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~Chapter 13~
The rule, when your true identity is revealed, is to eliminate the witness.
All the more so when, like now, you’ve become a confused child.
Edell felt the warm hand holding his own and lowered his gaze. He didn’t want to be disappointed in or hate someone who had been kind to him.
Just like the Duke and Duchess had done in the past, she would come to fear him too. Ciella’s green eyes, which were holding his hand, trembled with fear and anxiety.
“Ciella, goodbye.”
As he gave his final farewell, Edell’s form dissipated, melting away like black smoke.
“Edell?”
Ciella’s eyes widened as she watched the black smoke slip through her fingers. Did he leave because I found out he’s a black mage and he thought I’d fear or hate him for it?
There was a time when she had considered sending Edell away, the same Edell who had once been a ruthless villain and black mage.
In a way, she had gotten exactly what she’d once wished for…
“Edell, do you know how happy it is to have someone to eat with?”
“I don’t. I’m more used to being alone. Being with someone else just feels strange.”
Ding– dong–.
The only sound in the silence was the clock announcing the hour.
On the floor lay clothing and belongings—likely from Philip’s men—scattered around as if they’d simply vanished into thin air.
She suddenly realized that Edell’s summoned shadows must have devoured them all.
Alone in the empty space, Ciella recalled her time with Edell: eating together after a long day, his constant presence while she worked in the general store, his companionship on trips to the market or the mountain to gather herbs—Edell had always been there in her everyday life.
“It seems like everything is more fun when I’m with you, Sister. Don’t you think so too?”
She could still see Edell’s smile, shining with the warm sunlight in his hair, cheeks, and eyes.
“It was Edell who filled the emptiness in my life…”
No matter if he’d once been a villain or possessed dangerous black magic—she had just wanted someone by her side. Ciella covered her face with both hands, bowed her head, and then rose, her eyes now resolute.
“If I let him go like this, I’ll just be repeating the past.”
She scolded herself for focusing only on negative worries instead of possibilities.
“Worrying about things that haven’t even happened yet is a waste of time. It’s inefficient.”
That was the conclusion she’d come to in her second life.
Rather than do nothing and worry, it’s better to try and fail. With that, she dashed out of the room.
Fwoosh!
As she raced out the door, a red spark flared briefly on the doorframe, but she didn’t notice.
Up on the roof of the shop, a black cat watched Ciella rush away, lazily swishing its tail.
Outside, Edell looked up at the darkening evening sky. The evening star shone especially bright against the purple backdrop.
What should I do now? He wandered down a forest path, deep in thought.
In the past, driven only by revenge and hatred, he had charged forward with nothing in his sights but the destruction of the Empire—never noticing that his own mind and body were burning away.
But even after achieving revenge, the wounds he’d received never truly disappeared.
“There’s no place in this world for a black mage like me.”
Walking deeper into the forest, Edell muttered to himself. No one had ever let him stay by their side, nor taught him how to live. That’s why he had come to believe that the only way to survive was to take things by force.
Why was I reborn as a child? Lost in thought, Edell found himself approaching the tree where Ciella had first discovered him.
“You were hanging there, like a fruit! So I, uh, climbed the tree…”
He thought he could still hear Ciella’s cheerful voice as she’d explained, basket of raspberries in hand.
Edell sat at the base of the tree, gazing up at the darkening sky.
Poor child, you’re all alone again, aren’t you?
Somewhere deep inside, a voice whispered to him again, like an echo.
Here’s your chance for revenge again. Didn’t I tell you? Useless things get trampled and disappear in misery. But now, you have great power.
Just then, a warm voice pushed back against the demon’s attempt to take over Edell’s mind.
“Edell, happiness isn’t complicated. Go to school, make friends, go on picnics on your days off, eat your favorite desserts on payday…”
But there’s no one to do those things with anymore. Edell, crouched on the ground, buried his face in his knees.
“Edell!”
Somewhere, Ciella’s real voice rang out. Surprised, Edell looked up and saw her standing some distance away, out of breath from running.
“Hey! So you’re just going to run away from home?”
Edell couldn’t understand why she looked so upset.
“Don’t come closer. If you want to live, stay away.”
Enveloped in dark magic, Edell glared fiercely at her. A giant shadow wolf appeared, snarling menacingly as it threatened her.
But Ciella’s green eyes remained firm, her face resolute and unwavering. She was certain Edell wouldn’t harm her. If he’d meant to, her head would have already been separated from her body. Edell never gave warnings.
She glared right back at the shadow wolf, baring her own “fangs,” and shouted,
“Bbo-ppi! Sit!”
Suddenly, the shadow wolf sat down at her command, as if it were a trained dog. Edell’s eyes went wide in astonishment. Was his shadow beast actually obeying her?
“Good boy.”
When Ciella nodded approvingly, the shadow wolf flopped onto its back, showing her its belly and wagging its tail wildly.
“Oh my, for such a big guy, you sure are a sweetheart!”
Edell looked at Ciella, bewildered, as she scratched the wolf’s belly.
“…What are you?”
“I used to have a dog. I can handle animals just fine.”
Ciella answered simply. What kind of person is she? As Edell stared at her in confusion, she pulled him tightly into a hug.
“It’s time for dinner. Let’s go home.”
Her tone was casual, like someone making up after a brief argument.
As Edell wriggled in her arms, trying to get free, he said,
“You know I’m a black mage.”
“I knew that a long time ago.”
This answer was unexpected for Edell.
He then realized—much later than he should have—that the necklace around his neck had a magic resistance enchantment.
She knew, and yet she kept me by her side?
He remembered the fearful looks she’d sometimes given him, her anxious eyes when she thought he wasn’t watching.
“You were scared of me…”
“I thought about it, and it wasn’t really you I was afraid of.”
Ciella smiled a little sadly, speaking slowly.
“I couldn’t trust myself. I was never a naturally good person. What I feared was that my own poor choices might bring us both unhappiness.”
Just like you, I also got a second chance at life and had to start over as a child. Ciella held back the rest of her words and stroked Edell’s jet-black hair.
“Everyone has a dark corner they want to keep hidden.”
Edell hung his head and pushed her away.
“I… I only hurt others.”
Even if you’ve been hurt in similar ways, claiming to fully understand someone else’s pain would be arrogant.
After all, everyone’s scars are different.
He was a boy who bristled with sharp edges to avoid being wounded. People say that when two broken people embrace, all they do is hurt each other.
“Anyone can hurt, and be hurt by, someone else.”
I met Edell’s eyes as he tried to escape from me.
“You’ve been hurt too.”
You chose to become someone who hurts others because you didn’t want to be hurt anymore.
At my words, Edell’s eyes went wide, flickering like waves.
I thought of the lonely, isolated childhood of the villain Yuri Sinclair, and pulled him into my arms.
“Let’s start over, together.”
Even if we can’t become whole again because of the missing pieces we’ve lost—
Maybe, just maybe, someone’s sharp-edged fragment can fill the empty space in someone else’s heart.
Maybe this is a chance to recognize and seek forgiveness for our past sins—and, instead of cruel revenge, to learn to forgive.
Edell, who had tried to push me away, now clung tightly to me.
That touch felt desperately earnest.
I know just how lonely it is to have no one reach out and take your hand.
