The remaining clan members have one last year to mourn the loss of the Great Witch, the motherly figure who has nurtured them for a thousand years.
Those precious last years, Mirania wondered, should be devoted to the three of them.
It wasn’t just because she feared their uncontrollable behavior in the afterlife.
I’m surprised and saddened that they’re trying so hard for me, even though it’s useless.
‘At this rate, I will trample in the ground on the final journey.’
Back at Witch Castle, I need to find a place to spend my last hours.
Alice, her beloved, Malandor, Leverianz, and Grecan are coming for the last time.
That’s a lot of people, and they’d need a pretty big place.
Was there a suitable space in the forest?
Malandor’s manor would be fine.
‘Living in that deceitful place would drastically shorten what little life I had left.’
In any case, she decided that a period of repose was for the three of them, as it was for the witches.
It was a long way along, considering they had just regressed.
‘I’m not saying this for nothing, for those who are haunted by the spirits of the dead and their regrets are bound to cause trouble.’
Humbled, Mirania coughed loudly, excusing herself.
“Look over here.”
All three turned to look at her at the same time.
A strange feeling. Mirania shrugged and tilted her head to the side.
Her slightest gesture drew stares.
“I would think you would all understand by now. To put it more bluntly, I don’t have much time left. Maybe not even a year.”
The distinctive voice, low and clear, drew everyone’s attention.
Mirania glanced at Grecan, then at Leverianz, then at Malandor, all of whom stared at her in silence.
She could see the loose reins above them, each reacting differently to her words.
Unable to trust them to anyone else. No one but the hand she held.
A faint sigh escaped her picturesque lips, but she was smiling.
The three of them, concentrating, didn’t know the meaning of the sigh or the smile, and doubt flashed in their eyes.
“I have much to do, and you have given me a headache, so I have changed my mind.”
Malandor’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“My head still aches from thinking too much of my own. None of which, it seems to me, have the slightest regard for the honor of the elderly.”
Leverianz muttered in disbelief.
“That’s for humans, you throw around the words ‘elderly’ and ‘honor’ based on how long you’ve been here.”
“Shut up.”
Grecan growled, annoyed at Mirania’s interruption.
Malandor and Leverianz, who were about to retort, suddenly shut their mouths and shifted their attention to Mirania.
Sensing that things had cleared up, Mirania swallowed a sigh, her face drained of color.
“You won’t even let me say anything.”
“I’m waiting.”
She looked up at Grecan, his eyes serious, and a raspy laugh escaped her lips as if the wind had been knocked out of her teeth.
“Malandor has spoken and thought much.”
“…”
“I know we don’t have much time left, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to stay with you.”
“…What?”
Malandor asked, a step too late, his voice strangled.
Leverianz and Grecan looked equally confused.
No one was foolish enough to ask if they were staying together still.
“I knew it, I knew I was stuck with you until this point.”
Leverianz’s voice faltered slightly, and so did Malandor’s.
What she said now, in the context of permitting them to stay with her, caused a ripple in the hearts of the three.
“I am willing to spend my last days with you.”
“…”
“Will you be okay with that?”
Mirania ended with a cautious question.
Her voice sounded dry, but it was warm like the morning sun beating down on her.
‘A strange feeling indeed.’
Like dipping your hand into lukewarm water that’s neither hot nor cold.
Looking at the three people with wide-open eyes, I felt like that.
Not knowing love.
After a thousand years of practicing the Five Noble Truths, it was a shame that she hadn’t encountered such an intense emotion, but she didn’t particularly regret it.
For her, love was an unknown concept with some fear.
She doesn’t know love, but she knows affection.
Due to her innate laziness, Mirania was not gifted at reading other people’s feelings.
Nor, as Leverianz had complained, does she have much empathy.
Nor was she a perceptive one.
But it wasn’t as if she couldn’t understand that if she died, there would be no life.
Mirania’s calm gaze swept past Malandor and Leverianz, lingered on Grecan, and then sank lower.
“Mirania.”
Malandor’s voice was surprisingly serious after all the playfulness.
His pale red eyes met Mirania’s.
“Are you offering me your last hours?”
His eyes were filled with gratitude.
“I know how much you care for your clan.”
Malandor’s voice was tinged with disbelief.
His expression wavered slightly as he looked at the silent figure of Mirania.
“So you’re saying that you’ll share every minute of your life with me until you die?”
“…”
“Breathe the same air, eat the same food, read the same books, drink the same liquid, sleep in the same bed…”
“You talk so much nonsense. For nothing.”
Leverianz interrupted as if he couldn’t take anymore.
Malandor smiled. It was a smile in form, but it was a deathly grim one.
“…”
Grecan was still speechless.
Mirania pondered Malandor’s words.
Not, of course, considering his long-winded, selfless words.
Until now, she had only worried about the witches’ well-being after her death.
But now, on her deathbed, it wasn’t just the witches that were troubling her.
There were other nuisances, too.
“I understand. You’re going back to the witch castle with us, and you’re going to stay with us until the end, right?”
Leverianz flashed a beautiful smile at Malandor as he shot a cold glare.
Despite his seductive appearance and laid-back smile, his red eyes were twitching.
The twitching of his pupils was almost mournful, and it showed his compassion.
Mirania let out a weak laugh at the greater-than-expected reaction.
‘It hasn’t been that long since my last life. What has happened in all that time?’
Two children, raised close to each other since childhood, who, despite being enemies, were now as dear to her as any member of the witch family.
And a nemesis who has followed her to the end.
A companion to spend her final year of servitude. Quite the contrary.
After the tenth regression, Mirania, who had spent the entire time fiercely contemplating her future and her fate, had finally shifted her attention to them.
It was a small, if trivial, change, but a fate-twisting one.
“So, yes. We will be traveling to the witch castle, but that does not mean we will be staying there.”
“What?”
“We’ll have our own place to stay.”
“Wouldn’t that be more comfortable, though of course, we shouldn’t stray too far from the witch castle…”
As she spoke, she was gentler than ever.
Like an old, dying man greeting the rising sun.
Mirania’s tenderness made them realize it was the last time.
“It’s not just comfortable. It’s the best. Is that what you call it?”
Malandor, who had hoped for this from the beginning, was thrilled. I almost laughed at what was going through his head.
Leverianz, who glared at Malandor as if he were looking at something dirty, was relatively dejected and helpless.
“I was so confident with the power of the Chief, but death is like a great ocean, making me realize that there is nothing I can do.”
“…”
“There is nothing we can do… to reverse your death, but I’m really glad Mirania told me that. If I had known that, I should have put off the pesky Chief Ritual for a while longer.”
As he spoke, Leverianz smiled sorrowfully, as if he was slowly gathering his thoughts.
“If I had put it off any longer, old Scarlet would have come to visit.”
Mirania turned her head to a chilling gaze she felt coming from somewhere.
The gaze was Grecan’s.
He was staring at her with oddly distorted eyes.
His dark eyebrows, curved in the crease of his brow, were raised in an angry frown.
It was like a child’s face, the kind of face that looked like it was holding back a tear of frustration and sadness, so it was hard to blame him for looking at her like that.
‘Everyone’s getting along. What else are you upset about?’
Grecan’s mindset was unexpected, so Mirania was about to ask him what was wrong.
The remaining clan members have one last year to mourn the loss of the Great Witch, the motherly figure who has nurtured them for a thousand years.
Those precious last years, Mirania wondered, should be devoted to the three of them.
It wasn’t just because she feared their uncontrollable behavior in the afterlife.
I’m surprised and saddened that they’re trying so hard for me, even though it’s useless.
‘At this rate, I will trample in the ground on the final journey.’
Back at Witch Castle, I need to find a place to spend my last hours.
Alice, her beloved, Malandor, Leverianz, and Grecan are coming for the last time.
That’s a lot of people, and they’d need a pretty big place.
Was there a suitable space in the forest?
Malandor’s manor would be fine.
‘Living in that deceitful place would drastically shorten what little life I had left.’
In any case, she decided that a period of repose was for the three of them, as it was for the witches.
It was a long way along, considering they had just regressed.
‘I’m not saying this for nothing, for those who are haunted by the spirits of the dead and their regrets are bound to cause trouble.’
Humbled, Mirania coughed loudly, excusing herself.
“Look over here.”
All three turned to look at her at the same time.
A strange feeling. Mirania shrugged and tilted her head to the side.
Her slightest gesture drew stares.
“I would think you would all understand by now. To put it more bluntly, I don’t have much time left. Maybe not even a year.”
The distinctive voice, low and clear, drew everyone’s attention.
Mirania glanced at Grecan, then at Leverianz, then at Malandor, all of whom stared at her in silence.
She could see the loose reins above them, each reacting differently to her words.
Unable to trust them to anyone else. No one but the hand she held.
A faint sigh escaped her picturesque lips, but she was smiling.
The three of them, concentrating, didn’t know the meaning of the sigh or the smile, and doubt flashed in their eyes.
“I have much to do, and you have given me a headache, so I have changed my mind.”
Malandor’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“My head still aches from thinking too much of my own. None of which, it seems to me, have the slightest regard for the honor of the elderly.”
Leverianz muttered in disbelief.
“That’s for humans, you throw around the words ‘elderly’ and ‘honor’ based on how long you’ve been here.”
“Shut up.”
Grecan growled, annoyed at Mirania’s interruption.
Malandor and Leverianz, who were about to retort, suddenly shut their mouths and shifted their attention to Mirania.
Sensing that things had cleared up, Mirania swallowed a sigh, her face drained of color.
“You won’t even let me say anything.”
“I’m waiting.”
She looked up at Grecan, his eyes serious, and a raspy laugh escaped her lips as if the wind had been knocked out of her teeth.
“Malandor has spoken and thought much.”
“…”
“I know we don’t have much time left, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to stay with you.”
“…What?”
Malandor asked, a step too late, his voice strangled.
Leverianz and Grecan looked equally confused.
No one was foolish enough to ask if they were staying together still.
“I knew it, I knew I was stuck with you until this point.”
Leverianz’s voice faltered slightly, and so did Malandor’s.
What she said now, in the context of permitting them to stay with her, caused a ripple in the hearts of the three.
“I am willing to spend my last days with you.”
“…”
“Will you be okay with that?”
Mirania ended with a cautious question.
Her voice sounded dry, but it was warm like the morning sun beating down on her.
‘A strange feeling indeed.’
Like dipping your hand into lukewarm water that’s neither hot nor cold.
Looking at the three people with wide-open eyes, I felt like that.
Not knowing love.
After a thousand years of practicing the Five Noble Truths, it was a shame that she hadn’t encountered such an intense emotion, but she didn’t particularly regret it.
For her, love was an unknown concept with some fear.
She doesn’t know love, but she knows affection.
Due to her innate laziness, Mirania was not gifted at reading other people’s feelings.
Nor, as Leverianz had complained, does she have much empathy.
Nor was she a perceptive one.
But it wasn’t as if she couldn’t understand that if she died, there would be no life.
Mirania’s calm gaze swept past Malandor and Leverianz, lingered on Grecan, and then sank lower.
“Mirania.”
Malandor’s voice was surprisingly serious after all the playfulness.
His pale red eyes met Mirania’s.
“Are you offering me your last hours?”
His eyes were filled with gratitude.
“I know how much you care for your clan.”
Malandor’s voice was tinged with disbelief.
His expression wavered slightly as he looked at the silent figure of Mirania.
“So you’re saying that you’ll share every minute of your life with me until you die?”
“…”
“Breathe the same air, eat the same food, read the same books, drink the same liquid, sleep in the same bed…”
“You talk so much nonsense. For nothing.”
Leverianz interrupted as if he couldn’t take anymore.
Malandor smiled. It was a smile in form, but it was a deathly grim one.
“…”
Grecan was still speechless.
Mirania pondered Malandor’s words.
Not, of course, considering his long-winded, selfless words.
Until now, she had only worried about the witches’ well-being after her death.
But now, on her deathbed, it wasn’t just the witches that were troubling her.
There were other nuisances, too.
“I understand. You’re going back to the witch castle with us, and you’re going to stay with us until the end, right?”
Leverianz flashed a beautiful smile at Malandor as he shot a cold glare.
Despite his seductive appearance and laid-back smile, his red eyes were twitching.
The twitching of his pupils was almost mournful, and it showed his compassion.
Mirania let out a weak laugh at the greater-than-expected reaction.
‘It hasn’t been that long since my last life. What has happened in all that time?’
Two children, raised close to each other since childhood, who, despite being enemies, were now as dear to her as any member of the witch family.
And a nemesis who has followed her to the end.
A companion to spend her final year of servitude. Quite the contrary.
After the tenth regression, Mirania, who had spent the entire time fiercely contemplating her future and her fate, had finally shifted her attention to them.
It was a small, if trivial, change, but a fate-twisting one.
“So, yes. We will be traveling to the witch castle, but that does not mean we will be staying there.”
“What?”
“We’ll have our own place to stay.”
“Wouldn’t that be more comfortable, though of course, we shouldn’t stray too far from the witch castle…”
As she spoke, she was gentler than ever.
Like an old, dying man greeting the rising sun.
Mirania’s tenderness made them realize it was the last time.
“It’s not just comfortable. It’s the best. Is that what you call it?”
Malandor, who had hoped for this from the beginning, was thrilled. I almost laughed at what was going through his head.
Leverianz, who glared at Malandor as if he were looking at something dirty, was relatively dejected and helpless.
“I was so confident with the power of the Chief, but death is like a great ocean, making me realize that there is nothing I can do.”
“…”
“There is nothing we can do… to reverse your death, but I’m really glad Mirania told me that. If I had known that, I should have put off the pesky Chief Ritual for a while longer.”
As he spoke, Leverianz smiled sorrowfully, as if he was slowly gathering his thoughts.
“If I had put it off any longer, old Scarlet would have come to visit.”
Mirania turned her head to a chilling gaze she felt coming from somewhere.
The gaze was Grecan’s.
He was staring at her with oddly distorted eyes.
His dark eyebrows, curved in the crease of his brow, were raised in an angry frown.
It was like a child’s face, the kind of face that looked like it was holding back a tear of frustration and sadness, so it was hard to blame him for looking at her like that.
‘Everyone’s getting along. What else are you upset about?’
Grecan’s mindset was unexpected, so Mirania was about to ask him what was wrong.
