Chapter 6: LRPVL

• No! Absolutely not! People of the neighborhood, look at this pitiful excuse for a master trying to kill poor Needle! Oh, what sin did I commit to suffer like this? And not once or twice, but three whole times! Everyone, my master is abandoning their beloved Needle and planning to die aloneee!

“Okay, I get it already….”

Ariletti covered her ears.

Then what was she supposed to do? Reveal that she was a Sage?

But if Needle was going to be this uncooperative, she couldn’t even use her abilities. And if she couldn’t use them, what proof could she possibly provide?

More importantly, what if she revealed her identity too carelessly and ended up trapped by these people?

The vicious words that had pierced her like daggers in her previous life echoed vividly in her ears.

“If you refuse to devote yourself to me, then there’s no helping it. I’ll just have to kill you and keep only your power.”

“Friends? How naïve, Ariletti. You were never my friend. You were merely a precious tribute for my elder brother.”

“You don’t have much life left anyway. Wouldn’t it be meaningful to spend it usefully?”

Am I really going to repeat that life all over again?

The color drained completely from Ariletti’s face.

No. I hate that!

Her instinctive defense mechanism swelled in an instant.

As Ariletti shook her head violently like she was having a seizure, Glen frowned. Then his expression shifted, as though he had realized he’d made a mistake.

“Ariletti.”

“Y-Yes. Hic.”

“I’m not trying to scare you, so don’t cry.”

Glen lifted her up effortlessly and ruffled her straight bangs.

His voice softened compared to before.

“Aril, do you have a family?”

The familiar nickname made Ariletti freeze.

“N-No….”

“Any siblings or relatives? Anyone at all you know?”

“No.”

Her father had been executed on the gallows before she was even born, and her mother had spent a year fleeing with infant Ariletti before finally being captured and killed. That was the story Albert had told her during her first life.

It was such a distant past that she couldn’t even remember it. Across both her lives, Ariletti had never once imagined what her parents were like.

The only thing she remembered was her mother’s voice.

“Always remain neutral, Aril. The Sage of the White Forest who bears these needles must forever stand one step apart from the mortal world.”

Aside from that, Ariletti knew absolutely nothing about her family.

Glen didn’t miss the ripple of emotion in the child’s eyes.

“Do you have anywhere to stay?”

“No….”

“Do you remember how you ended up alone in the middle of the snowfield?”

“I was abandoned….”

Ariletti answered honestly before suddenly flinching.

Get a grip. You can’t be this honest, Ariletti.

She had used countless methods in an attempt to bring down Glen Hezate, yet she didn’t truly know the man himself.

She knew the world praised him as an unwavering and righteous knight among knights, and she knew he had once shown mercy by sparing her life. But—

He’s still human in the end.

If she used her powers in front of him, he too would surely covet them. And right now, she had nowhere to run.

Stupid Ariletti. You got betrayed twice because you were this soft-hearted.

“I-I wanna go to Mister Duncan.”

Instinct screamed at her to get away.

The moment Glen set her down, Ariletti bolted like an arrow.

Glen watched the child running desperately toward the knights for a long while before finally looking away.

* * *

At this point, what exactly was the “White Forest”?

The White Forest was the center of this world—the navel of the continent, the great natural force where the laws and order of all existence were determined. In other words, it was the world itself.

To simplify the complicated explanation into geographical terms, it was simply an enormous forest located at the exact center of the continent.

A vast woodland formed from mysterious trees that were pure white from trunk to branch, leaves, and even fruit.

An invisible barrier surrounded the forest, completely forbidding outsiders from entering.

Anyone who attempted to attack the White Forest was devoured by the barrier without exception. Only beings born from the forest itself could freely come and go.

Those beings were the four Sages who guarded the east, west, south, and north of the barrier.

The one who oversees the flow of time.

The one who constructs the framework of space.

The one who reads countless futures.

The one who shapes the grave known as fate.

The Sages did not remain only within the White Forest.

They traveled throughout the world searching for successors to inherit their missions. Sometimes they passed their power to children of their bloodline, sometimes to disciples they had personally taught, and sometimes to complete strangers.

Because of their immense authority, the Sages of the White Forest had always been coveted throughout history.

In some eras, they were worshipped with reverence. In others, they were treated like spoils of war to be stolen and fought over.

The rulers of powerful nations paid attention not only to the Sages themselves but also to the successors they selected.

Many times, Sages were assassinated or tortured to death, their powers forcibly transferred to their successors.

The more a Sage used their power, the shorter their lifespan became. Once one Sage died, their power would be passed on again to another successor, who would then be exploited in turn.

As long as someone managed to capture a Sage, their abilities could be exploited endlessly.

Until about a hundred years ago, such things were common.

However, the lineage of the Sages vanished completely when the last remaining Sage suddenly disappeared.

The entire continent searched desperately for the missing Sages, but no one succeeded in finding them.

And only after a century of fruitless searching did Ariletti finally appear before the world.

Seven years from now, led by the hand of the First Prince, Albert.

Which was exactly why revealing her identity had to be handled carefully.

She shouldn’t do anything that attracted attention…

But I can’t just let this slide.

Late at night, after the inn’s lights had gone out, Ariletti quietly slipped from her room, careful not to make a sound.

Leon Bodafeti, commander of the Black Lion Corps, was tied up in the stable.

A gag was stuffed into his mouth, and both wrists were bound behind his back. The wound across his side, slashed open by Sir Roel, had been wrapped crudely with bandages already soaked red with blood.

Ariletti’s eyes darkened coldly.

It’s been a while, you weasel-faced dog of the Empress.

Sensing her presence, Leon Bodafeti jerked his head up.

“Mmph… mmph, kid. C-come here.”

He growled incomprehensibly like a beast. Judging from the tone, he was telling her to come closer and untie the ropes around his wrists.

Ariletti stepped calmly over the straw and approached him obediently.

Then she lightly nudged his knee with the tip of her shoe.

“You were the one in charge of torturing me in the first timeline, weren’t you, Bodafeti?”

“Mmph… what?”

At the very end of her first life, after Albert betrayed her and threw her into prison, the one who had tortured Ariletti was this man.

She had never been close to him, but as one of the First Prince’s loyal subordinates, she had at least thought of him as a comrade.

A huge misunderstanding on her part.

“Don’t resent our lord too much, Ariletti. Isn’t it a tremendous honor just to become a stepping stone on the path he walks?”

The shoulder you mercilessly branded with a hot iron while spewing those words still aches even after living twice.

“Needle, do you remember this bastard too?”

Instead of an answer came a savage screech.

The three stacked needles walked forward with little stomping steps like a person and stopped in front of Leon Bodafeti.

Needle’s tone, which had been shrill and noisy all this time, changed completely.

• How could I ever forget him? The lackey of human trash.

“It’d be a waste to just drag him away quietly. Right?”

A man this loyal might kill himself on the way if given the chance.

“So we should at least use the ‘Blessing of the Time Sorcerer,’ don’t you think?”

• Obviously.

Needle tapped the man’s cheek lightly with one long needle before settling on top of his head.

As the hour hand, minute hand, and second hand aligned themselves into position, a golden glow spread over Leon Bodafeti’s body.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Hearing the sound of a clock above his head, Leon’s body jerked violently.

An irresistible force pressed down on him and restrained him completely.

The angelic little girl with chubby cheeks raised a finger to her lips.

“Shhh. If you want to become a good chess piece, you shouldn’t glare like that, mister.”

The ticking clock abruptly stopped.

The beastlike groans leaking from Leon’s mouth were cut off just as suddenly.

The flow of time within his body had stopped.

The Blessing of the Time Sorcerer.

It consumed less power than using her true abilities directly, yet its effects were always absolute. It was Ariletti’s specialty.

Since the biological flow of his body had stopped, his wound would no longer worsen.

But neither would it heal.

Meaning he would continue to suffer this agonizing pain forever.

For as long as Ariletti chose not to remove the blessing.

“Cooperate with the Young Lord, mister. If you do what you’re told, I might let this wound heal. Okay?”

Of course, even if Leon Bodafeti swore loyalty to Glen, Ariletti had no intention whatsoever of removing the blessing.

You should suffer as much as I did.

An eye for an eye.

That was the way the villainess Ariletti lived.