Translator and Editor: Skye and Vnovember

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Chapter 1

Prologue – Parting and Meeting Take Place Simultaneously

“Deng! Deng! Deng!”

I woke up as I heard a bell ringing at midnight between the rituals.

I opened my eyes wide and got up.

Then, I stepped on a large piece of wood, which was prepared earlier, under the window and tried to open the window.

‘Still high.’

“Uh-Jja.”

I was seated on the sill and hanging down on the other side. The problem was that I wanted to climb out of the window on the other side.

The window that is meant to be used by an adult is too high for a six-year-old child to climb.

It felt so high like I was sitting on a cliff, especially because it was dark everywhere.

‘I wish I was a little taller.’

I had no choice but to climb down, bring my only pillow, and throw it out of the window.

If Dalia saw the pillow with dirt and dust on it, I may have to stand with my hands up for a while, but there was no other way now.

I confirmed that the pillow had safely landed in the place where I would land. I then jumped out of the window.

“Thud!”“Ouch…”

My leg hurt a little, but there was no injury. I raised myself and looked at the forest that I was about to enter.

It was a little scary to enter the dark forest alone.

But I felt a little less afraid because I believed there would be a bright light in that forest that would save my mother.

‘Hurry up…!’

In a hurry, I ran into the forest.

“Oh my God.”

How much courage did she have to jump in?

I was running so fast that I was surprised when I looked back.

True to its name, the dark forest; the trees surrounding me looked really dark.

The full moon was bright, but the moonlight could not penetrate the forest.

“Ha, ha.”

I was out of breath.

‘I should’ve tied my hair.’

As much as I liked the lace ribbon knot that my mom tied like a headband, I left it as it was, so it felt hotter.

‘At this point, should I go deeper?’

Between the dense trees, I crouched in a small open space. The time I had to wait was too long.

My legs were asleep and I was crouched on the floor. How many times would I have to wake them up?

It was around dawn when the night had just passed that fireflies began to appear one by one in the surroundings which were empty until now.

“Wow…”

There was a big difference between reading in books and seeing “it” in real life.

I jumped to my feet.

‘Once you’re mesmerized, you’ll find that your troubles might just disappear.’

At one point, the countless fireflies gathered and began to circle my body as if they wanted to take me somewhere.

They passed by the neck or between the legs.

“How do I wake this up?”

It was an incomplete awakening of my power. I did not know how to wake up the energy of nature.

‘Do I have to bite my finger and bleed?’

I tried to move her hands in the air and catch fireflies.

“I can’t catch it.”

It was then.

[Sniff, sniff! I can smell it!]

I heard a small whisper as if it was ringing in my head.

[This is really…!][Sniff!]

Different voices rang in my head and the fireflies wrapped around my body.

[I can smell it!]

With a buzz, the fireflies flying around my body, like floating leaves in autumn, gathered into a single light.

And they were looking at me for a long time.

“Bang!”“Ahhhhhh!”

Along with the sound of the explosion, the dazzling light blinked before the group of fireflies disappeared. It happened in an instant.

No, there was something new where the fireflies disappeared.

“….”

‘A descendant of a witch.’

I glanced down at my feet.

There was a cat with black fur that I would have never found before if dawn had not arrived.It had golden eyes glistening like jewels.

I asked, still in awe of the spectacle.

“You’re… the guardian of the ancient witch… aren’t you?”

[You finally found me.]

The black cat purred, lifting its head in satisfaction.

“….”

“The Guardian of the Ancient Witch” was written in the original novel. [Ed note: explained later in the chapter]

[Are you the only one here?]

“….yeah.”

I wasn’t as dignified as I thought, but I succeeded in finding someone who could give me strength.

I sat on my knees and asked ‘the guardian of the ancient witch’ for help.

If it was really the guardian of the ancient witch as in the original novel.

“Save my mother. Please, I beg of you.”

***“Mom, mom.”“Yes, baby. My baby.”

Her dry hands gently swept my cheeks. Her touch was rough and a little cold.

I leaned in more as if the hand was the only source of warmth here, no, this lifetime.

There was not much time left for my mom. I felt it instinctively.

Mom’s glossy black hair had become dull a long time ago.

“Mom, are you sick? Does it hurt a lot?”“Mom’s fine. So don’t cry. Now, don’t you think I look much better than yesterday, right?”“Mom, don’t be sick…”

While crying, I put my cheek in my mom’s palm once more.

“You have to rest now. Lady, shall we go to bed now? I’ll read you a fairy tale.”

Dalia tried to take me away from my mother.

“No, I want to stay with mom.”

I held my mom’s blanket tightly and didn’t let go. I tried to hug my mom with open arms as tightly as I could.

Dalia, who was now old, smiled with trouble on her face.

Dalia was the only remaining maid of our family and had always taken care of my mother.

Dalia was with my mom even before she got married.

Maybe that’s why she’s like my second mother and an older sister.

She became my mother’s hands and feet instead of me, who was still young and weak.

Therefore, I always listened to what Dalia said, but I insisted on coming today without listening.

“Mariette, you have to sleep early and wake up early to be a good girl. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”“No. I don’t want to…”“Mariette, be a good girl.”“Tss…”

In the end, I had no choice but to tuck in my mother and let go of the blanket.

I kept turning around and looking at my mom’s door room that was closed as I went to my room.

My mom’s lifespan was getting lesser and lesser.

‘Mariette Dilton.’ That’s my name now.

I have memories of my past life. I was reminded of my past life; it happened when… I was only five years old.

As soon as I remembered my past life, I was frustrated before I could be happy with my new life.

I knew that I was reborn as the daughter of the Male Lead, who died with the sin of failing to save the Female Lead, who was born with the power of an ancient witch and was also a noble.

Along with frustration, I also noticed the terrible fact that my mother was dying.

My witch power was my mother’s witch power along with the power born from being a daughter to a mother.

After she was pregnant, my mother’s body had two huge powers which were fading, causing her to be weak.

Her strength continued to decline even after giving birth to me.

“Mariette, I’m sorry. You have to go through this terrible thing.”“Oh, no, no. I like traveling with my mom.”

The Male Lead, who was left by “my mother”, in the original novel took me and ran endlessly.

The temple’s sage, on a crusade to find and eliminate the witch who awakened her powers, was narrowing down on them. This caused her mother’s body to worsen.

“Mom, let’s go North, not South, okay? I heard it snows every day in the North. I want to see snow.”

Knowing the contents of the original work, I clung to my mother and tried to avoid the ending of the original novel.

‘There was a trap waiting in this town. Let’s just keep going North. Fortunately, I was able to avoid my scheduled death at the age of five and turned six.’

But her body was already irrevocably weak. Despite avoiding the scheduled death, she didn’t have much time left.

In order to save my mother, I had to find the witch’s guardian who had protected her since ancient times.

The original book said that they were born in the dark forest and defended the witches to help them become stronger. The only salvation for a six-year-old me without any power is to find a guardian.

There was a vast black forest across the Duchy of Cadion in the North.

The last place we ran away to was here. I had asked my mom to come here.

The northern forest, which was so deep and dark that no one came and went, was a place where the forces of nature were tightly clustered.

In such places, a rare phenomenon would occur when the full moon rose. Groups of lights like fireflies would appear in the forest. It is said that when the light group touches the energy of the person who has inherited the blood of the ancient witch, the guardian of the witch would appear.

A rare guardian who has met only a few witches among the awakened witches.

I was going to call that guardian to save my mother.

‘At least, the original Male Lead has to hold on until he found us.’

I’ve already succeeded in beating the original plot once, and I could do it again this time. So I managed to get the guardian of the ancient witch, and I did not doubt that I could save my mother with this.

***

“…”

It had been raining a lot since the morning. Perhaps because Autumn was coming, the rain felt cold.

“Lady…”

I was standing in front of my mother lying down in the coffin, still wearing the last clothes and ribbons.

“….”

I met the guardian of the ancient witch at dawn, but my mom had already left me for ‘a long trip’.

‘If you had waited a little longer, I might have had a chance.’

A crow sitting on a nearby tree cawed loudly.

I glanced at the crow and shook my head.

The guardian could not save my mother, but it had other useful abilities.

It could change its appearance right away. I don’t know why it turned into a black-haired animal, but the guardian, who looked like a cat at a glance, was now a crow and was looking at me.

[Don’t be sad]

“Caw, caw!”

The ‘caw’ overlapped me with soothing voices, but I just looked at my mother’s coffin.

‘I’ll have to leave here soon, too.’

The temple’s people, wearing a mysterious mask, would come to find me and kill me.

What else could I do with this small body?

Shortly after my mother left me, the direction of my life began to change once more.

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