When she woke again, the first thing she saw was an unfamiliar ceiling.

The room was simply furnished: a bed, a table and chairs, and a small cabinet. That was all. The window stood diagonally across from the bed, and a little sunlight slipped in around it, quietly brightening the room.

Outside, voices rose in a mild din. People walked back and forth, brimming with the energy of life.

She felt a trace of warmth.

“Mm...”

With some effort, Leticia pushed herself upright. She looked at the thin sheet covering her and fell silent.

Why was she here?

“Well, this is a rare sight. You actually slept in?”

Stano’s voice suddenly rang out in her mind. As always, there was something irritating about his tone, with its faint air of absolute self-importance. “What about that nasty woman? Didn’t she punish you?”

“What’s that got to do with you?”

Leticia’s cold reply left Stano momentarily at a loss for words.

“What’s with that attitude?”

He asked, sounding a little angry. “What did I ever do to you?”

“...”

She’d been about to say more. But the more she wanted to speak, the more she wanted to give this clueless little brat a piece of her mind, the more that dizziness returned—like an evil spirit possessing her.

She had no choice but to rein in her emotions and take deep breaths, letting her heartbeat and body temperature gradually settle.

The dizziness slowly faded.

“I’m fine.”

All she could manage was a perfunctory answer.

“Hey, are we in town now?”

Since he could no longer control Leticia’s body whenever he pleased, Stano could only use that skylight (her eye) to see what was happening on the other side. “Can you get that paper my uncle gave me?”

The paper, whose writing was impossible to make sense of, had been taken by Ye Mi'ai, the Black-Clad Lady. Leticia certainly wasn’t going to ask for it back.

“Could you please be quiet?”

Curled up into a tiny ball, Leticia buried her face against her chest. “I’m not in a very good mood...”

“Hey, that nasty woman was messing with you again, wasn’t she?”

Stano sounded rather sympathetic. “That woman really hits hard.”

Just shut up, would you...

When she didn’t respond at all, Stano spat irritably and stopped talking to that Bamboo Pole.

She’s changed so much.

Thinking this, he decided to head to the dining room for breakfast. The servants at home must have already prepared it: bread baked until its crust was crisp, rich cream, and fragrant fried bacon. Just thinking about it made his mouth water.

He couldn’t wait to dig in!

At last, she had a moment of peace. Leticia tiredly lifted her head and looked at her palm. She was careful to sort through her thoughts in a way Stano couldn’t hear, even inside her own mind.

Is my life slowly slipping away?

If Lady Ye Mi'ai was right, would she, after another bout of dizziness like this, grow old as quickly as those soldiers had—and have her life end within a year or two?

And she was only ten years old...

She’d lived two lives, and still hadn’t lived as long as other people did in one. If she told anyone, they’d probably laugh themselves silly.

Her hands trembled faintly. Leticia gently touched her face, her messy hair—cut short by Stano—her small, thin body, and the scars that still hadn’t healed.

A powerful wave of dizziness swept over her again.

“I don’t... want to die yet...”

Her faint voice slipped out between her lips, through the gaps between the fingers pressed tightly over her mouth.

She really didn’t want to die...

At the sudden sound of approaching footsteps, Leticia’s body gave a slight start. She quickly wiped her eyes, pulled the sheet over herself, and lay back down, pretending she’d only just woken up.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

A hoarse, crowlike voice sounded as the Black-Clad Lady, the Witch Ye Mi'ai, pushed open the door and walked in. She gave Leticia a casual glance. “I thought you’d need to rest a little longer.”

“Lady? What happened to me?”

Leticia asked cautiously.

“Oh, you passed out~”

Ye Mi'ai’s laughter was full of mockery and scorn. “So I brought you into town. Whatever shape your body’s in, it can’t get in the way of my business, can it?”

“Thank you.”

Leticia said softly.

“No need!”

Ye Mi'ai took a small piece of bread from the little bag she was carrying and tossed it straight onto Leticia’s bed. “Sure, it’d be easier for me if you died. But keeping you alive so you can savor your fear and pain—that’s my greatest pleasure.”

“You really do have a terrible taste in hobbies...”

Leticia gently picked up the little piece of bread. It felt hard as Wood, but at least it wasn’t moldy. For her, that counted as decent food. “Still, I want to thank you.”

“Heh. Instead of thanking me, you’d be better off thinking about how to stay alive—or finding a nice place to lie down and end it.”

Ye Mi'ai spoke with deliberate malice. “Time waits for no one.”

She paused in the middle of chewing the hard bread.

After struggling to swallow the piece of bread and catching her breath, Leticia finally spoke slowly. “Lady, may I ask you for a little help?”

She bowed her head to the person before her, even though she feared the Witch, even though the Witch had brought her pain, even though she was mad.

But Leticia had no better path left to take.

“Help?”

Her uncovered eyes narrowed prettily. Ye Mi'ai rasped out a laugh. “Of course. Struggling through pain, clinging to that tiny hope and resolve like a straw—that’s what makes the pain richer, more delicious. How could I refuse?”

“But it’ll come at a tremendous cost.”

Ye Mi'ai smiled sweetly. “It might even be better to die. Are you willing to accept that?”

“It’s not a matter of whether I’m willing...”

After a brief silence, Leticia looked up into Ye Mi'ai’s eyes. “It’s all right, Lady. Please tell me.”

I’m so dizzy...

Her emotions had wavered a little too much while she was speaking, and that dizzy feeling had returned.

“Hehehe...”

Ye Mi'ai spoke slowly. “Normally, there’s almost no way to solve something like this. After all, the ones using this method are ordinary people—just soldiers. If you want to stop an ordinary person’s life from running out, I imagine only the Church’s miracles and divine arts could do it.”

The Church...

Leticia gave a bitter smile. “Lady, that’s completely unrealistic.”

“Yes, yes~”

Ye Mi'ai nodded with a smile. “But I’m talking about ordinary people. Do you think you’re still an ordinary person, little Bridal Garment?”