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Chapter 131
A Failure
“…? What’s going on?”
Prince Kiehl asked once he noticed that the atmosphere was wrong. It was tense, and clearly something was going wrong!
Allen’s frown grew deeper as he became restless.
“Why is it so silent? When is the next step going to commence?” Laura asked, turning to look at Elder Priest Matthias and Nymnienna.
Elder Priest Matthias was as confused as Laura was, as he turned to look questioningly at Nymnienna and Quira.
“…,” Quira looked very confused. Her expression clearly showed panic as she asked Nymnienna, “W-why is everyone staying still? Hasn’t the ritual ended already?”
Hearing Quira’s words, Laura, Allen, Prince Kiehl, and Mira quickly had a shift in their expression.
They all understood what it meant: the ritual was supposed to end, yet nothing happened, and the situation was so tense… was the ritual a failure?!
“…The ritual should have ended with the last song earlier… But…,” Nymnienna didn’t dare continue her words. She could only look towards Rakiasha who was as baffled as they were, as Rakiasha and the rest of the ritual holders were looking at Ann and Birdie–who remained still.
“W-what happened? What will happen next?!” Quira panicked looking at her teacher who remained unmoving.
“Ann-sama? Ann-sama!!” Faye called out desperately to her beloved mistress, but Ann didn’t move an inch, nor did she open her eyes.
“Birdie? Birdie!!” Faye tried to call out to the cheeky bird that was next to her beloved mistress, but that cheeky yet usually lively bird remained unmoving, as if she were soulless.
“W-why…?!” Faye was shaken.
“This… No way… Was it futile after all?” Sylthea muttered.
From the beginning, there was indeed no recorded case of two souls occupying a body, and that this ritual could be used to solve this situation, let alone driving the original soul of a body while letting the supposed outsider stay.
The risk was so high with this ritual, but they had thought that they could pull it off, based on their vast knowledge of the Mythical Bird of Soul Transcendence as well as the ritual…
Yes, they were quite confident that it would work out. If not, then perhaps nothing would have happened and they needed to brainstorm another idea, but…
The two people at the center of the ritual–Ann and Birdie–were as still as statues, and it didn’t seem like they heard anything that was going on.
No reaction at all.
As if… their souls were locked.
This was worse than the ritual not having any effect, this… was a devastating failure.
They had thought that if the ritual were to fail, it would have no effect and the two would open their eyes. Perhaps at worst, the original soul of Ann’s body would resurface.
If that were to happen, perhaps they could try another way.
But what to do when they seemed to be devoid of soul? Their bodies seemed to still be alive, yet there was no response whatsoever.
Their bodies had become just hollow shells.
Then, what to do in this situation?
…
Nobody dared to move an inch, nobody dared to make another noise.
Only their hitched breaths could be heard.
That is, until…
[Meol, hring un−l¯æd from endelîf…]
Faye suddenly started to sing once more, repeating the last song she had just finished singing.
Everyone was stunned as they could only stare at Faye, who was now fully devoted to her singing.
A few seconds later, the other members noticed what Faye was trying to do. With what seemed to be a tacit understanding, one by one, they started to get back and repeat the last movement of the ritual–”Rites of Guidance”–once more.
The spectators also caught on what they were trying to do, for they quickly went silent and could only look at the ritual that was unfolding once more.
“Ann… Please… Make it work…,” Laura said with a trembling voice, her hands were put into a prayer form, trembling as she put it on her forehead.
She wasn’t a devout believer of the temple despite being the so-called saintess of the temple, yet she resorted to praying in this desperate moment.
“Right, we should pray!” Elder Priest Matthias snapped out of his confusion, as he proceeded to lead the spectators to begin praying.
Allen casually put his hands to a prayer form, yet his eyes stared blankly towards the unmoving Ann…
***
The moment Faye’s voice could be heard once more, Ann felt as if the ‘hands’–that had wanted to suffocate her to death–loosened before they disappeared one by one.
Expecting the same darkness to appear again, Ann was stunned when she realized that light began to enter her field of vision with each disappearing ‘hand of darkness’.
And when her field of vision was cleared, what she saw was…
An endless horizon. A very calm, tranquil space.
She was walking on a surface that seemed like still water.
And her appearance–she noticed that it was no longer the appearance that she had grown accustomed to for the last few months. It was her original self’s appearance, from modern Earth!
This shape of hand… my outfit, the color of the hair that I can see…
Is it because I am in a dimension where only my soul exists?
Since she didn’t see anything at the side she was facing, Ann decided to turn around and she almost jumped in fright.
Standing in front of her was what she had gotten used to seeing in the mirror for these past few months, but this time, it wasn’t her reflection. It was Anne, the original villainess.
Ann expected to see Anne with a hostile and angry look towards her, but she was surprised to see that Anne’s eyes were blank, only reflecting how empty and tired she was.
“Anne.”
“Why?”
“Huh?”
When Ann simply blurted out Anne’s name without even knowing where she would take the conversation from there, Anne quickly interrupted her with a question. A very unclear question, that left Ann questioning more.
“Why don’t you just kill me? Banish me from the world?” Anne asked with a voice that was devoid of emotion.
“It won’t be fair for you, I mean, I am the intruder and you’re the original owner or–”
“Your memories told me that I am a villainess destined to die soon anyway. Why bother?” Anne cut Ann’s words off.
“……,” Ann was speechless.
She racked her brain to comprehend the situation and Anne’s response…
Then, something hit her as her pupils dilated in surprise.
“Don’t tell me, you don’t mind being killed? You want to disappear from the world?”
All this time, Ann thought Anne was angry at her for using her body as she saw fit, acting out of character and so on.
Ann had always thought that Anne was mad because she didn’t know that Ann had wanted to save her–this body’s fate from being killed.
But if Anne could read Ann’s memories and knew that she was destined to die as the villainess, and was still angry despite Ann trying her best to overturn that fate, then…
Perhaps Anne didn’t care and knew that her efforts to aid the previous king’s faction would be futile and that death was also a welcome resolution to her?
“Yes,” Anne answered.
“Why? You could’ve overturned your fate if you tried! Even without me possessing your body, you could’ve–”
“What choice could I have made? Even if I knew my father was just trying to use me as the only remaining offspring he has left, I will still do as he told me. Because I also hate them. I hate everyone from the new king’s faction. They killed my family. They made my life more hellish. Nobody came to save me, only plunging me to hell. And so, I…”
Anne paused before continuing as she turned away from Ann, “Though I know if I were to succeed, many people will hate me even more, people of my father’s faction will only take advantage of me, and even my father won’t truly love me. It will be another life full of agony. And if I were to fail, I’d die. Both seem to be the same to me–a dead end, a bleak future–but at least if I were gone, I wouldn’t feel so tired and angry all the time.”
Ann couldn’t refute Anne’s words.
She couldn’t tell her to continue to live, for as long as one lives, they could still turn a new page over. After all, many people would try to aim at Anne’s life, if she were to survive and just get banished. And her heart was so consumed by anger and the thought of revenge that it was impossible for her to give it up.
Despite everything, Anne loved her mother and her mother was the only person who showed her love–though sometimes twisted–when she was younger, when nobody else did that for her.
“A life created just to suffer and then banished forever… That’s just too sad, and I don’t want you to be like that…That’s why, I want you to have another chance at life. A new beginning, where you won’t remember anything, where you have no burden from this life. I want you to experience love and happiness,” Ann calmed down and stated what her purpose for going through such lengths for Anne was.
Anne’s figure in front of her disappeared. Before Ann could even react, she suddenly heard Anne’s voice from behind her.
“Life is just too terrible. And besides, there’s no guarantee I will be loved and happy even if I were to embark on a new beginning.”
As Ann turned around, she saw Anne’s figure once more, but this time, it was in her child form.
“I… I will shower you with love and make sure you’re happy!” Ann quickly blurted out.
“Liar! If I were to upset you, you would come to hate me! If I were to grow up to be less than what you expected, you would look at me as if I am a nuisance and would rather discard me! If I turn out to be flawed and weak, you’d tell me it’s better for me to not be born! When I end up being a failure, you will regret helping me!”
Ann wanted to tear up hearing Anne’s words.
Did she hear those words often when she was as young as she looked like right now?
“Don’t worry, everything will be alright… I won’t do that,” Ann wanted to hug Anne, but that small figure resisted with all she had.
“Lies! There’s no guarantee it won’t change!” Anne said.
Just like her mother, who could change from loving and gentle to angry and vicious very quickly.
“Chirp chirp!”
Suddenly, Birdie’s figure could be seen flying around above them, before landing on Anne’s hand that was right in front of Anne’s face.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in their minds.
[Nothing is without change in this life, in this world. But don’t worry, unlike others, after we go through this ritual, know that I will always be with you no matter what.]
“That voice… Birdie?” Ann first turned to look around before her gaze landed on the small bird, who seemed to succeed in calming Anne down.
“What did you just say?” Anne asked in disbelief as her gaze continued to focus on the small pink bird on her hand.
“Chirp!”
[Don’t worry. You won’t be alone. I will be with you this time.]
“…” Anne didn’t say anything, she only continued to stare at Birdie.
But Ann could see from Anne’s expressions that the rage had gone away from her small figure, and there was even a hint of hope blooming deep in her eyes.
Then, without uttering anything else, Anne began to walk in a certain direction.
Now with her back facing Ann, with her hand being lifted up, Birdie’s eyes then met with Ann’s.
“Chirp!” Birdie winked.
Even without any subtitles or human words echoing, Ann could understand what Birdie was telling her to do.
‘I’ve got this, so go and do your job’, Ann felt like Birdie was telling her that.
So, Ann turned around and began walking towards the direction where she heard Faye’s voice coming from.
This time, there was no obstacle or anything that might hinder Ann’s progress. It was as if Anne had opened up a path for her to go on.
As she felt Faye’s voice growing closer and her surroundings growing brighter, Ann thought to herself.
This time, everything will be okay, right?
I have made the right choice, right?
And Birdie…
The Mythical Bird of Soul Transcendence…
I wonder if the birds didn’t choose someone on their whim?
Perhaps they deliberately choose people with weak or broken souls, who hadn’t lived life to the fullest, yet afraid to continue to live… so that they could accompany such souls in their new beginning, to live life to the fullest?
Looking at Anne and Birdie’s exchange from earlier made Ann think of that hypothesis.
If so, perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence that Birdie would come to her one day and forcefully put her on a contract.
Perhaps Birdie had seen through Anne’s soul and came to her on purpose.
Alright, Birdie, you’re amazing.
I will no longer hold it against you for forcefully putting me into a contract with you as my master.
But…!
After this, you’re no longer my master!!!!!!
Such was Ann’s last thought as she got engulfed by the light…
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