"Mother, I missed you so much!" Shiki cried, her voice trembling with relief, as if all the years of suffering in the Procession Tower had melted away in her tears.
Emberlyn, though clearly puzzled, tried to understand, casting a sharp and questioning glance at Andrea. But Andrea, growing paler by the second, could only shake her head, utterly clueless about what was happening.
"Shiki, my dearest daughter, what's wrong? Who made you cry? Tell me everything!" Emberlyn's voice brimmed with love and protectiveness, as though she was ready to bear the weight of the heavens to protect her child.
Shiki had grown up in an environment filled with love and indulgence; every whim of hers was fulfilled by her parents, no matter how difficult or selfish her desires were. Perhaps this excessive pampering had made Shiki the spoiled, helpless girl she once was, ultimately leading to her suffering in the Procession Tower. But Shiki never blamed her parents—their immense love had blinded them to any challenges that might have made their daughter unhappy.
Shiki shook her head softly. "I just miss you, Mother." To her, whatever had happened in the Procession Tower was now in the past. At this moment, she only wished for this dream to last longer so she could savor the heaven she had longed for.
She hugged her mother tighter, her arms circling Emberlyn’s slender waist, burying her face in the soft warmth of her stomach as Emberlyn gently stroked her dark hair. Yet Shiki couldn’t see the deep concern on her mother’s face or the fiery anger flaring in her eyes.
‘Who dared to harm my daughter? I must find out! Shiki doesn’t want to talk about it, so it’ll be a bit trickier. Should I tell Shinsei? Perhaps I should bring it up tonight… He might hold it against me if I keep it from him. But… the country has only just stabilized after the engagement debacle a few months ago. Will Ignisira hold up?’
Shiki tilted her head, resting her ear against her mother’s stomach, wishing time would stop so she could remain in that embrace forever.
But as her eyes opened, the warmth she was basking in was disrupted by a strange sight—a beautiful ring now encircled her ring finger. It featured a red gemstone resembling a dragon’s eye that seemed to gaze back at her.
Shiki was certain she had never owned such a piece of jewelry in Atta World, nor did she recall seeing it while she was in the Procession Tower. As a woman with dragon blood, she had a natural affinity for beautiful objects and knew she would never have forgotten a ring as exquisite as the one now on her finger.
Though she longed to stay lost in the warmth, Shiki was no fool. Her experiences in the Procession Tower had trained her to remain vigilant. The presence of this unfamiliar object on her finger brought a sharp realization: this wasn’t merely a dream or some paradise after death.
Shiki slowly released her embrace and looked up at her mother. “Mother, where did this ring on my finger come from?” she asked, holding up her hand to reveal the red-gemmed ring.
"A ring? What ring?" Emberlyn asked, staring at Shiki's hand with a puzzled expression, as though she couldn't see anything there.
Shiki's face remained calm. She then turned to Andrea, posing the same question. But Andrea, still pale, merely looked at Shiki's hand and shook her head—she, too, couldn’t see the dragon-eyed gemstone ring.
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Shiki’s vigilance sharpened instantly. She began piecing together details from her death to this moment. She recalled the unfamiliar voice she had heard at the moment of her last breath and the date displayed on the digital clock beside her bed: May 30, 2083.
“Three years before the teleportation!”
On that date, Shiki had just graduated middle school and was preparing to enter high school. She vividly remembered Emberlyn summoning her to the study to ask which high school she wanted to attend. Casually, Shiki had declared that no high school was worthy of noble her. Hearing this, Emberlyn had decided to establish a private high school just for her daughter, outfitted with facilities and educators that even surpassed Ignisira’s top universities.
While Shiki was lost in thought, her mother’s words pulled her back to the present.
"Are you still worried about your engagement? Don’t fret, my daughter. No one can force you to do anything you don’t want! Your father and I resolved that matter months ago. We didn’t tell you because it wasn’t worth troubling you over."
Emberlyn's words stirred faint memories of an incident Shiki had nearly forgotten. While it hadn’t felt significant to her at the time, the matter had been grave enough to send shockwaves through Ignisira’s noble circles.
A nobleman’s son, from a family as powerful as the Ganko family, had once developed an infatuation with Shiki after seeing her at a banquet. Believing himself worthy due to his strong dragon blood, marked by the dragon horns on his head, he had attempted to court Shiki. However, oblivious to her feelings, he tried to coerce the Ganko family into arranging their marriage. If that had been the extent of it, the issue might have been resolved amicably by Shiki's family.
But the man crossed a line—he had gone to Shiki’s class, bringing flowers, and grabbed her arm, only to be cruelly rejected and humiliated by her. When news of this reached Emberlyn and Shiki's father, Shinsei, their wrath was explosive. The Ganko family openly declared total war on the nobleman's family. The result? One of Ignisira’s most prominent and powerful noble families vanished without a trace, as though they had never existed. The man himself—whose name Shiki couldn’t even recall—disappeared as well. But Shiki remembered the dragon-horned skull displayed like a hunting trophy in her father’s study.
"Oh, Mother! I’d nearly forgotten about that. By the way, have you had breakfast?" Shiki asked cheerfully.
"I have, my darling. But shouldn’t you eat before speaking with me?" Emberlyn replied, casting a sharp glance at Andrea. The maid lowered her head, trembling, her pallor worsening.
Ignoring her mother’s piercing look, Shiki smiled and kissed Emberlyn’s soft cheek. "Of course, I wanted to see you before anything else. Andrea said you wanted to discuss something with me. What is it, Mother?"
“Oh, there’s no big problem. I just want to know which high school you want to attend. If you haven’t made a choice yet, I’ll select a school that I’m sure will make you happy.”
Upon hearing this, Shiki became even more certain of her suspicions. “Hmm… High school, huh… I want to go to Vespera High School, Mother!” Shiki declared, altering the course of her life with this decision.
“Vespera? Hmm… alright then. Ah, you must be hungry. Come on, let’s have breakfast first. Don’t worry about me.”
“Alright then, I’ll leave now, Mother. Let’s go, Andrea!”
Shiki walked out of her mother’s study, followed by Andrea, who was still enveloped in confusion. Her years of serving the Ganko Family as a maid didn’t seem enough to calm her amidst the strange events of that morning.
Regression, huh?
If this was truly a regression, Shiki could correct every mistake and regret in her life, including avenging those who had hurt her. However, before her mind sank deeper, the image of a man with purple eyes appeared in her thoughts, leaving her stunned.
Her smile widened, revealing her fangs, and her dragon eyes shimmered even brighter, as if flames were swirling within them. All her mistakes, regrets, and vengeance were instantly forgotten. Her obsession with that man had persisted, even after her regression.
“This time, where are you going to run? I won’t let you go!” she whispered, staring at the red gemstone ring on her left ring finger.