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1.

The day when Amelia Marigold inherited her brand...

Was the day when she killed her master with her own hands.

At least, that was what she believed.

Facing that cruel twist of fate, Amelia cried and collapsed multiple times.

All by herself, she watched over her master’s funeral procedure, which was only attended by a few people.

By the time said funeral was over...

She no longer shone.

The previously dreamy scenery of the cabin that was brightened by her had sunk into the darkness.

Darkness that was deeper than the deep sea, gloomier than a murky swamp.

She sat at the table, gluing herself to her magic research documents, drowning herself in her magic study.

As if it was the only reason she even existed.

Without saying a single word, without sleeping, without eating, only stopping when she had to vomit from the fatigue, she continued to drown herself.

In that dark space...

Time passed.

Spring, summer, fall, winter, back to spring again...

But, no matter how many times that cycle repeated, she didn’t stop; as if magic was her life mission, without being aware that it was just her means of coping with her loss.

“...”

Siwoo couldn’t say that he understood what she had gone through.

All he could do was watch her close off her feelings.

It was because she trusted her that she felt betrayed, because she loved her that she grew resentful.

And so, she numbed her feelings to the point where she became unable to feel sad, to the point where she no longer felt pain. She burrowed herself, making her own world.

Siwoo reached out his hand, but just blurred out like a phantom, and reformed again after he pulled it back.

Of course, he knew.

This place was just a trace of memories that had already passed.

That no matter how much he sympathized with her, how much he felt sorry for her, he couldn’t do anything.

Then, a really, really long time passed.

If Siwoo were to make a guess based on her term as an associate professor, she probably spent more than a hundred years in her lonesome.

Eventually, Sophia came to visit her.

As soon as she found her, she hugged her while crying. Guided by Sophia, Amelia eventually became an associate professor of the Trinity Academy.

2.

In fact, Amelia’s lives didn’t change much after she became an associate professor.

The only things that changed were that Sophia bugged her more frequently, and her workshop changed from that small cabin to the one that was provided by the Academy.

Since she didn’t get assigned to become the twins’ private tutor right after her appointment, barely anything changed.

She still confined herself to her dark, gloomy world.

After that, things proceeded as Siwoo knew.

Amelia called out to Siwoo, he rejected her, and then her torment towards him began.

Although from this, he came to know that it was Sophia who provoked her first, and that was what led to Amelia’s clumsy attempt at making a pass on him.

Back then, Siwoo had thought that Amelia was just tormenting him for no reason.

Anyone in his position would think the same.

But now that he had learned about Amelia’s weaknesses and flaws, he was able to see things from a different perspective.

She was just an extremely clumsy woman.

It was her first time approaching someone, and she didn’t know the proper way to do it. Her tendencies to close off her heart to everyone who approached her didn’t do her any favor either.

She was just afraid of getting hurt again.

Of being left alone again.

She was just drowning in her sadness, prowling around aimlessly like a lost soul.

As usual, she dumped meaningless errands on Siwoo.

At first, she was acting like he had always known; dedicating everything to her magic research.

But, after three years passed, her gaze would wander to Siwoo’s departing back.

Within that space, filled with darkness so thick that one couldn’t see their surroundings...

Faint lights, like fireflies’ started to appear around Amelia. This happened after they had known each other for a long time.

But, she always actively tried to suppress those lights.

By either shaking her head, or just quietly returning to her magic research.

She was probably terrified and confused.

Her clumsiness and inability to deal with her own emotions didn’t do her any favor and only served to strengthen those feelings.

As the memories went on, it grew hazier and hazier.

It was clear that he couldn’t just see more of these memories just because he wanted to see them.

“...”

The scene changed again.

Seeing how the scene had turned brighter, just like back when she was younger, Siwoo could feel strength leaving his legs.

It was a low hill, covered in a bunch of barley trees and trees that he didn’t know the name of.

The fragment of the memories that he had forcibly crumpled now shattered like glass.

This was the moment of great regret for him.

The day when he regained his memory.

His unusual atmosphere clearly had frightened Amelia.

Facing Siwoo, who had only been replying to her words with an emotionless voice, she could only haphazardly say everything that came to her mind, painting herself as a sinner.

He still remembered how he had slapped her hand away as she anxiously approached him, with an expression that was about to burst in tears.

That was how he rejected her.

Siwoo in the memory shouted at her.

His shout was so loud that it made his ears ring. Like a comic book villain, he grabbed his hair and taunted Amelia with his words.

But Amelia just cried, pleading.

Then, the scene zoomed out and the two people in the scene faded away to the distance.

Siwoo left Amelia.

Now left all alone, her world that had started to shine once again, had shattered and sunk into the darkness once again.

Shin Siwoo, the first person whom she had opened her heart to after her master had abandoned her.

After that, she went on a lonesome journey.

In exchange to save Siwoo’s life, she made a deal with Keter to dispose of the world’s evil.

She tread the darkness alone, like an empty doll, doing what she had to do.

Just like when she had lost her master, she devoted all her being in one thing and one thing only.

The hunt.

Indeed, she risked her life for someone who abandoned her so cruelly and had to drown in the guilt of fratricide.

“...”

Siwoo couldn’t say anything to this.

Even if he found her way of dealing things frustrating, he had no right to say anything.

‘Why hasn’t she opened the note yet? If she does, she won’t need to torture herself repeatedly like this.’

‘Why is she being so foolish?’

He already knew the answer to those.

It was because she had holed herself away for so long ever since her master’s death, she didn’t know how to deal with her own emotion.

Although, there were emotions that she could deal with better than everything else.

Love and hatred.

Amelia was already used to the pain that was caused by the lie of the person she loved and trusted the most.

She had already loved and resented her master even before Siwoo was born.

Amelia knew that expecting her actions to always be accepted would be selfish of her, even if those actions stemmed from her goodwill.

And that one-sided love or hatred could leave someone with a lifelong scar.

Hence why she understood Siwoo better than anyone else.

And that was why she, like a fool, waited for him to glance back at her, trying to atone for her sins and suffering in places where he couldn’t see her.

She continued to do so...

Until the moment the Witch of Whispers tricked her to unleash this large scale magic on Tarot Town.

She never blamed Siwoo, not even once.

Herself was the only person she’d ever blamed.

“...”

Siwoo wiped away his tears.

At the end of her memories, there was a door.

A pitch-black door.

With trembling hands, he grabbed the doorknob and opened it.

Behind it was Amelia, crouching in a cramped space that could barely fit two or three people.

On her head was a flower crown that he had made back when he regressed into a kid.

She was curling up in a fetal position, hugging her knees.

He felt it.

This wasn’t the Amelia in her memories that he couldn’t touch.

But Amelia’s own inner self.

Because this Amelia’s appearance was clear, unlike the blurry Amelias he had seen so far.

The helpless, timid, fragile girl who yearned for love, but didn’t have the courage to ask for it.

That was her.

Amelia.

Is it okay for me to approach her?

I’ve been living a peaceful life without being aware of her suffering. Do I have the right to hold her hand?

“Ms. Amelia...”

The moment Siwoo reached out to hear...

An unpleasant sound echoed in his ears.

A purple snake.

Its color let it blend into the corner of the dark place, unnoticed by Siwoo due to him focusing on Amelia.

Flicking its tongue, it quickly wrapped its body around Amelia’s.

“No, stop!”

He didn’t know what this snake’s deal was.

But his instinct told him that he had to get rid of it quickly.

Though this place seemed cramped and the distance between him and it didn’t seem to be that far, in truth, that couldn’t be more wrong.

The spear that he swung could only fly aimlessly through the air.

At that moment, the surroundings started to collapse; Amelia’s memories fell apart.

But, instead of the loud noise of a collapsing building, what he heard were...

‘It’s bothersome. It’s painful. Give up. Let’s go down together. You and I.’

Those Whispers.

Incomprehensible Whispers that he could only catch the meaning sparsely.

The sweet, tempting voice echoed throughout the crumbling space.

Siwoo stared at Amelia with trembling eyes.

In that collapsing darkness.

Amidst the fragments of the collapsing memories, their eyes met.

Surprisingly, Amelia’s eyes were clear, but at the same time, they were cold, as if devoid of emotions.

And finally...

Like a stage after a play was over, the space closed up and disappeared.

With a feeling that his feet was being sucked in, Siwoo’s consciousness sunk into the endless darkness.