I slammed my head against the floor like a madman, waiting for the wave of emotions to pass.
Just as no one can withstand a tsunami, I was busy being swept away by that immense force.
Carlothian, Carlothian.
My love who abandoned me.
My love, who doesn’t love me.
But now, my love, who says he loves me.
Ah, ah, ahahahaha.
Tears burst forth again. I lifted my head and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Everything came flooding back.
Foolishly, I realized too late.
Ahn Hye-in, who lived in modern South Korea. That was my past life.
‘I was the reincarnation of the one who died at Carlothian’s hands.’
My tangled hair caught on my fingers. My mind was a mess.
I died by Carlothian’s hand. Thus, I was reborn in the modern era as Ahn Hye-in.
But then, after dying as Ahn Hye-in, I returned to Ariadeline’s body.
Why? How did this happen?
I looked at the ceiling and silently called out to the gods.
‘Oh, gods. Why? Why have you given me such…’
Such desires and trials. What did I do wrong? Why?
Why on earth?
Why?
Tears would not stop flowing from my eyes. Countless things were colliding in my heart.
Obsession with Carlothian and obsession with my voice. Those two were swirling like a vortex.
The desires of Ariadeline and Ahn Hye-in clashed.
I had no choice but to acknowledge it. Both were entirely mine. I couldn’t give up either one.
As I sorted this out, I suddenly realized that my body had returned to my past self.
I slowly opened my mouth.
“Ah-.”
I made a sound.
But at that moment.
“Ugh-!”
Pain surged from my throat.
It felt like I had swallowed shards of glass, piercing through my throat.
“Ah, ahh-!”
The more I screamed, the more agony I felt. I covered my mouth with both hands.
My voice had returned. One.
‘I never thought there would be such side effects…’
Not even for a moment did I consider it. I gasped and struggled to rise from my place.
I realized this was a side effect of black magic clashing with divine power.
From the moment black magic acted on a body with divine power, it felt like a predetermined fate.
I had regained my voice, but just like the Little Mermaid’s legs, it would be painful every time I sang or made a sound.
‘Oh, gods.’
I sought out the wretched gods once more. Sorrow surged in like a tidal wave.
“Why are you doing this to me…?”
As I made a sound, I felt a pain in my throat like a blade tearing through.
Ugh, ugh. I grabbed my throat, bent over, and bit my lip hard.
In this state, I couldn’t sing. My voice had returned, but I couldn’t even…
I wouldn’t be able to tell Carlothian that I loved him.
Ha, I couldn’t help but laugh at my own thoughts.
The past Ariadeline, the Ariadeline who loved Carlothian, had returned.
I could no longer distinguish what I loved more.
I wanted to sing my love for him, and the more I sang, the more I wanted to love him.
I opened my mouth wide. Ah, as soon as I made a sound, the pain of my throat being shredded by glass shards came rushing back, but I didn’t stop.
What I couldn’t do in the past, I could do now. To resolve my unfulfilled frustrations through song.
In the midst of the pain of my throat being torn apart, I sang and sang again.
No one could stop me. They shouldn’t even try. I continued to sing with my voice, shredded and torn.
For me, love had returned like a disaster.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Carlothian was anxious. He decided to trust and wait for Ariadeline, but he couldn’t calm down at all.
Ariadeline’s family looked at him strangely, with one leg shaking and his hand covering his mouth.
“If you’re that worried, why don’t you go see her?”
Erwin said gruffly. He couldn’t understand why they were leaving Ariadelina alone.
But Carlothian responded firmly, despite his demeanor.
“I made a promise with her.”
To trust her. Everyone knew what the next words would be. They were confused.
Carlothian, who had once neglected Ariadeline, was so different from the man he was now.
At that moment, a knock was heard.
Knock, knock—
“Come in.”
“Your Grace…”
It was one of Ariadeline’s servants. She approached Carlothian and whispered in his ear.
“From the first floor, there’s… a sound of singing.”
Carlothian’s eyes widened. He immediately stood up and, without asking for permission, rushed out of the room.
He began to run down to the first floor. The further he went down, the more a sound could be heard.
Carlothian thought he understood why the servant hesitated to say it was singing.
It was closer to a wail than a song. It was a song that caused pain even to those who listened. The notes ran wild, and the lyrics were unbearably gloomy.
Carlothian began to descend to the basement as if entranced. And finally.
“Ariadeline…?”
The singing abruptly stopped.
In the center of the underground study, Ariadeline was sitting down.
She slowly turned her head and looked at Carlothian. And then.
“Hello, my love.”
At those words, Carlothian’s eyes widened in shock. Ariadeline looked at Carlothian’s face, smiling with a pained expression. And just like that.
“Ariadeline!”
Thud, she collapsed to the floor. Carlothian rushed over and picked her up. Upon closer inspection, the wounds on her neck had vanished.
No, all the scars on her body had completely disappeared. It was as if time had turned back.
Had she regressed? No, if that were the case, he would have known. He looked at the books scattered on the floor.
[Spell to Reverse Time.]
Seeing that, Carlothian’s face hardened. The moment he read the description below, a terrible emotion surged through him.
He held the unconscious Ariadeline tightly and muttered to himself.
“You promised me this would definitely be the last time… So it can’t happen again. There can’t be any more ways to hurt you.”
After a moment, Carlothian emerged from the basement, holding her. He saw light. He would never let her enter this basement again.
He needed to burn the study. And he had to build a wall of bricks to ensure no one could enter again.
As he climbed the stairs, he briefly looked up at the light streaming in through the stairwell window.
The moment the pure white light poured over him, Carlothian recalled her last words.
“Hello, my love.”
His heart jolted at the thought of that sentence. Why, why did she suddenly say something like that?
Carlothian envisioned the look in Ariadeline’s eyes just before she fainted.
Tired, resigned, shining like a light in the dark depths of despair, what lay within those eyes was surely…
“Ah…”
It was the same look she had given him before. Affection, painfully deep and thick, that special feeling that had made him so miserable.
Carlothian paused for a moment. He looked down at Ariadeline nestled in his arms.
“What happened inside?”
No, in truth, that didn’t matter to him. What was important to him…
“Do you love me again?”
That was it. Ariadeline, have you perhaps fallen in love with me again?
He didn’t care why. It felt like he had lost something he thought he was holding and had now embraced it again.
Carlothian climbed the stairs again. His steps grew faster.
She had returned. That made his heart race.
Her affection, that obsessive love, had finally come back to him.
Carlothian felt like he might go insane. He wanted to scream.
But he didn’t. Not for the sake of Ariadeline, who was peacefully asleep in his arms.
He simply hoped that when she opened her eyes, she would say those words once more.
Hello, my love.
That phrase, once again.
Izanammi
I’m so stress and anxious right now 😖