Pure white light splits the darkness and colors the surroundings. In the dimly draped shadows, her pink eyes pierce through and gaze at me.
“What the…?”
I had clearly seen her collapsing while coughing up blood.
She shouldn’t be dead, but at the very least, she should have lost her strength.
Yet, how can she still display such powerful divine energy?
Before I could ponder further, Lilian furrowed her brow and let out a low groan.
“Ouch, it stings a lot.”
Red blood was constantly flowing from her hands. The knife that should have stabbed my heart was deeply embedded in her right hand.
I couldn’t understand it.
“Why… why are you here…”
“Isn’t it a bit cowardly to just run away like this?”
“Are you… trying to kill me?”
“Of course not. All I can do is offer salvation.”
Lilian locked her gaze onto mine with a serene smile.
And at that moment, the air trembled and the surrounding began to shake.
[I’m almost there! This damned girl!]
A chilling voice tore through the space. The dark, thick shadows gathered in one place and began to be sucked back into their original position.
Directly, into my body.
Lilian tried to step forward to block it, but the darkness brushed past her and dug deep into me.
[Tina, kill that woman now!]
“What did you say?”
[If you don’t kill her now, you’ll never see your mother again.]
The voice that seeped deep into my chest echoed in my head, whispering. In response to that voice, a sense of suffocation weighed down my entire body like a heavy hunk of metal.
Amidst the fading consciousness, I blankly picked up the shards of glass scattered on the floor.
[You don’t want to leave your mother to suffer alone in hell, do you? You’re a good child, aren’t you?]
“…Yes, that’s right.”
[That woman is someone who will interfere with the love you and your mother share. She’s just a holder of a vile desire that enjoys your suffering.]
“I clearly killed her…”
“Are you curious?”
Lilian’s voice resonated calmly.
She looked at me with calm, still eyes and lightly pulled the knife from her hand.
For just a moment, red blood gushed forth, but soon pure white light wrapped around her hand, healing the deep wound in an instant.
“Tina, do you know who was the first person I sought out upon coming to the Empire?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Could you look behind you for a moment?”
As I turned my head, there stood a woman.
Artasha Blanc.
She gazed at me with her pale face, her blue eyes filled with helpless worry.
“Artasha…?”
Why are you here?
Why do you look at me with such a face?
I’m just the monster that devoured your daughter.
[Kyaaargh! Are you out of your mind?! Kill that saintess now! Do you not want to see your mother for the rest of your life?]
Under the scream that pressed down on my thoughts, my body moved against my will. I raised the shard of glass high and lunged at Lilian aggressively.
“If you just… if you just disappear…!”
Swinging the shard to tear her face, I aimed down at her eyes.
“Die!!”
“Please, Your Highness.”
However, just before the shard touched Lilian, someone tightly grabbed my arm and then wrapped another hand forcefully around my neck.
“Ugh!”
The arm choking my neck lifted me high into the air.
As my breath gradually failed, weakened, my body finally released the shard of glass I had been holding.
“Ha… hak… I can’t breathe…!”
In my upside-down vision, I tried to hit the arm around my neck with my fist, but it remained firmly in place like a mountain.
My body, gasping for oxygen, began to lose its strength and sagged like a doll with its string cut.
“…I’m sorry, Tina. Just sleep for a moment, okay?”
A voice softly drifted into my ear. The owner of that voice was someone I knew too well.
“Huh… kgh… Viviana…?”
My vision flipped.
And my consciousness sank into the thick darkness.
I had clearly brought everything to the depths of the abyss.
How on earth…?
How can they all stand upright and well?
On a warm meadow.
Someone was quietly stroking my head. The touch was so gentle and warm that I was scared to open my eyes for fear that this peace would vanish.
“Still a little brat, aren’t you?”
A beloved voice gently seeped into my ears.
Not the voice I had heard while living as Tina, but one buried deep in past memories. I was startled and opened my eyes wide in surprise.
“Uh… Mom…?”
A woman with black hair cascading softly over her shoulders looked down at me with a warm smile.
Just seeing her beautiful face made tears well up from the overflowing longing in my heart.
“Hehe, you’ve changed a lot, haven’t you? Your hair is white now, and your eyes have turned blue… Should I call you my daughter now?”
“R-really, Mom… is it you?”
“Yes, I’m the mother you trapped in hell.”
My heart sank at her low, calm voice. There was no longer tenderness in her eyes, only deep resentment and anger.
“Hey, you’re not thinking of being happy all alone while leaving me here, are you?”
“Uh, Mom…”
“I’m rotting away here every day, and yet you don’t even bother to show your face.”
“….”
“Did I struggle to feed and cradle a child I didn’t even want, just to have you turn your back on me like this?”
Those words were filled with contempt and hatred, yet they didn’t cut deep.
Having heard such statements daily in my past life, I was rather accustomed to them.
However, it felt strangely joyful to hear my mother’s voice again.
“Remember, your only family is me.”
“…Yes.”
I gently clenched my fists and nodded.
Only then did my mother smile brightly and affectionately pat my head.
“Yes, I will wait here.”
It was a longed-for smile.
That smile of hers was the last thing I saw before the entire world began to flip.
[Come find your mother soon.]
“Huuh…!!”
My vision burst with dazzling light and opened up.
The beautiful meadow that had spread out just moments ago vanished without a trace, replaced by a gloomy landscape with no windows in sight.
Where on earth am I?
“Ha… ugh… w-water….”
My throat felt like it was on fire.
My body was so exhausted that even taking a single step felt laborious. But I couldn’t endure the gnawing thirst, so I staggered and struggled to stand.
“Ugh… Huh, huh…”
It was an ominous space that felt like a prison, pressing down on my breaths, but luckily, I could see a door not far off.
I forced my trembling legs to move and barely took a step towards the door.
Click—
“EEEK?!”
However, with sudden resistance, my ankle was firmly caught, and I collapsed to the ground.
“A… ouch…”
Pain surged through me, wrapping me in confusion.
Taking a breath, I looked down at my aching ankle.
“What, what is this…”
On both of my ankles were heavy, unfamiliar metal cuffs.
Thick shackles that fit a prisoner. The shackles were firmly connected to the wall by a thick chain, binding me so I couldn’t move at all.
“W-what on earth is this…”
The chains were so heavy that I could barely lift them with both hands. The weight seemed to say that I could never escape from this place.
As my chaotic thoughts swirled in my mind, the door I had seen rattled and slowly opened with a creepy sound.
“You can’t get hurt. Tina has to live healthily for a long time.”
“You… you…!”
Lilian Eldoria.
As I looked into her pink-tinged eyes, a chill ran down my spine.
“I clearly saw you drink the poison and collapse…!”
“That’s right. If I hadn’t prepared the blessing beforehand, it might have been dangerous.”
“Blessing…?”
Lilian smiled and slowly closed the door. The sound of the door closing heavily suggested it wasn’t an ordinary door.
“More importantly, you must be hungry, right? I prepared a meal for you.”
Only then did I notice the tray in her hands.
On the tray were a glass filled with clear water and a steaming bowl of warm soup.
The sight of the water intensified my thirst, and the fragrant aroma wafting from the soup made me swallow my dry saliva.
“I’ll serve it soon. But before that, there’s something we need to do.”
Lilian approached me slowly with a meaningful smile.
Instinctively, I tried to take a step back, but the cold wall blocked my retreat, leaving me with no place to escape.
Lilian, who had approached me before I knew it, quietly knelt down to match my eye level and said in a soft yet firm voice.
“Hand.”
With words whose meaning I couldn’t grasp, Lilian extended one hand toward me.
As I blankly stared at her outstretched hand, she smiled sweetly and pushed her hand even closer.
“Tina, hand.”
“…What did you say?”
“If I have to repeat myself again, then I’ll have to scold you, you know?”
With an eerie undertone, Lilian continued with a cheerful smile.
“Now, be a good girl, Tina?”
