May Every Wound Be Fatal - vanish into fiction

In the midst of being overwhelmed by sorrow, one question suddenly flickered through her mind.

…The one who never came.

Who was that, again?

Surprisingly, the next moment, her husband—Elizer—appeared before her eyes.

Cold eyes and a face twisted as if in horror. It was a look she had never seen before, as far as she could remember.

Reyna woke from her sleep as if chased out of the dream.

The vivid sensations made it difficult to distinguish from reality—it felt less like she had dreamed and more like she had briefly lost consciousness. It seemed as though years had passed since she had sat on that tree root, sobbing alone.

Her entire body was drenched in sweat, soaking not only her clothes but even the spot where she had been lying. And she was crying, just as she had been in the dream.

Confused, Reyna tossed and turned, gasping. Her tears wouldn’t stop easily.

She wished someone would hold her, but for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to call for help.

Buried in the blankets, Reyna struggled to pull herself together. As the sweat soaking her body cooled and dried, her breathing gradually steadied.

Strangely, her mind was eerily clear. The scenery from the dream, which she hadn’t remembered at all last time, flickered before her eyes with overwhelming vividness.

She felt as though she might remember something. For some reason, that frightened her, and she unconsciously held her breath.

“…….”

Time passed, and nothing more came to mind—only the scenes from the dream remained clear.

Reyna slowly sat up and looked around. Nothing had changed. She couldn’t tell whether that was fortunate or unfortunate.

Reyna absently reflected on the scenes from her dream.

Had she wept while waiting for Elizer beneath the starry night sky because she hadn’t seen him for several days?

But the sorrow and grief she had felt in the dream were too vivid to be merely a dream. As if they were all her own memories.

“No.”

Reyna denied it without meaning to.

No, there was no way that was her memory.

Elizer, who wouldn’t come no matter how long she waited—Elizer, who looked at her as if she were something dreadful—that was truly absurd.

Reyna believed in Elizer.

She had nothing else to believe in. She loved him, and there was no doubt that his love felt the heaviest of all the love she had ever received in her life.

Even so, in that moment, something cracked. Everything she thought she knew began to twist into murky confusion. And she couldn’t stop it.

***

Half in a daze, Reyna limped through the corridor as if possessed.

Ignoring the fierce gusts of wind, she sat down on the edge of the fountain—just as she had when he had carried her out and shown her the night sky for the first time—and lifted her head.

If she faced the same scenery she had once shared with him, she thought she might be able to shake off the lingering fragments of that absurd dream.

Fortunately, the sky was as clear as it had been that night. The densely packed stars shone in their same places. Reyna let out a small sigh of relief and took them in.

But soon, her eyes wavered helplessly.

For some reason, the scene from her dream—waiting alone for him, shedding tears—grew clearer than the memory of kissing him while stargazing.

Reyna’s face twisted in confusion.

For a moment, she involuntarily thought that perhaps it would be better if her memories never returned. Everything suddenly felt as unfamiliar as it had when she first opened her eyes without her memories. It felt as though she had lost her way again.

The cold wind continued to blow fiercely. Her body trembled violently, but Reyna couldn’t bring herself to return to her room.

*Rustle, rustle.*

It was then that she heard an unexpected presence.

Belatedly realizing that someone else was in the garden, Reyna snapped her head up and looked behind her.

In that instant, the footsteps stopped, and in the pitch darkness, she couldn’t see anything. But Reyna knew that someone was there, hidden in the black shadows.

Silence stretched on for a few seconds. Reyna didn’t take her eyes off the space between the trees.

Finally, after a long hesitation, the other person stepped forward.

It was the platinum-haired child.