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Chapter 48
The next morning, a light drizzle fell.
Even the early risers hadn’t started their day yet. Through the dim dawn, a figure in a black hood quietly moved.
Small children huddled together in the cargo wagon, while Glenn and Duncan guarded the front and back of the carriage.
“Hey, kid, you know who the culprit is, right?”
Lashian whispered into Ariletti’s ear.
“Someone I knew before? A companion?”
“Could be a companion, could be an enemy. And don’t call me ‘kid.’”
“Enemy?”
Seeing the confused look on Lashian’s face, Ariletti explained briefly.
“In the first cycle, he was on my side. In the second cycle, he became the enemy. I tried to recruit him back to my side in the second cycle and nearly got killed. Five times in total.”
“What?”
“The first three times, I almost died. The last two times hurt a lot too. Finally, I succeeded.”
“You almost died… five times?”
“Yeah. Not many times, but the last one was the worst.”
Wait… maybe the last days in the torture chamber of the first cycle were worse. Thinking of the magi that rotted flesh and the red-hot branding iron, Ariletti shivered. It was impossible to compare.
Lashian looked at Ariletti as if she were a rare species.
“How many times have you repeated time like that?”
“I stopped counting after a thousand times.”
The thief they were waiting for now had once been on the side of the First Prince with Ariletti in the first cycle.
In the second cycle, he started on the First Prince’s side again, but Ariletti worked hard to bring him to the Second Prince, Lucio’s side.
“This guy must be important.”
The three princes fought fiercely for the throne. They also competed to recruit the most talented and powerful people.
While Second Prince Lucio and the Pembrose dukes gathered legal and honorable talents, the First Prince Albert and Empress Lorelline recruited anyone with skill, regardless of whether they were villains or criminals.
So, Ariletti had long wondered if it was really necessary to bring back allies from her previous life.
This particular “guy” was especially cruel. But she was the one who risked her life to approach him. Blinded by revenge, she sacrificed her conscience to beat Albert, so talking about it would just be like spitting on her own face.
Lashian muttered in a choked voice.
“You’re not just tough, you’re something else.”
Even though he knew this in theory, seeing it in practice made him shiver.
“Over a thousand cycles?”
No wonder his foresight hadn’t worked properly. Lashian remembered his first and second lives but didn’t know about all the small fragments of time Ariletti had repeated thousands of times.
He wondered… what would it be like to live a life repeating the same time over and over? Wouldn’t it feel unbearably slow? In a life that burned through vitality, did she ever have anyone by her side?
The little girl, like a perfectly crafted wax doll, remained calm no matter what happened. Looking closely at her expressionless face, one could see the detachment of an old person near death, already immune to misfortune.
Ariletti, fiddling with the needles in a rabbit doll, spoke slowly.
“Don’t look at me like that. That’s why you’re being punished now.”
“No, I mean…”
“And don’t think calling me ‘kid’ is okay. One more time and I’ll pull all your hair out.”
“Is that really important right now…?”
Lashian muttered in confusion and changed the subject.
“Anyway, we don’t even know how strong he is. Isn’t this dangerous for you? Neither of us can really help.”
“Who said we can’t help?”
Ariletti pulled needles out of the rabbit doll and asked,
“…Even if you don’t know, you’d be better off not being there.”
“There’s no one better off absent, Your Highness.”
Ariletti examined Lashian, who had half-removed his hood. Thanks to secretly sharing his Mandrake potion, Lashian was healthier and stronger than when he first arrived at Hegate.
Ariletti shoved some herbs from Ismail’s gift package into Lashian’s mouth.
“Here, you too. And Uncle Dung.”
Glenn and Duncan were next. Without understanding, Glenn chewed the herbs and tilted his head.
“My opponent must be tricky?”
“He’s physically weak, but his power is evil. And he won’t cooperate with you, since he’s a magician.”
Lashian frowned. An evil-power-wielding magician? His eyes widened as he remembered his past life.
“Wait… the thief… is he… the ‘Skeleton Executioner’…?”
“Yes. That was his nickname. You’ve taken the antidote, so you won’t be poisoned or die easily.”
At that moment, a hand suddenly shot out from under the carriage.
A blackened, rotting hand.
And there wasn’t just one. Dozens of hands rose from the shadows beneath the carriage.
One grabbed Glenn’s ankle.
“Your Highness, don’t let it touch you!”
Glenn drew his sword so fast it was almost invisible. A silvery-blue gleam cut through the dawn.
Crunch!
The hand was severed, flying in pieces. Even Ariletti frowned at the gruesome sight.
At the back of the carriage, Duncan faced a similar scene.
“Ugh, disgusting! What the hell is this!”
Several black hands were impaled on the tip of his sword.
Looking closely, Duncan cursed.
“Whoever they were, they’ve been dead for years.”
“Indeed…”
Glenn swung his sword, shaking off the sticky black liquid.
“This is truly evil. I’ve never felt decayed magic like this before.”
The black liquid oozed from the severed arms, revealing thin, white bones.
Bones of humans whose muscles and flesh had rotted away.
The detached hands reattached themselves, pulling the body from the sticky pool.
The figure became clear: a moving skeleton.
A skeleton monster.
