“Back?”
Riv realized that the reaper was telling her to live. She stared at it.
“Why didn’t you kill me? Why?”
“The witch’s life has already been paid for. So you may live. Your husband will forget how he saved you. But the memories of loving you will remain.”
Riv tried to say something, but she was quickly expelled from Limbo.
In the next moment, another witch appeared before the reaper.
A bizarre witch who gave up her own life to save her daughter.
When the reaper called her name, Shana, the Witch of Time, woke up.
She was neither dead nor alive.
Shana stared intently into the reaper’s empty eye sockets.
She asked blankly.
“I’m still not dead?”
Instead of answering the question, the reaper gestured to the pure white space surrounding them.
“Ah.”
Shana instinctively knew where this place was.
This was Limbo, neither heaven nor hell. The border between the living and the dead.
It was the most suitable place for those who were neither dead nor alive.
Shana stared at the reaper who was dressed in a shabby cloak.
She realized immediately.
“My daughter was here.”
There were faint traces of her daughter’s energy, but her soul did not remain. Shana asked the reaper.
“Is my daughter alive?”
Shana only wanted her daughter to live. She gave up her life for that very reason.
The reaper answered.
“Your daughter is not here. She didn’t go to hell.”
“That’s good.”
If she wasn’t in Limbo or hell, she was probably alive.
Shana was satisfied with those words alone. She realized she still did not know why he woke her up.
“Why am I here?”
Shana went against fate and changed her destiny.
Not only her own, but her daughter’s as well. The fate of others must have changed in the process. Everything was connected.
Shana had changed the fate of more than one person, so it wouldn’t be shocking if her soul were annihilated for that sin.
“Am I not dead because I’m the last witch?”
“……”
“Or was my sacrifice worth it?”
The reaper responded after a long pause.
“Shana, your punishment has been decided.”
Shana closed her eyes and waited for the verdict.
“Instead of annihilation or going to hell, you will be punished by rebirth as a normal human being. A fate that you never wished for.”
“W-What? I, I-!!”
“You will permanently lose the ability to see the future. You won’t even remember our conversation.”
The reaper swung his scythe.
Shana’s power was immediately drained and absorbed.
“You are no longer a witch.”
Shana didn’t know what it meant to be normal.
“Your suffering ends here.”
It felt like the reaper was smiling kindly at Shana.
Somehow, there was an illusion of warmth in the skull’s hollow eye sockets.
Once it finished speaking, Shana’s soul evaporated like foam.
“Thank you, reaper.”
At Shana’s final goodbye, the reaper waved his bony hand.
When Shana disappeared, only her magic and powers remained.
Before the reaper left himself, he looked around Limbo.
The space where Shana, the witch of time and Riv, the witch who dreamt, had stayed.
“Shana, your daughter will become your mother. You will be born through her, whom you loved more than yourself.”
The reaper remembered something as he was about to leave Limbo.
“Oh, I forgot about that girl.”
A girl who had been forgotten because Riv’s fate had changed. The reaper pondered what to do with her.
“Shall I torture you more terribly? Shall I destroy you?”
The grim reaper, laughing and cackling, flew away and disappeared.
A little soul was left behind, crawling on the floor and struggling.
Even after death, the soul repeated the nightmare of being alive.
The crazy soul couldn’t even tell if it was dead or alive.
“I want to live. I don’t want to die. Why do I have to suffer this nightmare?”
In life, she sneered and killed young beasts and maids. But in death, she was the one being killed.
She was trampled again and again.
The soul was the weak beings that were killed, and at the same time the villain who killed the weak.
“It’s cruel. Why do I have to experience these nightmares?”
The soul sobbed. The words she had said in her lifetime repeated over and over in her mind.
-“Even if it’s dead, burn it, cut it up. I’ll kill all those crawling on my floor.”
Marianne’s soul sobbed again.
“Help me. I don’t want to die so miserably.”
Marianne died of a severe nervous breakdown.
No funeral was held for her. The princess, who had gone mad, was never buried in the Royal tombs.
Her husband, who was ashamed of her death, buried her somewhere in the garden of his mansion.
The reaper transformed into Philip and glared at Marianne’s soul.
“Time to go to hell.”
The troubled soul was sucked into a dark and ominous hole.
***
Few knew of Marianne’s death.
The news didn’t spread to Mont Del until many months after it occured.
Riv did not properly remember Marianne and was not affected by her death.
Only the king and queen were saddened by her death.
There was no one left to remember Marianne.
***
A wind blew through the forest. Riv looked over the world with a round stomach.
A gentle and warm wind tickled Riv’s ear.
“…..”
It looked like spring was coming.
A few months ago, Riv and Lionel came down to their southern estate.
They intended to settle there permanently, and had no intention of ever returning to the Royal Capital.
They first settled in the Sentino Villa.
The main excuse that Lionel used for coming to the south with her was recuperation.
They arrived in early winter.
They spent winter in the small villa in Sentino and welcomed spring.
The winters in the south were not harsh.
Rumors and stories of the Royal Capital did not often reach this remote place.
“Riv.”
Lionel went for a walk with Riv every day and got some fresh air.
The chef used the seafood and fruits of the South and cooked delicious dishes.
As a result of regular exercise and good food, Riv survived the delicate first trimester and was healthy.
She was no longer anxious about her missing memories.
Even when Lionel was away, she would bravely go for walks alone.
After a cold winter, some troubles forced them to relocate to Elon.
Their mansion in Elon was large, luxurious, and comfortable to live in.
However, even when they came here, Lionel’s worries only deepened. She did not know how to make him feel better.
“Riv!”
When she heard Lionel’s voice, Riv turned around.
Lionel looked very angry. His expression was quite terrifying.
Even in Elon’s warm and comfortable mansion, Lionel’s worries were great.
“Why did you go out alone?”
Riv shrugged her shoulders at his nagging.
“I would have made you dress more warmly. It’s cold.”
Clicking his tongue, he wrapped a warm shawl around Riv’s shoulders and firmly fastened it with a brooch.
His hands were gentle and meticulous.
Riv mumbled.
“I thought it would be okay because it’s spring.”
“Even if it’s spring, it’s cold.”
Lionel nagged Riv a lot, who wanted to go out often.
He didn’t like that she wanted to spend winter in an old cottage on the Sentino estate instead of Elon’s warm mansion.
“My dear Riv, you are precious. So I don’t want you to get sick.”
Lionel’s worries for Riv were getting excessive. She was scolded for taking a morning walk alone.
“My wife is too stubborn. Do you really have to go for a walk?”
“I’ve gotten healthier.”
“Still, I’m worried.”
Apart from Riv’s health, Lionel was anxious to be around Riv.
He treated her like a child.
“Lionel must have a lot of work to do, so why do you want to stay by my side? Do you want me to be so sickly that I can’t move?”
Because of Lionel’s concerns, Riv was sometimes forced to stay in bed, so she was upset.
“Lionel, Dr. Emilia said that I have to move.”
“You should relax.”
“I am healthy.”
Riv grunted as she stuck out her stomach.
‘There are still three months left until I give birth, what do you mean don’t move?’
‘I’m not sick nor is the child in danger, so why the hell?’
Riv carefully comforted Lionel.
“Lionel, if I’m not feeling well, my complexion will look bad.”
“Your face is always pale.”
Riv was in the best condition of her life.
She didn’t catch a cold all winter. She could also run while pregnant.
Compared to the Sentino Villa, Elon was comfortable with no dangers.
“Come here, Lionel.”
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Lionel approached Riv with an angry expression. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.
Dissatisfaction crept across Lionel’s face as she pulled away.
“Deeper, Riv.”