Chapter 18: CH 17

Extra. Rieta’s Story.

A crimson fire blazes in front of me.

Nothing could be seen in the thick smoke. The walls were all burning down.

But fortunately, a man could be seen in the distance.

‘H-Help. I’m over here!’

The man turned his head towards the slender cry.

‘……’

But shortly after, he turned his head away. As if he hadn’t witnessed anything.

The door closes and the burning ceiling falls down.

At that moment, Rieta woke up from her dream.

“Gasp……!”

She was out of breath, as if she had been running. Rieta trembled and looked around.

It was a deep blue dawn. The flames were nowhere in sight.

Yet, Rieta could not calm down easily and became restless.

That was a matter of the past. It’s alright now.

I’m five years old. Not eight.

She thought to herself, but her body was still shaking.

The memory of burning to death terrified her. It dug and tormented Rieta. It was a frequent nightmare.

“S-Sister……”

In the end, Rieta couldn’t stand it and dug into Arwen’s arms, who was fast asleep. Arwen, woken up from her presence, hugged her younger sister with drowsy eyes.

“What’s wrong? Did you have a scary dream?”

Even though her sleep was disturbed, Arwen comforted Rieta without a single hint of irritation. She stroked her ghastly green hair that matched her eyes unlike Rieta’s grey ones.

“It’s alright. It’s alright. Sister is here……”

Rieta dug into her arms and shut her eyes tightly. Her heart, which had been beating fiercely from fear, gradually calmed down.

A light and calm breathing was heard. Arwen fell asleep again while patting Rieta.

The clumsy comfort was something she began getting used to. Rieta glanced at her sister’s face, who had fallen asleep quietly. 

There were many times when she couldn’t believe that this was the reality she was living in.

For Rieta, this life was like a gift.

In her previous life, she had lost her life from a fire in the orphanage at the age of eight.

For some reason, Rieta woke up again. Three years before, as her five year old self.

The world three years ago was a familiar yet unfamiliar space for the young Rieta.

A woman came to Rieta, who was suffering from the nightmares of death and the fear of an unknown space.

“Don’t go to the Marquis of Schrider.” 

The woman, fully covered in a robe, said at first.

“If you go there, you will die a more horrible death than your previous one.”

At those following words, Rieta became terrified. The woman that knew about Rieta’s previous life seemed like a god. Rieta cried out that she wanted to live.

After a moment of silence, the woman opened her mouth.

“Go to the Duke of Sebrirua.”

As a commoner, it was a name that should be unheard of for Rieta. Yet somehow, it felt familiar to her.

“It’s your friend’s family.”

In response to those words, Rieta hastily nodded her head and immediately fled from the orphanage.

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Shuel was a friend she met in her previous life at the age of seven.

Shuel, who was two years older than her, was a new child in the orphanage Rieta was from. He took good care of her.

There weren’t many people they could connect with in the orphanage, so the two quickly became close. Then one day, Shuel whispered something to Rieta.

“I want to go home. Actually, I remember where my house is.”

“Where is it?”

He should go if he knew. Rieta thought so and asked. Then, Shuel replied.

“Sebrirua.”

It was difficult to pronounce, but that’s what made it more memorable to her.

Shuel said that he mustn’t reveal his surname recklessly because he was a noble and if he waited patiently, his parents would come to find him.

However, Rieta died in a fire without being able to witness Shuel reuniting with his parents.

If she waited until she reached the age of seven, she would be able to meet Shuel again. But Rieta was too anxious to wait for him.

And so, Rieta embarked on an arduous journey towards the Sebrirua Duchy. It was, by no means, easy for a five year old to travel alone to the duke’s residence in the capital.

There were many dangerous events she faced and days when she thought she would die from it. Even so, Rieta endured. She didn’t want to die.

She didn’t go to the Marquis of Schrider, but the Duke of Sebrirua.

The woman’s words were suspicious, but it was enough to make it her goal.

Fortunately, the Duke of Sebrirua was warm to Rieta, who had struggled to arrive there.

No one kicked out Rieta and she remembered Shuel’s previous whereabouts before they met. Soon enough, she was able to meet her friend whom she thought she would never see again.

She really liked her new aunt, uncle and even her childish friend who was much younger than she remembered. 

But a very special person was there as well.

Unlike Shuel, who screams loudly all the time, she was a wonderful older sister who always smiled softly.

With her dark sunken eyes, Rieta could easily notice that the older sister was kind.

Rieta washes her hair three times a day. She did that even at the orphanage.

During a cold winter, she would break the ice and wash her hair in cold water. It was because she thought if she did so, it would get rid of her ugly green hair. However, her hair still remained a dark green colour.

So, shortly after she met Arwen, she was scared and envious of her at the same time.

Compared to Rieta, Arwen was older, smarter and had silver hair.

She didn’t realise how enchantingly beautiful her short silver hair was.

Rieta occasionally glanced at Arwen’s head.

But she couldn’t even dare say that her hair was pretty or that she wanted to see it up close.

People loathed it whenever Rieta stared at them or grabbed the hem of their clothes. She thought Arwen was the same, so Rieta didn’t want to do something she hated. 

Then one day, while she was peeping at Arwen’s hair as usual, Rieta’s eyes met Arwen’s.

Rieta was startled and lowered her head in fright. She thought Arwen would definitely feel furious. She can’t believe she got caught peeping. Arwen was definitely going to get angry.

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“Is my hair interesting?”

However, Arwen asked kindly without getting angry or frowning at her.

With a small smile on her face, Rieta nodded her head indisputably. Then, Arwen smiled and asked if she would like to touch it.

When Rieta nodded her head again, Arwen grabbed her hand and laid her hair on it.

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The enchantingly beautiful silver hair was like a silk thread. Even through Rieta’s rough fingers, it flowed smoothly without ever getting tangled.

RIeta stared at her hair, bewitched by it and murmured softly.

“Envious……”

Right after she muttered that, Rieta became startled and pulled her hand away.

Envious? It sounded like she was jealous of Arwen’s silver hair. Arwen’s eyes also widened.

“I-I didn’t mean that.”

She hastily tried to make an excuse, but nothing came up. It was embarrassing to hear her cracked and stuttering voice.

Rieta’s face flushed red and she tried to leave the room. But Arwen jumped from her seat and grabbed Rieta’s hand.

“Rieta, wait a minute–”

Smack!

Silence fell into the room. Rieta was once again stupefied.

She didn’t mean to smack Arwen’s hand away. It was purely instinct to push away anyone that approached her because she thought something bad would happen.

“Were you scared? I’m sorry.”

But Arwen calmly apologised. When Rieta made a puzzled expression, Arwen took a step back and sat down.

At her gesture to sit down, Rieta slumped down rigidly.

“Thank you for complimenting my hair colour. But your hair colour is also pretty.”

Arwen was kind, but she was good at lying too. It was obvious she didn’t mean much when she said Rieta’s hair colour was pretty.

But it was still the first time she’s ever heard someone call it pretty. Rieta smiled shyly.

Rieta smiled at Arwen for the first time, but Arwen did not return the smile. She pondered for a moment, then pointed to her eyes.

“Look at this, Rieta.”

Rieta followed Arwen’s gesture and looked into her eyes.

A pair of calm green eyes.

It was a pretty colour, like fresh leaves from a vast forest.

“Does it look weird?”

At those words, Rieta shook her head in surprise. It was an absurd thing to say. Arwen laughed at her fierce reply.

“It’s the same colour as your hair.”

Rieta was dumbstruck. It’s the same colour as her hair?

“But, my hair……”

“It’s green. My eyes are green too, aren’t they?”

Rieta’s hair and Arwen’s eye were both green in colour. Though, Rieta’s hair colour was a darker shade of green whereas Arwen had an olive green.

But, once again, Rieta nodded her head indisputably. Thinking of it now, they were both green.

“My hair is the same colour as your eyes, isn’t it?”

Really?

Arwen smiled when Rieta’s eyes widened and pointed out. ‘Your eyes are also silver, Rieta.’

It was shocking to realise that what she had previously thought was a hideous colour all this while, was anything but.

As Rieta fiddled with her hair, Arwen said firmly.

“You are beautiful too, Rieta.”

The confident statement gave her a strange sense of reassurance.

“Beautiful enough.”

It was her first time hearing that.

Arwen seemed a little annoyed, as if she was reprimanding those who had called Rieta ugly.

Rieta burst into tears when she heard those words. All of a sudden, she became sad.

Embarrassed by the sight of a child crying awfully with her face all crumpled, Arwen awkwardly hugged Rieta.

From that day on, Rieta called Arwen ‘older sister’.

Rieta liked the kind and friendly Arwen.

She had always liked her kind older sister more than her annoying friend. She wanted to play, eat snacks, have meals and sleep together every day.

But one day, Rieta realised she couldn’t do that anymore.

It was the day when a maid, instead of Arwen, came to find Rieta.

Arwen, who she finally met after the futile game of hide and seek, was completely pale.

Rieta wanted to talk to Arwen, but Arwen entered the parlour with unfamiliar adults.

That look was very familiar to Rieta.

In her past life, those were the looks on the young children who appeared with scary guests.

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While the director and the scary guests were laughing, the children never did.

Then, the children left the orphanage and never returned.

Rieta instinctively knew that the children had not been adopted into a good home.

If Arwen followed those guests back, it would be the same.

The moment she realised that, Rieta hurriedly searched her room. She rummaged under her bed and revealed a small pouch.

Although Rieta was entrusted under the Duke of Sebrirua, she had never truly trusted any adults.

Adults had always beaten, cursed and starved Rieta. For now, the adults here were friendly, but you never know when all of that could change.

Rieta had learned that it takes money to escape from those kinds of adults during her journey to find the Duke of Sebrirua.

So Rieta had been saving money ever since she arrived at the Sebrirua Duchy.

She would pick up coins that had fallen and collected the pennies given by the maids.

Rieta ran into her room and rummaged under bed. Once a little pouch was found, Rieta opened it, counted the number of coins and exhaled lightly.

She was terrified of death and getting hurt. Even the children who never returned must have felt scared and anxious.

She wished her sister wouldn’t die like this.

Rieta clutched her secret small pouch, and prayed to god for the first time in her life.

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