episode_0289

Eve rubbed her dusty eyes and sat up in bed. She stretched her stiff body and looked around.

“…….”

It was the morning of her third life. Eve’s eyes darted around the bedroom, empty. The old wooden window frame, the straw hat hanging on the closet knob, the soft, warm blankets—nothing had changed.

Only Eve’s body was different. Or rather, it had reverted to its past form. With her smaller hands, she unbuttoned her shirt and touched her chest.

The heart that had been pierced by the magic sword at the end of her second life was beating again. Even a fool would realize the clue.

‘If you die… you return. To your unknowing childhood.’

Eve quietly organized her thoughts. Was it truly a return to the past? If she’d only rewound time from the world where she lived with Adam, why couldn’t she find him again?

She couldn’t think of anything she’d missed. Eve had truly searched every adventurer’s guild in Naifrantz. She’d asked countless people, armed with Adam’s name and various bits of information.

Eve never smiled at the answers she received. It was as if Adam had simply evaporated, leaving no trace behind.

Creak—

The door opened, and two people approached. A young couple who headed to the pasture every early morning. Having finished their preparations, they approached Eve.

“Our daughter, you’re up early again?”

“Good morning—”

Even after traveling back through time, there were two people who remained on Eve’s side. Despite seeing their faces every day, their kind smiles were welcoming.

Overlaid on those smiles were the faces of the two corpses Eve had seen before her death in her second life.

Even witnessing the corpses of her beloved mother and father again, Eve had calmly ended her life. All she had thought about was ending everything. A normal person would naturally equate death and the end.

“Waaaaaaaah—!!!”

But it wasn’t the end. For Eve, death was a new beginning. Eve’s emotions, which should have ended, continued, defying the natural order of the world.

It was despair. The loss of not finding Adam, coupled with the grief and anger of losing her parents again. All those emotions slammed into the ten-year-old girl at once, pushing her to the brink of madness.

“Eve, Eve…!! What’s wrong—!!”

“Honey… it’s alright, come here…”!!

Her parents hugged their young daughter, desperately trying to calm her. They didn’t know why she had suddenly screamed and burst into tears, but did the reason matter? They asked a nearby farmer to take over their work and cared for Eve all day.

. . .

After that day, Eve never left the house. She’d fallen into endless despair, completely shutting the door to her heart. A doctor visited once or twice, but there was nothing wrong with Eve’s body.

A dark cloud descended upon their peaceful home. Eve, having experienced the future, knew that peace would soon be shattered. But her body and mind remained motionless.

That day arrived again in Eve’s third life. Bandits, who raided the farmhouse far from the village, encountered the girl radiating a desolate aura.

“What, this kid?”

“Is she a daughter? Kkk, we can make a pretty penny selling her as a slave—”

Shwack—

An ice shard flung from Eve’s fingertips severed the bandit’s neck. A brief silence fell. Once they understood the situation, the bandits drew their weapons and charged at Eve.

“Damn, she’s a mage—”

“Kill her—!!”

Her body was untrained, but Eve already possessed the experience of a mage who had lived for decades. She could easily tear apart a ragtag band of bandits.

By the time Eve’s parents returned home, she had already killed all the bandits. Thirty-something men lay dismembered on the living room floor.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaa—!!”

“E, Eve…!! Are you… hurt? Th, this… did you do this…?”

A sense of frustration continued to build inside Eve. She had spent nearly ten years adventuring, searching for Adam, whose whereabouts were unknown. Yet she hadn’t even come close to finding him.

It felt futile, empty, meaningless. She was suffocated by a life that wouldn’t go her way.

And sadly, murder had resolved that suffocation in an instant.

“…Hehehe. Hahaha—”

“E… Eve…?”

Holding an ice blade, she slowly approached her parents. They were destined to die here anyway. Eve, having awakened to the pleasure of murder, wanted to kill as many people as possible.

“…Where’s our Eve?”

“Mon, monster…!! Get away—!!”

“Give us back our Eve, you murderer—!!”

The moment Eve saw her parents hurling insults, something shattered within her. The final shackle had been broken.

Thud—

Eve left her hometown without hesitation. Her hair was matted with blood, her clothes ragged. She walked through the forest, looking like a collection of torn fabrics.

“K- Kkhh… Kkhhukh…”

Blood flowed from Eve’s eyes.

. . .

“A bounty of 300 white gold coins for Ubiette… I thought it was a tall tale until I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Is this truly the girl who… murdered thousands of imperial citizens?”

“Why ask me? You saw it yourself.”

Prisoner 923, bound with mana-suppressing shackles, was led by guards to the guillotine. Wearing only ragged, blood-soaked clothes, she laid her neck down under the large blade.

Shooosh—Thwack—

Eve’s severed head rolled three times on the floor. Her pitch-black eyes had not reflected anything for a long time.

Eve opened her eyes. She was in the bedroom of a secluded farmhouse. She rubbed her dusty eyes and immediately left the house.

First, she stole money to buy an adventurer’s status. She hunted magical beasts, building her strength. With her extraordinary magical abilities, requests flooded in.

One day, a man contacted her. Dressed in magnificent clothing, he was a scout from the imperial court.

“Despite your young age, you’ve reached a level that even the Empire’s grand mages haven’t attained. If you are interested in the Imperial Court—”

“I will accept, Your Highness.”

“…Excuse me?”

During her third life as a murderer, Eve’s threshold for pleasure had constantly risen. Ripping apart even strong adventurers didn’t bring her joy anymore.

She had to kill stronger opponents, enemies she wanted to kill more. After searching her memories, one man came to mind.

Duke Darius. He was the one who had sent soldiers to attack Eve in her first life, resulting in Adam’s death. He was the perfect target for revenge.

In her fourth life, Eve entered the imperial court as she had in her first life, seeking guidance from Duke Darius. She proactively dealt with other princes and princesses, earning the Duke’s favor.

After building sufficient power, Eve secretly visited the Duke’s office. He welcomed her as if he’d been waiting, and Eve collapsed to the ground, writhing in inexplicable pain.

“K- Khgh…!! ”

“I’m sorry, but… I knew this would happen from the start. I know more than you think.”

Eve’s body was already full of magic. Duke Darius had subtly infused it during their training. Because of this, Eve unknowingly became the Duke’s puppet.

“You must become Emperor and lead the continental unification…”

“Khh… Kkhk…”

“…Are you laughing?”

Only Eve’s body had become a puppet. Magic infused to the point she couldn’t notice it? Eve’s already worn-down heart could not be easily controlled.

“I… will kill you someday.”

She activated the spell she’d inscribed in her heart. A violent explosion swept through the surroundings, leaving no trace of Eve’s body.

. . .

Seventh life. Eve had experienced six lives and deaths. She began to combine the information she had gathered.

‘The world was never perfectly the same. Something always changed each time I returned.’

The biggest advantage of regression was knowing the future. But for some reason, Eve’s regression wasn’t perfect. It felt like she was adventuring in a new world each time she died.

However, some things remained unchanged in those worlds. One was the starting point. Eve’s hometown, around age eight, her parents. These never changed. They were constants.

Also, figures powerful enough to interfere with the world’s destiny, the so-called protagonists of the world, remained unchanged. The king of Naifrantz, the Emperor of Ubiette, Duke Darius… and the Counter-Protagonists.

‘Counter-Protagonist’ was a name Eve gave them, and they were not just one person. The repeating worlds always created a large-scale conflict, and if judged by good and evil, there was Duke Darius on the evil side and these Counter-Protagonists on the good side.

They mostly possessed great power and knew countless things that Eve didn’t. They moved as if they knew everything.

‘Just as I have the miracle of regression, perhaps they have their own miracles.’

Eve felt something familiar when she met several Counter-Protagonists. A deeply buried memory began to resurface.

They preferred repetitive beast hunts and quests, their magic or skills were unusual, and they did not fear death…

Bang—

“Adam…!! Have you ever heard the name Adam…?! ”

Seeing Eve clinging to him, the Counter-Protagonist in her seventh life flinched. He shook his head.

“Adam? There wasn’t an NPC with that name in Akasto…”

“Yes…?”

“It’s nothing. I don’t know.”

She had forgotten about Adam for a while. Remembering him was good, but the frustration of repeated failure only grew.

But Eve returned to the starting point once more. Why had she begun this endless adventure? What had she set out to do when she started regressing?

By repeating this changing world, she would surely find a world where Adam existed as a Counter-Protagonist.

The Eve of the seventh life closed her eyes, her sense of purpose unwavering. In the bedroom of a quiet farmhouse. The Eve of the eighth life, opening her eyes again, searched diligently for the Counter-Protagonist.

She encountered them. It wasn’t Adam. She was defeated by Duke Darius.

Ninth life, things went wrong before they could even meet. Because she had opposed the imperial family, she was branded a witch and tortured before being burned at the stake.

Tenth life, she encountered them. It wasn’t Adam. She and Duke Darius died together.

Eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth. It wasn’t Adam. She failed.

Twentieth-ninth, one hundred and first, three hundred and seventy-ninth. She failed, failed, and failed.

Two thousand one hundred and thirty-fourth, four thousand three hundred and eleventh, six thousand seven hundred and eighty-fourth. She failed.

Eve gradually lost something. She became worn, frayed and faded. At some point, even meeting her parents didn’t evoke any emotion, she couldn’t feel warmth as warmth.

Wandering in search of the Counter-Protagonist, Eve collapsed in a Naifrantz alleyway. She lifted her head to the passing wind and, suddenly, a store caught her eye.

“Ice… cream.”