Chapter 300
âI was never enough. No matter what I did, I couldnât make her happy.â
She spoke with self-mockery.
âI couldnât accomplish anything on my ownâŚâŚâ
âWhat do you mean by that?â
âGypsies can place a curse even on a newborn child. Just as a priestess lays hands in blessing⌠gypsies lay curses. The curse of absolute death.â
A fairy tale came to mind, the one about a girl who pricks her hand on a spinning wheel and falls into a deep sleep. But that was just a fictional story.
Even if it were true, who would ever let a gypsyâs hand touch their own childâs head?
That was when he remembered the womanâs origins.
âAre you saying Cecilia was cursed?â
Lilith weakly nodded her head. Then she handed him a small slip of paper and said,
âI heard thereâs a Stone of Eternal Life in Gatpolla that purifies all magic. If you have that stone, maybe you could save her.â
ââŚâŚâ
Should he believe such a fantastical story? As he hesitated, she spoke again. Things that had not happened in reality spilled out of her mouth in a stream.
âDo you have the gift of foresight or something?â
He asked half-jokingly, but the woman didnât laugh.
âI didnât see the future. I went back to the past. That child kept dying⌠Even if I managed to extend her life by a few years, it was uselessâŚâŚâ
She stood, as if her work was done, and turned away, weary.
âIâm sorry to burden you with this. But truly, I could do nothing by myself.â
A few days later, when the womanâs prophecy came true, Logan opened the slip of paper she had left behind.
Inside were research notes on various forms of magic, her contact information, and a desperate plea.
âIf everything fails, please come to me.â
Logan put the unsettling note deep inside a drawer and looked at Cecilia.
She was radiant. She was so full of vitality, like a flower bud on the verge of blooming. No one would ever imagine her as a woman overshadowed by death.
Though something in his heart felt like a stone had gotten stuck, he couldnât just go to Gatpolla based on Lilithâs request alone.
He would have to risk his life repeatedly, but ironically, Cecilia was the one who got in the way during that process.
How could he leave her behind? For a man who had promised to build a family, to recklessly risk danger on his own would have been a dereliction of duty.
After marrying her, Logan returned to the merchant group. He stopped fighting monsters and devoted himself to his family.
AndâŚâŚ not even a year later, he stood before his wifeâs coffin.
It was a loss far too heavy to bear in the midst of newlywed life.
Only then did he remember Ceciliaâs birth mother. Like a madman, he overturned all the furniture to find the note. He ran straight to her.
âCecilia is dead.â
To say those words aloud was no different from having his heart carved out with a knife.
But the woman who heard of her daughterâs death was calm. As if she had experienced such things countless times.
âYou didnât go to GatpollaâŚâŚ did you?â
With her soft reproach, Loganâs face twisted in anguish.
ââŚâŚI didnât go.â
âI thought so.â
Lilith opened a drawer and took out a small dagger for self-defense.
Was she telling him to pay for failing to protect her daughter with his own life? If so, he would gladly do so. Logan closed his eyes.
But the one who was cut was not him, but Lilithâs own hand.
âWhat are you doingâŚâŚ?â
âIâm preparing the ritual.â
She calmly swept the floor and sat down. Using the dripping blood, she wrote characters on the wooden floor. She was quick, as if copying out a book she had memorized.
âThere is a spell to turn back time. Iâve always used this to rewind time, and every time, I would start again from the same point and fail at another.â
Failure⌠She repeated the word quietly.
âThis time, I intend to leave everything to you. I was never able to let her live an ordinary life, no matter what I did.â
If time was turned back, Cecilia would come back to life. No, he would be sent back. She would be there, as she always had been.
âCan I use this spell too?â
âIf you use me as the sacrifice.â
ââŚâŚâ
âDonât worry about it. The spell was always meant to use the caster as the sacrifice. Itâs just that the subject changes. If you repeat it enough, you sort of get the hang of it. Eventually, you can portion out your remaining life and live a little longer, like Iâm doing now. But for you, Iâll stake everything.â
âLet me be the one insteadâŚâŚ!â
âUnless youâre a gypsy with monsterâs blood, you canât use the spell. This is the best way, so you really donât have to feel bad.â
With that, Lilith drew him into the completed magic circle. And at the end, she asked him,
âIf you go back, do you think youâll succeed this time?â
Logan answered resolutely,
âI will succeed. No matter what.â
Maxmilian
ya TuhannnnâŚ. ternyata mereka berkali kali memutar mundur waktu!! kehidupan mana yang cecilia ingat