IRLDM 29

CHAPTER 29:…………………………………….

Aria’s Return

“What…?”

Aria Heinstein stared at her reflection in the mirror, unable to believe what she saw.

Lively blonde hair, flawless skin, and sparkling green eyes. Everything felt unfamiliar.

“I… I clearly took the medicine Andy gave me and passed out…”

She muttered, feeling along her neck. The burning pain that had once consumed her throat had vanished, replaced by cool, refreshing air filling her lungs.

“Miss, you’re awake?”

At that moment, the door opened, revealing a familiar face.

“Marie?”

Aria’s eyes widened as she looked at the head maid who had entered the room.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Miss. That Lowell boy was rambling nonsense all morning and then suddenly ran out. I was going to scold him when I came in.”

“Ah… okay.”

Aria replied absentmindedly. She stood there for a while, lost in thought, before suddenly shouting:

“Marie! What year is it now?”

“Huh? W-what…?”

“Tell me! What year is it?”

“Well… Miss, it’s already a new year… This is the 478th year of the Empire.”

The maid glanced out at the bare branches visible through the window as she spoke.

“478? Really?”

Aria’s eyebrows rose in astonishment.

“…Could it be… I’ve really returned?”

She immediately turned her gaze back to the mirror, unable to hide her shock.

The maid gave her a look that seemed to say, ‘What’s gotten into her today?’ but Aria didn’t care and studied her reflection more closely.

Could God really have given me a second chance?

After a long moment of reflection, Aria allowed herself to entertain the possibility. The familiar numbers “478” and her own youthful reflection in the mirror confirmed it.

She had returned to the winter before her marriage.

From that point, Aria muttered incomprehensible words as she stood there. The maid sighed, took Aria’s hand, and helped her with her grooming. During that moment, Aria recalled her last memory:

“Aria, you understand, right? You have to give me your magic so that Morto can flourish.”

“Don’t look at it that way, Aria. You love me, don’t you? In love, this is something we do for each other.”

Andy’s words had become a faint memory, passing before Aria’s eyes.

It had been a loud, joyful wedding with a loving and adoring fiancé, a spectacle anyone would envy.

So Aria had no doubts as they traveled to the Davis family estate.

Perhaps it was that naïveté that caused the happiness she expected in her newlywed life to quickly turn into unimaginable terror.

Upon arrival at the estate, Aria had fallen asleep under the influence of a drug.

When she awoke, she was already imprisoned in the mansion’s basement.

Every night after that, she was forced to have her magic extracted by her own husband. Andy always claimed it was love, even as she endured the agony of blood-pumping pain.

By the time she realized how wrong it was, her frail body could no longer withstand the torture, and she collapsed weakly.

“I can’t let this happen again. I have to ask my brother for help.”

Recalling the horrors of her past, Aria shook her head and cried out.

I need to tell my brother. What Andy is doing in Morto, what he plans to do next.

“The Duke Davis is selling magic on the black market.”

“Yes, Brother.”

“I see… But how did my sister find out? You haven’t been to Morto since you were fourteen.”

Shion’s gaze shifted from the papers before him to Aria, a gentle smile playing on his lips.

“It’s… nothing. Don’t worry if it’s difficult to explain. As my fiancée, you must have had ways to find out. Thank you for telling me, little sister.”

As Aria’s eyes darted nervously, Shion smiled warmly, folding his eyes gently.

Thank goodness… Brother will handle it somehow.

As she descended the stairs to her room, Aria imagined Shion exposing Andy’s crimes, taking revenge on the fiancé who had caused her such pain.

But ironically, it all remained just a fantasy.

One day, when she was living peacefully, grateful for her revived life, Aria was kidnapped and taken to Morto.

There, she learned that, under the pretense of her being unwell, her marriage to Andy had been rushed without her, and that Shion himself had orchestrated the entire thing.

“You told the Viscount, didn’t you? About this?”

Andy’s mocking voice echoed down to Aria, sprawled on the basement floor.

“How did you find out? Well… it doesn’t matter. After all, Shion handed you over to me.”

After that, her memories blurred. All Aria knew was that when she awoke again, in pain, a shockingly familiar scene lay before her eyes.

“…Lowell, what year is it?”

Everything was the same except that the person before her was not the maid but her closest friend and personal maid, Lowell.

This was her second return. After grasping the situation, Aria recalled the last moment—Andy saying he had made a deal with Shion.

There’s no reason my brother would suddenly do that. He’s too kind… There must be a misunderstanding.

That was why, when she went to the northern mountain villa for a vacation, she had called her brother aside.

“Thank you for coming with me.”

“No, it’s nice to be outside for a change. Feeling better?”

As Aria gazed down at the early-winter mountain, Shion asked, turning to her.

“Huh?”

“You said you wouldn’t marry. I know you’re careful, so it’s fine. But I worry that rumors about breaking the engagement might hurt you.”

“I… actually, that’s why I asked you to come to the villa. I wanted to ask you something.”

“Hmm? Something to ask? What could my little sister want to ask me?”

Shion approached her with a gentle smile.

“…Brother, are you hiding something from me?”

“Huh?”

“Or… have I wronged you somehow…?”

“Why ask something like that all of a sudden?”

His voice, usually warm, had gone cold, stripped of any smile.

“If I’ve done wrong, please tell me. Or… if it’s just because I have magic and you don’t…”

“What?”

His sharp voice made Aria’s gaze snap to him, where she saw his eyes filled with cold anger and his trembling cheek betraying his inability to contain it.

“You mustn’t say that, Aria. How dare you speak such words.”

That was the last thing she heard.

“Ah…”

Only after being pushed off a cliff did Aria realize that being betrayed by a trusted family member could hurt far more than a broken, shattered body.

Third Return

Now Aria understood completely: Shion’s anger toward her was not caused by a specific incident but by her very existence.

Then I’ll just disappear.

She resolved to leave everything behind, overwhelmed by the sorrow of betrayal and the pain of a third death.

“Lowell, if I get married and leave home, will you come with me?”

Her request to Lowell was for the same reason. If she was destined to be used no matter what, she would rather leave with someone she cared for and live peacefully.

“Miss…”

But her hope was soon crushed. Just as she was about to marry a normal person, they were ambushed while heading to her fiancé’s estate.

Returning to her lodging after a brief walk, Aria found her lover already dead and Lowell bleeding from knife wounds.

“I heard from Shion that you would come here today. Aria… do you think you could be happy leaving me?”

Andy’s blood-soaked tone was chillingly monotone.

What happened next? Probably, Aria lunged at an enraged Andy and was stabbed by his blade.

Fourth Return

“This can’t continue. I need to gain the strength to protect myself.”

Aria resolved this after her fourth death.

She went to the academy to properly learn to control her magic, something she had never mastered.

Ironically, this would become the choice she regretted most in all her returns.

Shion could no longer bear her presence as she trained, unleashing his raw anger. He imprisoned Aria, inscribed “Impurity” onto her body, and began extracting her magic purely to inflict pain.

His rage did not stop until her breath failed under the unbearable agony.

Fifth Return

From this point, Aria suffered phantom pain. Even though no knives, falling rocks, impurity, or magic extraction occurred in this timeline, she endured excruciating pain every night.

She couldn’t leave her room, afraid that stepping out would trigger death and another return.

“Miss, come out with me. Let’s get some fresh air. I’ll stay by your side.”

Eventually, Lowell coaxed her out, though she still couldn’t bring herself to go.

But one day, under a clear sky, she felt no phantom pain for the first time in a long while. Guided by some unseen force, she followed Lowell.

So, when a monster appeared, she felt almost no fear.

Death comes in every form now…

That thought barely crossed her mind before the monster’s attack hit Lowell instead. He had shielded her, taking the blow.

Her closest friend had died. Again. And in front of her. Because of her.

Sixth Return

Seeing life begin again, she realized the monster that killed Lowell had even attacked her while holding his corpse.

Aria truly wanted to end it all. Upon waking, she went to the southern swamp temple and begged on her knees:

“Please… release me.”