Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Translator: wuttisyun

‘… Die again?’

Watching her, he recalled countless things but he erased them all again, afterward.

“If we were only 10 seconds late, you would’ve already crossed the Styx. The Forbidden Forest where many have gone missing is not a very good place to be. We cannot stay here much longer.”

“Ray.”

“I never said anything wrong, my Prince. Where the heck did you scurry off to my lady? You were so hard to find and this wasn’t the first time. Do you know how hard my Prince and I have been looking for you?”

Ashley did not spare any effort hiding her frown.

“I didn’t die.”

“Yes. Because we came.”

“Yup, that’s right. I almost died, but thanks to you guys, I didn’t.”

Ashley looked at Dane as she talked. She then smiled reassuringly.

It might have just been a coincidence, but as he looked into her clear purple eyes, the tip of his mouth trembled slightly.

‘Why are you moving on as if nothing just happened?’

She must have been scratched by a thorn judging by the gash on her palm. But her smile did not look like she was hiding from the pain.

Pain was the most obvious sign that something was wrong. Therefore, the more intolerant someone was to pain, the faster they would react when something was amiss. Since this was crucial to survival, pain was the most instinctive feeling nerves would transmit to the brain.

Dane did not think that he himself was sensitive to pain but rather, the problem was that Ashley looked to be completely unaffected by it.

As his mind began to be overwhelmed by the memory of Ashley bleeding as she embroidered absentmindedly not too long ago, dark and gloomy emotions began clouding his heart.

“I didn’t expect my Prince and I to make it here on time. How could anyone escape and manage to survive? If you’re going to say anything more, stop it. Do you know how far from the palace we are?”

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“I already knew I wasn’t going to die.”

“What?”

But she really looked like she was going to be on the verge of death just now. The notoriety of the guardian of the Forbidden Forest in guarding this place was significant enough for Dane to shake his head at the mere thought of it. The large beast that roams the fence surrounding the Forbidden Forest, guarding it.

The beast who only listened to the Emperor and was impartial to anyone who approached had tried to tear Ashley’s body to shreds until just now.

Then, why?

‘Why did she look alright?’

Something stirred within Dane’s bright red eyes. As if they had been hoping to reflect what Ashley was thinking and feeling.

With his hand, Dane massaged the skin around his eyes.

Ray continued to chastise Ashley as he voiced out his complaints. Just then. Ashley, who had been responding faintly to Ray’s scolding, then smiled as she raised her head.

“Thank you, Dane.”

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That was the face she had whenever she brought snacks to Hannah. Dane guessed that she looked to be about the same size as she was back then.

‘What are you hiding, Ashley?’

But he could not ask her like this. Because he knew Ashley would never answer him. If he were to ever ask such a question, he did not know if he would be sadder if she nodded her head or if she did not.

“Why are you smiling like that? You’ve made us all worry.”

It was clear that Ashley was letting Ray’s words enter one ear and leave straight out the other. Then, she picked up the book that fell. Dane looked at what was written on top of the book. What he saw were all straightforward titles like [The Forbidden Forest], [The Long-dwelling Gods and the Disappearing Ruins] and [Easily-found Myths about the Empire].

It was obvious that Ashley came here on purpose.

“… Sorry.”

Ashley gave a weak smile and was clearly not surprised but she did look very tired. Dane grabbed Ray and shook his head slightly.

“Let’s head back.”

Ashley looked at the roof of her palace and frowned at how the sunlight was reflecting off it. At first glance, she had noticed a bird as white as the outer walls of her palace but now she was not sure if she had seen it wrongly.

“Be careful, Dane, Sir Ray.”

Ashley beamed as bright as a spring day.

Dane did not smile as he usually would.

The way her forehead and her thin back was damp with cold sweat made Dane uncomfortable.

How could she laugh so calmly? His bright eyes sank heavily.

Dane slowly pulled up the corners of his mouth.

“Yeah, sleep well. My Ashley.”

***

She had just opened the diary to any page but it had been written in surprising detail as if the writer had just experienced it on the same day.

[On my way to the Forbidden Forest, I met an assassin and was killed.]

A beam of light shone from the first letter of the entry before the light then resonated with the other letters, soon illuminating the entire page with light.

Ashley swallowed her saliva. The sound of her gulp could be heard. The page then fell still.

However, for the slightest of moments, the words had risen above the clean parchment. The entry had now changed.

[Year 823, the 7th day of Haberon

I didn’t manage to get past the guard dog. I almost died running away…

Luckily, thanks to the help of my 7th brother and his escort who came to find me, I survived.]

The next entry was filled with what was going to happen ‘Tomorrow’.

It was something unfathomable to anyone else but the girl acted as if this was routine. This had all started two years ago.

“Ha… I lived.”

The warmth at her fingertips had all sapped away from the tension.

“I lived…”

In the year 823, on one of the days of the month of Haberon, the girl survived again.

Ashley kept mumbling the word ‘Today’ again and again before laughing weakly.

“Right, I lived today as well…”

Her expression looked as sad as a flower that wilted to the ground without ever having the chance to bloom.

Though the girl could not see what kind of expression she was wearing, she still thought it was funny.

‘I didn’t expect my diary entries to appear again.’

The diary entries that predicted her future had reappeared the month she turned 15.

It appeared when she was doing nothing. When she checked on her diary out of habit, she found a dry blood stain at the corner of one of the pages and rubbed it. At that moment, her diary morphed.

As the diary changed, the prophetic writings began.

Sometimes the diary would make sounds as if it was moving like a living person. Other times, it would not move for unbelievably long periods at a time making her just about happy.

A year ago, she had barely survived Castor’s sword, and had fallen under Granius’ guidance. Whilst learning new things under him, it had been peaceful. Castor never looked for her. It felt like everything was finally over.

So, she wanted to continue living here peaceful and leave the past locked up somewhere else. But the God that was watching her had never been so kind. Imagine her frustration when she saw the diary entries appear again.

But from another perspective, she did think it was a good thing. She had never thought she could ever be completely happy because she had already been half-broken.

From that day on, her past had always remained at the tip of her toes. It felt like it was chasing her with every step she took. She was afraid of what she would see after she woke up from this nightmare. Her emotions were weighing down on her.

Then, her diary came back to life. Once again, she gathered clues and tried to avoid her fate.

Since then, everything remained the same. She had to survive again, again and again.

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“Who knew looking for Amor would be this hard to do…”

For some reason, in her new diary entries, Castor had never appeared. Even till now.

At the very least, that was a relief.

Ashley traced over the leather cover with the tips of her fingers. She thought that she had to at least find the ‘tip of the pyramid’. (1)

‘Whatever I find, I’m sure it’ll be a clue.’

And when she flipped over the pages one by one, a question quickly bubbled up within her. The girl removed the paper she had written in and slotted in the diary and looked it over.

‘Oh my.’

Her question was quickly revealed.

The three entries depicting the day she should have died or in other words the 3 pages that had recorded her death.

However, on those days, nothing she had ever experienced before happened.

[Year 823, the 8th day of the month of Haberon.

… (omitted)… At the hands of an assassin that came at night, I died.]

[Year 823, the 9th day of the month of Haberon.

… (omitted)… At the hands of an assassin that came at night, I died.]

[Year 823, the 11th day of the month of Haberon.

… (omitted)… I was assassinated while taking a walk with Hannah.]

As she gazed upon the repeating words, she groaned.

“… I’ve never even seen an assassin before.”

Ashley realised that she had not once seen an assassin before.

Until now, she had always thought that the entries would only change when she did anything that deviated from what was written on it.

‘Let me think.’

Did preventing Amor from dying help change the way she died in Castor’s hands?

It did not look like it.

From what she remembered, the diary entries changed only after she had faced Castor and avoided the death that was right in front of her.

So now, another variable was causing her deaths.

If not, it would be impossible to see three separate diary entries depicting how she would die—the same way in the hands of an assassin.

“… What.”

What was happening that she had no clue about?

Ashley was still just an errand girl. Whilst under Granius’ guidance, she thought she would be free from running any more errands but for some reason, Granius did not disclose her identity.

“To protect you, Princess, I think it would be better for you to hide your identity until you become an adult.”

Ashley only understood after hearing about the circumstances.

Originally, any Imperial member was not allowed to enter the Central Palace if they were not of age for any special reason. Besides, she did not want to catch the Castor’s attention. Why would she purposely place herself in a position of danger?

However, instead, she no longer needed to commute there early in the morning which allowed her to sleep in.

It was after she awoken from a long nap and stared at the stars outside her window blankly when she noticed a panting Fleon.

Even when he walked here, he looked handsome as his ears were turning red from the chilly weather. His form was also very elegant to the point when Ashley thought that she was lacking in comparison.

‘Excuse me for comparing your appearance to the corn kernel that is me.’

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That was what she was thinking.

“Ashley Rosé!”

In a span of what felt like 30 blinks, she had run out of her palace and before she knew it, she was being embraced by Fleon who had appeared panting.

‘What’s going on.’

Ashley had chased after him carelessly with only absurdity in her mind. She was soon running out of breath.

‘Have you ever seen such an inconsiderate person.’

Just as she got annoyed, her legs began to hurt as well. Even if she was about to get angry, once she reminded herself that this was Fleon, her anger just flew away.

Most of the time, the only reasons why her brother would visit her like this would be because of something troublesome or useless.

T/N:

(1): Basically, she’s just looking for one clue that’ll lead her to more clues.