel like heaven, so much that she didn’t even think to doubt the strange situation. She foolishly accepted the teacup.
The yellowish tea didn’t look too different from common teas. In fact, Asilie drank it without even checking it properly.
It had a metallic, bitter herbal smell, but she didn’t have time to care.
The man she loved—Joseph—hugged her waist and kissed her forehead.
“Thank you, my wife.”
“Oh, I should be the one thanking you for being so thoughtful.”
“Of course, you should.”
“…What?”
“It’s nothing. The weather is so nice. I had the carriage prepared. Would you like to go out for a drive?”
Even though she felt her strength leaving her body, Asilie smiled and nodded.
“I’d like that.”
“You’ll love it.”
“This might be our first time going out together.”
“Yes, the first. And this wonderful trip might also be the last.”
Looking back, his words were very blunt, but she was so blinded by love that she didn’t notice anything. She just took his cold hand.
“Let’s go, dear.”
Then she walked.
Not knowing it was the path to her death, she hurried along, hoping her husband might change his mind.
First, the body becomes paralyzed.
By the time the paralysis begins to fade, the poison spreads all over the body, leaving you helpless.
The blood vessels contract and expand rapidly, the heart races painfully, and it feels like your flesh is being torn.
Dead blood rises from the throat, making it impossible to speak properly.
You feel terrible cold, and eventually, your vision is lost due to nerve damage as the eyeballs spin uncontrollably.
And then comes death.
A painful, miserable, and lonely death.
‘Joseph Bonaparte? Did you do this to me again…!’
She couldn’t die like this again. Never.
But she couldn’t do anything except breathe. Even that was getting harder.
“Haa, haa…”
Just like her eyelids, the paralysis in her mouth slowly wore off, allowing her to gasp for air. But Asilie knew this meant she was getting closer to death.
Tears streamed down her face.
She didn’t want to die. She had too many regrets about life.
It was strange. She felt even more bitter than the first time she died.
Maybe because she still had things left to do—she wanted to fight back against death.
She couldn’t stop here. She really couldn’t.
“Ahhh!”
Even then, the screams of men didn’t stop.
But Asilie, starting to lose her mind, could no longer tell if the screams were from enemies or allies.
Then, it happened.
“You don’t actually think I’m going to let you go, do you?”
A chilling voice echoed.
Asilie stopped crying and turned her head.
The paralysis had nearly gone, so she was able to move her head more easily.
Brown hair, a familiar figure appeared clearly in Asilie’s amber eyes.
A small woman stood there, surrounded by more intruders than before. The intruders backed away in fear.
“D-damn it…”
“Break the window!”
“N-no, don’t!”
The woman mocked them in a playful voice.
“Such useless effort. Don’t you think so?”
As she mumbled something in a strange language, fire burst behind her and burned the nearest man.
Asilie didn’t even think to be surprised by the magic. She just looked at the woman’s back with her fading vision.
‘So that’s where the burning smell came from…’
If only her mind was a bit clearer, she might have figured it out. But sadly, she couldn’t even think properly anymore.
Her body started heating up, and her vision became more and more blurry.
If the woman turned around, maybe Asilie would know for sure—but she could no longer hold on.
It was just like the moment before her death, before she returned in time.
Her whole body lost strength, and bitter blood filled her dry mouth.
“H-help…”
She couldn’t even finish the word before closing her eyes.
Darkness came.
Something very soft, like a brush, tickled her old body and swept away the dark energy.
Her body, which had turned purple, regained its color, and the veins filled with blue blood began to flow with red vitality again.
‘Strange.’
Asilie felt a warm energy going over her entire body.
She wondered if someone was wiping her body with a towel soaked in hot water, but it wasn’t like that.
It felt more like someone had pulled a poor soul out of cold water and was gently drying them under the warm early summer sun.
If it had a color, it would be a fresh green. That warmth that was heating her—yes, it was that warm and kind.
She felt good.
Without realizing it, Asilie smiled.
Come on, wake up. It’s morning.
Someone urged her.
But it felt too troublesome to lift her heavy eyelids.
As Asilie hesitated, a loving but firm voice spoke again.
Open your eyes, quickly. You have to get up.
The warmth was moving farther away, so she felt like she had to open her eyes to hold on to it.
There was no other way, so Asilie frowned and lifted her heavy eyelids.
But all that greeted her was a blurry, foggy vision—much worse than usual.
No matter how much she blinked, her sight didn’t clear up like it normally did.
“You can’t help it. You were poisoned right up until the moment you almost died. The doctor said the blurry vision might last a few days.”
“…Lydia?”
She turned her head toward the voice and saw the figure of someone with brown hair.
The voice was definitely Lydia’s. But it felt different.
It felt unfamiliar. While staring at where Lydia was for a moment, Asilie suddenly remembered what had happened before she lost consciousness and reached out her hand to her.
A small, warm hand grabbed Asilie’s outstretched hand. It was definitely Lydia’s hand.
“Lydia, you…”
“That morning, I came to apologize to you and found the intruder. I screamed, and the knights of the family came running. That’s how we were able to survive.”
“What?”
“And the family doctor saved you from the poison. It was a very close call.”
“What are you talking about? That’s not what happened. You…!”
“That’s just the official story. The knights didn’t come. And the doctor doesn’t have the power to save someone right at the edge of death.”
“Wait… are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Probably.”
Asilie remembered the power she saw Lydia use before losing consciousness.
It was hard to believe—even seeing it for herself, it still didn’t feel real. But there was only one word that could explain that power.
Magic.
A power that had long disappeared from the continent.
No, most people didn’t even believe such power ever really existed.
Asilie had been one of those people. But having seen Lydia use it herself, she had no choice but to ask the most likely question.
“So you altered everyone’s memories?”
“That’s the easiest way to understand it.”
“…Then why didn’t you change mine?”
“Because I didn’t want to lie to you anymore.”
Asilie wanted to sit up and have a serious conversation.
But she could only raise her upper body halfway before she had to stop. Her whole body ached in pain.
Lydia quickly noticed and helped her lie back down.
“Don’t push yourself. You won’t be fully okay for a while. I used healing magic, but you were half-dead. It’s natural there’d be aftereffects.”
“I want to know. What did you mean when you said you didn’t want to lie to me anymore?”
“I just thought… everything got this bad because we kept lying to each other.”
“You’re saying I lied to you?”
Asilie asked in disbelief.
Lydia replied calmly.
“You never told me your life was in danger. Everyone else knew, but I was the only one who didn’t. You shut me out.”
Even though Lydia spoke in a calm tone, Asilie could tell she was angry.
Asilie had no words to say. It was true that she had hidden the truth.
“…I had no choice. I knew you’d be worried.”
“If I hadn’t thought that creepy feeling was strange, I wouldn’t have saved you in time. Even with power, I would’ve lost you like a fool. And we would’ve parted with bad feelings, never making up.”
“That’s… I’m sorry. I really…”
“I understand. You couldn’t have guessed I’d save you with magic. But even if I didn’t have that power, the fact that you told me nothing still hurt. It felt like betrayal.”
“I’m sorry, Lydia.”
“It’s okay. If we’re keeping score, I have a lot to be sorry for too.”
Silence fell between them.
Asilie didn’t ask Lydia anything else.
She could tell her sister was preparing herself to reveal everything she had kept hidden.
“There’s something I need to say.”
“…I’ll listen. Whatever it is.”
“Thank you. Well, I should probably start from the beginning. It happened when I was living alone after you were taken away.”
A starving old woman passed by and came to the house.
In that collapsing house, she pitifully asked if there was any leftover food she could have.
Lydia felt annoyed.
But she couldn’t just ignore it. If she turned the old woman away, the woman would have to walk to the distant village with an empty stomach.
Lydia thought it was ridiculous to offer anything when they had so little, but she gave the old woman some soup.
Surprisingly, the old woman turned out to be a forgotten magician of the world.
“If it hadn’t been me, you probably never would’ve discovered the power inside you…”
The old woman awakened Lydia’s magical ability and asked her to leave with her.
But worried that her sister might come looking for her, Lydia refused and stayed in the collapsing house.
Later, when she was about to leave, Sir Villian came looking for her.
That’s how she came to the Medici mansion and reunited with Asilie.
Lydia was content with her life there. One day, she learned that the place the old woman said to visit—where she would wait—was near the Medici mansion.
“That night I didn’t come back until morning, I went to her. With her help, I finally became a true magician. I learned how to control my power properly.”
“When were you planning to tell me?”
“When I was sure I could fully control it. People like me, who borrow more power than they can handle, always have to be cautious.”
“Is that why you didn’t come out of your room?”
“I didn’t plan on it, but after our fight about the iron ring, I thought it was for the best.”
At the mention of the “iron ring,” Asilie’s face hardened again.
After hesitating a bit, she asked bravely.
“That iron ring… is it related to magic? Is that why you didn’t want to throw it away?”
“Yes. Until I can fully control my power, I have to use that ring to cast magic. It’s an object that stores my power. And it’s also special.”
“Special?”
“The first magical item a magician makes with their own power never disappears from this world until its creator dies.”
Asilie’s eyes widened.
That was basically a confession that Lydia had not only been a magician in her past life but also hadn’t died.
Realizing this only now, Asilie was so shocked she couldn’t say a word, even though Lydia had finished speaking.
