Ch#233
Chapter 233
I had a dream for the first time in a long while. However, it felt incredibly strange, as if I were observing myself even while dreaming. Uncannily, throughout my life, I had never felt so strongly that I was inside a dream as I did today.
Regrettably, the start was not good. I was being strangled in an empty, barren field. A black shadow was laughing shrilly while pressing down hard on my neck. Consumed by terror, I screamed and struggled to claw at the shadow, but it was useless.
My hands passed through the shadow helplessly, as if fluttering through empty air. Tears streamed down my face from fear and sorrow.
But after a moment, the scene suddenly shifted, and a stranger appeared before my eyes. The desolate field had instantly transformed into a meadow where flowers bloomed brilliantly.
An old woman, holding a small harp, looked at me and smiled. Around her neck, she wore a wooden necklace carved with the sun and the moon—the symbolic necklace of a Wagus.
As I stared blankly while clutching my neck, the Wagus smiled benevolently and handed me a card. Just as she had given me when we met before.
‘Take this with you.’
I took the card reflexively. The card, which had been filled only with empty white space, began to shimmer as soon as I touched it, drawing black lines that soon completed a picture. It looked like two people holding hands, yet it also gave the impression of someone catching a person who was falling.
What on earth does this mean? No, is this the only drawing that came out?
When I was feeling complicated with various thoughts, the Wagus spoke to me in a quiet voice.
‘Act like the picture. Otherwise, you will return. For no one can escape the wheel.’
‘Return? To what...?’
‘You know. So do not hesitate. If you do not act that way, the opportunity will now pass to someone else.’
‘Someone else? Who? Who on earth are you talking about? And what do you mean by returning?’
‘The person you must hold onto. And the person you must save. Or the person you hate. Or the person you despise.’
Suddenly, a wind blew. Even though it was a dream, I couldn't open my eyes and covered my face with my palms; the background instantly changed to a dilapidated house.
This was also a familiar place. It was the Witch's house I had visited with the Crown Prince. As I stared blankly, the Witch opened the door and walked out.
She grinned at me. The teeth revealed between her wrinkled lips were pitch black. However, her tongue was incredibly crimson, which was quite ghastly.
Strangely, I felt overwhelmed and was frowning when the Witch spoke to me out of the blue. She asked in a blunt tone why I was here, and the sound, bordering on a rebuke, made me feel unpleasant.
‘What are you doing not going?’
‘Not going? Where are you talking about? And where did the Wagus disappear to?’
‘Hehe. There is only me here. And I told you before. You must go to that man’s side.’
‘That man?’
‘Do you not know?’
‘Yes. I have no idea.’
‘Even though he is the person whose life depends on your hands?’
Suddenly, the Crown Prince came to mind, and my body trembled. I felt foul because I couldn't understand why I was hearing that I had to go to him even here. So I replied in a cold tone.
‘And if I do not go? It has nothing to do with me.’
The Witch smirked at my words, as if asking if I would still refuse to go after hearing this.
‘Then it must start over. Before long, you, Lady, will die very miserably and shamefully. And is that all? Since the first one to return is beside the one who returned, life will not be as smooth as before. It will be a succession of hardships, will it not? Cluck, cluck, cluck.’
‘Start over? Die miserably and shamefully? What on earth does that mean?’
It sounded similar to what the Wagus had said, but it felt like it was explained in more detail. So when I asked her back, the Witch clicked her tongue again.
‘It is what it is. Since you’ve changed so much, you should at least set this right. So go, even if you do not want to.’
‘...Why?’
‘Or become miserable again. You must take responsibility for changing the flow. Is this not the providence of nature? Even if the return was something close to a coincidence.’
‘This is coercion.’
‘Since you received a new life, is this level of sacrifice not a small price to pay?’
‘...What happens if I didn't know I had to go to him?’
‘It will happen as I said earlier.’
‘In the end, you appeared to give me advice. Both you, the Witch, and the Wagus. Why?’
‘That is, if you think about it, a very simple matter. So, from where should I start...’
Just as the Witch was about to answer something, the wind blew again. This time it was blowing so hard it seemed it would sweep everything away. Because of that, my vision was blocked, and even my body was swept up and began to fly high into the sky. I let out a scream.
‘I haven't heard it yet. Tell me. Why I must go. What is the reason you call it fate! How I returned!’
But the Witch and her house had already vanished without a trace. My body just kept spinning round and round.
At the end of the typhoon, black shadows were laughing gloomily and reaching out. Their destination was my neck.
I shook my head violently and tried to resist. Then the shadows merged together and transformed into a single figure. It was the masked man who had held a knife to my neck.
Terrified, I let out a silent outcry. The world was breaking into pieces as if it were collapsing.
No. No. Don't come near me. Don't strangle me!
But the body grew closer, and the masked man's hand touched my neck. It was a ghastly yet familiar touch of death.
“Nooo!!”
Huff, huff.
The moment the scream burst out, my breath came in gasps as if I had been running for a long time. My blurred vision cleared, and I saw a familiar ceiling. My mouth was dry as if I had a mouthful of sand. As I caught my ragged breath and felt around, I sensed the touch of a soft blanket.
Where am I?
It was when I was thinking blankly while looking up.
“My Lady?”
Someone called me. Turning my head toward the sound, I found Seril standing there blankly with a wet towel and let out a small sigh. My hair was sticking to my cheeks, perhaps from sweating, making me feel quite uncomfortable.
“My bed? My room?”
“Yes. You suddenly collapsed, so we moved you to the bed. You must have had a nightmare.”
“I see.”
At my words, Seril looked at me with a worried gaze and answered softly.
“Everyone was in an uproar because of it. We were worried you might be very ill. Even the Madam, who is not in good health, came down personally to see you. She went back up after hearing the diagnosis that you would be fine after a deep sleep, though. According to the doctor, it’s just that fatigue has piled up. Still, I was startled because you ran a fever in the middle of it.”
I blinked my eyes while pressing my forehead with my hand. Even in my groggy state, the dream I had just had left me feeling unsettled.
Usually, after having a dream, one tends to forget it immediately unless it is exceptionally intense, but the ones I had this time were remarkably vivid. Perhaps that was why; it felt like something I had personally experienced rather than just a dream.
“Seril, give me some water.”
“Yes.”
When I sat up to drink the water, my head spun. My body felt heavy as if I had fallen ill. I took the water cup with one hand and fiddled with the wound on my neck with the other. The lukewarm water made me feel like I was coming back to life.
Seril took back the empty water cup and, after hesitating for a moment, asked me.
“By the way, what should we do with the man who brought the letter? That man who supported your body, My Lady.”
“Letter? Ah...!”
Come to think of it, there was a Knight who brought an absurd letter. The one that wrote strange things about coming to the Border Region.
Although he came as a letter carrier, he was still the Crown Prince's Knight, so when I asked where he was, she said they gave him an empty room to rest in.
“His clothes were shabby, but he didn't seem like an ordinary person. So I thought it wouldn't be right to give him a servant's room.”
“Yes, you did well.”
“But, um, you haven't eaten anything because you’ve been sleeping. Should I bring you some soup?”
“No, that's enough.”
Come to think of it, I had rushed to the Madam's house without even eating breakfast. It was only right that my stomach, which had been starved all day, should complain of hunger, but strangely, I had no appetite. I was just exhausted.
So I frowned and pressed my temples with my fingers. Then I ordered Seril, who was standing quietly to see if there were any further instructions, to leave. She quietly gathered the wet towel and basin and stepped outside.
After pressing my head for several minutes, the headache seemed to subside a bit. My mind was clearing, and I felt as if I could finally move.
So I got out of bed and took out the item I had received from the Wagus as a fortune-telling result. The blank card with nothing drawn on it.
“Ah!”
Seeing the card, I let out a cry of surprise. The item I had taken out after a very long time was now covered with a drawing on one side. And it was exactly the same as what I saw in my dream. It looked like people holding hands, but in a way, it was an ambiguous drawing that also looked like a handshake.
Before, the Wagus had said that a drawing would appear on the card when the time was right. But could it be a mere coincidence that the same drawing from my dream appeared?
The Witch and the Wagus I saw in my dream told me to go to the Crown Prince. They said otherwise, I would not only end my life miserably but also return to the past again. Specifically, the Witch said there were two who returned. But it was a strange thing. Who else besides me could experience life again?
“It’s a hollow dream. It must be.”
I muttered as if to soothe myself while putting strength into my hand holding the card. However, the afterimage of the dream kept lingering in my mind, making me feel quite restless.
“What should I do? Why are they coercing me to go there? I am...”
Let's say I follow the dream and go to the Crown Prince. Then who will look after the house? And what about hiding Roena? I haven't even been able to deceive the Empress's side yet.
It was impossible for my mother, whose body had weakened so much she was practically confined to her bed, to take over the household affairs. Nor could I give full power to the guardian.
Do I really have to go? They say I will die miserably. That I will end my life shamefully. But how can I believe that is a prophecy of the future?
“But a drawing appeared on the card. The exact same drawing.”
...If I go, what will I do there?
I bit my lip in my restless state and paced the room all night. The thoughts of having to go and having to stay clashed violently, making it difficult to decide easily.
Perhaps that was why. Forgetting the terror of receiving a death threat, I focused my mind solely on this and again failed to sleep.
As time passed and another morning dawned, I made a resolution. If I were to aimlessly take a carriage today and meet a Wagus to hear a fortune, I would accept that content as the fate given to me. Is there no law saying that a coincidence once connected won't happen again?
And a few hours later, I met a middle-aged Wagus and was getting my fortune told by him. The plump man, Wagus, had me pick cards one by one just as the old woman had done before. Despite being suddenly stopped on the road to have a fortune told, he submissively accepted the request.
“Fate, obedience, travel. The cards you picked, Lady, contain these meanings.”
I was lost for words at the fortune-telling result that seemed to say I must go there. So, out of spite, I ordered him to mix the cards once more and tell the fortune again. Wagus wore an ambiguous expression at my words but then mixed the cards with a submissive attitude.
“This time, the one who defies fate, ruin, frustration—these three come out.”
The content was practically a threat. Wagus also let out a hollow laugh as if the results that came out in succession were strange and scratched his cheek.
“I do not know what it is, but it seems it would be better to follow fate.”
I stared at it with a look of despair, then soon regained my senses and gave him money. It was a sign of gratitude for his trouble.
“Lady, if I may dare say one more thing, when you think a strange wind is blowing, flee to the opposite side without hesitation. Then you will be able to avoid danger.”
“A strange wind?”
“Yes. That kind of wind that suddenly gives you goosebumps. From now on, you just need to avoid that.”
A wind that suddenly gives goosebumps. Could such a thing exist?
I replied that I understood with a faint smile. Then I let out a sigh and boarded the carriage.
It’s telling me to go. That I must go?
I didn't feel very good, as if someone were forcibly pushing me. Is it the will of God to not let the rebellion go awry? Or is it a prank of the devil?
After that, I happened to meet a few more Wagus by chance and got my fortune told, but it was no different from the fortune of the first one I met. On the contrary, in one person’s fortune, the word death even came to mind. My face gradually distorted at the result, which was no different from being fixed. Thus, my heart was restless and anxious.
“What about the house? What if my position is shaken by leaving like this?”
Fortunately, Lady Roshan helped me and provided a solution for this. It seemed the Crown Prince's letter had reached her as well, as she looked at me with an incredibly envious expression and rolled up her sleeves.
And what she said was that she would disguise me so that no one would notice. Regardless of my expression, which was filled with despair.
Shards of the Broken Glass Shoe
