TDSWM Chapter 23

Chapter 23

A deserted field of silver grass.

When the wind blew, the dry, thin stalks of May brushed against each other and cried in low voices.

It wouldn’t be strange at all if some monster suddenly burst out of that grass.

Squawk, squawk, squawk!

On top of that, birds shrieked noisily, upset at an intruder wandering too close to their nests.

Ugh, of all places, he had to bring me here—such a perfect spot for a quiet execution.

Wouldn’t it have been better if I’d just let those demon-crocodiles eat me earlier?

…No. No, it wouldn’t.

At least Gerald is human. That means he can talk.

Should I try speaking to him?

I glanced up at him, but there was no such atmosphere.

Well, what romance could there ever be in my fate, anyway?

Ha…

All I could do was cling still to him, stiff as a frozen sheet of winter laundry.

The cold night air was rapidly draining heat from my body. My hands and feet were so frozen I couldn’t even feel them anymore.

“How long are you planning to stay like this?”

So this must be what a voice from the underworld sounds like. His words wrapped around me like dry ice, chilling me through.

“Oh dear, what can I do? After flying soaked through the skies, my hands and feet are frozen stiff. I just can’t let go.”

I made a show of trying hard to peel my arms and legs away.

Of course, that was a lie. Frozen stiff? What nonsense. I wasn’t a dead fish. I was just a squid clinging for dear life, attaching myself to his body like a creature frozen in place.

Anything to survive this moment.

I was squeezing so tightly that my arms and legs were trembling from the strain.

Finally, Gerald’s face twisted in irritation, and he barked,

“Get down!”

Oh, and let you have it your way?

I burrowed further into his side as though I hadn’t heard.

This was about my future. Not just mine—Gerald’s, Alfred’s, the Empire’s, and even Theodore’s future.

“Sinclair.”

“Yes, husband.”

I lifted my face to him with the expression of the frailest, most pitiful woman in the world.

His green eyes glinted like a million-year-old glacier.

My jaw trembled. Was it from cold, or fear?

“Wife.”

“I want to get down, but as you see, my body’s frozen stiff. I already apologized for what happened in the library earlier, didn’t I?”

I trailed off weakly, acting as delicate as I could.

Gerald frowned.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Wow, so he really has no heart after all.

Fine then.

I loosened my grip on him and released my legs.

But I was already too spent to stand.

Thud.

I fell straight down, landing hard on my tailbone. Pain shot through me so sharply that my eyes welled with tears, which quickly spilled down my cheeks to the ground.

The pain wasn’t even the main problem—my limbs were stiff and refused to move.

I was so cold. Shivering violently, I hugged my arms tight across my chest, trying to minimize exposure to the wind.

“Why are you trembling like this?”

His words carried the unspoken suspicion: What are you hiding?

I pretended not to hear.

He raised his sword and tilted my chin upward with its edge. The cold steel made goosebumps ripple across my skin.

Looking up, I could see the tension carved into his jawline. The suspicion in his green eyes tangled around me like summer vines, constricting tighter and tighter.

“You’re cruel, you know….”

“…?”

“You already knew. You held me all this way while I was soaked through. You could feel me trembling the whole time from the cold.”

I pursed my lips in a little pout.

At that, he lowered the sword from my chin and slid it back into its sheath. Then suddenly, he knelt down.

What’s going on?

Before I could react, he pulled me into a fierce embrace.

Hngh!

My ribs ached under the pressure.

Was he trying to crush me?

I twisted, struggling to escape his grip.

But then red flames flared out from his body, engulfing mine.

Ah… warmth.

The flames licked across me like long, flickering tongues, caressing from head to face, shoulders, chest, back, arms, and legs.

“Aah….”

A sigh slipped out on its own.

Before I knew it, we were a single body blazing together in scarlet fire.

So this is magic.

You’d think my hair would catch fire, but it only felt warm—like being stretched across a heated floor, every inch of me thawed from head to toe.

I turned my hand over, watching the flames dancing on my fingertips. It was like little fire sprites were performing on my palm.

But soon the wild dance ended, and the warmth that had filled me vanished in an instant.

Just like the fleeting comfort of the match girl’s flames in the fairy tale.

My hands chilled again. The night wind slapped my shoulders and back with cruel cold.

I was still a drenched little rat.

Gerald pulled back, checking me, and his eyes went wide.

What’s this? She’s still trembling!

His gaze asked the question.

I shook my head helplessly: I didn’t know either.

He tilted his head with a heavy sigh, as if he couldn’t believe it. Then he touched his throat, pensive, before springing to his feet.

I looked up as he moved behind me and suddenly locked his arms around my shoulders and waist. My back pressed tightly against his chest.

I looked down and saw his arms glowing with blue fire.

A trickster, this man. Can he adjust the temperature of fire?

Red, yellow, white, blue—flames grow hotter as they shift from red to blue.

And indeed, hotter flames spread through me, searing my whole body.

It was dazzling.

The match girl might have died watching such flames.

But me? I couldn’t die. What a problem.

Once he finished this, he’d probably interrogate me and then kill me anyway.

“Let’s stop. Your magic… doesn’t seem to work on me.”

Thud.

He released me, spun me around, and stared down at me like I was some strange, alien creature.

“Who are you?”

“Your wife.”

He scowled, but I had no better answer. So I added,

“Theodore’s mother.”

“Are you mocking me?”

He narrowed his eyes dangerously.

“Of course not. If you don’t like that answer, then… Michael Owen’s daughter.”

And also a witch’s daughter.

But that, I couldn’t say aloud.

“Still, it’s strange, isn’t it?”

A witch should be affected by magic, right?

But in this world, both witches and magicians alike were vulnerable to spells.

“So why doesn’t it work on me?”

Now I saw not one Gerald but two, three… Was this some kind of duplication magic?

So he’s serious now.

Well, I was the one sent to kill Theodore, after all.

And between us, there was no trust.

So the only thing left was—

“Look, husband. I don’t know why magic doesn’t work on me. And yes, it seems you’re doubting my identity. But I have nothing to say to that. I’m the daughter of your enemy. It looks like you intend to eliminate me anyway, don’t you?”

I had to probe his intentions somehow.

He didn’t answer.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips.

“I see. Then please… make it quick and painless.”

There was no other way.

If he’d resolved to kill me, he would.

He rose, unsheathing his sword.

“Any last words?”

“Is Theodore safe?”

“…!”

“Just tell me that.”

He might slice my throat, but I wouldn’t die.

And in his fury, he’d likely throw me in the dungeon beneath Shulezen Castle and torture me.

Was that where I would die by Theodore’s hand?

But if that were the case, why would I have fallen into this world at all?

Surely I could twist things, even a little.

I regretted not seeing Alfred again after the wedding, but—

Alfred, I’ll protect you like this instead.

And Theodore… for now he is kind and gentle.

Let this memory stay with him, let it prevent the demon from awakening inside him.

Theodore, I’m sorry I judged you too quickly.

Please, don’t lose your good heart.

“Your Grace?”

I lifted my head toward him.

“Theodore is safe.”

“Then grant me one favor.”

“…?”

“Today, Theodore lost a friend. A tiny yellow bird, no bigger than my palm.”

“…!”

“You remember those monster birds from earlier? Theodore fought them off when they tried to eat that little bird. That’s why they swarmed.”

It was going to be a long story.

Because Gerald had buried himself in his study, obsessed with breaking the curse, he’d done nothing of this kind of emotional education.

Poor lonely little Theo. I hoped Gerald would listen to my last words.

Because from what I saw, he was stronger than any book described. Maybe his failure to break the curse was simply from too much study and too little love.

If only he’d spent more time with Theodore, knowing him, understanding him, encouraging him—perhaps the future could be different. For Theodore. For the Empire.

“Excuse me. Holding that sword up must hurt—can you lower it? My story’s long.”

The sword’s tip pressed harder against my throat. I couldn’t speak.

I grabbed the blade with both hands, trying to push it away, but his strength was overwhelming.

Fine. Then I’d pull my body back instead.

“You fool! Theodore was shaken today!” I shouted.

Suddenly my body tilted, and thud—my head hit the ground.

Ah, much more comfortable lying down.

I stretched out my hand, tracing a square on the ground. Then I began to draw.

“So, when you get back to the castle tonight, write a diary with him. A picture diary. He was heartbroken over that bird.”

Gerald didn’t move.

Is he even listening?

“Hey! Husband! Listen to me! I told Theodore his parents and the bird would watch over him from heaven. But you know what he said? Without a second of hesitation, he declared he wanted to go there too! That can’t happen, right?”

I raised my voice angrily at Gerald’s silence.

“So you have to tell him. Tell him his parents and that bird want him happy here on earth, not in heaven. That they want him to live long and love and be loved in this Empire before joining them much, much later. Draw that in a diary with him!”

Muttering away, I traced more pictures with my bloody fingertip. My hand was bleeding, but the wound closed quickly—as always, Sinclair healed fast.

Whether Gerald noticed or not didn’t matter. I’d be in the dungeon soon anyway. There was nothing left to fear.

I had to say these words now, while it was just the two of us.

I sketched a round face, a long face, and a little bird inside the square. On the round face I drew a wide smile, on the long face a sharp V-shaped grin, and the bird with crescent-moon eyes. Above them, I added hearts, hearts, and more hearts.

And beneath them all, I wrote with desperate care:

“Theo, we love you! Our savior, Theo.”

Even though I dreaded the pain of a blade slicing my throat again, I had to speak now.

A mad witch who can’t die would never be believed otherwise.

So I had to say everything while I had the chance.

“Our Theo… even if you can’t break that curse, he can. Love him. Love him so much. More than anything.”

The wind kept ruining my drawings, but I repaired them over and over with my finger as I continued.

“Even if you can’t, he can.”

For Theodore not to become a demon, he had to remember.

Remember how much he ached over one tiny life. Remember how he fought monsters three times his size with courage no child should have.

At five years old, with those tiny little hands, he dared the impossible.

Please, let him never forget.

I prayed with all my heart.

And so, once again, I sank into another death.