Crown of Thorns

7-8

CHAPTER 7

Translator & editor : Cuties

It's been quite a while since then.

I came to count the bells ringing at the time every day. And I got lost in many dreams. I kept thinking of scenes that I couldn't tell whether they were from memory or imagination, and now I hummed songs that I couldn't even remember their lyrics.

It was unclear what the young man wanted, but if it was to make the witch even more unhappy then he has done so successfully. The countless hours I spent trying to make myself forget the time have all gone to waste. Just like when I first got trapped in the tower, I felt every passing of each minute and they dragged on and on.

I couldn't tell exactly how much time had passed because I a few bells, and I had to start counting them from zero again because I often forgot what number I was at. In fact, it was a very insignificant amount of time for me, that keeping track of it felt as useless as counting sand on a beach.

And yet, the reason I tried to count the bells was because I wanted to imagine the young man's time.

I counted each day because I wanted to know how he would have changed, what he would look like now, and how he would change in the future. The young man was certainly crueler than any warrior I had ever met. He made me repeat the terrible punishment I had received for being a witch that I tried to ignore.

No, maybe the sky that sent such a warrior to a witch is the cruelest.

"Witch."

"Why are you being like that?"

"Isn't it unfair?"

"You're affectionate and..."

"...I love you."

Whether this echo was a dream or an auditory hallucination, I did not know, but it bothered me, and I curled up because of the afterimage that haunts me both when my eyes are closed and open. It's no use burying my face or covering my ears with my hands and putting my knees up. The young warrior who came to the lonely me has been an unbearable punishment which was strangling me.

Many things that had been dead in me began to shake and wake up because of the young man who saw a woman in my inhuman self who had given up on being human.

When will they sink again? Since the day I was trapped in the tower, I haven't been able to kill myself for a long time, but I'm already overwhelmed by the fact that I have to repeat that time again. I couldn't breathe because I was frustrated. Still, I don't die. When will this curse be lifted?

"Witch."

"I miss you."

"I miss you, I said."

"I miss you so much."

I had barely fallen asleep when I suddenly opened my eyes thinking that I heard the voice of the young man. But there was nothing around me. There was nothing but darkness, as always. But it felt different from usual. Something was more shady and cold. My fingertips trembled with anxiety.

I got up and approached the wooden table. I could see the cards neatly placed on it. Since the young man's departure, I have been trying not to even look at them, so a pile of white dust gathered on them before I knew it. I lifted them in a hurry, and they scattered around.

I pulled out a card, and then turned it over. For a moment I forgot to breathe. Again. Mix, then flip. Again. Again. And again. But no matter how many times I repeated this useless action, it was the same card.