The kingdom of Permanent is broke. It survives only by borrowing money from the wealthy merchant house Cordias. The knightly house Hazard has lost its power, and Queen Elzard is desperate. The Cordias family is rising fast, and they plan to save Permanent's finances through a marriage between Prince Telius and Ellilite.
But Ellilite Cordias, 18, carries a secret. Her late mother left her a 'return-from-death' potion. It has brought her back 100 times. Now it is the last dose — the 101st run.
O
The 101st Witch Trial - The 101st Awakening — The Last Drop, the Zero Engraving —
Water swirled at the back of her throat.
"...gh, guah...!"
Cold. Above all, cold. The water of the moat carried the night air of deep winter, freezing her to the very marrow of her bones. Her limbs were bound, and her body could only sink. The light receded. The water's surface wavered and distorted above her. Beyond that ring of light lay a sight she had no wish to see.
"Witch!" "Drown her!" "If she floats, burn her!"
Those shouts reached her underwater only as distant festival music. Elritte Cordeas found herself, for some reason, counting each sound with strange composure. This was her hundredth death. Poisoning, twenty-three times. Strangulation, eighteen times. Stabbing, fourteen times. Beheading, eleven times. Drowning, seventeen times. Burning, fourteen times. And three others of unknown detail.
(...Ah, I've gotten used to it. Dying, I mean.)
She disliked herself a little for thinking that.
Her lungs creaked. Silver light began to spill from the edges of her consciousness. The small vial—her mother's keepsake—released its final radiance, and her vision was painted white—
And then.
"...!"
Elritte Cordeas realized her throat was dry.
There was no sensation of water. No cold. There was only the feeling of her back sinking into soft feathers, and the morning light slipping through the gap in the curtains. For a while, she stared at the ceiling without blinking. It was a familiar ceiling. White plaster, scattered with a pattern of silver stars. The crest of the Cordeas family floated faintly at its center.
(I've come back.)
It was the morning of the hundred-and-first time.
Elritte Cordeas slowly raised herself up. In the mirror stand beside the bed, her reflection appeared. Pale blonde hair, near silver, was disheveled from sleep. Her deep emerald eyes were slightly swollen. Not from crying. It felt like the remnant of having drunk too much water in her previous life, but that was impossible.
She looked at her left hand.
It was clutching something. A small, silver vial.
"...Mother."
The death-returning draught left behind by her mother, Yulia Cordeas. When she opened the lid, there was nothing inside anymore. But on the inner side of the lid, there was a small engraving.
"0"
Elritte Cordeas gazed at that number for a long time.
Zero. Zero remaining. In other words, this drug no longer worked. This life was truly the last. If she died, she could never return. That was what it meant.
She clutched the vial against her chest. Her fingertips were trembling. She tried to stop the trembling, and couldn't.
"...The last one."
The moment she said it aloud, something caught at the back of her throat. No tears came. She couldn't cry. But deep in her chest, something clenched and shrank.
She sat back down on the edge of the bed and took one deep breath.
'When you have used up the final drop, you will meet your true self.'
Her mother's words, spoken just before death, resurfaced in her mind. At the time, she hadn't understood what they meant. Even now, she still didn't. Her true self? This me, who has been killed a hundred times?
(...There's no way such a thing exists.)
A self-mocking smile rose to her lips. She erased it immediately.
Elritte Cordeas stood. Her white and pale blue dress caught the morning light and swayed softly. She quickly gathered her hair before the mirror and tied it high in a ponytail. Her hands moved with familiarity. A hundred mornings of preparation had long since become instinct.
She ran her fingers along the lining of her dress's skirt. Into a small sewn-in pocket, she carefully returned the silver vial. She kept her mother's keepsake on her person at all times. Even if it no longer held any power.
(Now then.)
Elritte Cordeas looked outside the window.
The gardens of Luminous Royal Castle spread out before her. Meticulously kept lawns, white stone paving, rose bushes. Beyond that, the streets of Luminous appeared hazy. A beautiful capital surrounded by alabaster walls, once called the crossroads of the continent. It was said that merchants once gathered from all over the continent, and the markets overflowed with spices, silk, and jewels.
But now, it was different.
Elritte Cordeas turned her eyes to the city's outer edge. Far from the royal castle, she could see a gray slum spreading out. Its former glory had vanished without a trace. The nation of Permanent had been living mired in debt for thirty years now.
(Without my family's credit, this country would have collapsed long ago.)
That was not a source of pride. It was a curse. The Cordeas family had amassed wealth through commerce for generations. Now they were Permanent's largest creditor. They lent money to the king, lent money to nobles, lent money to the military.
And that fact had killed Elritte Cordeas many times over.
"Lady Elritte."
From beyond the door, a reserved voice came. A maid.
"Good morning. Today is the ceremony of the engagement announcement. It is time to prepare."
"...Yes, I know."
Elritte Cordeas answered quietly.
The engagement announcement. With Prince Telius. The crown prince of Permanent, Telius Permanent. Twenty-four years old. With his sweet features and amiable nature, he was popular among the masses. But Elritte Cordeas knew. What lay behind that smile.
(That man kills me while smiling.)
Over a hundred lives, she had learned it. Telius did not love Elritte Cordeas. He merely wanted the Cordeas family fortune. So he would form the engagement, and then... once he had the wealth, he would eliminate her.
"Allow me to assist with your preparations."
The maid entered and touched Elritte Cordeas's hair. Elritte Cordeas let her do as she pleased, watching herself in the mirror.
(Today is the decisive battle.)
At the engagement announcement, she would be denounced. By Telius and Queen Elzard. She would be suspected of being a witch, subjected to inquisition. And then drowned in water.
That had been the pattern so far.
(But this time is different.)
Elritte Cordeas stared intently at her own eyes in the mirror.
(This time I absolutely will not die. Because if I die, it's over.)
The maid styled her hair and applied her makeup. Meanwhile, Elritte Cordeas was drawing a map of the castle interior in her mind. A hundred lives' worth of memories had not been wasted. She knew every corridor, every staircase, every hidden door in the royal castle.
(The small window behind the toilet. That one's unlocked only tonight. There's a gap when the patrol shifts change.)
It was an escape route she had found by chance in a past life. Only once, she had tried to flee through there. She had failed that time, but.
This time, she would do it right.
"You look beautiful, Lady Elritte."
The maid said with satisfaction. Elritte Cordeas looked at herself in the mirror. A pale blue dress, a pearl necklace, hair carefully arranged. A flawless noble lady beyond reproach.
"Thank you."
With a brief word of thanks, Elritte Cordeas stood.
(First, I'll check the small window.)
She stepped out into the corridor. The royal castle's hallway was brightly lit by the morning sun. The polished floor reflected her figure. Between the stone pillars, servants hurried back and forth. The castle was in a flurry preparing for the engagement announcement.
Elritte Cordeas walked as if nothing were amiss. Back straight, smile in place. As a noble lady, with perfect bearing.
Around the corner of the corridor was a small servants' passage. She went through it, heading behind the toilet. A hundred lives' worth of memory guided her steps.
(Here it is.)
After confirming no one else was present, Elritte Cordeas put her hand on the small window. The lock was open.
"...Good."
She gently opened the small window and checked outside. Below lay the moat. A moat holding deep, dark water. About three points down, there was a narrow stone ledge. In the chapters to come, she would cross here.
Elritte Cordeas closed the window and left the lock open.
When she returned to the corridor, she heard footsteps approaching. Elritte Cordeas moved away from the spot with a natural gait. She did not look back. She did not change her expression.
(Preparation, complete.)
Returning to her room, she took out a small needle and thread from the hem of her dress. This was one of the self-defense techniques she had learned over a hundred lives. She had once used it to cut rope when imprisoned. She hid it gently beneath her pillow.
So naturally that neither servants nor maids would notice.
"Lady Elritte."
Again a voice came from beyond the door. This time, a different maid.
"His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen request your presence. They wish to speak with you before the engagement announcement ceremony."
"...I will come at once."
Elritte Cordeas checked her appearance one last time before the mirror.
(This time, I won't rely on anyone.)
She swore in her heart. Not on her father Volkrus, not on her mother's dying words, not on Telius, not on anyone.
(I will change this fate with my own strength.)
There was a waver deep in her eyes. The fear would not disappear. The future in which her father was tortured because of her was seared onto the back of her eyelids. She might not be able to stop it. Even so.
(I have no choice but to do it.)
Elritte Cordeas took a deep breath and left the room.
As she walked down the corridor, she suddenly remembered. The time when her mother Yulia was still alive. When Elritte Cordeas was not yet even ten, her mother would set her on her lap and tell her stories about the stars.
'El, the stars shine with the light of the past.'
Her mother's voice still lingered in her ears.
'The light of a star that vanished long ago travels hundreds of years to reach us. So the star you see now may no longer exist. Even so, we look at that light and make our wishes.'
Elritte Cordeas looked outside the window. In the morning light, the stars were invisible. But she knew. When night came, the stars would shine. The night sky she had looked up at countless times over a hundred lives.
(Mother. This time, I will survive.)
That was her answer to her mother.
The corridor leading to the great hall of the royal castle was long. Portraits of successive kings lined both sides. She felt as though every one of them were gazing down at her.
Before the doors of the great hall stood a royal guard. He looked at Elritte Cordeas and reverently opened the doors.
"—"
The interior of the hall was filled with a strange atmosphere.
The King, Queen Elzard, Prince Telius, and dozens of nobles. Everyone's gaze was fixed on Elritte Cordeas.
Queen Elzard smiled. That smile was cold as ice.
"How good of you to come, Elritte."
The instant she heard that voice, something cold ran down Elritte Cordeas's spine. She knew this voice. She had heard it many times over a hundred lives.
(This is the person who kills me.)
Even so, Elritte Cordeas gave a flawless bow.
"I am honored to be summoned, Your Majesty the Queen."
When she raised her head, she was already wearing a smile.
(Now it begins. The hundred-and-first time—the final battle.)
The morning light passed through the great hall's stained glass, casting patterns of many colors onto the floor. Standing within that light, Elritte Cordeas thought.
(This time, I will absolutely survive.)
Beyond a hundred lives of despair, she was searching for a light of hope she had not yet seen. Without yet knowing what form it might take.
But deep in her eyes, a fire of certain resolve was lit.
(I will not die.)
That was her first oath.
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