"... Adelyn, you need to wake up."

"Huh?"

​​

Evelyn, who heard the familiar voice of her best friend Amy, is confused at what she was saying.

"What are you talking about Amy? I'm obviously awake…"

That's right, Evelyn knew that right now she was awake and is at the scene where she is beside Amy at the park.

"No… Adelyn. This is not your world." Amy mumbled.

"What did you say? I can't hear you…"

Amy stopped walking and as a result, Evelyn also stopped her tracks and turned her head to see Amy looking sullen and deep in thought.

"Come on… the restaurant will be full if we do not hurry."

Evelyn beckoned her friend to follow her because in the first place they met up because they decided to catch up with each other as they haven't been able to see each other for the past weeks because of how busy Evelyn was in school and work.

Though, Amy is still standing there in her spot and is not moving like she was frozen under rays of the moonlight.

So, Evelyn slowly approached Amy with light steps.

"What is it? Is something happening in the university?" The concern in Evelyn's face was evident as Amy is quiet for a while now.

"I told you…"

Amy opened her mouth and Evelyn, who is focused on her look with anticipation for her words that will flow from her lips.

"What is it… Tell me." Evelyn encouraged Amy whose hands were ball into a fist.

"This is not your world…" Amy suddenly looked up and stared straight into Evelyn's eyes.

"I don't understand… Are you high or something?"

Evelyn tried to take what Amy said as a joke but instinctively she has this feeling that what she was saying was the truth.

The night that whispers the cold breeze of that day became vivid to Evelyn, she suddenly looked for something. Something that she felt was missing.

"Who are you?"

As if someone else asked the question towards Amy, Evelyn scowled at the words that left her mouth.

'What am I talking about? She's Amy…' Evelyn told herself.

There was no reason for her to ask such a question but Evelyn felt that she needed to do so.

"You need to go back there…"

Evelyn's eyes shook. She saw that Amy was holding a knife in her hands and that Amy was looking at her with sorrow in her eyes.

"Amy… what the hell?! That's not funny!" She screamed at Amy. Evelyn doesn't know why but the scenes unfolding in her eyes seem to be familiar.

'What is this feeling… like I already experienced this?'

Looking around at the park where she and Amy decided to use as a shortcut to arrive early at the restaurant, it was odd that Evelyn only noticed now that the surrounding area was quiet and not a single shadow was seen.

And what's worse is that Amy is slowly approaching her with a knife pointing towards her direction.

"I've been meaning to tell you this… I've been watching you for so long but my soul will not last any longer."

'Soul? What soul?' Evelyn became more confused at the words that were spoken by her closest friend.

"Amy… you need to tell me what is wrong! Explain it to me! Don't point such dangerous thing at me!"

Evelyn gestured to her to lower the weapon in Amy's hands but her plea was not heard by her.

"I tried my best to find you much earlier… I thought that in this world you will be happy but when I learned that you experience the same thing again it breaks my heart to know that you're still in this curse."

Amy's tears slowly flowed from her eyes into her lovely face. Evelyn, who remembered Amy to be a bubbly girl and was always happy with her, was now crying her eyes out like her world was ending.

"I risked following you in this world after seeing your future... I made a deal with the spirit kings and gave them half of my power but… this is still what happened."

At this point, Evelyn's memory flashed through her mind. It was like a movie that started to play and at every twist and turn the ending will always be Evelyn's death.

'Huh?'

"Looking at your face… I guess you recalled the memories of all your reincarnation."

Amy was looking at Evelyn with a thin smile and grief stricken eyes. It was a face that says how painful it is to watch her life that doesn't have a happy ending.

"Ha- this… this is… damnit!"

Evelyn cusses. It was because she was now aware that what was happening right now was from the last memory that she had when she was still called Adelyn.

It was the memory that Amy blurred out and sealed in her deepest consciousness.

'But why now…?' Evelyn pondered. She doesn't know why that memory popped up and is hunting her right in this moment.

"… I'll use the remaining mana in my soul to send you there…" Amy said with her eyes telling her to trust her.

It was still ridiculous to think that Evelyn was now experiencing again what happened that day.

'Shit… Now I know what is going to happen next…' Evelyn reminded herself and the next thing she knew, the knife was now stuck to her lower abdomen.

Evelyn, now on her knees, saw Amy stepped back with the knife still on her hand and was covered with her blood.

"I'm sorry…"

The memories that were clearly fuzzy in her mind were now unfolding in her eyes and the words that she didn't get to hear that day were about to be spoken again.

"I'm sorry… I love you, my child… I needed to do this so that I could bring you back to where you belong. You'll only remember this when the time comes..."

Evelyn didn't expect what she heard from her friend and as her world slowly turned pitch black, the silhouette of her mother, Duchess Monica overlapped with Amy.

And the crying face of her closest friend was what Evelyn last saw.

***

"...ve! Eve… Please wake up!"

The loud voice that rings to her ears, begs in desperation for Evelyn to open her eyes.

'Who is it…?'

Evelyn couldn't comprehend what was happening but she heard a lot of noise from her surrounding area. It was almost like a cry for help.

"Eve… please, wake up! Please!"

A warm droplet ran down her face. Evelyn thought if it was raining outside and was she sleeping in the road.

"Gil… What the hell?! You said Eve will wake up! Cassandra do something!"

The desperation and pleading that Evelyn is hearing was enough for her to guess who it was.

'It is so noisy… let me get some sleep' She silently thought. Her eyelids were still heavy and she couldn't open her mouth because she felt that her throat was so dry and besides the warmth that was emitting from the person holding her was enough for Evelyn to feel comfortable in the embrace.

"She's just unconscious Cabel… after all that happened it would be a shock if she wake up this fast."

As if stating a fact, Chrisfold said towards Cabel. His breath was heavy and almost as if he ran a marathon.

"But…!"

Cabel was frustrated as the crystal ball that contains Duchess Monica's soul was already absorbed by Evelyn and almost all their mana was exhausted just to send Evelyn unconscious so that Cassandra could do her spell and sealed her demonic blood in that relic that was on Evelyn's wrist.

"Cassandra… why is she still not waking up!"

As if Evelyn can't endure the noise, she slowly opens her eyes and speaks in a tired voice.

"Cabel… don't scream too much…"

"Eve!"

"Evelyn!"

"Lady Evelyn!"

The woman whose hair is now all black with no sign of the shiny silver-blue hair that she inherited from the Emsworth family, slowly raised herself and saw the beaten looks of everyone.

"What happened?"

"Eve!"

Cabel hugged her so tight and she felt how worried he was with how he gripped her back like if he didn't do so, Evelyn would vanish.

"Thank goodness! I don't know what I'll do if something happened to you…" Cabel sighed a relief.

Evelyn's eyes wandered and saw the look of relief mixed with worries and anxiety as well as happiness in everyone's eyes.

At the distance Edickart was there with his signature smile looking at her while he was with his Royal Knights. Silvester, who seems to have been in a rush to come here to help, was also standing beside Edickart.

Cassandra, who sat at the floor with blood on her hands made Evelyn gather her brows as she became worried about the reason behind the magic circle beneath Cassandra.

Then Evelyn looked at her left side, the beaten looks of her contracted spirits welcomed her but there was still a relief in their faces like some kind of boulder was lifted from their shoulders.

And lastly, she turned at her right side, Evelyn saw the twisted look of her father. It was comprehensible but then it struck her…

"Where's brother?"