Chapter 286 - A Price for Everything (3)

"Your identity is what is important to you in this world, is it not?" He seemed to confirm with me.

I froze, wondering how he figured out. Sometimes, I was afraid, feeling like my entire identity depended on Luke's family. Everyone referred to me as the fiancée to the heir of the Roselia family. They never said Rika Shanes who came from the ordinary family in the third district. Ever since my appearance changed, making a few of my features I inherited from my parents disappear, I started to feel scared that they wouldn't be able to recognize me anymore.

"Is this the payment? For a spell that had disappeared when you took me with you?" I looked up at him.

"Is it so wrong, wanting to stay in one dimension, not wanting to travel between the two worlds for eternity until my death?" My voice cracked.

"Indeed, it would be too much when it wasn't purely your fault. How about exchanging your identity for a new spell? This one will last much longer than the other one," the overseer waited for my answer.

"How long?"

"Around one century, unless you enter this world again, it will break immediately," he made a reasonable offer.

I hung my head with no other choice. My identity wasn't important as the fate of my entire life. Like before, he slowly waved his hand over my head, sprinkling fairy dust. I wondered how he would take my identity away through this way. I didn't feel any different than before. When I raised my head, nothing had changed.

Except for my hand, glimmering with a translucent crest in the sunlight. It was oddly the Roselia family crest with the two angel wings crossed together, swallowing up the sword in between. Red roses filled the rest of the space remaining like the beginning of the family name.

"Would you like a mirror?" He offered a hand mirror.

A mirror? I wouldn't need one. All I would need to do was to look at my reflection at the glass table where the snacks and tea were placed. I shook my head, declining his offer, rising to check my appearance. I stumbled a few steps back, shocked and speechless. I couldn't mean this was the meaning of losing my identity.

I looked as if I was another person. I choked up in tears as my inhumane beauty had engulfed my original appearance. This person could not be a human being. She was too perfect, having no fault in anywhere you searched for, the tiny imperfections completely gone. Her wild curly hair drifted down with no hair out of place. Her features were completely symmetrical, slim nose, sharp jawlines and larger bright eyes.

My skin glimmered in the sunlight, adding a fantasy touch. I resembled Luke's celestial looks, but it couldn't be possible. He never exchanged anything for him to appear like I did. I turned to the overseer, "how?"

"The Pelargium family is descended from fairies, which explains your partner's appearance," he explained.

"In exchange for the payment, you resemble one of us now. Making you a target of monsters in the process," he revealed.

"Why?" I continued to watch another person move when I turned left and right.

"Fairies were part of the main reason for the creation of monsters. Many wanted to become like us, full of power with much more mana than human beings. Monsters are failed products. They despise us as they could never become like us," he scoffed at the thought.

"Then the monsters have been following us around because of Luke?" I recalled the time where a swarm of monsters tried to kill us.

"You equally attracted them. Your partner, who attracted them for his bloodline and you for your potential for unlimited amount of mana," he tapped his fingers on the table.

"They will come after you with more vigor. You who possess a large capacity for mana and your appearance. This will be your punishment," his arm circled to create another portal.

The portal opened, showing the other side. I couldn't see Luke anymore inside the crowd of guests, mingling around like nothing had happened. It was near nighttime, lights creating the atmosphere of a starry night. It seems that they have resumed their event.

"Are you sure this is the right time?" I wondered why it wasn't daytime anymore.

"It seems our conversation had lasted longer than I thought it would. Three days has passed on the other side already," he looked at the watch on his wrist.

"Sometimes it is hard to predict how fast time passes in the other dimension. Depending on what region we are in here, there could be a time difference up to one hundred years," he explained.

One hundred years? Everyone I knew would be dead by then. I never thought I would feel that I would be fortunate for only missing three days. I didn't look back and stepped into the portal. I would never enter this place again if I didn't have to.

Upon my entrance, I instantly grabbed everyone's attention like I was in the spotlight. Realizing the portal was still closing behind me, people stared at the odd scene. Ethan, the one who had led us to the worst path, pushed through the crowd to get a closer look at me.

"What did you do to Rika?" He couldn't recognize me.

"Why are you wearing her dress?"