❝𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐄❞

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙬𝙤

chapter fifty-two: “returning.”

• take note: Pierro was still a bit young when he met (Name), okay? I better not see anyone saying the MC is into old men. (I see y'all derogatories simping on Zhongli and Dainself, so stop before I choke you myself.)

— MEMORY UNLOCKED (???)

     “THIS REBELLIOUS CHILD NEVER LEARNS.”

‘THAT VOICE...’ (Name) opened her eyes to see her grandmother pacing back and forth in her (former) room back in the land of Thorns. She took a good look around before theorizing—this might be around the time she ran away the second time to find another lover...

     "Where could she be now...?" The old hag questioned herself, using the mirror to find the past (Name). The current (Name) peeked behind her, "Oh... Oh, this ungrateful brat is in Khaenri'ah. Just how bad are your tastes," she muttered.

Maleficia then started to cast a spell on her—her wrinkly and elder features slowly disintegrating into something more young and beautiful. The same woman who bewitched Pierro and the scene changed...

     (Name) saw another her, the Queen of Khaenri'ah version of herself peeking behind a wall. "... This can't be happening again," the current woman uttered as she grabbed her forehead. "Why am I in my grandmother's memory...?"

     'You think you can run away from your grandmother, (Name)?' The disguised Maleficia mouthed the surprised and helpless Princess before she ran away, knowing her power wasn't at its peak.

Maleficia smirked, but somehow the scene reminded her of something sinister. Before (Name) went downstairs and found her husband "cheating" on her, she was crying in their chamber while clutching the remaining of her unborn child...

     "My child... My poor child..." The helpless Princess sobbed, hugging the sheets. Her tear-stained face might've clicked something on the current (Name), who felt the pain returning, "Mom is sorry she wasn't here... I'm so sorry..."

     (Name) clicked her tongue, turning her back. "This is an unpleasant memory..." She told herself, annoyed by it. Then she realized something that doesn't add up, "What's this event doing in my grandmother's memory...?"

She took a look at the ajar door, seeing the disguised Maleficia holding a dragon egg—the child of (Name). The Queen of Thorns covered her mouth in surprise and followed her grandmother (since she started running away from the scene). The egg was hatching and she could see a silhouette of a mini dragon, blue-scaled...

     "... It's the brat's child-hatching season... Could anything be worse than this?!" Maleficia exclaimed as she ran out of the castle.