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Chapter 54
“Isn’t this my fight? Why are you messing with an innocent kid!”
Eliza was in their hands.
Terrified, Regi couldn’t properly use his mana. He could only breathe heavily, frozen in fear.
“If you don’t want to be buried alive here, take your hands off immediately. I’ll count to five. One, two, three…”
Smack. His vision flipped upside down, and a sharp, twisting pain tore through his insides.
It took a moment for him to realize the young man had punched him in the stomach again—this time hitting properly.
“Ugh…”
“Do you really think you’re in control? You still don’t get it.”
Glenn brushed off his fist and nodded to Duncan.
Duncan cracked his neck and grabbed Regi by the scruff of his neck. Compared to the burly knight, Regi looked tiny.
“Let’s talk first. We’ll decide your punishment later, so watch your words, okay?”
Both Glenn and Duncan’s voices were cold and emotionless, as if they already considered him a villain.
Duncan tied Regi up tightly with ropes and forced him to kneel.
“How long has this child been dead?”
“I’m not dead!”
“You’re lying. Why haven’t you buried a dead kid?”
“I said I’m not dead! What do you know?”
Regi shouted, panicked.
“She’ll come back to life soon! I’ll save her! So don’t touch her!”
Tears streamed down his flushed face.
Glenn glanced at the bed, speechless. The girl lying there, Eliza, looked like she’d been dead for months.
Trying to revive someone who was already a corpse… Regi must be losing his mind.
Ariletti calmly stared at Regi.
‘A familiar story,’ she thought.
The “villain with a tragic past”—someone who turns dark after losing family—is common. Even villains have reasons for their crimes.
Ariletti looked at the corpse on the bed. She knew that Regi, the dark mage, had a younger sister.
She understood the situation. After losing his family unjustly, he grew vengeful, destroyed his village, and fled. To bring his sister back, he learned forbidden dark magic, which the Mage Tower banned.
When Ariletti met Regi in his second life, Eliza was already gone from the world. Back then, she had become a skeleton. Seeing her almost intact face now was the first time.
‘So this is what Eliza looked like.’
It seemed this was shortly after Eliza’s death and right when Regi started studying dark magic.
However, her body had already begun to decay. Ice and chemicals were placed under the cold iron bed to slow decomposition, but it wouldn’t last long.
Dark mages who raise corpses need cold potions or substances.
‘That explains why Regi studied both dark magic and freezing magic,’ Ariletti thought.
A dark mage who mastered both would become more powerful than the Mage Tower leader in ten years. His undead radiated magic that could rot flesh on touch.
But the undead Regi made now were imperfect. At most, they could control skeletons.
Mindless skeletons could only perform simple tasks or repeat attacks mechanically.
Most of the undead that couldn’t even become skeletons wore commoners’ clothes and held farming tools like hoes, sickles, or pickaxes. These were probably villagers Regi killed. Skeletons were likely taken from graves or execution grounds.
Ariletti steadied herself.
“You’re no different from the people who killed Eliza.”
“Shut up! You don’t know anything!”
Regi shouted, veins bulging, terrified she might touch his sister’s body.
“So, you’re any different? How?”
“Doing nothing is still a crime. They deserved to die!”
“Who decides they did nothing? On what basis?”
“Of course, me—her brother…!”
“Unfortunately, the fact that Eliza died doesn’t give you the right to kill anyone. She died because of your uncle, and you slaughtered the village. Those are separate things. It’s not rightful revenge.”
Ariletti felt Lashian’s gaze on her but continued speaking.
“And reviving Eliza like this isn’t the right way. You know that, right?”
Without reversing time, there’s no way to bring a corpse back to life exactly as it was. Turning someone into an undead only prolongs their soul’s suffering.
“You’ve committed unforgivable sins not just against the villagers, but also against Eliza.”
Regi’s eyes welled with tears.
“No… what do you know?”
“I do know.”
“Shut up! You… you little brat who’s never lost anything… you’ll never understand…”
“I do understand.”
Seeing Regi bite his lip, refusing to admit it, reminded Ariletti of her past self.
She wasn’t in a position to scold him. She too had committed wrongs blinded by revenge.
Glenn noticed and gently lowered her under the iron bed.
“Don’t go too close, teacher.”
“Okay.”
Quiet footsteps appeared in Regi’s view. Ariletti murmured softly:
“No matter what you do, the dead won’t come back. No matter how much you repay, it won’t undo it. You’ll go to hell.”
“And I’m the same.”
“Stopping now won’t erase your sins, but at least you might remain human.”
“I… I can’t bury Eliza…”
Regi’s voice cracked.
“She’s everything to me. I promised my mother I’d protect her. That was her last wish…”
“If you want to honor your parents’ wishes, do it properly. Clear her name. Find out who falsely accused her.”
Ariletti tilted her head to look at Regi. He flinched, tears dropping like beads.
“Why… why are you looking at me like that?”
“Do you want me to help?”
Her clear eyes reflected his stunned face.
The small girl spoke quietly:
“I’ll help keep Eliza from rotting. One vial of Snow Fairy’s Breath will be enough. And I’ll hide you and your sister so no one finds out who you are.”
Regi blinked, stunned.
The girl’s expression was complex—cold and yet gentle when looking at Eliza.
‘Have I met her before? Her hair looks familiar.’
Could everything she said be genuine? She’s offering help with no gain?
“Of course, if you think this is free, you’re mistaken, Regi.”
“Huh?”
Her voice sharpened. Regi realized she had returned to her earlier cold expression.
“In return for helping you, we’ll need to use you a little.”
