While trapped in prison, the child often glared at Laila as if she would kill her and drive her out of the prison corridor with her threatening presence.
The young child’s gaze and a few words were sufficient to drive Laila away.
In her defense, she had no choice.
The dark, narrow, eerie space.
The child’s eyes were glaring at her fiercely.
Laila did not have the courage to withstand both of those things at the same time.
But now…….
“No.”
Laila’s boldly spoken response secretly brought a slight sense of relief.
Watching the child’s brow furrow at her response, she thought,
‘It’s a little less scary.’
Certainly, it was true.
Is this why they say the environment is so important?
Laila looked around. An open space. Fresh breeze. Lush greenery.
With such a beautiful landscape… nothing would seem so frightening.
Oh, of course, except for starving beasts or something like that.
But the child wasn’t a beast. It was a human being, maybe starving, but a human being nonetheless.
After comparing the child to a beast, somehow she felt more courageous.
Taking advantage of the moment when the child seemed less intimidating, Laila spoke again.
“Do you dislike me?”
“…….”
“You don’t have to answer that. I’m not stupid.”
Even at this moment, the child continued to glare at Laila.
As if looking at an enemy.
Laila’s heart sank. Every time she faced that gaze, she felt unjust, and it still does now.
‘Who looks at someone like that…….’
This is how she met the man who had tried to kill her three times.
After swallowing her indescribable frustration and anger, Laila spoke.
“Why do you hate me so much?”
“…….”
“What did I do to you? Is it because of the time……you got punished because of me?”
She thought the child would ignore her, but unexpectedly, the child spoke up.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“What?”
“That kind of thing doesn’t matter.”
“…Then what does matter?”
Unknowingly, Laila became anxious, waiting for the child to speak.
However, the words that came out were not the “reason” that Laila had been waiting for.
“It’s useless, so give up.”
“Huh?”
“No matter what you do, it won’t change anything, so just give up. All of it.”
“…Does that mean there’s no chance you’ll stop hating me?”
The child didn’t respond.
Not only that, he looked away.
Like he wasn’t going to deal with Laila anymore.
‘What?’
Laila, who had been bewildered, quickly regained control of her emotions.
‘…Fine. Anyway, I’m not curious anymore about why you hate me.’
As the child said, it doesn’t matter.
The reasons don’t matter.
Because whatever reason he had for hating her until now, he wouldn’t have those in the future.
The child’s attitude and her future.
It will change.
If she succeeds in her plan…
It was at that moment. The ‘object’ in Laila’s embrace vibrated.
It was a signal.
The one she’d been waiting for, and yet, deep down, maybe not waiting for.
Laila ignored the deep feelings within her. The reality, the situation, the current state, and the future were more important.
How long had it been since the signal had sounded? Laila immediately leaped and embraced the child.
The next second.
Thud!
The shock was so intense that Laila’s body shook on her back.
‘Success…….’
…is it?
Laila’s vision went dark.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
The repeated past lives of Laila.
In those lives, Marquis Hildegarde had always brought a child to the marquisate—a first for her each time—and the child had always died within a week.
In her first life before her regression, Laila had asked a servant and was told where the child had died and why.
A forest used as a hunting ground.
An arrow.
In addition, the servant told her that a blue-feathered arrow had pierced the child’s heart.
It was an important fact. A blue-feathered arrow was no ordinary arrow.
It was always the first arrow used on the hunting grounds.
A signal announcing the start of that day’s hunt.
And it was always Marquis Hildegarde who shot it.
Laila decided to rescue the child from the hunting ground, using her knowledge and precise memory of these facts.
In the most dramatic way possible.
‘First, I need that bracelet.’
To carry out her plan, she blackmailed Vilhel and stole a magical bracelet from the Marquis’ collection.
A pair of bracelets, made as a gift by a renowned wizard to share with a lover—why it was in the possession of Marquis Hildegarde, let’s leave that to imagination. One side could always send a signal to the other.
Regardless of distance or environment,
Laila kept one of the bracelets for herself and entrusted the other to Vilhel.
She then asked Vilhel to follow Marquis Hildegarde on the hunt and send a signal with the bracelet when the Marquis was about to shoot the “first” arrow at the hunting ground.
Vilhel, initially hesitant about the request, as it was not part of their agreement, but to save his life, he agreed to do the second request.
‘The signal is taken care of; next is…’
Laila boarded the carriage, heading to the hunting grounds ahead of the Marquis and the rest of the hunters.
And in that carriage was the child, just as she had expected.
The child who would die on the hunting ground today.
In other words, one of the “prey.”
Laila had suspected that the carriage would be transported to the forest before the hunt began, and her suspicion proved correct.
Fully prepared, Laila arrived at the hunting ground with the child and followed him into the woods.
She stayed close to the child without straying beyond a certain distance.
Finally, receiving the signal from Vilhel, she propelled herself and shielded the child, successfully taking the arrow ‘as planned’ in place of the child.
And…….
“I died.”
Laila sat on the bed, murmuring absentmindedly.
“I died and returned to the past…”
She felt an arrow in her back and immediately blacked out.
The next thing she knew, she was in a familiar bedroom.
Until then, Laila had not let go of hope.
Could it be that she had been moved to the bedroom after being hit by the arrow and losing consciousness?
But she soon discovered something that laid that theory to rest.
She felt fine.
There was no pain.
She had been hit by an arrow, yet there was no pain at all…
Eventually, tears streamed down Laila’s face.
Her shoulders, chin, and hands trembled one after another as she collapsed onto the bed.
“Why, why, why did I die? Why did I die there?”
Laila’s plan was simple.
First. At the hunting ground, Laila would take the arrow meant for the child!
Second. The child, moved by Laila’s incredible sacrifice, would finally open her heart to Laila! (Important)
Third. Ten years later, when Hildegarde crumbles due to revenge. Laila survives! (Very important)
Fourth. Many years later, Laila celebrates her ninetieth birthday. (perfect ending)
…But it all went wrong.
She was screwed from the start. She succeeded in taking the arrow for the child, but instead of surviving, she died right there.
Laila, who intended to display a sacrificial spirit but ended up sacrificing herself, felt unjust and empty to the point of madness.
It was hard to accept the reality.
Shot in the back with an arrow, and then died.
This was different from the countless experiences Laila had heard in her past lives. It was too different.
“It’s just an arrow… If you avoid vital points like the head, neck, or heart…”
What was that story about the knight who supposedly cut the enemy’s throat with four arrows in his back?
And the soldier who approached and embraced the child with five arrows in his back as if nothing had happened?
Was it all a hoax, and had I fallen for it?
Of course, Laila, with her ten-year-old body, had no intention of enacting such a feat of valor.
Just one arrow.
If only she could withstand that, it would have been enough…
Laila cried on the bed, then suddenly sat up.
With bloodshot eyes, she muttered,
“It was bad luck.”
Laila continued,
“I won’t have bad luck twice.”
In other words, it meant she would try again.
The same thing.
