n

n

nSame time, somewhere back in the forest,

nThe man wearing the black suit from his shirt to his shoes, walking along the coastline near the stream which blood was pouring in from all of the corpses which fell from the cliff above.

n

"Haha...that guy, Flynn really did his job well.

" Richard bent down and took a look at all the useless assassins he sent to help Flynn complete his work.

n

"I don't understand why you did all of these.

" the person behind him asked him while cleaning the corpse by burning it alive.

n

"Of course, the useless pawn should be discarded, right?

"

n

"So Flynn and I will be discarded by you someday too.

"

n

"Don't say it like that...you're hurting my heart.

"

n

"I don't even know you have a heart anymore.

" that person replied back without hesitation as well as stole some money from those assassins.

n

"Of course I have a heart. I did all of these for Flynn to get close to his lady, for his lady to trust him completely just like how I did with you too, Anna.

" he glanced at the woman behind him, one of his people who he sent to the Mortel duchy to be his eyes and ears.

n

"...I didn't do the same way to earn her trust.

"

n

"Of course, you didn't. But don't you see how my way worked better? You were the one who looked after her when she was unconscious and you received a necklace from her the day she woke up.

"

n

"...let's just clear these corpse quicks. There might be people noticing my disappearance back at the duchy.

"

n

"Yes, yes.

" he jumped over a corpse to the head, he smirked realizing Flynn used his trump card to deal with this assassin.

nEvery cut was clean on the assassin's body but when he took a look at the assassin's stomach, a laugh coming out of his lip.

n

"What's wrong?

"

n

"Look at this!! Wow, your lady is really an interesting person.

" Anna ran over and looked at the same spot he did, there was a small wound on the stomach and many black spots surrounding it.

nIt was poison.

n

"Is it something to laugh about? She knew all your plan.

"

n

"She knew, so what? Ah...I'm falling deeply now.

"

n

"Your highness...there is one corpse missing. What if he reveals...

"

n

"Pfft. Don't worry, he won't.

" he sounded confident like he knew everything, the reason was those assassins were already marked with his magic before sending them to attack Marinette.

n

"By the way, I didn't see their carriage back in the forest. Where did they go?

"

n

"She got the invitation to Madeline's household?

"

n

"Who invited her?!

"

n

"It was the daughter of that family.

"

n

"Ah...Aurora, is it? But isn't she Diana's friend?

"

n

"I didn't know too. But it seems like lady Marinette really wants to meet her.

"

n

"Hmm, there is nothing to worry about because Aurora is just a useless woman, she didn't have any power in her hand.

"

n

"We can't see the future. Every person could change, lady Aurora might become the head of that house if she sides with any of her relatives instead of her mother.

"

n

"Hey, Anna...do you believe in a past life?

"

n

"What's with the sudden topic change?

"

n

"Just answer.

"

n

"No, when we die, we die. There's no such thing as past or next life.

"

n

"Ahaha, I used to think like that too until...never mind.

" he looked up in the sky, it was kinda gloomy that day since the black cloud started to gather up there covering the sun which was supposed to set around that time.

n'Aurora will get married to a baron and that's it. I'm sure of it.' the thought of prince Richard like he had the future event right in his palm.

nBack to Aurora, after spending some time with Marinette, she returned to Madeline's household in the evening after the sunset.

n

"You have such a thick face to think of coming back here, Aurora?

" just when Aurora walked inside the house, instead of the heartwarming welcome, she saw the same fan which hit her yesterday.

nThere were many little scars on Aurora's forehead but it was covered by her bang and a little makeup. That was why she didn't have to wear a mask as Marinette did.

n

"This is my home, why can't I come here?

"

n

"Oh, now you talk back to me?! You're really uneducated!! I didn't educate you to be like this.

"

n

"Hm? Mother, I'm tired today. I'm gonna go to my room, please excuse me.

"

n

"You!! Who taught you to be such rude?! Mother hasn't finished talking to you yet.

" Aurora stopped by the loud voice her brother shouted at her.

nShe turned back and glared at both of them.

n

"Then tell me...what did I do wrong?

"

n'It feels like she is a different person.'

n'What's with her aura? Has she always been like this before?'

n

"You didn't know about your fault? Should I hit you till you remember?

"

n

"Cut to the chase, if I did anything wrong, I'll sleep in the garden tonight.

"

n

"Huh? You grew a wing now, huh? Talking back to the elder like this? I really regret giving birth to you.

"

nAurora clenched her hands enduring those words since she used to hear those kinds of words before. But her heart said otherwise, it was throbbing suffocating her with each of those daggers coming out of their mouths.

n

"Read this.

" her mother threw the newspaper on her face, it fell on the floor. All of the workers there saw it, they all grinned mocking her including her half-brother.

n

"Hm? A gorilla lady princess carries a knight?

"

n

"I told you many times not to use your strength.

"

n

"But mother, what's wrong with my action?

" she asked back at the mother and son calmly.

n

"Can you not read? They called you a gorilla. They're mocking our household.

"

n

"I really didn't understand both of you. Shouldn't you comfort me when they said things like that about me?

"

n

"What? Are you crazy? If you didn't use your strength, none of this would've happened.

"

nAurora sighed and walked slowly toward them. She pointed her finger at the picture in the newspaper.

n

"See this? Look closely, who is this knight?

"

nThey squinted their eyes, then it became big as soon as they noticed the face of the crown prince's knight.

n

"I saved the life of the royal prince's knight and lady Mortel's knight.

" she shoved the newspaper to Armando and walked away from them going up to her room.

n'So annoying.'

nA tear dropped on the staircase.

nShe closed the door to her room and fell into the bed. It felt like her stamina was all gone after talking with those people.

nMeow meow

nShe got up from her pillow and then stared at the black cat who was meowing at her.

n

"Come here, cat.

" she didn't know its name.

nMeow

n

"So what's your name?

"

nMeow meow

nShe sighed failing to understand what it was saying.

n

"I'm really sorry but your master isn't here. I'm just someone from Korea.

"

nMeow...

nThe kitty put its paw below her eyes wiping the little tear on her face. Aurora was surprised to feel the cat's paw.

n

"Ahh, you're so cute. Don't worry, I'm not sad. I'm used to this.

"

nShe soon fell asleep on the big bed leaving her cat staring at her sleeping face.

nStep step

nComing in like the wind passing through the curtain, step like the feather and hair blew along with the wind, the one who took Eun-Kyung to Anastasia walked slowly to the cat.

nAurora, I can give your body back to you if you want. the little girl with black hair said to the cat sitting on Aurora's body.

n

"There is no need. If it is Eun-Kyung, she will use my body well.

" the cat look at that little girl, the little girl smiled just like how she was smiling at Eun-Kyung back then understanding what it was saying without the need to hear it.

nBeing a cat isn't easy though, you can't even speak to her even if she could speak now.

n

"It's alright though. I'm happy with her being alive. Thank you for bringing her soul back to this world.

"

nIt was really hard bringing her soul back here and it was even harder swapping your soul with her.

n

"By the way, what's Seoul?

"

nIt was a city in the other world, your cat died and reincarnated into that world...she lived for more than ten years and died again in that world.

n

"Hmm...so what's her name in that world? Is she a human there?

"

nYes, she is a human. She was born in a rich family and her name was still Eun-Kyung.

n

"Thank you so much, emm goddess.

"

nI'm not a goddess, I'm just nothing. This will be the last time I could talk to you, I wish you well Aurora.

n

"Thank you, thank you for letting me meet Eun-Kyung again.

"

nThe meet, such thing as swapping soul didn't come for free. So what was the price?

nA week ago,

nBefore Eun-Kyung came into this world, Aurora was living well walking with the human leg and dress well for the tea party she was invited to.

nIt was the same routine, tea party, gathering at the ball, it was always like that. She felt the exhaustion of all of those things.

nBut it was what she had to do if she wanted to have a good husband as her mother told her every single day.

nShe couldn't even live her life the way she wanted, everything she did was for her to get sold off to a wealthy family.

nGetting married to a man she didn't love wasn't what she wanted. She was tired of this life.

nAurora was born with superhuman strength, she was always jealous of her brother who could go to the academy and did everything he wanted to achieve his dream.

nHer only comfort was her cat named Eun-Kyung, it was a cat she got from Diana as the token of their friendship when they were young.

nShe really loved that cat, because when her mother wasn't by her side, without a mother to comfort her when she cried, when she was anxious about her body, it was the cat Eun-Kyung who comforted her.

nShe said to herself as long as she had Eun-Kyung, no matter life turned out, she will be alright but everything shattered when she saw her cat sleeping on her bed.

nIt was an unusual sleep. The cat didn't wake up when Aurora walked in like it used to.

n

"Eun-Kyung. I'm back. I have your favorite snack.

" she patted the cat's fur as her tears started to drop. She desperately called the cat's name for it to wake up from that kind of sleep.

n

"Eun-Kyung...why are you sleeping for so long...? Come on...this is your favorite snack.

"

n

"Haa...ah...please...don't leave me alone.

"

nOne hour passed, two hours passed, till morning, she kept on calling its name to wake up.

nShe locked herself in the room ignoring all of those words from the other side of the door, she hugged her cat's cold body in her arm as her tear dropped on its head.

n

"Eun-Kyung...

"

nThat was until that girl appeared, she appeared out of thin air.

nI'll help you get the cat back to life.

n

"Really?

" she wiped her tear, even though a strange figure was in her room, she didn't think of anything any longer, she loved her cat so much to the point she could do anything for that cat.

nThere is a thing you have to sacrifice and there's also a condition for the soul of the cat too.

n

"What condition?

" Aurora didn't ask what sacrifice she was gonna do, instead, she asked for her cat.

nI have a mission for it to do when it enters your body.

n

"Enter my body?

"

nYes, that's your sacrifice. You will have to give up your body and have your soul passed on or I can just put your soul into the cat.

n

"I agree!!

"

nYou should think twice, are you sure you want to give up your body?

n

"Yes! Put my soul into my cat, and put her soul inside my body.

" she was determined, she patted her cat's fur one last time smiling before the preparation.

nThat little girl sighed and disappeared, many days later, she came back with a glowing orb in her hand.

nThis is your cat's soul. I ask you one last time, are you sure about this?

n

"Yes, I'm sure.

"

nAlright, I'll explain the process of putting her soul in your body.

n

"What do I have to do?

"

nFirst, you have to abandon your will to live, and the next is to be in the unconscious state in the situation of you wanting to die. That will create an opening for me to put the cat's soul into yours.

n

"...can I write something for my cat?

"

nNo, you will confuse her otherwise since this isn't the soul of the cat, this is the soul of her other life.

n

"...alright, I'll do it as you said as soon as possible.

"

n'I hope you will have a better life than me, Eun-Kyung.'

n'I'm glad that I could see you alive again, I'll be happy seeing you from afar even if I'm just a cat.'

n'Good luck, Eun-Kyung.'

nTo be continued....!

n