Volume 4 - CH 89.2

――Whenever she closed her eyes, the memories would come back vivid, even now.

White. A world of white.

In that landscape coated in silver, the young Emilia walked alone.

――You mustn’t remember this!

A soundless voice cried, but young Emilia, walking with her head downcast, did not hear.

Anxiously looking about her, only to be disappointed by the betrayal of her hopes, she went on dragging her feet through the snow.

――Go back! Please! Don’t do anything more!

Young Emilia exhaled a white breath and gazed curiously at the mist expelled from her mouth. Over and over, she went on huffing. Her only clothing were undergarments crafted from thin cloth and a cloak-like garment that covered the whole of her body.

It wasn’t an outfit one would wear with traversing this frigid world in mind, but there was nothing to be done.

After all, this was the first time Emilia had experienced a landscape this cold, or had ever seen snow.

The world she knew was a verdant forest abound in warmth and light, one that bore no resemblance to this world buried under ice and snow.

This all-so-familiar place had taken on an unfamiliar face.

And this mystified the young Emilia, such that she was even neglecting to react in the way she intrinsically should have.

――No! Don’t go any further! Go back! If you don’t, you’ll……!

Tearing her throat pleading, destroying it, spitting blood, yet the young Emilia’s legs did not stop. The voice would not reach her as the girl’s legs heartlessly carried her forward.

Her gait as she traversed barefoot over the unknown snowscape was pitiful.

Having lost all sensation of coldness or pain, her feet, cut by stones and branches hidden under the snow, marked her tracks with droplets of blood.

Yet earnestly pressing on, forgetting her pain, and hiding her terror of this unfamiliar world, for what purpose was she pushing forward alone?

――Stop, please…… I don’t want to watch anymore…… please……

Her pleas would reach no one. Her wish would go unfulfilled. Her hopes would be utterly shot down.

Though she already knew this fact, even in this world of dreams must this cruel fact be thrust upon her. ――By showing her her past self, and her greatest mistake, no less.

[Emilia: ――――hk]

Young Emilia’s amethyst eyes, as if sighting hope beyond the haze of the obscuring snow, sparkled.

Her eyes had landed on, as far as young Emilia knew, the trunk of the tallest tree in the world.

The great tree they called “The Tree of Prayers” was the sacred channel through which they poured their prayers to the divine and unknown. An existence treasured and revered by all who lived in the village.

Young Emilia, too, obstinately believed that by touching the great tree’s trunk she could feel its tremendous blessing upon her skin.

How reassuring it must have been in that moment to see that great tree in all its grandeur exactly where it should be.

How much of a salvation it must have been to see, amidst that familiar setting transformed into this strange and alien world, that great tree persevering as a token of their everyday life.

Huffing breath after white breath, Emilia clumsily rushed over to the great tree. The piling snow buried young Emilia to her knees, so although the tree wasn’t far away, the girl tumbled time after time, leaving imprints of herself upon pure white snow.

And, after falling face-first multiple times, with her nose red from the cold of the snow, Emilia reached the base of the tree.

Her tensed expression slightly relaxed with relief. Although, since her muscles had grown rigid in the cold, all it amounted to was a twitch.

[Emilia: ――――?]

Then, as she reached her hand towards one of the roots of the tree, young Emilia seemed to have noticed something. Sliding her hand along the root, with frozen fingers she began digging at its snow-buried tip.

――Stop!!

She dug, and dug.

With singular purpose, spurred by burning impatience, young Emilia dug through the snow.

――Stop! Stop stop stop stop stop!

Not wanting to watch. Not wanting to remember.

Wishing she could look away, shut her eyes, block her ears, and scream to tear this world asunder.

But her non-existent face, non-existent eyes, and non-existent ears could not be dissuaded.

Young Emilia’s fingertips touched something.

Slowly, with her own hands, the girl peeled away the last patch of snow――

――STOP IT!!

……

……………………

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{???: ――You are truly beyond saving}

[Emilia: ――――]

{???: The proof of your sin. The proof of your corruption. Be cursed be cursed be cursed, and at the end of your suffering……]

[Emilia: ――――]

{???: Just die. ――Daughter of the Witch}