Chapter 5
“Do it. I’ll wait until you do.”
Amelia struck my cheek, tears streaming down her face as though she were the one in pain. My head snapped to the side.
“Ha.”
The metallic taste blooming in my mouth told me the skin inside had split.
“I’m sorry, Amira—no, Lady Amira. I’m so sorry.”
What a saintly act.
“I had to hit you hard on purpose. Otherwise, Lady Regina would make me do it again. I’m sorry.”
Just like before. Back then too, she would torment me under Regina’s threats and then offer the same excuse. And I, foolish as I was, believed her.
A laugh slipped out of me, hollow and incredulous.
“You’re laughing?”
Of course I was. Regina used to terrify me when she bullied me—but now, it all felt like childish play.
Was it because I had died once? Or because I had followed the strongest being in the world and seen more blood than I ever thought possible?
“Let’s see how long you can keep laughing.”
Regina brought two fingers to her lips and whistled.
I recognized the signal instantly.
It was the sound she used to summon her pet snakes. The creatures she had lying in wait slithered forward with a sickening hiss.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of snakes surrounded me.
I barely suppressed a yawn. It was all so tediously familiar—nothing had changed from my previous life. It felt like watching the same play for a second time.
A pity for Regina, who must have put in so much effort just to torment me—but it was all pointless.
I wasn’t afraid of snakes anymore.
After awakening Medusa’s power, I had walked around with dozens of snake heads coiling from my hair. There was no better cure for a phobia than shock therapy—my fear of snakes had vanished completely.
And besides, snakes instinctively feared those who possessed Medusa’s power.
I glared at the snakes encircling me. But perhaps because I had not yet awakened my ability in this life, these creatures—bereft of all sense—flicked their tongues and dared to threaten me.
“Attack.”
At Regina’s soft command, the snakes lunged.
One bared its fangs and sank them into my right arm before slithering away.
A sharp pain—so unfamiliar after all this time—made me grit my teeth. The veins around the wound darkened as the venom spread.
Bound as I was, there was nothing I could do but endure it. Even Regina wouldn’t intend to kill me. In Anguist, murder was a grave crime—even for nobles.
Still—
You’re playing a dangerous game, Regina.
Had I provoked her too much? Her eyes gleamed with a faint madness. If she lost control, this could become far more dangerous than she intended.
How do I get out of this?
I bit down on my lower lip, thinking—
“Lady Amira!”
A familiar voice broke through. Someone rushed forward, a torch blazing in hand.
Michele.
His black hair swayed softly in the night breeze. His crimson eyes, glowing like firelight, met mine with unmistakable concern.
The strongest in the world. The leader of the next generation.
Right. Around this time, he had been staying at our estate. Instead of living as the heir to the great Ether family, he was here as a slave of Anguist—under the name Fabio, a name given to him by this house.
He had been my first friend.
Before I pushed him away.
“Are you alright?”
I was. I wasn’t afraid. I thought it would all end if I just endured a few blows.
Then why couldn’t I say it?
Did I… want to be comforted?
Taking my silence as an answer, Fabio’s crimson eyes flashed dangerously.
“Hey, stable boy, move. This isn’t your place.”
Agatha, snickering beside Regina, spoke sharply. Fabio stepped in front of me, shielding me with his body.
“How dare you raise your head? Don’t you see Lady Regina and Lord Simone here?”
He was still nothing more than a slave, yet his back seemed impossibly broad—reliable.
What worried me was the look in his eyes.
Here, he was only a slave. Even if I was the family’s unwanted child, harming me and harming Fabio were entirely different crimes.
The thought of what my cruel siblings might do to him made anxiety surge within me.
“My lady, my lord—please stop this. The poison is spreading through Lady Amira’s body.”
Fabio’s voice was low, strained, as though he were holding back anger.
“Come on, Regina. That’s enough. This isn’t even fun anymore.”
Simone placed a hand on his twin’s shoulder. But Regina only twisted her lips.
“Not fun? This is the best part.”
She whistled again.
The snakes grew even more agitated, now targeting not just me, but Fabio as well.
“Fabio, get behind me.”
I grabbed him, trying to pull him back, but he instead drew me closer into his arms.
“I’m resistant to poison. I’ll be fine. But you’re not.”
“You’ll heal me, won’t you, my lady?”
The dangerous edge from moments ago had vanished. He smiled at me like a gentle puppy.
That was when it happened.
Another snake lunged, fangs bared.
He’ll get bitten—!
But Fabio was faster than I expected—even without having awakened his dragon power yet.
In one swift motion, he swung his torch, searing the snake’s jaws. The creature fell back with a sickening burn.
He didn’t stop. The torch swept through the air again and again, driving the snakes back.
“What are you doing?! Attack!”
Regina snapped, but the snakes recoiled instead, retreating in fear.
Enraged, Regina leaned toward Agatha and whispered something.
Moments later, Agatha slipped out of the maze garden—and soon, the Anguist guards arrived.
“That wretch dared raise his voice against me. Deal with him.”
Five guards in black helmets stepped forward and dragged me away from Fabio.
“Don’t touch him.”
I warned them, but they paid me no mind. To them, I was no better than a stray—an unwanted child of the family.
They closed in.
And then the beating began.
Boots slammed into Fabio’s body. A grunt escaped him as he collapsed to the ground.
Please… fight back.
The Fabio I knew could have shoved them aside and escaped. But he didn’t even try.
Because he knew—if a mere stable boy dared strike a knight of Anguist, he would not survive.
“Stop it! Stop!”
I struggled and screamed, but no one listened.
As if I didn’t exist.
As if I were a ghost.
Ah… this feeling.
I knew it all too well.
The helplessness of my childhood, abused by my mother and siblings. The suffocating marriage to Dario, who despised me. Even after death, when I could not take revenge on those who betrayed me—
My past life flickered through my mind like a dying lantern.
A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
Even after returning, nothing had changed.
How ridiculous.
Simone turned away, already bored. Regina and Agatha stood arm in arm, smiling brightly. Amelia trembled behind them.
And then—
My gaze met Amelia’s.
Her lips curved, ever so slightly.
Something inside me snapped.
A familiar power surged up from my core, a violent vortex rising from my dantian. I didn’t resist it—I embraced it, forcing myself to stay conscious, to remember.
My green curls writhed, their ends transforming into snake heads.
The world turned yellow.
I closed my eyes briefly, gripping the fading edges of my consciousness as the power flooded through me—from the tips of my toes to the crown of my head.
I clenched my wrists.
The ropes binding me snapped.
Without hesitation, I tore off the black ribbon tying my hair and wrapped it over my eyes.
Then I stood.
The first to notice was Regina.
“W-what is that?”
“What?”
“What… is that thing? A monster?”
I stepped toward the guards and grasped their shoulders.
Ah… this strength.
Their sturdy frames crumpled in my grip, bones cracking. A smile rose to my lips.
The last guard was still stomping on Fabio, oblivious.
I seized his throat with one hand.
He choked, thrashing uselessly in my grasp. But I couldn’t kill him.
So I hurled him to the ground instead.
Then I turned toward my wretched siblings.
Through the mesh of the lace ribbon, I saw them—frozen in terror.
I walked up to Regina, seized her collar with both hands, and slammed her to the ground.
Agatha followed.
When I found Amelia trembling—
I wrapped my hand around her throat without hesitation.
“A-Amira…!”
Her blue eyes shook violently in panic.
