Chapter 25. Two Paths To The Future

“You wretched woman!”

Smack!

With the sudden sound of a slap, my head whipped to the side.

Dazed, I clutched my cheek and staggered. Did I just… get hit? By Marquis Anderson?

“You dared to look at my knight again yesterday! You filthy, dirty woman… acting like a wanton b*tch!”

“N-no…”

“No? What do you mean no!”

Smack!

Another slap landed on the other cheek, and I collapsed to the floor. I still couldn’t gather my wits. My body was acting on its own, my mouth speaking words that weren’t in my head.

So this… is a future I cannot interfere with.

An event that will happen someday.

“You damn woman. I need to teach you a lesson. How dare you look away from your husband? Maybe I should cut off your ankles.”

“M-Marquis, ugh…!”

Marquis Anderson grabbed my hair and started dragging me somewhere. I felt like I was going insane with confusion. This can’t be real. This can’t be my future.

‘……!’

At that moment, my vision distorted, and the scene changed. This time, I was in a deep forest. I ran and ran through the dark woods, not knowing where the path led.

“There she is!”

“Catch her!”

“Just don’t kill her! Shoot her legs or arms with arrows! Make sure she can’t move!”

The last shout was Marquis Anderson’s voice. I could feel ‘myself’ trembling with fear. My heart, soaked in terror, pounded furiously.

The sensation was so vividly horrifying.

All of this felt like real reality.

Whoosh—!

Thud!

“Ah!”

An arrow from behind struck my calf. I collapsed onto the forest floor and crawled forward, trembling. The barking of hunting dogs, the shouts of men, and Marquis Anderson’s angry voice echoed from behind.

“You ungrateful b*tch.”

“Ugh!”

A rough hand grabbed my hair. Marquis Anderson kicked my shoulder, flipping me onto my back, and spoke through gritted teeth.

“I’ll make sure you limp forever. So you can’t think of running away again.”

He grabbed the arrow lodged in my calf. Unbelievably, he pushed it in deeper, tearing at the wound.

“Ahhh!”

As my consciousness began to fade from the pain, my vision wavered, and the scenery changed once more.

It was that room again. The room where Marquis Anderson had slapped me…

I lay on the bed as if I was dead, unable to muster any strength to speak or move my limbs.

I felt ‘myself’ dying.

“Poor madam…”

A maid was attending to me with great care, but my vision was blurry, making it difficult to see her face clearly.

“The Marquis will be punished by heaven. He will surely pay for his sins… I believe that.”

It seemed like this maid was on my side. Having never had someone truly on my side in my life, I was extremely curious about who she was. At the very least, I wished to know her name.

At that moment, ‘my’ lips slowly parted.

“…you, …la.”

Though the voice was faint and unclear, I distinctly remembered the name I pronounced with my tongue.

‘Lyla.’

Suddenly, the world began to crumble into pieces.

I realized that the future I had just seen had reached its conclusion. In that future, I had died miserably, having been abused by my husband all my life…

‘Is this really, truly… the only future I have?’

The shattered world scattered and returned to a myriad of lights. And as if to answer my question, a new scene began to paint itself on a blank white canvas.

The place my consciousness arrived at was… perhaps, another future.

A familiar scenery. An artificial canal with clear water flowing and a large fountain. Evergreen garden trees and white marble statues placed here and there. A beautiful mansion imbued with a mysterious and serene atmosphere.

This place was… the winter palace of Grand Duke Bayern.

“Ellen.”

‘……!’

Startled by the sudden voice, I turned around in surprise. What came into view was that very person… Enoch Bayern.

It was around 4 PM. On a summer day when the slanting sun scattered warm light. His golden eyes, tinged with a smile, were directly fixed on me. As he approached slowly, I couldn’t take my eyes off him even for a moment.

“Were you taking a walk?”

He came close and kissed my cheek. Unbelievably tenderly.

One of his arms wrapped around my waist without hesitation, and the other hand gently caressed my face. Just as he always had.

“The sunlight is hot, so it’s better not to stay out too long.”

His gentle voice seemed to come from the heart, not fabricated. Yet, strangely, ‘I’ felt heartbroken. Despite witnessing such clear affection.

Why on earth was that?

As I closed my eyes to hide my trembling heart, something warm and soft touched my lips.

“……!”

Startled, I opened my eyes wide, only to meet his playful golden eyes up close.

Hot breaths mingled between our overlapping lips, and his probing tongue intertwined with mine. As I tried to pull away in embarrassment, his large hand firmly held the back of my neck. Tilting my head slightly, he kissed me more deeply.

“Mm, uh…”

The sound of mingling saliva was lewdly wet. Feeling my already flushed cheeks grow even hotter at that sound, I panted, forgetting how to breathe through my nose, and he chuckled lowly.

Beyond his shoulder, the attendants were deliberately looking away, pretending not to notice. I felt incredibly embarrassed to be doing this in front of them.

“Your Highness, please… stop…”

“Your Highness?”

“Enoch…”

As if scolding me for calling him ‘Your Highness,’ and then praising me for calling him ‘Enoch,’ his biting kisses continued. Finally, he lightly bit my lower lip and licked it with the tip of his tongue. As if enjoying my flinching reaction, a mischievous smile appeared on his face.

“Turning so red from just this…”

His teasing words made me want to hide even more. As I turned my head away, he forcibly grabbed my chin, making me face him. As if he wouldn’t allow me to avoid him even for a moment.

“Do you have to provoke me like this in broad daylight? Ellen.”

“……!”

His hardened member was pressing against my lower abdomen. Just as I was shocked, he lifted me up.

“Your, no, Enoch!”

“Yes, where shall we go?”

“It’s daytime now…!”

“So what?”

Frozen, with my mouth agape at his unbelievable debauchery, he carried me effortlessly. Clinging tightly to his collar, I opened my mouth. But before I could protest—

The scenery changed.

Without any warning, in an instant.

‘This place…’

It was an unfamiliar room. However, the surroundings were elegant and antique, making me think it was surely a mansion or castle of a high noble.

What was strange was my condition. My body felt languid, as if submerged in deep water, and it was hard to stay conscious. Someone nearby was conversing, but I could barely make out the voices.

“…How much time is left?”

“Only about three days. It could be even sooner…”

Then, a man’s angry voice struck my ears. With my consciousness sinking, it was difficult to understand the meaning of the words and identify the owner of the voice.

But judging by the previous conversation, I was…

‘I’m going to die in this future too.’

In the end, the ending is always like this.

A calendar hanging on the wall came into my blurry view. It was about a year from the ‘present’ I remembered.

‘A fate to die young…’

A bitter laugh escaped through my teeth. That laugh seemed to pierce me sharply. Is this my fate? To die young, weakened?

Before I could even despair, the world shattered. Among the scattering fragments, what I saw was pitch-black nothingness.

From there, my mind drifted far away, and finally, familiar scenery pierced through the brightening vision.

It was my shabby attic.

“……”

I blinked blankly to clear my vision. The prophetic magic was ominously flickering around me.

As I stared at it blankly, I suddenly felt something hot welling up from within me to my throat.

“Cough…!”

When I spat out what had invaded my mouth into my palm, I saw red blood.

Blood.

What I had vomited was my blood.

‘What…’

Then, with intense dizziness, my vision went black. At that moment, I felt something important being sucked out from within me.

“Ugh, ha…”

A burning pain in my solar plexus. It felt like a clawed hand was squeezing my heart tightly. Unable to bear it, I gasped for breath and collapsed.

Though the pain subsided, for some reason, tears kept flowing. It felt like I had lost something very precious.

Time passed, and I gradually regained my senses, but my heart did not calm down. Because I instinctively realized through that experience.

What I had lost was my life force.

If I continued to lose my life force like this… I wouldn’t live out my natural life.

In other words, the cost of prophecy was lifespan.

In the future I just saw, was I dying weakly because of this prophetic magic…?

“……”

Staring blankly at the ceiling, I slowly closed my eyes.

Having gone through too much at once, I just wanted to stop thinking and rest for now.

* * *

When I opened my eyes again, it was midnight. It seemed I had slept for a few hours.

“……”

The prophetic magic that had been lingering around, the mirror showing the future, was gone. It must have seeped back into me while I slept.

Even though I had lost my lifespan due to that magic, I didn’t feel uneasy. It just… all seemed natural.

If you can see the future, you can change it. That’s why this power is essentially forbidden.

Since taboos come with a price, it made sense if that price was my lifespan.

‘The futures I saw were twofold…’

One was a future where I married Marquis Anderson and lived as a slave, abused all my life.

The other was, unexpectedly, a future where I married Grand Duke Bayern and was happy for a short time.

In that future, I must have cast a love spell on him.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible for his golden eyes to show affection.

‘If I had to choose between the two futures…’

The latter, of course.

No matter which future I chose, it seemed I couldn’t avoid dying young, but if I were to die anyway, the latter was better.

I don’t want to live like a slave, being slapped by Marquis Anderson.

So, instead.

Let’s throw myself away.

I think I finally understand why I have a terminal illness in the future where I chose Enoch Bayern.

‘Even if I die, I’ll die by my own will. Struggling until the very end.’

If my fate is like a fragile candle that can easily be extinguished by a winter sigh, then let me decide where and how it will burn.

I have no thoughts of living long. It’s okay to give up such hopes by now. If only the determination to burn my lifespan can save me.

I pressed my hands to my warming eyes. Moisture leaked between my fingers, soon becoming damp as if soaked by rain, but I never sobbed aloud.

I knew from the beginning that I was the unfortunate Ellenore.

* * *

The winter palace of Grand Duke Bayern.

I stood before it again. This time, with a different mindset than before.