97. The Story of Snow White (3)
97. The Story of Snow White (3)
[Episode 97] - Snow White Story (3)
My father died, so what does it have to do with me, who shares his blood? I just wished she would obsess over my father instead. Because being obsessed over by Vivian was just disgusting and annoying.
And so, until the year I turned ten, Vivian really didn't touch me. Actually, it was almost scary how she didn't touch me. What on earth was she thinking, keeping me alive?
That question didn't last long. The year I turned twelve, Vivian let me know that she was a 'witch.' And she said I had the talent of a 'witch' too. At first, I thought she was a crazy bitch.
I already knew she was a crazy bitch, but now she looked like an even crazier one. When she said she was a witch and would teach me witch magic, I really wanted to hang myself right then and there.
'You have talent. The talent of a witch. So consider it an honor. There aren't many opportunities to learn magic from me, you know. Witches don't usually take apprentices. But you... you are the child who carries the blood of the one I love.'
Who asked her to teach me? She was the one forcing it on me. I wanted to refuse, but it's not like I had the right to refuse, right? I had no choice but to attend Vivian's lessons every single day.
I'd rather have been killed than take those lessons. Vivian had no talent for teaching people. She wouldn't teach me properly, and if I said I didn't know something, she was quick to slap me across the face. During class, she'd beat me until my cheeks and the inside of my mouth were busted, and then heal me with magic when it was over.
You know why Vivian healed me, right? She did it so others wouldn't see my wounds. Vivian cared about what others thought more than you'd expect. She was extremely averse to people whispering about her in the surroundings.
Honestly, the content of the lessons was interesting. The existence of 'fairies,' which I thought would be visible to others, was actually something only I and Vivian could see. Or that we used 'magic' by borrowing the power of those fairies.
It was only in my thirty-fourth life that I finally felt like something in my life was changing. Even if I regressed again and the next life started, I thought it would be okay since I had magic.
I hated Vivian to death, but I liked magic. The fairies I met every time I learned magic were all good kids, too. Yeah, I think that was when I first met Ainsel. Ainsel, the mirror fairy who was Vivian's familiar.
Ainsel and I barely had any interaction. Ainsel always stayed in Vivian's room. Even when she came out through the earring, she didn't say anything because she was walking on eggshells around Vivian. Even to my eyes, she looked like a pretty pitiful fairy.
That's how I started growing up as a witch under Vivian. Avoiding the hunter who wanted to kill me, I met Brownie in the hut, met Cait Sith in another village, and met various other fairies. I called those kids 'dwarfs.' They were cute, little kids.
However, it seems Vivian became anxious as I grew as a witch along with the dwarfs. Maybe she thought I would become a stronger witch than her, so she started keeping me in check from the year I turned seventeen.
That's why I did that. That's why I told you not to even dream of raising Titania as a witch. Because I knew you would be jealous of Titania, who had grown as a witch, and end up killing her.
One day when I was seventeen, Vivian made me a proposal. She suggested we perform a certain 'ritual' together. She said the name of the ritual was the 'Full Moon Ritual,' and that it was a ritual where you could grant one of your wishes.
I scoffed at Vivian as she explained it. If such a convenient ritual really existed, there's no way Vivian would tell me about it, right? It was obvious she had some other scheme up her sleeve. I refused, saying I wouldn't do that ritual.
But perhaps that answer bruised Vivian's ego, because she started trying to kill me again. She started poisoning my food in a childish way again, and tried to kill me by pushing me down the stairs in a petty manner. I really thought, what a consistent person.
I don't fall for those childish pranks anymore because I have the dwarfs, but honestly, I was curious about that 'Full Moon Ritual.' If that wish-granting ritual was real, couldn't I end this hellish regression?
As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I started investigating the 'ritual.' I stole Vivian's materials and sought opinions from other witches in the Coven. And surprisingly, I found out that the fact that this ritual had a 'wish-granting' effect was true.
'If so, then really...'
Could I really end my regression?
Could I finally die properly?
Since I found out that this ritual really did have a wish-granting effect, there was no need to hesitate anymore. I performed the 'Full Moon Ritual' to die properly. Because I needed rest.
While I was preparing the ritual, 'Great Witch Morgan' came to stop me, but I ignored her. The peace of finally being able to die properly was shimmering right in front of my eyes; was I supposed to endure that? As if to rebel against her words, I poured even more power into the ritual.
Isn't it funny? Me, who had no motivation because of my repeating life, showing motivation just to die.
To be honest, I think that was the most meaningful moment of my life.
Anyway, the ritual was easily prepared, and I headed to the lake on the night of the full moon. I lied to the dwarfs, went out to the lake, and slowly submerged my body into the lake and dove in.
And then I made a wish.
'Please, a life without regression.'
Then, bubbles surged from under the lake bed. Contrary to the rising bubbles, my body sank deeper and deeper into the lake. I tried to swim up to the surface, but it was as if someone was grabbing my ankles; instead of going up, I sank even further.
'Wish-granting ritual, my ass!' As I cursed all sorts of things in my mind, the familiar death came. Thinking I was regressing again, I naturally closed my eyes. Because once this short pain ended, I would become a child again, and a hellish life would unfold once more.
The moment I regained consciousness and opened my eyes.
-Ppyak! Who are you! Who are you to be in my hut?!
'Uh...? Brownie?'
The thirty-fifth life.
Unlike the familiar regression where I would regress to my childhood, I opened my eyes in Brownie's hut. Moreover, my body regressed while remaining seventeen years old. I was happy, thinking the ritual had worked, but after learning the truth, I couldn't be happy.
Because in this timeline, another 'me' who wasn't me existed.
That's right, that is 'Titania.'
I was shocked when I saw Titania, who looked two years old, at the royal castle I had snuck into. No matter how much I looked, I couldn't see any traces of regression.
The 'me' here was truly a baby who knew nothing. It was just a guess, but I thought Titania might be a new 'me' that was created because I escaped regression.
Then what about me? What on earth do I become?
...I didn't have time to think about things like that back then.
Looking around, Aurora was still alive, and besides, you, Vivian, were still just as much of a bitch. First of all, I only had the thought that I had to protect Titania. Because it was clear that if things went on like this, she would die just like me.
Thinking that, I moved to protect Titania first. I changed my face with magic, disguised myself as a maid, and protected Titania from Aurora and Vivian. I thought that doing so was the reason I came here.
However, as time passed, I started to feel something strange in my body. The inside of my body started to ache as if it were tearing, and sometimes my heart felt like it was breaking.
That pain was the 'side effect' of the ritual.
It was good that I escaped regression, but I had started to break out of the mold of being a human.
I was gradually starting to become a fairy, not a human.
As my body gradually became a fairy, I felt like I was losing 'myself.' I had finally escaped regression, but now I was starting to lose even myself.
I hate it, I hate that more than anything.
Since I escaped regression, I want to die as a human.
To live normally.
To love normally.
To marry normally.
To have children normally.
To die by the side of the people I love.
I want that kind of normal life.
I want a human life, not a fairy's life.
After that, I started frantically trying to find out about this situation. I even went to visit 'Doctor Frankenstein,' who supposedly turned a fairy into a human, but it was useless.
He told me that he had only trapped a fairy in a prosthetic body he created, and that the human he created wasn't a real 'human.' To solve the problem I was experiencing—
Not the process of a fairy turning into a human.
I needed to know the process of a human turning into a fairy.
However, I didn't know anyone other than myself who had gone through the process of a human turning into a fairy. I wanted to ask the Great Witch, but that shut-in, unemployed Great Witch had no intention of leaving the Fairy Realm.
I didn't know the way into the Fairy Realm. Besides, the Fairy Realm strictly forbade human entry. It wasn't a place I could enter while I was still human.
Doctor Frankenstein's words that I might have to wait years even if I wrote a letter to the Great Witch made me anxious. For now, I asked Frankenstein to investigate me, but he lost his life in an accident not long after.
I don't know if it was an accident or not, but I heard that the workshop that held his knowledge and everything he created were all burned down. Leaving behind only one girl he created. That's right, that girl is the current Frankenstein.
Anyway, feeling anxious, I started to find out about this situation. First, I read books and learned about fairies, but nothing could fix me. Every time that happened, Doctor Frankenstein's words echoed in my ears.
That I needed to know the process of a human turning into a fairy.
'But, there's no one else like that besides me, right? There's no one else who turns from a human into a fairy except me, right? There's only one sample, so how...!'
One sample.
At that moment, I thought I had no choice. If I was the only sample, I could just increase the number of samples, right? I could just experiment on other humans, right?
But, honestly, my conscience wouldn't allow me to make other people the same as me. Because that's an act no different from murder. So I...
I chose people my conscience would allow.
'First Queen Aurora Snow White.'
'Who...?'
'Do you know the story of the fairy who spends her whole life with the person she loves?'
I started to turn Aurora into a Leanan Sidhe with her permission. Besides Aurora, I started choosing people my conscience would allow and turning them into fairies. Only then could I die as a human.
...You know, Vivian.
I know I'm doing something wrong.
But, I don't want to die as a fairy.
I want to be happy, like Titania.
That's all.