TNCTR 02

Episode 2

I tried to argue, to insist that it wasn’t true—but they had already made up their minds. There was no changing them.

“No criminal willingly confesses to their own crime, Lady. Or rather, I suppose I should just call you Inerea now. Your blood was found at the site where the Duchess’s body was buried.”

“……”

“It was confirmed by fourteen mages and two priests. Now, tell me. What stronger evidence could there be than this?”

It felt like my blood was boiling.

The night my mother died, I had followed my father up the mountain at his request.

I remembered stumbling on stones and scraping my skin on jagged branches along the way.

Was that when I bled?

That’s it…? That’s all it takes to make me the killer?!

“What other evidence is there? If you saw the body, you’d know I didn’t do it!”

It was a meaningless outburst.

When I stepped back, armed knights drew their swords and began to approach slowly.

I swallowed dryly at the sight of their sharpened blades. My throat bobbed.

The moment they stepped closer—

I turned on my heel and ran toward the terrace.

Chaos erupted behind me, but I had no choice.

There was nowhere else to run.

I jumped from the terrace, not too high, not too low.

Once I’d accepted I was going to die anyway, there was no more hesitation.

Thud!

I hit the ground and rolled, but there was no time to waste.

I ran with everything I had.

All I wanted was to escape, to hide somewhere people wouldn’t find me.

I’d had enough of it all.

I didn’t know how long I ran.

Without a drop of water, my feet blistered and tore open as I ran and ran and ran.

When I finally came to my senses, I was deep in the forest.

From that day on, I lived by begging clothes off beggars, eating moldy bread I could scrounge up.

By now, I was surely a wanted fugitive.

Whenever I saw knights closing in, I ran without hesitation.

“This life is worse than death.”

Surviving for three years was a miracle in itself.

I hid in the mountains, stealing and surviving like a ghost, but people have their limits.

I was dying.

My life had reached its end.

I had no strength left to flee, no energy to move.

All I could do was breathe, faint and shallow.

I looked up at the blurry figure of a man approaching me, leaning against a tree.

“Is that the reaper coming to greet me?”

I muttered toward the knight who had come to take me.

As I watched the knight draw near, my father’s face appeared in my mind.

No—he’s not even worth calling “father.”

My dying body held no more life force.

I had raged, screamed, cried in misery and pain… and this was my end.

“Congratulations on finally catching a traitor.”

I spat out the words in a hoarse whisper, like scratching at an old wound.

Everything hurt. I couldn’t move. The knight with his drawn sword was terrifying.

I was going to die today.

“At least the Duke…”

What was I to do with this grudge that had nowhere to go?

“I wanted to be the one to drag that man into hell.”

My faint voice, as weak as my fading life, drifted into the air.

“If only I had power…”

I couldn’t feel the pain anymore.

“Would things have turned out differently?”

My heart pounded like it was on fire.

I saw the knight raise his sword.

Clutching my chest, I felt my consciousness blur. And in my final breath, I murmured—

“I want power… power so no one can treat me like nothing ever again.”

Power great enough to change a wretched life no one could hold in their hands.

I don’t know if I exhaled my last breath first, or if my heart stopped from his sword.

All I know is I closed my eyes—never to open them again.

That’s how I died.

Or so I thought.

When I woke from what I believed was an eternal sleep—

I was nineteen again, on the day my mother died…

And my father reached out his hand and told me to follow him—just like before.

Once again, Mother was buried in that cold, remote mountain, and Father “accidentally” slipped off the cliff and reached out to me for help.

And…

This time, I didn’t take his hand.

“Goodbye.”

That was all.

✦ ✦ ✦

No way!

The shock of it all made me clutch my head.

I avoided the gazes of others and crept back into my room, wiping away tears.

“To think I’d cry again… in this room that always felt like a prison.”

I collapsed onto the cold, lifeless floor, muttering.

It felt like no one had ever lived in this room. No scent, no warmth—nothing.

And yet, I’d spent my whole life here.

My heart, which had pounded as if it would leap out of my chest, slowly began to calm.

I sat still and looked down at my hands.

Moonlight streamed softly through the window. My body was bruised and scratched all over.

The sight of those injuries, reminding me that everything I’d experienced was real, made me clench my fists.

It hurts… it really hurts.

“This isn’t a dream…”

It wasn’t some flashback before death—it was real.

I trembled like a leaf.

Even though I didn’t know why I was shaking, I couldn’t stop laughing either.

“What the hell…! Ha! What is this?!”

I ripped off my white linen nightgown.

I winced instinctively at the pain as the fabric brushed my wounds, but I couldn’t help but laugh.

“So I really came back to the past.”

To the day my mother died…! Which meant I’d gone back three years.

“See you in hell, Father.”

I burned the filthy clothes.

The stench was so foul it made me cover my nose, but my steps toward the bathroom were light.

“If life is about crawling on the ground, I don’t want it anymore.”

Last time, I gave my all to save him on that cliff.

I didn’t know he’d send me into ruin—I reached for his hand like it was my only hope and dragged him up with everything I had.

Now that the obedient me didn’t take his hand… what was he thinking?

Smiling with a clear mind, a forgotten concern suddenly returned.

“Those knights…”

The ones who saw something they never should have, like a thorn in my side.

I could still hear the voice that offered to let me go like they were doing me a favor—but I shook my head.

“It’s fine. There’s no proof…”

Besides, they were camping in the Duke’s mountain territory.

If I trace them, I’ll figure out who they are quickly enough.

So for now, I’d savor this moment of victory, like raising a toast to time turned back.

The bathroom was wide but cold, with floors that sent icy shivers through me.

“I never thought I’d miss this.”

I dipped a hand into the cold water.

My body flinched.

Even cold water was a luxury.

Back then, the Duke’s household never even warmed the water in my private bath.

While being chased, bathing itself became a luxury.

The piercing cold made my shoulders tremble. It felt like ice picks stabbing into my toes.

I tilted my head back.

“It’s not the cold I missed.”

The wide bathroom, the clean water, the expensive marble, the luxurious ornaments—

After crawling through hell, I think I missed these things.

My body reflected in the mirror.

I slowly stood, squinting.

I nearly slipped on the wet floor but caught myself just in time, staggering toward the dim mirror and touching it.

“This is…”

What is this?

The reflection looked unfamiliar.

Shiny black hair, gray eyes, hands neat and smooth, healthy skin clinging just right to my frame.

I remembered how broken and battered my body was in the past.

It would’ve been strange if my body had been healthy after how I was treated.

But instead of rejoicing over my restored body, something bothered me deeply.

I ran a hand over the left side of my chest.

There, on my pale skin, was a large, red scar.

The rough texture under my fingertips made my skin crawl.

“What is this…?”

A red scar, like a spiderweb wrapping around my heart.

It was a wound I didn’t have before. It felt foreign and out of place.

With trembling hands, I traced the pinkish mark again, eyes wide.

Then, a memory flashed through my mind.

Just before I died—my heart had pounded like it was on fire.

“……”

No way…

“Is this… from then?”

The scar of death was etched right over my heart.