Chapter 10

Because Serwin had locked himself in his room, Amelie was allowed to roam the mansion.

Amelie learned etiquette from Renee and spent time playing with Renee. Sometimes she read magic books, but she spent most of her time with her family. The time spent in the presence of family was reassuring and comfortable no matter what she was doing. It was the first warm day of Amelie’s life.

‘Good, it’s a good life.’

Suyeon was always alone in her previous life. The facility where she grew up was a good place, and the teachers took good care of her. She also had a close friend.

Nevertheless, Suyeon could not erase the loneliness left in the corner of her heart. No one could fill her loneliness like that. She was always alone because of the loneliness she couldn’t shake no matter what she did.

However, during her days as part of Count Delahaim, Suyeon was able to forget her past life.

Even though she didn’t do anything in particular, she was just relaxed and had a free time, but that alone filled her heart and she was not lonely even when she was alone.

As a result, she naturally wondered. Does she have to leave this happiness behind? Serwin will leave when the time comes, and the other witch can be found in Delahaim.

An old saying goes, “It’s hard to leave home.” She didn’t understand it before, but now she does. It’s because she has a place to call home.

‘But it’s still a bit uncomfortable.’ And she’s in desperate need to contact the witches.

The reason why she can’t give up on travelling easily was that anxiety remained in the corner of her mind.

Speaking of her anxiety, Amelie had a dream last night. In the dream, the Forest of Fidelia was burning. The scene of the huge greenery blazing was like the “end of Delahime” seen in the novel.

This is definitely a dream.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

It doesn’t make sense for her to suddenly stand in the middle of the forest after falling asleep in the mansion. She didn’t feel cool, even though she knew it was a dream. The heat on her cheek was as hot as it would melt her, and the flame was burning.

‘Why, why—? Is this the fall of Delahaim—?’

The fall of Delahaim was the first occurrence of the original novel. With Amelie’s death, the Emperor’s Knights arrived at Delahaim, killing the Count and slaughtering the people. Then they set fire to the Forest of Fidelia.

The forest was in chaos. The flames grew wider and wider with the wind. The smoke clouded the front of her eyes, and the trees fell down, blocking the way. Animals running away from the fire were crushed by trees and screamed. The screams of animals burning alive filled the night sky.

Amelie’s house could not escape the flames. Her hometown, where she grew up and lived, burned like dry firewood. And under the heavy fire, the small front yard was littered with the bodies of the villagers. And there was a man in the middle of it.

A killer with a sword dripping blood.

‘This is horrible.’

The man was sinister and creepy. She was just looking at him standing between the bodies, and she shuddered.

Amelie who looked at the man’s figure, hardened like a stone. Black hair fluttered in the wind. The sharp nose and fierce eyes were familiar to her eyes.

‘You’re the Emperor—’

Why is the Emperor here? Why the hell is he killing people? Isn’t the future changed?

Amelie was confused. What does this dream show?

Then, he suddenly turned around.

Amelie made eye contact with his black eyes. They weren’t golden coloured eyes, the symbol of the Emperor. His expression was different, too. Unlike him, who had always been wary of his surroundings with his eyes, the Emperor in front of her looked relaxed.

Amelie stepped back. Her instinct whispered in her ear.

‘…This is not the Emperor.’

It was a monster covered in Serwin’s shell. It smiled at Amelie, and she cowered in fear. The tail of the red mouth was torn all the way to the cheek. Between its lips, a set of sounds leaked from its black hole of a mouth.

“There you are.”

Run. She has to run. Or else she’ll die!

Amelie turned around and ran. It was a blazing fire in front of her. The flames roared violently to devour her. What was behind her was more terrible than being burned to death. She jumped into the fire like a log. As soon as her whole body was about to melt hot, someone grabbed Amelie’s shoulder.

“Kyaa!’

Amelie screamed and opened her eyes. Then the fire and the man disappeared. Instead, she saw Renee’s face.

“Amelie are you okay?”

“Renee…”

“Because I can hear your screams—”

Amelie looked around frantically. Her sweaty hair stuck to her face. Her heartbeat so fast it pounded in her ears.

“Hah….”

It wasn’t a forest. She’s in her room, on her own bed. Perhaps because she had a realistic dream, she felt a sense of incompatibility at the scene in front of her.

“Amelie! what’s going on? You shouted out saying ‘go’’!”

The Count ran into her room, ready to break the door. He rushed over after hearing her scream.

“She must have had a nightmare.”

Renee answered instead.

‘It’s not just a nightmare.’

Amelie shut her mouth. It was too horrible to express with the word ‘nightmare’. The terrible feeling she felt when she made eye contact with the monster was still vivid.

“It must have been a really scary dream.”

The Count hugged Amelie’s shoulder and wiped the sweat off. Renee hugged Amelie, too. The warmth was conveyed from both sides. Only then did Amelie realize that her body was cold and sweaty.

‘It’s just a dream. I’m with my family right now.’

Amelie leaned her head on the Count’s shoulder.

‘Why did I have such a dream?—’

The thought did not last long. Amelie fell asleep in the arms of the Count and Renee as if she had fainted.

*******

Daytime the next day.

Amelie snuck out of her room. Because she came up with the excuse of taking a nap, she moved carefully like a thief.

Her destination, Serwin’s room. She was worried about the nightmare she had last night, so she was only going to see Serwin for a moment.

Amelie thought last night’s nightmare was a precognitive dream. Among the basic skills of witches was the ability to predict the future through divination. Sometimes there were cases where the future was seen without the medium of divination, which was called the ‘witch’s foresight.’

At first, she thought that the scene she had seen was ‘the random fall of Delahaim’, but when she recalled it, it was definitely ‘foresight’.

‘The household items she took out were burning with the house. Serwin’s clothes were also seen a while ago…’

(EN: I think Amelie is alluding to the fact that there are a lot of similarities from in her dream and outside of it. Serwins clothes could be a reference to the monster ‘wearing Serwin’s shell’.)

What the foresight showed was not one of a distant future. It was a near future that could happen in a few days.

‘The eyes I saw in my dreams are suspicious, too.’

Black eyes. A creepy smile.

It was Serwin’s figure, but it was clearly something else that moved his body. He was smiling languidly, but he was full of malice toward the world. Doubts were transferred to the “disaster” of Serwin’s body being sealed.

Having had such a dream, it was also unusual for Serwin to be sick.

‘I’m just going to sneak up and check. Just to make sure Serwin’s okay.’

It was said that Serwin won’t come out of his room even today.

It’s not easy to access his room.

According to the servants, Knights stand guard from the stairs leading up to the floor where the Emperor’s room is located. So Amelie decided to approach from the outside. Into a new transformation form outside the mansion and entering the window.

Amelie stuck to the wall and looked around. She didn’t see any rats.

“Okay, there’s no one.”

Amelie memorized the spell. Pop! Her point of view lowered with the sound. There was a brief rush of dizziness in the change, as she successfully transformed into a bird.

‘Let’s go.’

Amelie kicked off the ground and flapped her wings. The grass fluttered from the gust of wind from her wings. Having checked the Emperor’s guard, she flew straight to the window without hesitation.

Amelie looked closely into the room. His room was the same, but also different as the last time she was here. The curtains were half torn and all the furniture was scattered on the floor. She assumed he broke it all because he was angry. In addition, the windows wereso meticulously blocked that the room was dark even in broad daylight.

‘You’re going to catch a disease if you live like this.’

Amelie clicked her tongue. People should see the sunlight and let some fresh air in. But she found the Emperor with her eyes. Something was crouching on the bed.

‘Is that him?’

She narrowed her eyes and looked closely. It was a naked man’s back.

“Pyak!”

Amelie was surprised. But the back was too perfect to turn away.

Her eyes darted along the slanted line from his broad shoulders to his waist. The open back was full of muscles without any fat. The posture has made the bones and muscles stand out flex. She had never seen such a perfect figure in her life. As she basked in his figure, she found herself becoming thirsty.

‘Oh—’

Mint-colored eyes as big as beans strangely shone. She approached the window unconsciously. With her feathered chest, she pushed herself to the window. Her beak hit the window in the process.

‘Oh, no. This isn’t it.’

Amelie shook her head wildly. She doesn’t think she’s supposed to be here to appreciate his physical appearance. Her opponent is the scary Emperor. If he knew she drooled over his body, she’d be a dead man.

‘I can’t see the room because it’s dark. I have to go in.’

Amelie looked at the lock on the window. As she willed it, the lock came undone and the window opened. This superpower was also one of the witch’s magic.

With the window now open, Amelie flew into the room. And screamed.

“Pyiik pyiik!”

It was a black smoke that was filling the room. The room was unusually dark, not because it didn’t have any light, but because it was full of smoke.

‘What the hell is this?’

Amelie frowned. As soon as she entered the room, her feathers stood up all over her body. She felt a sense of crisis like when she first saw the man in her dream. She thinks it’s not just a normal smoke.

‘You’re not feeling well because you’re breathing in something like this.’

Amelie looked at Serwin. He was still lying on his back. Seeing that he, a swordmaster, who was sensitive to guests and hasn’t even moved even with the window open, seems to have fallen into a deep sleep.

‘Cause you’re sleeping. Let’s get you some fresh, fresh air.’

Poof!

Amelie came back as a human and opened all the windows. As the windows opened, a breeze drew fresh air into the room.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Clear air came rushing into the room, ruffling Amelie’s hair. However, the black smoke didn’t budge. Especially around Serwin, there was smoke. The smoke was lighter, but there was a sticky feeling somewhere.

“This is so weird. Why isn’t the smoke ventilating?”