‘Are you trying to leave me behind?’ 

 Even the chattering Delin fell silent. The slowly revealed blue eyes were different from usual, sunken. 

 “……Abel?” 

 Abel smiled without emotion. An uncontrolled fierce anger filled Abel’s insides. Swallowing all those emotions, Abel spoke kindly. 

 “It’s been a while, Marian.” 

 Marian’s blue eyes became moist. Transparent tears gathered at her eyes and kept flowing down. For some reason, his throat felt dry. Abel licked his lips. 

 Marian, who had always seemed strong, was crying like a child. Her enticing gaze remained the same. Abel rubbed Marian’s eyes with his thumb. 

 Marian’s tears were stirring something within Abel. Things he thought had died without feeling seemed to be coming back to life. 

 “I don’t want to die……” 

 It was a faint voice like a dying wind. 

 Marian closed her eyes. Her white cheeks were stained with tears. 

 “I’ll. I’ll give you me. Please…… save me.” 

 Marian sobbed softly. At that moment, Marian realized it too. 

 “I don’t want to die. I want to live too. I’m…… I’m scared of dying too.” 

 That she had never wanted to die for a single moment. That’s why she had lived so fiercely. Marian’s breathing slowly became slower. Nothing was special in the face of death. Abel embraced Marian’s body that was still warm. 

 “You brought this upon yourself, Marian.”

“I’m, I’m sorry…… I……” 

 Abel whispered in Marian’s ear. 

 “Don’t die, Marian. You don’t have the right to die and leave me behind.” 

 Strangely, it felt like his heart was breaking. Marian’s hand fell. Her world slowly flickered. 

 ** 

 Marian blinked. Stars were spinning in circles in the pitch-black sky. Marian raised her body. Though there had definitely been pain like her whole body was breaking, now her movements were light. 

 She checked her fingers. 

 The skin that should have been burned and charred by fire was intact. 

 “……Is this hell?” 

 Marian smiled bitterly. It couldn’t be heaven. The blood of those Marian had killed in the war with Lorenzo had formed rivers. The number of people Marian had burned to death in the past was too many to count. Marian was nothing but a slaughterer. 

 [This is the River of Death, the Styx.] 

 Marian’s eyes widened at the voice that slowly echoed through the sky. A solemn song flowed slowly. Something formless snatched Marian. There wasn’t even time to dodge. 

 “Ugh!” 

 Marian struggled against whatever was choking her neck. Her body floated into the air. She clawed at the air. 

 ‘Can’t, can’t breathe……!’ 

 Fear of dying like this rushed in. She realized it again. Marian didn’t want to die. Marian still had so many lingering attachments to this world. 

 ‘I want to live……!’

Marian twisted her body while letting out a scream she could barely contain. Is there another death after death? 

 [Marian Federico. You have killed countless lives. And, you have saved countless lives. We had to discuss for a long time about what to do with your soul.] 

 Marian’s breath suddenly cleared. She let out a rough cough. Her lungs, which had shrunk and swelled, desperately inhaled air. Marian dropped bodily fluids mixed with tears and saliva. Like a frog on the floor, Marian caught her breath. 

 Her ears were buzzing. 

 Though she couldn’t hear clearly, every sound was nailed into her brain like a gong. 

 ‘My soul?’ 

 Marian fumbled at her neck. It felt suffocating as if invisible shackles were placed on her. 

 [We have examined the paths you could choose.] 

 Marian’s body, still not having regained her senses, floated up gently. 

 The darkness deepened, and the rotation of the stars accelerated. Hazy forked paths appeared before Marian. A translucent white hand appeared and pointed to those paths. 

 [This is the path where you would have grown old and died as an ordinary duchess, not a soldier. If you had walked this path, Federico would have fallen long ago. You would have lived your entire life as Lorenzo’s prisoner.]

The giant finger pointed to the next branch. 

 [This path shows what would happen if you married Lorenzo’s crown prince. If you had taken this path, the Federico Empire would have lived a bit longer.] 

 The giant finger and voice pointed to countless paths and recited possibilities. Marian stared at it while holding her breath. Her clear eyes emitted brilliant colors. Marian remembered and reflected on everything as the finger pointed and the voice recited. 

 Like the worst, or greatest mage in history, her brilliant mind contained everything. 

 When the finger and voice stopped, Marian muttered. 

 “Are you retracing my failures? To condemn me?”

[I don’t tend to waste time. What I want is,] 

 The rough voice dragged on for a moment. 

 [For you to make better choices and save more lives. I’ll give you 10 years, Marian Federico. When the number of lives you save exceeds those you’ve killed, you will be free.] 

 Marian stared at the sky with sunken eyes. The voice didn’t ask about Marian’s will or thoughts. As if determined to push her back into that life. 

 “……What if I refuse?” 

 The voice burst into laughter. The ground beneath Marian’s feet suddenly gave way. Marian stared at the ground while floating in mid-air. 

 Grrrrrr. 

 Souls that had lost their faces and retained only their forms flailed and reached out. Their resentful screams burst forth toward Marian. Marian drew in a breath. 

 [Do you want to end up like them? The 10 years given to you is merely a grace period. If you fail, you too will fall into that hell.] 

 Marian clenched her fist. She was still essentially standing at the edge of a cliff. Marian closed her eyes. 

 She wasn’t sure if this was an opportunity or a prelude to despair. Marian’s eyelids trembled. But…

 ‘I want to live. I…… want to live. I don’t want to die.’ 

 That feeling remained unchanged. A burning desire for life stirred in her chest. 

 Marian’s lips moved slightly. 

 “I want to live. Even if it’s only 10 years, that’s fine.” 

 This time, for Marian’s sake, to find Marian’s worth. Marian opened her eyes. Her eyes, containing countless stars, scattered their radiance. 

 Light dispersed around her. Her body was pushed somewhere. Marian stared at the distant sky. It felt as if something was watching her. What followed was an endless fall. 

 ** 

 “Huk!” 

 Marian shot up. Her chest felt tight and she couldn’t breathe. 

 “Am I alive?” 

 Marian looked around. She held her breath while assessing the situation. 

 ‘This is……’ 

 Marian blinked. This was the room she had stayed in during her time as an imperial princess. A desolate and cold room befitting Marian’s circumstances. Decorations were minimized, and wind leaked through the thin curtains hanging on the window frame. A withered fireplace caught her eye. Marian got off the bed. In the mirror, Marian was drenched in sweat. After peeling away the hair stuck to her face and neck, everything became clear. 

 Marian ran her fingers down her nape. 

 There was a thin, black line drawn on her neck. Like death itself. 

 Looking closer, she could see it wasn’t a line but a collection of crudely small letters. Marian recalled the formless force that had choked her neck. And the deal with god. 

 This must be its trace. Marian pressed down on what was engraved like a tattoo with her fingertip. 

 It was as if shackles had been placed around her neck. 

 “……So it wasn’t a dream.” 

 Both the pain of the flames that had burned her body, and the deal with god. Marian’s eyes sparkled with stars even in the darkness. 

 Then Marian’s death must not have been a lie either. Marian slowly took a breath. In the mirror, she could see her emaciated body with protruding ribs. 

 Marian massaged her thin arms and legs. 

 They seemed like they would break easily, just as they had in the past. 

 Marian hadn’t been a great mage from birth. She was a beast, a monster. She grew up wandering the streets, eating discarded food waste. The street urchin Marian became a noble imperial princess at age eight. 

 The Emperor reclaimed the illegitimate child he had abandoned. 

 When Marian couldn’t endure the violence from the gang of beggar children, her magic circuits responded to her pain. Her untrained fragile body released magic power, and an explosion occurred. That was Marian’s first murder. Everything within 100 meters around Marian was incinerated. 

 ‘Monster.’ 

 That was the word used to describe Marian. 

 Marian closed her eyes and trembled slightly. She clenched her fist. Every time she recalled that memory, it felt as if her entire soul was being sucked away. That was one of the things that hadn’t changed even after dying and coming back to life. Marian was still a monster and a murderer. 

 “……It’s okay, Marian.” 

 Marian took a heavy breath as if expelling the sins of that day. After that day, Marian’s life changed 180 degrees. The girl who had nothing suddenly had everything. The Emperor found the daughter he had abandoned to cover up his own incompetence. 

 Marian was packaged not as the daughter cast out along with a maid’s womb, but as the ‘lost daughter.’ The incident Marian had caused was also covered up. Someone who received the Emperor’s instructions confessed as the arsonist. 

 In an instant, Marian went from being a beggar to an imperial princess. Not a monster, but a great mage who would save the country. 

 However, that didn’t mean Marian’s life as an imperial princess was smooth. Marian was no different from a poisonous mushroom sprouting sharply in the imperial palace. 

 The Emperor had one son. 

 Benjamin both feared and despised Marian. 

 ‘Murderer. For Father to take in something like you, he truly is merciful.’ 

 Yet Benjamin and the imperial family parasitized Marian’s power. It had been nearly 50 years since Federico began walking the path of decline. The bloodline of incompetent emperors continued to make mistakes. Robbers and thieves, rebellions, and protests. Civil wars never ceased, and groups of traitors always seethed. 

 Were the external enemies who pointed their swords any better? 

 Large monsters growling to devour Federico were scattered about. 

 It was Marian who protected Federico from them. 

 Marian stroked her tired face. 

 Her body, thin as a stick from not eating properly, was pitiful. A body that had starved all its life rarely gained weight. Marian muttered bitterly. 

 “Did you want to live even in this state.” 

 If Marian had indeed come back 10 years from the day she died, she was now 20 years old. Marian grabbed her black hair. It was proof that she was a mage. 

 And it also meant that Marian bore the duty to protect Federico. Marian smiled bitterly. 

 Save more than you’ve killed. 

 Marian was destined to shoulder Federico once again. Though she didn’t know what freedom she would gain after 10 years. Whether it would be death, or life. 

 Marian stared at the sky as dawn broke. 

 She could do more this time. She wasn’t the naive Marian of the past anymore. Marian had lost many things and wallowed in countless moments of despair. She had crossed walls she thought impossible to overcome and seen what lay beyond them. 

 Among all the branches God had shown, there was no path where both Marian and Federico survived. Federico would fall inevitably, whether in 10 years or 50 years. 

 And at the end of it all was Marian’s death. 

 Whether to die miserably, or nobly. 

 “That’s for me to decide.” 

 Marian tightly clenched her fist. 

 **