Chapter 28 — The Wish Comes True
Chapter 28 — The Wish Comes True
Translation: Godtl
Lelia was walking somewhere.
"...."
Her steps seemed very weary. Realizing this was a dream, she looked down at her own body.
She saw arms far thinner and dirtier than in reality. It wasn't just her arms. Her legs too were covered with wounds.
Moreover, her body had no strength at all, making even walking slowly a struggle.
'What is this? Where am I going?'
Even though she was aware it was a dream, moving her body as she wished was impossible.
It was a dark night with even the moonlight hidden behind clouds.
Lelia walked through the dark forest like that for a while.
The place she arrived at was in front of a pond in the woods, quite a distance from the tower where she had been staying.
It was a small pond, but like a swamp, its depth was difficult to gauge. Lelia stood before that pond for a moment.
'...What am I trying to do?'
Lelia, aware that this was a dream, began to feel an inexplicable sense of anxiety. The surrounding atmosphere was gloomy, making her feel even stranger.
Lelia's body, which had been staring vacantly at the darkened sky, soon leaned its head over the pond to look at its own reflection.
As the moonlight hidden in the clouds emerged, the face reflected in the pond was revealed.
'...!'
Lelia's eyes reflected in the pond were as hollow as if they were empty. Like a person without a soul.
Seeing those eyes so completely different from her current self, Lelia felt goosebumps rising.
It was just then. Lelia extended one foot over the pond.
'Wait, surely not...'
The hesitation was fleeting.
Lelia threw her body into the pond herself.
'No...! Save me!'
She thrashed about trying to get out of the water, but her body seemed to have no will left to breathe.
Water seeped into her mouth and nose like waves.
Like that, her breathing slowly grew fainter, and only gurgling air bubbles rose to the surface.
The pond was very deep and dark. Her body calmly accepted that darkness.
"...Hah!"
Lelia woke from her dream with ragged breaths.
"Hah... hah..."
Cold sweat poured down like rain. Lelia looked around, blinking rapidly.
"It was a dream... a dream... thank goodness... ha..."
Outside the window, the moon had already set and the light of dawn was breaking.
Lelia was lying on the floor of the shack, just as she had collapsed the night before.
"......"
Lelia caught her breath and recalled the dream she had just had.
'...What was that? A dream of the original story?'
She couldn't understand why the contents of the original story had appeared so vividly in her dream.
Goosebumps rose all over her body.
'The original me didn't slip and fall into a pond to die....'
She had taken her own life.
'But why?'
In the original story, Lelia died around this time.
That meant it was after the doll incident had occurred.
She had apologized at length for the crime of stealing Julianna's doll, and then witnessed Emperor Perseus appear and take Julianna away treasuringly.
Unlike her, who possessed memories of a past life, the original Lelia was truly a seven-year-old child.
Moreover, with delayed development, she was smaller and younger than her peers.
Such a child might not have been able to bear such a great shock. But to take her own life... how could she....
Lelia clenched her fists and trembled. Tears dropped steadily in her misery.
Because she had been reincarnated as Lelia from the original story, she could sometimes see herself from an objective perspective.
But it was still herself. Everything from the moment she was first born into this world belonged to her. It was a situation where she couldn't help but feel it as her own experience even if she tried.
"......"
In the original story, Emperor Perseus, in the distant future, suffers when he learns that Lelia was his daughter. The twin brothers felt the same way.
'It was Julianna who comforted them as they suffered from guilt.'
But they had no right to blame themselves. Because they were the ones who drove Lelia to her death.
Lelia bit her lip hard.
For the sake of the original Lelia, and for her own sake, she couldn't die so easily in this life.
'Somehow or other, I will survive tenaciously.'
Lelia, who had been crying, gritted her teeth and pulled herself together. This was no time to be crying weakly.
'Right, what about that pocket watch from yesterday?'
Only then did she recall last night's events.
Lelia quickly turned and headed toward the window.
There on the floor lay the pocket watch, exactly as it had been yesterday.
'...Could it be that my wish actually came true?'
Lelia hesitated for a moment.
The spell of prohibition that Lydios had used was simple.
If Lelia revealed to anyone of her own will that she had hidden her identity as Crown Prince Leo, she would die. But Lelia had to reveal that fact to her friends.
Since her wish was to break the spell of prohibition, to confirm it had been granted, she would have to directly tell someone that she wasn't Crown Prince Leo, that she was Lelia Auraria....
'But what if I die then?'
It was a predicament.
Lelia picked up the pocket watch, cursing herself for being foolish enough not to have thought of that.
That was when it happened.
Ting ting.
"......?"
A sound both familiar and strange was heard. A sound that had no reason to be heard here.
Lelia turned her head. The sound was coming from Elizabeth's vanity table.
She cautiously approached it.
Ting ting.
"......"
The strange sound was still coming from there. When she opened the vanity drawer, she saw a sparkling necklace.
It was a pretty necklace with a small blue gem set in it.
"...What is this?"
Lelia carefully lifted the necklace. And the moment she touched the gem.
"Kyaa!"
An enormous screen of unknown origin appeared in the air.
Lelia covered her mouth, having screamed in surprise.
The screen before her eyes was very unfamiliar, yet somehow felt familiar.
"N, no way...."
The true identity of the screen was the game screen of 'Alchemy Lottery' that had no business appearing here.
The game screen she had wished to be reincarnated into before she died.
On the screen, alchemy tools with familiar art styles sparkled and floated speech bubbles.
And familiar words rose onto the screen.
[system: Optimization 100% complete!]
[Finally completed optimization, Master!
(*•̀ᴗ•́*)و New recipes have been added to suit the environment, so please check! °˖◝(⁰▿⁰)◜˖°]
"......"
Lelia stared blankly at the screen. She was so surprised she couldn't even blink.
She recalled a day from her past life, before she died. That day's events vividly played out in her mind.