Chapter 54
“Then what happened after that?”
It felt like reading a novel. A story straight out of an utterly predictable romance fantasy. A protagonist who regresses with the help of a god. And naturally, that protagonist should end up with a happy ending.
They would change all the misfortunes they had suffered, take revenge on those who deserved it, and surely live happily ever after.
But the High Priestess slowly shook her head.
“Changing everything is not something anyone can do.”
“Ah……”
[Unlike in the past, her husband did not die. Loren realized this only later. That in the past, her husband’s early death had been the work of his own children. Before Loren’s child was even born, they feared that all of his property would be handed over to a newborn infant, and so they acted.
But when life turned back and Loren fled first, the children chose not to kill their father. Instead, they decided to kill Loren and Loren’s child—the ones who would become a problem. Killing the two would be difficult if they remained within the family estate. In the meantime, they planned to extract a will from their father, whose mind had become unstable.]
Surely not. There was no way she died. I should have asked that—but my lips would not move easily.
I had to say something, but fear washed over me, because it didn’t feel like this would be an unconditional happy ending like in a novel.
[Loren headed to her own family home. She persuaded her family by saying she had come to recuperate, and decided to give birth there. Her father and stepmother had always treated her harshly, but her younger siblings—whom she had devoted everything to raising—were different. She trusted them.
During that time, assassins came for her several times. But under her family’s protection, she safely gave birth to the child. She informed her siblings whenever assassins were coming, and as soon as the baby was born, she even summoned a physician. Her father was displeased, but her siblings did their utmost, as if trying to repay the debt they owed her.]
Thank goodness. Then the child must be safe, right? I stared at her anxiously.
[If it had ended there, it would have been happy—but Loren’s life was not saved.
Fortunately, the child survived. She received the physician’s treatment in time. In that moment, Loren had no regrets. Even if God took everything from her, He had saved her child. She thought that was enough.
But as if to show that those who are destined to die will die again—as if to show that my efforts were insufficient—the child… disappeared.]
“What?!”
I was so shocked that I snapped my head up. Perhaps sensing my reaction, she smiled faintly.
“The child disappeared…? But she was a baby who couldn’t even walk yet……”
“She was less than fifteen days old.”
“Then where did she go…?”
[Loren naturally suspected her father. Crying and begging, she pleaded for her child to be returned. She said she would do anything, as long as she could have her child back. But her father was not the culprit.
The culprits were… her siblings. The ones she had raised by devoting everything she had. Though there was only a small age gap, she had cared for them with such dedication. Their education, their clothes—everything had been paid for with the money she earned and the money she gained through marriage… and yet, they did not stop their greed there.
After the child was born, and when the husband—who was the child’s father—did not die, and even declared that he would give everything to the child despite her being a daughter… the husband’s children decided to eliminate the child. And the siblings, blinded by money, handed my child over to them.]
Ah. Ah. Tears threatened to spill. How could something like this happen?
She returned to save her child, only to be betrayed by her own family.
“The child… the child was found, right…?”
[She was not… found. Not even her body. They only said they killed her. I begged for at least the body… but in the end, I was never able to see her.]
“High Priestess… are you alright?”
At my question, her body flinched slightly.
“That question is……”
“This is your story, isn’t it…?”
“Aisha is a very smart child.”
“Are you… alright?”
I didn’t know why she was telling me all of this, but my heart felt unbearably heavy. I was furious that such people could exist. How could those called family do something like this?
“At first… I hated them so much. More than my husband’s children who killed my child, I hated those called family. I wondered if I existed only to be used. And so I prayed to God again. I begged for just one more chance. I said I would do anything—just please, give me another chance.”
But she must not have been given that chance. If she had, her sorrow would not have been so heavy.
“Sadly, there was only one chance. Instead, they said the time had come to collect the price for turning back time. At that moment… I wanted to give up everything. The despair of failing to save my child was so overwhelming that it made me want to abandon life itself. But because of something I don’t know whether to call a blessing or a curse from God……”
“Then……”
“I couldn’t die. A body that cannot die no matter how much it wants to. And as compensation for granting me that chance, God made me the High Priestess. He gave me the power to become a priestess, succeeding the previous High Priestess.”
“Ah.”
Only now did I begin to understand why she was telling me this story.
“So… those who receive such a chance from God……”
“They must become God’s apostles. Even if they don’t want to, they are made to become so.”
“Ah……”
“Is that why you told me this story? In the end, I too……”
“That event you dismissed as a dream truly happened, and Aisha wished for something there. I don’t know what Aisha wished for. But one thing is certain—that wish gave Aisha a chance.”
My mind went blank.
Then… does that mean I was someone who lived in Korea, entered a novel, already saw its ending once, and then regressed through time again? Was it possession and regression?
“Ah……”
“Not immediately. Becoming a High Priestess takes a very long time. That’s why I told you this—because I don’t want Aisha to go through what I did. Just because you’ve returned in time and know the future doesn’t mean changing the future is easy.”
“Yes……”
“So I’ll help you. I had no one, but I don’t want Aisha to go through what I did. In the end, we’ll become God’s apostles and continue to be used… but even so, I don’t want you to have regrets like mine.”
So that was why. Why she had looked at me so pitifully. Because I was going through what she had gone through……
Only then did I truly believe that the dream-like experience had been real.
“I’ve been unable to die ever since… and have lived for over a hundred years. My body aged—I can no longer see, and I can’t walk. And Aisha… if you become a High Priestess, you don’t know when your duty will end. You can’t even choose death when you want it. Even so… we have no choice.”
“……I……”
What about me? What would I do, if that happened?
“But still… I think I’d be okay with it.”
“Perhaps God… chose people like us because of that heart. Our willingness to sacrifice ourselves for those we love… That’s why it’s so heartbreaking. Aisha.”
“I’m fine! As long as Rohen and Lari can be happy!”
The High Priestess smiled far more brightly than before.
“Alright. Then I’ll help you too. I’ll do everything I can so Aisha doesn’t go through what I did.”
I tightly held her hand.
“I will too… I’ll do exactly as you say, High Priestess. So that I can definitely… protect the twins.”
“Good. And Aisha—God can be fickle sometimes. To me as well… He passed along one story, very late.”
“A story?”
“That the child didn’t die.”
My mouth fell open, and I forgot how to speak. The child didn’t die? What… what did that mean?
“Really…?”
“Yes. After that happened, my husband’s children safely inherited the estate, and not long after, my husband passed away as well. I grew sick of my family and lived like a madwoman for a time, then came to my senses and entered the temple to become a High Priestess. About forty years later, God told me—the child was alive.”
“No, then why only tell you that much later……”
“Because there was nothing I could do anymore. By then, I had already lost my sight and could barely move. I couldn’t go anywhere without help… There was no way someone like me could go looking for the child. All I knew was that life was difficult, and that the child had died after giving birth at a very late age… I couldn’t know anything else, nor do anything.”
What a cowardly god. Anger surged up before I could stop it.
“Then… that person’s child……”
“After that, I couldn’t learn anything else. I don’t know who they are, or what they look like.”
“Ah……”
Rage boiled over.
That was when it happened.
