n

n

nThe Border between the Center Empire and Northern Empire,

nTristan's army finally arrived at the border, but not everything went right...

nIn just a blink of an eye, one might die, one betrayed and one took all the price.

n

"Commander Tristan, what should we do??

" the only left soldier ran to Tristan and asked him shuttering.

n

"We need to rescue lady Aurora!

" Tristan sliced the small demons in two and went inside the smoky purple portal led to...

nMarinette's POV

n

"Who is...Sun-hee??

"

nSomehow the memory of the high school girl who had normal black hair gradually faded away.

nAnd under the snowfall in the northern empire, I cried losing my existence. It was only me who knew myself better than anyone. As long as I remembered myself, then I didn't have to worry about me losing myself.

nBut now...now...

nHic hic...ahhh...

nI couldn't stop myself from crying. My tears were cold as I cried my heart out. My heart was throbbing in pain.

nI was never afraid of the real Marinette coming back, but what I was afraid of was how I lost myself before she really comes back.

nBut earlier, for everyone, for the sake of everyone, I sacrificed all of my memories back on...on...

nI didn't even know what my original world was called.

nHic...

nMy eyes hurt, it became swollen. I cried holding onto my chest to lessen the pain.

nThe only people I remembered were Eun-Kyung, Ji-hoon, and my father back in the world I came from.

nI only got three more memories left, if I used all of them...even I didn't what's gonna happen. The best scenario was Marinette coming back.

nAmong those three memories, only one was so warm...I missed that guy. I wanted to meet him.

nIn the memory, it was all such a happy moment when I back then was with him talking to him, I missed all of that moment.

nWas it greedy and selfish of me to ask if I could go back to those days when the bell rang and I ran to Ji-hoon to talk about the novel?

nI missed Ji-hoon...the most painful of it was when I realized the person who gave you the happiest memories became just a memory instead.

nWahh!! Wahh!!!!!

nWhat was that sound above my head??

nWahhh!!!

nWhen I looked up to where the sound came from, a purple feather dropped on me.

n

"Marinette!! Lady Marinette!!

" the feather that came from the purple phoenix was so majestic and beautiful that the voice of it talked to me in my head didn't even surprise me anymore.

n!!!

nUrgh...

nWhat just--

nMarinette's past life memories loading: Three. Two. One--

n!!!!

nArgh

nNo!!! No!!!! Stop it!!!!!

nStop!!!!

nThe pain was worse than the pain in Victor's memory land, tenth time, hundred of times.

nArghhhh...

nNo...don't...don't cut my tongue...

n

nNo...no...

n

n

nStop...I didn't know either...just stop...

n

nNo...I didn't want that...

nNo!!!!!

n

"Marinette!!!

" a voice calling the villainess's name, that sound was so, so far away but in just a minute, the owner of that voice ran hugging me wiping the tear that flow on my face with his warm hand.

n

"Victor...?

"

n

"Are you alright??? Did anything happen to you??? You made me worry.

"

n

"!!!

"

n

"What's wrong??

"

nI...I got all of Marinette's memories...

nVictor...he--he--

nThe eyes which looking at me with warm right now, the past life...he--

nI thought he was looking at me that way because I was Diana, but turn out, it wasn't.

nHe knew...I was Marinette all along.

n

"What did you just call me??

" everything went by so fast, I thought it was normal for him to call me Marinette a moment ago until I realized I was in Diana's body.

nThe business trip as an excuse, I was always suspicious but I didn't expect this guy to go to such length just for--

n

"...

"

n

"Answer me!!!

"

n

"...I'm sorry.

"

nI...I didn't need your apology.

nIf we talked about the real villain, you would be the real villain.

n

"Did you swap my body with Diana?? Why??? Why did you do that???

"

nI trusted him, because I was in Diana's body, his lover. He would not hurt me, but he knew I was Marinette. He lied to me.

n

"Because I love you, Marinette!!! I love you!!!! I hate it when you went to that guy's side abandoning me!!! Is it selfish of me to just want you to look at me in this life???

"

n

"You meant Philip???

" he nodded in a heartbreaking way putting his head on my shoulder, his soft black hair touched my face as the tear was dripping on my shoulder. His hands hugged me tighter and tighter like he was afraid of something.

n

"Don't go to him. I did this for you, Marinette. Let's run away together...you promised me, you promised me!! You said you will agree to me this time, so--

"

n

"Sorry...Victor...

"

n

"I don't want sorry, I want yes...say yes...we can run away from all of those sh*ts, just you and me together. Let's live in the countryside. I planned for many years just for this, Marinette.

"

nThat name Marinette, it was as if it was my name. The pain and the mixed emotion inside of me...made me shed tears when seeing him doing things like that.

nI pushed him away and told him the words from the bottom of my heart looking at his face, the face of the commander who wasn't supposed to shed tears that cried for me.

n

"My answer is still the same...Victor...just like the night of them chasing me...

"

nHe shook his head denying what was I going to say. He went down and begged me on one knee putting his head on my hand as I stood looking down at him.

n

"No...no...I didn't plan all of those years in my second life just to be rejected by you again...

"

n

"Revenge is more important than love.

"

n

/

/Flashback

nAt the very place where two friends met each other,

nThe place of a man who lost his comrades sat looking at the graves with his emotionless eyes and the same place where the woman came to visit her brother's grave.

nIt was Marinette and Victor.

nBut Marinette wasn't the first person to get into his heart, the woman with blonde hair did. The kind and sweet woman who came to the grave only for once, but accidentally ran into the miserable commander.

n

"Please don't cry...your comrades won't be happy seeing you like this.

" she handed him the handkerchief with all of her kindness as she smiled warmly at him, the smile Victor thought he would never see.

nDiana was warm toward him, she comforted Victor with her warmth as she also lost Tristan a few days before they met.

nBut even with all of those comforts, Victor still couldn't move on from the death of his comrades. He took a liking to Diana but he blamed himself that he didn't deserve that kind of happiness when he was the only one who survive.

nUntil...that heartless woman came. The woman who didn't drop a tear when her brother died, even he who moved to live by the graveyard was surprised seeing that cold woman cried heavily in front of Tristan's grave.

nWhen the one who shouted that they love Tristan cried for one day and moved on, that woman kept coming at late night crying again and again.

nGradually, Victor always waited for her.

nUntil one day, that woman finally caught him.

n

"Enjoy seeing me crying??

" she got up from the ground and brushed off the dirt from her black dress as she glanced at Victor with her cold purple eyes.

n

"I'll be leaving now.

" he bowed at her apologizing and left from the tree he was hiding but a hand grabbed him from behind, they fell together under the tree.

nMarinette was on top of his body staring deep into his golden eyes as she smirked at him, she slowly got off him and then offered him a hand.

n

"You have the eyes of a warrior, wanna become mine??

" coincidentally around that time, what Marinette needed the most was a strong bodyguard to protect her from the assassin. She had not a single clue that the man she offered her hand to was the commander.

n

"What's your deal??

" he pushed her hand away and got up from the ground by himself glaring at her. They both shared the same personality which was the disgust of people.

n

"I see you in this graveyard every day. What's your deal?? A lover died before you??

" she took back her awkward hands and then smirked at him.

n

"It's none of your business.

"

n

"Well, that's some attitude. I rarely called out to someone first, you're the only one among the few who made me interested. I ask you one last time...become my ally.

"

n

"Don't want to.

" she gritted her teeth hearing that kind of answer as he walked away from her.

n

"Then live the rest of your unfortunate life crying over those pathetic people.

"

n

"What...did you just say??

" he turned back at Marinette, the sword he was traumatized when picking up was finally in his hand again as he pointed at Marinette's throat.

n

"I really pity those people who died...

" blood dripping from both of their necks as they used their specialty against each other, one was death roses magic pointed at Victor's neck with its thorn and one was the sharp sword pointed at Marinette's neck.

n

"You don't know what I've been through. You will never know how hard it was for me to live with all of those guilts.

"

n

"You whatever your name is. The difference between us was how I cried over my brother...but I never cried for his death, I cried for him because he was unfortunate that the sister he loved had already forgotten him!! But you...you cried because of the loss.

"

n

"...

"

n

"My guess was those people sacrificed their life for you, if I was them, I would come out of the grave to hit your head since you're just too stupid. I'm not good at comforting like the lovely sister of mine but...how would you feel if you see the person you gave up your life for ended up as a loser like you??

" the cold wind of the night blew the long hair of the man opening his eyes to that lady with a mask.

nShe walked closer to him into his darkness and then patted his head with a smile appearing on her face.

n

"...still, you did well enduring all of it. Thank you for holding on until I find you.

"

n

"You don't know...how...hard it was all those years.

" he went from a big wolf to a puppy real quick as he hugged Marinette. She sighed and let him hug her for that moment.

nVictor swore he would do anything to help Marinette but the way he helped her...became her worst nightmare.

nMany times passed from the day Victor moved on, the hunting event came.

nWhen Marinette won the hunting event, the first one she wanted to show off was Victor. She ran and ran searching for her beloved friend.

nThen she saw a similar sight...it was the lonely back again when she stared at two people. The ticket to the opera...she prepared for Victor and her dropped into the lake as she saw him giving his shoulder to Diana to let her rest on it.

nShe was the one who saved him but the one he paid the gratitude to was Diana...the trophy of the hunting event was meaningless to her as she turned back unable to hold back her tears.

nLater that day, Victor ran and hugged her congratulating her but she didn't have the courage to hug him back when the thought of him and Diana came to her mind.

n

"Now we reached one step closer to the throne!! Hear what I did today!! Diana told me Richard's secret.

"

n

"??

"

n

"You...you're crying??? Eh?? Don't cry!!

" he patted her white hair and told Marinette all the secrets he obtained from Diana when he let Diana rest on his shoulder.

n

"You idiot!!! Why did you do that??? Why did you sacrifice yourself like that??

" she raised her voice at him hitting his chest.

n

"It's nothing...as long as I could help you. Until you can take your revenge, I won't be useless to you.

"

n

"No...no...I don't want to see you with...

" Victor was blushing when he thought Marinette was jealous of him with other people. But he didn't know at that time, the reason she didn't finish her sentence was...because she couldn't.

n

"I want some time alone.

" he left the room they shared together and went to the balcony vomiting blood out.

n

"Did I overuse my magic??

" it wasn't that reason, Marinette hadn't known yet that the other half of her death roses magic was in her father, duke Jellal.

nDuke Jellal overused his magic and that also affected Marinette. He was the one who helped her in the hunting event by cheating, using his magic to kill all of the monsters coming to Marinette.

nTo be continued....!

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