When I finally stopped, Charlotte turned to me and asked anxiously.
“Miss! Are you okay—”
It was at that moment.
Charlotte and I were swept away by the rushing crowd. It happened in only an instant. Waves of countless human figures separated us. I tried again to find Charlotte and hold her hand, but I was only swept away by the crowd even more.
“Miss!”
“Charlotte…!”
I was just about to shout, ‘I’m here.’
A hand reached out from behind me and closed my mouth. The smell of medicine hit me. Opening my eyes wide, I immediately struggled with fierce resistance.
Then, an unknown assailant grabbed me tightly by the waist and prevented me from moving. My head started spinning from the strong smell of medicine, and my vision flashed with white.
Both my arms and legs drooped, and eventually my whole body lost strength.
Soon, my consciousness slipped away from me.
* * *
Ice-cold water splashed over my head.
I struggled like a drowning person and suddenly came to my senses.
Transparent water droplets dripped down my hair and eyelids… I couldn’t figure out what had happened. I hurriedly tried to secure my sight, but for some reason I couldn’t see well.
‘Where in the world am I…’
As I blinked and looked around, my vision gradually became clearer. Soon, I was stunned by the scenery in front of me.
All around me was a desolate expanse.
A wilderness where not a single blade of grass was growing. Only the barren horizon could be seen in this vast, endless scenery.
And I wasn’t alone. There’s someone… No, there were several people surrounding me.
All of them were dressed in black, but only one stood out amongst them. Because she was wearing a fancy black dress. It was like a funeral attire… And she said to me with a sad expression, as if she was really attending a funeral.
“You brought all this onto yourself, Lily.”
“……?”
The woman—Adeline—smiled as if she was truly sorry for what had happened.
“That’s why you shouldn’t have married Theo in the first place… You should have known your place. How could a lowly illegitimate child like you be together with Theo?”
With her mask off, her face was still lovely. However, as much as her eyes were filled with an unprecedented venom, the words that came out of her mouth were studded with thorns.
Adeline said, stepping on my head with the heel of her shoe.
“I’ve been waiting so long to be by Theo’s side… Yet it was merely thanks to the fact that you met your dear father that you snatched away that place from me. Don’t you think it’s too unfair? Who are you? I’m the one who put in such efforts, but why are you the one taking the place that should have been mine from the start?”
…Because I met my father? It was the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.
I shook my shoulders and laughed. If there’s someone I hate more than anything in the world, it’s probably Duke Kasef Everett.
He adopted me for his own greed and brought me all the misfortune in the world. I will hate Everett until the day I die, and that fact will never change.
…So, what did she really know about me?
“There must be nothing you see because everyone around you treats you like a princess, Adeline.”
“…What?”
“If you do this, you will get it all back someday. Because that is the way of the world.”
“…What exactly are you saying?”
Adeline laughed incredulously. She removed the heel of her boot from my head and, showing her displeasure with me, she brushed off her feet, then said.
“How do you know what I am going to do? Oh, don’t feel too bad about it, Lily Everett. Because I want to give you a chance to be reborn. Look, see that black hole?”
Adelaine pointed somewhere with the tips of her black lace gloved fingers.
I shifted my gaze to it… Just as Adeline had said, there was a pit so black that it was impossible to know just how deep it was.
Besides… It was not a naturally formed pit, but rather like a ‘structure’.
‘No way…’
“It’s not really a pit, it’s a prison. It’s called a panopticon. Thousands of solitary cells are attached to each other in a circular underground dungeon, and a person who goes down there can never again return to the surface.”
“…….”
“It is said to be a prison built in ancient times… The details are not well known. That prison was so inhumane and horrifying that it was no longer used after the Fraunces Kingdom was established.”
“…….”
“So… It is said that only ghosts roam in that deep pit, imprisoned forever.”
When I finally stopped, Charlotte turned to me and asked anxiously.
“Miss! Are you okay—”
It was at that moment.
Charlotte and I were swept away by the rushing crowd. It happened in only an instant. Waves of countless human figures separated us. I tried again to find Charlotte and hold her hand, but I was only swept away by the crowd even more.
“Miss!”
“Charlotte…!”
I was just about to shout, ‘I’m here.’
A hand reached out from behind me and closed my mouth. The smell of medicine hit me. Opening my eyes wide, I immediately struggled with fierce resistance.
Then, an unknown assailant grabbed me tightly by the waist and prevented me from moving. My head started spinning from the strong smell of medicine, and my vision flashed with white.
Both my arms and legs drooped, and eventually my whole body lost strength.
Soon, my consciousness slipped away from me.
* * *
Ice-cold water splashed over my head.
I struggled like a drowning person and suddenly came to my senses.
Transparent water droplets dripped down my hair and eyelids… I couldn’t figure out what had happened. I hurriedly tried to secure my sight, but for some reason I couldn’t see well.
‘Where in the world am I…’
As I blinked and looked around, my vision gradually became clearer. Soon, I was stunned by the scenery in front of me.
All around me was a desolate expanse.
A wilderness where not a single blade of grass was growing. Only the barren horizon could be seen in this vast, endless scenery.
And I wasn’t alone. There’s someone… No, there were several people surrounding me.
All of them were dressed in black, but only one stood out amongst them. Because she was wearing a fancy black dress. It was like a funeral attire… And she said to me with a sad expression, as if she was really attending a funeral.
“You brought all this onto yourself, Lily.”
“……?”
The woman—Adeline—smiled as if she was truly sorry for what had happened.
“That’s why you shouldn’t have married Theo in the first place… You should have known your place. How could a lowly illegitimate child like you be together with Theo?”
With her mask off, her face was still lovely. However, as much as her eyes were filled with an unprecedented venom, the words that came out of her mouth were studded with thorns.
Adeline said, stepping on my head with the heel of her shoe.
“I’ve been waiting so long to be by Theo’s side… Yet it was merely thanks to the fact that you met your dear father that you snatched away that place from me. Don’t you think it’s too unfair? Who are you? I’m the one who put in such efforts, but why are you the one taking the place that should have been mine from the start?”
…Because I met my father? It was the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.
I shook my shoulders and laughed. If there’s someone I hate more than anything in the world, it’s probably Duke Kasef Everett.
He adopted me for his own greed and brought me all the misfortune in the world. I will hate Everett until the day I die, and that fact will never change.
…So, what did she really know about me?
“There must be nothing you see because everyone around you treats you like a princess, Adeline.”
“…What?”
“If you do this, you will get it all back someday. Because that is the way of the world.”
“…What exactly are you saying?”
Adeline laughed incredulously. She removed the heel of her boot from my head and, showing her displeasure with me, she brushed off her feet, then said.
“How do you know what I am going to do? Oh, don’t feel too bad about it, Lily Everett. Because I want to give you a chance to be reborn. Look, see that black hole?”
Adelaine pointed somewhere with the tips of her black lace gloved fingers.
I shifted my gaze to it… Just as Adeline had said, there was a pit so black that it was impossible to know just how deep it was.
Besides… It was not a naturally formed pit, but rather like a ‘structure’.
‘No way…’
“It’s not really a pit, it’s a prison. It’s called a panopticon. Thousands of solitary cells are attached to each other in a circular underground dungeon, and a person who goes down there can never again return to the surface.”
“…….”
“It is said to be a prison built in ancient times… The details are not well known. That prison was so inhumane and horrifying that it was no longer used after the Fraunces Kingdom was established.”
“…….”
“So… It is said that only ghosts roam in that deep pit, imprisoned forever.”
