Chapter 4: Memory│Read translated stories and daily updates at: Awebstories.com

When the horse kicked me, my body flew into the air, hitting the nekta tree and falling to the ground. I was having trouble breathing. My shoulder, which had been kicked, and my back, which had been slammed against a tree, were both hot rather than painful.

“Alesia!”

My father and Nathan-ojisan rushed to me after hearing the horse’s threatening voice and chased it away before picking me up.

Despite my severely bruised body, I was awake. But every time I moved or breathed, pain spread throughout my body.

“I’m okay, Oto-san.”

“Thank you, God…Alesia…”

Ethan sobbed as he followed behind my father, who was distraughtly carrying me in his arms. I’m curious if he blames himself. I need to console him.

“Ethan, it’s all right. Don’t cry.”

When he heard it, Ethan burst into tears even more.

I was bedridden for about ten days after they brought me home. Because I was mentally confused at the moment, being bedridden was more convenient for me.

Perhaps it was being kicked by a horse and knocked into a tree at the age of eight that triggered my memories of my previous life.

My locked memories’ lid has been lifted.

I am Aura, the water wizard, and my mind is flooded with Aura’s memories from the past twenty-three years of her life.

The first thing I remember is a scene from the war.

I was sixteen years old, dressed in a white robe embroidered with gold thread, and commanding the army. I shouted and stretched my arms to the sky during my first war.

“Water! Fill the earth! Wash the enemy away!”

Then there’s Voom! A massive body of water appeared high in the air.

The massive body of water cast a wide shadow across the desert, shimmered for a brief moment, and then fell with a tremendous earth-shaking thud.

The massive volume of water turned into a muddy stream, engulfing the sand and sweeping away the enemy soldiers wearing heavy metal armor. After the water had receded, drowned bodies were scattered across the desert.

Because there were approximately 20,000 enemy soldiers who attacked us, the number of lives I took must have been less than a hundred or two hundred.

I was nauseous at the time, shaken by a sense of justification (it’s war, it can’t be helped) and disgust at myself (I’d taken so many lives).

The soldiers behind me were cheering and overjoyed, but I could not stop shivering in the scorching sun.

The other scene showed me, at the age of twenty-two, being sentenced in the royal palace halls.

“Aura. You colluded with other nations and caused a massive flood in our land. You will pay for killing so many people and destroying our land with your life!”

“No! This rain was not caused by me! The rumors about other countries are completely false! Greetings, Your Majesty! Please believe me!”

The young king, whom I was about to marry, did not respond and instead gave me a vile stare. The prime minister, who had wanted his daughter to be queen, stood near the king, her face almost smeared with pleasure as she struggled to keep it in place.

“You filthy woman! You just wanted to be the queen of “that” wealthy country!”

“Your Majesty, the people have lost their families and are so overcome with grief and rage that they will turn their wrath against their country at any time if Aura is not executed!”

I am heartbroken by His Majesty’s and the Prime Minister’s words. I will be killed if I do nothing. Will the girl who adores luxury and is so close to the king succeed as queen?

“I didn’t do it! Please believe me!”

The scene shifts again, and I, a 23-year-old woman, am being held face down on a wooden table. With my shoulders hanging from the table, I was exposed to the public. I was dirty, thin, and covered in scars from being locked up and tortured for months to get me to confess.

“Give me back my father!”

“Return my child!”

“Vengeance for my son!”

“Death! Death!”

I was subjected to a barrage of abuse.

“No. This was not done by me !” But no one could hear my muffled little voice. My throat was burned to prevent me from casting a spell.

The heavy rains and floods were a natural disaster in the desert, but no one who knew about my water-creating magic believed me.

While being held down, I turned my face to the left and saw the executioner’s foot step in to decapitate me. Wack! My consciousness was immediately plunged into darkness.

My eight-year-old eyes welled up with tears at the horrifying memory.

—○█○—

“Let’s wipe you out, Alisia.”

“Thank you, Oka-san.”

In this life, my mother gently wipes my body with a wet cloth. My heart no longer belongs to eight-year-old Alesia, but to twenty-three-year-old Aura, but I am grateful for my mother’s tender care. My parents were aristocrats who received status and money in exchange for giving their children to powerful people.

“Oka-san, I think it’s time we left. They’ll find us here as the rain spreads. I believe it is preferable to be in a more populated area so that if it rains, they will not be able to detect my power.”

The hand that was wiping my body comes to a halt.

“I know. I’ve been talking to your father about it. I just can’t bring myself to give up the farm we’ve worked so hard to build.”

“I understand your concern, but if they discover this location, they will inquire as to where the water came from. They’ll take me away from Oka-san and the others if they find out I’m the cause of the rain. If that happens, this place will quickly revert to a desert.”

My mother is staring at me with her eyes wide open.

“Let’s go somewhere with a larger group so they don’t recognize me when it rains. As long as they don’t know I’m the cause, I can stay with Oka-san and the others forever.”

“Alesia…you’re speaking like a grown-up today.”

Oh no.

“R-Really? Maybe I’m speaking in a different tone because I’m sore all over.”

My father made a quick decision.

He came to where I was lying that night.

“Your mother told me—your father shares your point of view. They will eventually find us when the farm gets this big. We’ll all move to a bigger community. We can rebuild the farm from the ground up.”

“Thank you very much, Oto-san.”

“I’ll go talk to Nathan and the others,” he said, and went out to the neighbor’s house.

In bed, I was relieved. I don’t want the powerful to track me down. They will use me again if they find me.

Behind my closed eyes, I see the bodies lying in the sand. And the executioner’s foot movements as he approaches me.

I shake my head a little. I don’t want to live like that again. Now I care about my parents. I don’t want to lose the peace I’m enjoying right now.

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