[You’re really something.]
A twig sticking out from Elia’s backpack lightly tapped her shoulder as if speaking those words.
Elia looked at the orphanage, now ablaze in roaring flames.
[To think you’d set the orphanage on fire and run away.]
The headmaster was yelling at the top of his lungs, urging the workers to hurry and put out the fire.
Thanks to Elia’s earlier warning, the children had already evacuated before the fire started, so only the building was consumed by the flames.
The headmaster would be arrested once the authorities arrived, and the displaced children would be taken to a safe place.
With that, Elia had done all she could.
Adjusting her backpack again, Elia began walking away.
[Where are you going?]
“You think I have any regrets left in this life?”
[What are you talking about?]
“Twig, living this shitty life all over again is a nightmare. So I’m ending it. For real this time.”
[What?]
Elia ran deep into the mountains.
She was headed for the worst possible place.
She had even prepared a detailed map.
Elia had been planning this long journey ever since she was at the orphanage.
Why was life so hard?
In truth, this was Elia’s fourth life.
She had once been born into the noble Blaise family, thinking she’d live happily ever after. But it all collapsed overnight.
A mysterious plague had spread rapidly through the territory, taking everything from her.
The knight who barely escaped with her had left her at a rural orphanage and disappeared.
That happened when Elia was five years old. She had suffered abuse from the headmaster at the orphanage.
Because she was the only surviving child of a “cursed” noble family.
The Blaise family had been a renowned house of scholars.
They had amassed considerable wealth, but an unknown epidemic had burned down their entire domain, including the lord’s castle.
Because she alone had survived, people believed she was cursed.
It was the empire’s second prince, Raul, who had rescued Elia from the headmaster’s abuse.
He had appeared like a prince on a white horse and saved her from the headmaster’s claws.
From that moment, Elia became one of Raul’s people—as both his handmaid and his friend.
Then, at the age of seven, Elia awakened as the Guardian of the World Tree.
The Guardian—one chosen to save the world on behalf of the World Tree.
The World Tree, rooted in the continent and watching over the world, was a sacred existence.
Since it could not move, it designated a Guardian to bring aid where salvation was needed.
Blessings of earth to barren lands.
Blessings of water to drought-stricken areas. Healing blessings to the sick and diseased.
The Guardian’s existence was salvation itself. But not all humans were good.
Corrupted by greed, they coveted the Guardian’s power and tormented her in countless ways to exploit it.
Many Guardians had been drained and murdered.
The World Tree mourned.
So it stopped choosing Guardians—for a long time. Until Elia appeared after centuries.
Naïve and unaware, Elia was exploited and used by Raul and his mother, Empress Christina. But did the World Tree not notice?
It did—and sent Elia back in time. Thus began her second life.
She devoted that life to revenge against Raul, who had killed her.
She allied herself with Raul’s half-brother, Serhi, and supported him.
They formed what they called the “Revenge Alliance.”
After helping Serhi bring down Raul and Empress Christina, she was betrayed once again.
When Serhi seized everything, he discarded Elia without mercy.
And so her third life began—with the mindset of “If I die, you’re coming with me.”
Elia vowed revenge once more.
She wanted to obliterate everyone connected to Raul and Serhi.
She nearly succeeded—but the World Tree intervened. And judged her.
The World Tree had the power to judge those who disturbed the balance of the world.
And it deemed Elia such a threat. She was sentenced—thus her fourth regression.
With all this behind her, how could she still cling to life?
Back in the orphanage as a seven-year-old, Elia thought endlessly.
How could she die the most painful, brutal death?
Looking back at her past lives, she realized the things she had done were truly horrifying.
How many innocent lives had she taken for revenge?
She concluded that she deserved death.
[Elly, think again.]
“About what?”
[That terrifying, horrible thing you’re thinking of—maybe don’t do it.]
“I deserve to die.”
[Elly!]
Not wanting to hear another word, Elia shoved the talking twig deep into her backpack and headed toward the treacherous Monster Mountains.
She still believed this was the worst possible death.
Being ripped apart.
Afraid? Not at all.
The moment she resolved to die, fear was tossed far away—beyond the ocean.
Climbing the most dangerous, deadly mountain, Elia reached the lair of the notorious Spider Queen.
The twig, still stuck in her backpack, kept desperately trying to stop her.
[Elly, this is insane. You don’t know how vicious she is, do you?]
“Will you shut up?”
[No! Why should I? I’ll keep trying to stop you until the end!]
The twig struggled to escape the backpack and shouted.
[The Spider Queen wraps her prey in webbing and then pierces it with her fangs to suck it dry. Painfully. Horribly.]
Elia completely ignored the twig’s warnings about how terrifying the Spider Queen was.
[Elly, are you ignoring me?!]
Without hesitation, Elia threw herself into the Spider Queen’s web.
[Elly, you really—!]
As she laid herself flat in the web, the twig fell silent.
“Twig, evil people need to be punished for the world to be right.”
[You think the World Tree will stay quiet?]
“What, is it going to send me back again?”
The twig said nothing.
“Tell it to keep sending me back. I’ll keep dying.”
[You… really…]
At that moment, a chilling noise rang out.
Something was approaching through the web.
Elia saw spiders in the distance—but instead of fear, she smiled.
“Come on! Hurry up and eat me!”
She shouted at the top of her lungs, as the twig let out a sigh of disbelief.
If she was going to die anyway, she hoped it would hurt the most.
“Your Grace, there’s a child caught in the web over there.”
A child dangled in the spider’s web, with baby spiders rushing toward her. The sight caught their eyes.
“Handle those first, Dmitri.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
The man called Dmitri led the knights and quickly dispatched the baby spiders.
Elia, lying still in the web, hoping to be eaten, opened her eyes in confusion.
People who looked like knights were brutally cutting down the spiders.
Then came a slicing noise—the web holding Elia was cut.
She fell, only to be caught in the arms of a man with silver hair.
Held tightly in his strong arms, Elia blinked up at his face.
He looked so familiar.
And then she remembered.
‘Duke Alexis Kartellani!’
The silver lion of the north!
In her past life, he had been the first person she targeted while helping Prince Raul.
Because he had supported the First Prince.
Looking closely, he appeared much younger than she remembered.
She felt overwhelmed with guilt toward him.
Which only reinforced her belief that she must pay for her sins.
“…Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t save me…”
“I was wondering what you were babbling about… Just bear with the discomfort for now. I have to take care of this first.”
The Duke wrapped Elia tightly in his cloak and held her securely.
Just then, a massive spider, its red eyes blazing with fury, came speeding down the web above.
With a few swift swings of his sword, Duke Kartellani sliced through the Spider Queen’s body, the sound sharp and clean.
As expected from the continent’s most skilled Swordmaster.
‘He had already reached mastery even at this age.’
Elia didn’t know what he had been like in his youth. She had only met him when he was over thirty.
Even then, he had been overwhelmingly strong—and now was no different.
Clearly, he had always been exceptional.
