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 - Father in the Dungeon, the Choice to Abandon — The 100th Despair Resurfaces —
The air in the underground passage was cold and damp.
Water seeping from the stone walls had formed small puddles on the floor. Against the soles of her bare feet, the chill stung like needles. Elritte Cordeas pressed a hand against the wall as she slowly made her way through the darkness.
(To the East Tower.)
A map of the castle spread out in her mind. A hundred lifetimes' worth of memories showed her the way. Which corridor held soldiers, which staircases went unused. She knew it all.
The wound on her knee throbbed.
It was the scrape from the third life. The bleeding had stopped, but every time she moved, the wound reopened. Her body, clad in nothing but a thin chemise, wouldn't stop shivering from the night chill. Her lips were dry, her throat raw.
(But I can't stop.)
She told herself this.
There was no time left before the inquisition convened. Queen Elzard must already be preparing the execution. False evidence and a perjured maid — everything was in place. All that remained was to drown Elritte in water.
(I won't let that happen.)
She descended the stone stairs. To kill her footsteps, she touched the floor gently with her toes. Hooking her fingers into a hollow in the wall, she supported her weight as she took one step, then another.
That was when it happened.
"Ugh... ah..."
A faint groan came from deeper in the passage.
Elritte stopped dead in her tracks.
(That voice just now.)
Her heart gave a heavy throb.
She recognized it. No — there was no mistaking it. A voice she had heard countless times. The voice that had called her name since she was small.
(Father.)
She held her breath.
Pressing her back against the wall, she slowly peered ahead. There was an iron-barred door leading to the dungeons. Torchlight leaked through the gaps in the bars.
"Still won't talk, Volkruss Cordeas?"
A low, emotionless voice echoed off the stone walls.
Elritte's fingertips dug into the wall.
(Günther.)
Inquisitor Günther. Fifty years old. Not a religious fanatic. A bureaucrat who read the will of the powerful and executed people with cold efficiency. The one who had driven her to death again and again across a hundred lifetimes.
"Your daughter is a witch. She'll be caught soon. No — she may already be caught."
Günther's voice continued.
"Tell me where your daughter is, and I'll spare your life. I'll even leave you a portion of the Cordeas family fortune. What say you? Not a bad deal, is it?"
Elritte bit her lip.
Beyond the iron bars, her father was there.
Both arms suspended by chains, being whipped. Her kind father, covered in blood, inside that cell.
"I... know... nothing..."
A voice wrung out through clenched teeth. Spitting blood, and still her father would not reveal his daughter's whereabouts.
"I see. Then we'll have to hurt you a little more."
Crack.
The sound of a whip splitting the air.
"Guaaah—!"
Her father's agonized cry pierced Elritte's ears.
She hid herself in the shadow of a pillar. Pressing both hands over her mouth, she stifled her voice. Her knees trembled. Her vision blurred.
(Father.)
(Father, I'm sorry.)
Tears traced down her cheeks.
She wanted to leap out right now, to save her father. To break the iron bars, to strike down Günther, to remove her father's chains, and flee together.
(But I can't.)
Elritte clenched her hands. Her nails dug into her palms, drawing blood.
(If I leap out here, it's over.)
A hundred lifetimes' worth of memories told her so.
Lives where she had tried to save her father and rushed out. There had been so many. Each time, she was caught. Pinned down by guards, mocked by Günther, and then executed.
(If I save him, my escape falls apart.)
(The same ending as the 100th life awaits.)
Elritte ground her back teeth.
The taste of iron spread through her mouth.
(I will abandon my father.)
She decided this by her own will.
Abandon her father.
She wanted to save him. She wanted to save him right now. But if she did, they would both die. That, she had to avoid at all costs.
(Father must want me to escape.)
Her father would not reveal his daughter's location. He was risking his life to protect her. She must not let his resolve go to waste.
(So I will go.)
Elritte slowly exhaled.
The tears wouldn't stop.
She wiped them roughly with her sleeve. Still they overflowed.
"Well then, what will it be? Your daughter will be brought here soon. Before that, if you talk, you'll be saved."
"...I... know... nothing..."
"Stubborn. Very well. We have plenty of time."
Again, the sound of the whip echoed.
Elritte curled up in the shadow of the pillar.
She wanted to cover her ears. She didn't want to hear her father's voice. But her fingers wouldn't move. Her body was frozen like stone.
(I'm sorry.)
(I'm sorry, Father.)
She apologized over and over in her heart.
And she remembered.
The 100th life.
That time too, she had tried to cling to someone.
The night she had confessed the truth to Telius.
"Witch."
He had spat the word.
The gentle smile she had known had turned into a cruel sneer. Even when she knelt and pleaded through tears, Telius only looked down at her with cold eyes.
"If you're not a witch, why was that crest found in your room? Why did the maid testify to your nightly deeds? All of it is proof that you are a witch."
No. You planted that crest in my room. The maid testified because you threatened her.
But those words reached no one.
The day she swore to hand over her entire fortune to Queen Elzard.
"Ahahahaha! Your entire fortune? You think I would accept the money of that upstart merchant house?"
Elzard laughed loudly.
Hiding her mouth behind a fan, she mocked Elritte with her eyes alone. Around the queen were her sycophantic nobles, all raising their voices in laughter together.
"Your family's money will soon belong to the royal house anyway. If you're executed as a witch, all the Cordeas assets will be confiscated. There's no need for me to accept anything from you directly."
Saying that, the queen drove her away.
The morning she had piled gold coins before the minister and pleaded.
"Well, well, the young lady of the Cordeas family. What brings you here?"
The minister welcomed her with a smile.
When she held out the bag of gold coins, the minister's eyes lit up as he accepted it.
"Rest assured. I will most certainly convey your request to His Majesty."
Saying that, the minister left the room with the gold coins.
That was the last she saw of him.
The gold never returned, and the minister vanished.
She had clung to people again and again.
But no one protected her.
Telius denounced her as a witch.
The queen laughed at her.
The minister took only her money and disappeared.
And in the end, with no one coming to save her, she was sunk to the bottom of the moat.
The sensation of cold water flooding her lungs. The agony of being unable to breathe. At the dark bottom of the water, she died all alone.
(There is no salvation in this country.)
Elritte closed her eyes in the shadow of the pillar.
(That was the conclusion of the 100th life.)
(But now, in the 101st, I rely on no one.)
She opened her eyes.
The tears still wouldn't stop. But her heart was decided.
(I will survive by my own strength.)
(Even if it means abandoning my father.)
Elritte wiped her tears roughly with her sleeve.
Then, gritting her teeth, she stood.
Killing her footsteps, while Günther and the guards were distracted by her father, she slipped from the underground passage into the narrow staircase leading to the East Tower.
(Go.)
(Don't look back.)
She began climbing the stairs.
One step, then another.
Her knee wound ached. The soles of her feet were cold. Her body trembled.
Even so, she climbed higher and higher.
Along the way, she braced herself against the wall many times, nearly collapsing.
(It's all right.)
(I still have moves left.)
(A hundred lifetimes of me are telling me so.)
She repeated this in her heart like a mantra.
On the landing, Elritte steadied her ragged breathing.
She clutched the amulet at her chest — her mother Yulia's keepsake.
A small silver vial. The empty vial that had once held the potion of return-from-death.
Her mother had said, on the verge of death:
"When you use the last drop, you will meet your true self."
(My true self.)
Still gripping the vial, Elritte closed her eyes.
(I rely on no one.)
(I will carve open the future with my own decisions.)
She opened her eyes.
In her deep emerald pupils, a faint light dwelled.
"This time, I choose."
In a small but certain voice, she murmured.
Then, barefoot as she was, she began walking straight down the corridor toward the door of the East Tower.
The cold stone floor stole the warmth from her feet.
But deep in her chest, there was something burning.
(Emperor Gaius.)
(If I meet that man, everything will change.)
She climbed the staircase leading to the top floor of the East Tower.
One step at a time.
Her footsteps echoed through the quiet tower.
(I won't hesitate anymore.)
(I won't rely on anyone anymore.)
(I will change my fate with my own strength.)
Just before the top floor.
In the dim corridor, Elritte stopped.
Before her was a heavy wooden door.
The crest of the Mercurius Empire — a golden eagle carved into the door.
(Beyond this door.)
The place she had never once reached in a hundred lifetimes.
The residence chamber where Gaius, Emperor of the Mercurius Empire, awaited.
Elritte stood before the door.
She reached out her hand.
But her fingertips stopped just before touching the door.
(Was this really the right thing?)
A voice echoed from the depths of her heart.
(Abandoning your father — really?)
(Betrayed by Marta, all alone — really?)
Guilt constricted her chest.
Her father's agonized voice still lingered in her ears.
The maid who had served her since childhood, Marta. She had testified falsely through tears.
"The young lady would call out each night, summoning monsters."
Marta's lie.
But Marta too must have been threatened. By the queen, or by Telius. One of them.
(Even so.)
Elritte bit her lip.
(I move forward.)
(I won't let my father's resolve go to waste.)
(I won't lose to Marta's betrayal.)
She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath.
Her mother's words resurfaced.
"When you use the last drop, you will meet your true self."
(My true self relies on no one.)
(My true self stands on her own two feet.)
Elritte opened her eyes.
And she knocked on the door.
Knock, knock, knock.
A small but clear sound echoed through the quiet corridor.
(This is the first choice of my own in the 101st life.)
She waited for a response from beyond the door.
Her heart pounded violently.
Sweat seeped into her palms.
(Emperor Gaius.)
(My final gamble.)
The silence of the night enveloped her.
In the distance, she heard the sound of wind.
Outside the window, the streets of Luminous were illuminated by moonlight, rising pale blue against the dark.
This country was rotten.
But she would not end.
(I will absolutely not die.)
Elritte Cordeas, before the door, quietly swore this to herself.
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