Chapter 50

As the cherry blossoms danced in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

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Yael-sensei offered to see me home, but after she dropped me off at the front of the farm, I didn't go in. Instead, I headed toward the wasteland. I wanted some time to think alone.

"Every experience is a part of you that makes you who you are."

I repeated these words in my heart many times.

I, who had taken so many lives because of the war.

I, who had loved a king who so easily turned his back on me.

I, who hadn't noticed that the maid I trusted had betrayed me.

I, who was executed while the people I had protected shouted for my death.

"Yes, all of them are me. All of them are foolish and miserable, but they are all a part of me."

I thought that by acknowledging this, my heart would find peace.

But instead, a tremendous anger rose from the depths of my chest. It was a hatred and rage I had been aware of all along but had always avoided. A black resentment that made my hair stand on end and my insides burn with heat.

Ah, that's right. That's how it was.

Even when I was imprisoned, tortured, and restrained on the execution platform, I had wished to kill them all with my anger and hatred. The king, the prime minister, the prime minister's daughter, my birth parents, and the people who shouted for my death. I had wished many times to drown and kill everyone who showed me malice, and I had repeatedly imagined the moment of taking their lives to forget the pain of my reality.

At the moment of my beheading, my heart was filled with the burning obsession: "I will definitely be reborn and take revenge. I will kill everyone who hurt me." I died with the wish for rebirth and revenge burning in my soul.

My hatred and anger, my obsession with revenge, were what made me reborn.

Tears fell one by one as I thought of the ugliness and pitifulness of my past self. I had thought I was a pitiful victim, but in the end, I had become a monster, abandoning my humanity.

If my parents in this life had been tired of their troublesome child and abandoned me as a young girl, or if they had treated me more harshly, I might have become a terrible person. Someone who hated others and killed those who displeased me without hesitation.

But my parents in this life filled me with love. They protected me no matter how difficult it was.

That's why I didn't become a monster.

"I was able to start over as a normal person."

I was so grateful for the good fortune of being born to those parents that my chest felt tight.

"I was saved by Father and Mother."

I remembered my father, who picked me up when I was injured and carried me, saying, "Alicia, my Alicia," with tears in his eyes. I remembered my mother, who raised me with kindness and never raised her voice. My parents always loved me, and they saved my life, which was supposed to start in hell.

At that moment, something began to slowly circulate within me. I could clearly feel something soft, warm, and powerful circulating throughout my body. As it circled faster and faster, it seemed to be urging me to let it out. I tried to release it by raising my arms, as I was familiar with it from my past life.

"Water, appear!"

With a familiar sound, a large mass of water appeared in the air. The amorphous, wavering mass of water quickly formed a sphere and floated, its surface slightly rippling.

With tears on my face, I looked up at the transparent sphere and cried again, overwhelmed by its familiarity.

The voices of the people from my past life echoed in my ears.

"Such clean water!"

"Finally, we can drink water!"

"Thank you, Lady Aura!"

"It's delicious!"

I gently lowered my arms, and the water mass fell with a loud splash into the wasteland, being absorbed.

This time, I extended my arms forward, palms up, and chanted.

"Rain, fall."

A gentle rain began to fall on the wasteland. The rain, reflecting the afternoon sunlight, continued to fall in a silvery glow. The pale wasteland quickly turned black. Overwhelmed with nostalgia and joy, I watched the scene, crying and laughing.

"Welcome back, Alicia."

Startled by the voice from behind, I turned around to see my father, mother, the Ethan family, Hakim, and Chana standing there.

My mother ran over and hugged me tightly. The rain stopped.

"I was so worried. You just disappeared suddenly. You seemed strange when we parted, and I was so anxious. I even went to the palace to look for you, but they said you had already returned."

"Mom, um, this, um..."

While my mother gently wiped my tears with her sleeve, I panicked about how to explain the rain. Ethan, with wide eyes, spoke in a surprised voice.

"Alicia, you're amazing. You're like a magician. When did you learn to do that?"

"Um, just now. I suddenly could do it after accepting myself."

"I came to see what was happening when I heard the water and the rain. What do you mean by 'accepting yourself'?"

"Hehe, exactly that."

I called out to Hakim and Chana, who were still surprised, with a laugh and tears.

"I'm hungry. Let's have some tea. I'll make something, and we can all eat together."

"Y-Yeah, let's do that."

"I want some bread with lots of jam."

"Sure! Let's go home. Everyone, let's go home!"

I went home and, while cooking, showed everyone how I could produce water with a bang. I was able to pour the exact amount of water into glasses and pots without spilling a single drop. The sensations from my past life were returning. Everyone watched in silence.

When I finished setting everything on the table, I casually confessed, "I think I've become a magician."

My mother, who I thought would be surprised, said, "You were always kind of like that, though."

My father added, "It does seem more convenient now."

"Your father and I were more surprised when we found out that you could make it rain as a baby."

My father smiled, his face tanned and his eyes crinkled at the corners.

"I was, too. I was more surprised when I found out you could make healing rain while I was sleeping."

"Really? Hakim?"

"I think both are very much like you, Alicia. You seem more like a goddess than a magician."

"Stop it, Chana, that's not funny."

The water I produced with magic tasted exactly like the delicious water from the filtered rain.

"Hey, everyone, maybe we don't need to hide or run anymore."