95. The Story of Snow White (1)
95. The Story of Snow White (1)
[Episode 95] - Snow White Story (1)
"So, listen quietly. This is a chance I'm giving you."
At Snow White's cold voice, I had no choice but to swallow hard and nod. Snow White, who frowned as if the mere thought of it was annoying, began to speak her story aloud.
"...At first-"
*
At first, I thought it was just a dream.
I woke up from my sleep, opened my eyes, and found I had returned to when I was five years old. Can you believe it? I was just about to turn seven, and I woke up to find myself back at five.
I didn't know what to do in a situation I'd only ever seen in novels. But the confusion only lasted a moment. The situation wasn't as bad as I thought. Because in my first life, I had bad relationships with other people.
So this time, I was sure I would get along with everyone. No, I made up my mind to do so. Of course, even with the Second Queen Vivian, with whom I had a really, really bad relationship.
Really innocent and stupid, right?
In my second life, I started by greeting as many people as possible. To the passing maids, the nobles, the ministers, and to Father, the King.
I just greeted people diligently, but the reputation around me changed completely from my first life. I became close with the maids, and with the ministers too. I even went to Father to study.
I was really happy then. It was completely different from my first life. Everyone liked me, except for one person. Yes, except for the Second Queen Vivian. But, I didn't give up, you know?
"Wow, Your Majesty the Queen... the weather is nice today... T-this is a gift for you...!"
"......"
Every time I went to see Vivian, I brought at least a flower. But even when I approached her like that, Vivian hated me. No matter when I greeted her, she would look down at me coldly, click her tongue, or ignore me.
Back then, I was young and just thought I had done something wrong. I thought Vivian hated me because I had done something wrong. That's what I thought. I was a stupid child who didn't know how to blame others.
Still, I really didn't give up. Because this time, my goal was to get along with everyone. However, the distance between Vivian and me didn't narrow at all, and time just flowed until I was about to turn seven.
This time, I 'regressed' to four years old.
'Why?'
This time too, just before turning seven, I woke up and had 'regressed'. The question of 'Why on earth?' wouldn't leave my head. Because I really didn't know the reason for this regression either. Besides...
'My birthday was in a few days...'
I was sad that I had regressed again without passing my seventh birthday. This time, I had even made promises with Father and the ministers. That this birthday would be really special. That it would be a day to remember for the rest of my life.
But in the end, I regressed. The moment I thought, 'Maybe I can't pass seven no matter what I do?', I felt like I was trapped in a maze with no exit.
Still, I didn't give up until my third life. This time, I started investigating in earnest to find out why I regressed whenever I turned seven. I tried to find out the conditions for regression.
I read books and gathered rumors. Of course, it didn't help at all. Even if I read books, I couldn't find any information about regression, and even if there was, it was just a story that only appeared in novels.
Realizing that I couldn't learn from books, I started looking for commonalities between my first and second lives. Suddenly, I thought, 'Did I accidentally fulfill some condition?'
However, even after worrying for years, I couldn't figure out anything. Time passed in vain, and eventually, just like the previous life, I was right before turning seven.
That day, I couldn't sleep comfortably due to the anxiety that 'What if I go back again when I wake up?'. Perhaps my appearance looked pitiful to others, a maid approached me.
The girl was named 'Ellie', one of Vivian's maids. I remembered her face because I had seen it every time I went to see Vivian. Ellie approached me and asked.
'Princess, can't you sleep?'
Exhausted, I couldn't even answer properly and just nodded. Then, Ellie looked at me and smiled a very kind smile, saying she would brew me some tea that helps with sleep.
So I took the tea Ellie brewed and stared blankly at the teacup. Just as I was about to bring it to my lips without any suspicion, something popped into my head.
In my first life, and in my second life too.
The memory of receiving and drinking 'tea' from someone on the night before I regressed. It was a memory that came to me by pure chance. As that memory surfaced, a small suspicion bloomed in my head.
'...Ellie, I'm fine, so why don't you drink it?'
'Y-yes...? How could I dare to drink the Princess's tea...'
'Never mind that.'
I hoped that suspicion wasn't the truth. I wanted to believe my exhausted head was thinking bad thoughts. If what was in this teacup was really poison...
'Drink it quickly.'
Because Ellie would just throw it away if she didn't drink it.
Ellie's face, having taken the teacup I offered, began to turn pale. She trembled so much that the teacup in her hand shook, and soon she made retching sounds from her throat as if she were about to vomit.
After showing that reaction for a while, Ellie eventually.
'...I will drink it gratefully.'
She drank the tea in the teacup just like that, and smiled at me. A normal, gentle smile, as if there were no problems at all.
Then, after bowing her head to me, Ellie returned to her room as if nothing had happened. Seeing Ellie with no problems even after drinking the tea, I let out a sigh of relief, thinking it was fortunate.
The thing Ellie gave me wasn't poison. Thinking I had worried for nothing, I felt relieved and lay down on the bed to sleep. Praying that, please, I wouldn't regress again when I woke up.
So the next morning, fortunately, I didn't 'regressed'.
And Ellie was found as a 'corpse' in her room.
The cause of Ellie's death was 'poison'.
And that poison was found in the 'teacup' that Ellie had handed to me. Do you know how I felt when I found out that Ellie had died from the poison in that teacup?
More than the shock that the condition for regression was 'death', it was painful that Ellie had died because of a single word from me. I know Ellie tried to kill me. And the fact that she took her own life when she failed.
However, even so, as a young child, the fact that a person died because of words that came out of my mouth was unbearably painful, more so than the fact that I almost died. Because I was in such agony, a thought suddenly occurred to me?
'I'd rather have regressed again.'
If I regressed one more time, I could create a future where Ellie wouldn't die and I wouldn't die either. Isn't it funny? I tried so hard to escape regression, and I even knew that the condition for regression was death.
I wanted to regress again.
So time flowed and flowed in agony, and in the end, I didn't regress until my seventh birthday. That time was proof that I had died by poison in both my first and second lives.
And so, my seventh birthday, which I finally reached, was a beautiful day that would remain in my memory for the rest of my life, just as Father and the ministers had said.
For a moment, I was able to escape my guilt and be happy.
I danced with Father, and I danced with the ministers too. Just as I was thinking I was a little happy, and wishing that days like this would continue in the future, that moment.
'Princess. So you were here.'
Vivian came to find me while I was walking down the hallway alone. At the expression of Vivian smiling at me for the first time, I approached Vivian with a big smile. With the innocent heart of, 'Did she come to congratulate me because it's my birthday?'
'Your Majesty Queen Vivian!'
As I approached Vivian with a bashful smile, Vivian just looked down at me with a smile. Honestly speaking, until then, I quite liked Vivian. Why? Can't you believe that I liked Vivian?
The reason I liked Vivian was... first of all, she's a beautiful person, right? And, even if she wasn't my biological mother, Vivian was in the position of my mother. That must be why. Missing my mother, I really wanted to get close to my stepmother, Vivian.
Really, until then, I hoped for that.
The moment I approached Vivian and lifted my head, Vivian pushed my shoulder hard. So hard that my body flew. And as luck would have it, the place I flew to was a steep staircase.
...After that, honestly, I don't remember well. I only have memories of the sound of bones breaking while rolling down the stairs and the pain. However, there is one thing I remember clearly.
Vivian's expression when she pushed me down the stairs. Like someone who saw something disgusting, with a frown, Vivian's expression as she pushed my shoulder is the one thing that remains in my memory.
Closing my eyes in pain like that, and the moment I opened my eyes again.
I had returned to five years old once again.
The moment I returned, I screamed, feeling the illusion and pain of my neck breaking. I wasn't in my right mind. At that moment, I couldn't endure it without going crazy.
Well, isn't it? It was the moment it was proven that death was the condition for regression, and the moment I found out the culprit who had been killing me all this time.
'Why on earth? Why are you trying to kill me? I liked you so much!'
This is the story up to my fourth life.
*
"......"
Throughout listening to Snow White's story, I didn't take my eyes off the Red Thread on my wrist. At first, it was to watch if Snow White was lying, but as I listened to the story, I wished that this Red Thread would please break.
However, the Red Thread connecting me and Snow White showed no intention of breaking at all. The Red Thread tied to my wrist was saying that Snow White's story was the truth, that it was not a lie.
As I kept my lips tightly shut, not knowing what to say, Snow White looked at me with a smirk. Perhaps she had cried a little while talking, as the corners of Snow White's eyes were slightly red.
"So I think I was more angry at you. Even if you are different from the Vivian I knew, your appearance was 'Vivian'."
"......"
"Because you, who hated me enough to kill me, are raising 'me' with love this time. I have never, not even once, received such affection from you."
Snow White continued, smiling bitterly. Saying her story wasn't over yet, she continued her story once again. This time...
It was the story of Aurora.
*
From the fourth life onwards, it was a fight against Vivian. I tried to live while avoiding Vivian, who was trying to kill me. However, it wasn't quite easy.
If poison didn't work, she would push me down the stairs like last time, or start a fire in my room and lock the door from the outside. She even colluded with assassins in the royal castle. She must have hated me that much.
Fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh. Dying and regressing, dying and regressing, after regressing so many times, I learned a few things too. The first thing I learned was...
First of all, the time I regressed to was all different. Sometimes to five years old, sometimes to four years old, even if I regressed to the same age, the time and date were different every time. That time, it must have been the twelfth.
The time I returned to through regression that time was-
'Au?'
It was when I was one year old.
When I returned as a baby who could barely babble, I felt truly miserable. The shame of having my embarrassing parts exposed to the maids while being unable to do anything was as painful as dying and regressing.
As I, having become a baby, was just wasting time on the bed, the maids' chatter while slacking off reached my ears.
'How is Queen Aurora's health?'
'She seems a bit better lately. She's taking her medicine diligently too.'
'If she's gotten a bit better, I wish she would come to see the Princess...'
The moment the name Aurora reached my ears, my heart sank. Because I heard that my mother, who I was told passed away after giving birth to me when I was young, was alive.
'Mother is alive in this timeline!'
It was the moment another goal for this regression was created. Father said, I heard that Mother definitely passed away after becoming weak from an 'illness'.
So I set a goal to use this regression to save Mother. Because Vivian would never love me. So, if I save Mother, surely Mother would love me.
I firmly believed that, like a fool.