episode_0003

Rilley, tears streaming down her face, gazes at Amelia sleeping on her bed as if dead. No matter how much she wipes her tears, it seems like they won’t stop.

-Swish, swish.

Rilley buries her face in Amelia’s large chest.

“Snnff… haaah…”

Feeling the scent of Amelia, which she hadn’t experienced in a long time, Rilley relaxed her entire body. Then, she pressed herself completely against Amelia.

-Rustle, rustle.

The soft sound of little Amelia’s breathing reached Rilley’s ears. Holding Amelia tightly as if vowing never to let go, Rilley recalled past events.

Amelia being dragged to the gallows.

The sight was shocking. Her limbs seemed forcibly severed, the cut surfaces were messy, her skin was peeled off, and when the executioner’s hand forced her to speak, tears obscured her vision.

Amelia’s eyes had been gouged out.

And the last words she said before dying.

‘I love you.’

With those words, Amelia died.

Rilley tried to live on her own, but she couldn’t bear it any longer.

The scenes of Amelia’s execution that haunted her every night.

Amelia, who seemed to be waiting for her when she woke up.

Amelia, who always smiled and prepared meals for her.

It was then that Rilley decided to die.

-Thud.

Hearing something fall to the ground, Rilley looked down and saw an old, worn-out notebook.

It was the notebook Amelia had given her when she was passing as a secret passage.

Although tormented by thoughts of Amelia that wouldn’t leave her mind, seeing the notebook Amelia had handed her made her feel slightly better.

She realized she had never opened this notebook. Simply thinking of it as Amelia’s final memento, she couldn’t bring herself to touch it. No, she was afraid.

Trembling, she opened the notebook and began to read Amelia’s diary, densely written inside.

From their first meeting to the execution, everything was detailed. Happy moments, angry moments, sad moments – everything was vividly recorded.

It felt as if she had traveled back in time, reliving those moments.

‘Back in time…?’

After reading through the entire notebook and closing her eyes to ponder, Rilley opened them.

She could go back.

To the past.

In a flash.

Rilley’s eyes burned brighter than ever before.

She immediately packed her belongings and went to find her magic mentor. If anyone, the dragon, might know.

Feeling both her body chilling and her eyes burning, she moved forward.

“Magic to go back in time?”

-Nod.

“Are you really crazy?”

Rilley looked at her magic mentor, Camilla, sitting in front of her.

“Because of Amelia?”

“Yes.”

Camilla, who had been contemplating with pursed lips and a nodding head, looked at Rilley with a bitter expression.

“Seeing that determined look on your face, it seems you’re not going to give up. Well, I was curious to see how far you could go, so I’ll help you.”

Initially, Rilley had contemplated suicide if Camilla didn’t understand, but now, with her mentor willing to help, she felt a reason to live again.

And so, Rilley started living with Camilla.

“Phew…”

How long had it taken? Rilley slowly walked towards the magic circle she had prepared in front of her.

She had come this far for this moment. To erase the illusions that tormented her, she had used drugs and even killed people to gather ingredients.

Under Camilla’s gaze, Rilley slowly approached the center of the magic circle. As Camilla warned her, sitting in the center of the magic circle, Rilley replied.

“I will never regret it.”

“You will surely regret it.”

“I won’t.”

“If you go back in time, Amelia will be a different person from the one you know. You won’t have any shared memories.”

“It doesn’t matter. I can make new memories.”

“Hoo… Do as you please. Since we’ve come this far. I’ll keep emphasizing this: Don’t let Amelia find out that you’ve gone back to the past.”

“…Got it.”

And so, Lily activated the magic and returned to the past.

To her past self.

The scenery, preserved only in faint memories, greeted Lily.

“I did it.”

Broken dolls from her childhood, tattered blankets, a wardrobe without a door.

And all the mana inside Lily’s body had disappeared. It was natural. In the first place, since it was the past and Lily had returned to her child’s body, if she had retained her original mana, her body would have burst.

As she explored the room, she noticed a calendar that seemed about to fall soon. The time she had returned to in the past was when she was 8 years old. Surely, Amelia arrived when Lily was 10.

*Creak.*

While organizing her thoughts, someone suddenly entered the room. It was a woman not present in Lily’s memories. Introducing herself as a maid, she entered.

In a moment of anger, Lily told her to leave.

How dare someone introduce themselves as a maid while Amelia was around? Lily, who did not want any maids other than Amelia, expelled each one while showering them with insults.

With each new maid that arrived.

As time passed, another maid came.

Despite expressing annoyance at not needing a new maid, they kept coming back.

“This new maid is named Amelia.”

A familiar voice. An unforgettable voice. And a name that always lingered in her mind.

Amelia.

Lily, worried she misheard, asked again.

A sweet soprano voice echoed once more.

“Yes. I am Amelia…?”

Lily opened the door wide and looked at the woman dressed in maid attire standing there.

Amelia, with a face full of questions, gazed down at Lily.

“Let me reintroduce myself. I am Amelia, your maid.”

With long blonde hair cascading down to her waist, a tall stature impossible to hide even in maid attire, and a figure that complemented her chest and hips, Amelia’s beautiful face always turned towards Lily with a smile.

Unable to hold back tears at the sight and sound of Amelia right in front of her, Lily embraced her.

And then she said what she had always wanted to say upon meeting Amelia.

“Mom…”

Then a problem arose.

As Amelia tried to embrace Lily, she let out a pained groan.

“M-Mom?!”

Startled, Lily examined Amelia.

Although covered in maid attire, Amelia’s hands, face, and neck were turning red.

“Gahh…!”

This time, her arms and legs turned black.

“Ugh…!”

Clutching her eyes, Amelia collapsed, blood trickling from her hands.

“Aaargh!!!”

Amelia fainted in agony.

Returning to the present, thankfully, Amelia was stable.

Her skin and limbs had returned to their original color. The bleeding from her eyes had stopped.

“It seems… only the parts that suffered torture changed.”

Embracing the sleeping Amelia, Lily remembered. She recalled Amelia’s appearance before the torture.

Only the parts that had been tortured had changed. Which meant…

It was then that Lily remembered what her mentor Camilla had told her.

“Do not reveal that you’ve come from the past.”

Having lost all her mana but still retaining her knowledge, Lily realized why Amelia had ended up like this.

“If I tell Amelia about the past events or make her aware of them, she will feel the pain she experienced back then…”

That meant she had to keep it hidden from Amelia.

She hadn’t come here to make Amelia shed tears; she had come to be happy with Amelia.

Lily, who knew the future, wasn’t afraid of the impending war. After all, she could just erase it if it bothered her.

She didn’t think of anything else but Amelia sleeping in front of her.

Amelia, who kindly bowed to Lily despite her irritation. Clearly not the Amelia Lily knew. Just lacking our shared memories.

Amelia is Amelia.

Lily reminisced about the memories with Amelia.

“Amelia never had a clue. She was foolish.”

At first, she made frequent mistakes and acted clueless.

But meticulously noting every detail in her notebook, she never repeated a mistake.

Soon, she became a perfect maid.

Yet, being too perfect was a problem.

Even when Lily turned 12 and confessed her feelings, Amelia, oblivious and rejecting Lily due to their same gender and her role as a maid, shocked Lily.

But the ignorant Amelia is here now.

Should Lily gradually change her values from now on?

To never be rejected as an adult.

Breathing in Amelia’s scent after so long, Lily fell asleep peacefully for the first time since that day.

==

What’s this?

When I woke up, I was lying on Lily’s bed.

I remember knocking on Lily’s door, Lily opening it, and then…

I have no memory after that. What happened?

“Phew…”

Feeling heavy, Lily was using my chest as a pillow while sleeping on top of me.

So adorable, Lily. Even in sleep, she was cute. How could someone like her be a demon? A witch? An antagonist?

No way. Lily is more angelic than anyone.

I’ve seen Lily face execution countless times.

Dragged into war, silently dying. Lily even contemplating suicide.

The shock of Lily warmly welcoming me with a noose around her neck when I opened the door to escape with Amelia was horrifying.

The note left behind.

Due to insufficient affection, unable to trust Amelia, she committed suicide.

No matter how much love Lily showered afterward, it always ended in death.

Her mind shattered beyond repair, but she saved Lily once.

And she will do it again this time.

– Chant. Chant. Chant. Chant. Chant.

But was Lily always this talkative in her sleep?

“Sniff…”