Chapter 126: Chapter 126

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Vine

Chapter Title: The Mad Witch

-----------------------------------------------------------------

In an era before she was known by that name.

She lay amidst the fragments of the sky that had poured down into the Otherworld.

The malign spirits surrounding Vinisha barely managed to protect her.

Within the evil spirits, she clutched a pendant tightly.

Her chest felt heavy.

Her mind was a mess.

Ancient memories she thought she would never recall again.

Fragments of those memories began to fill her mind.

Vinisha was disoriented. The memory fragments, surfacing like a frenzy in her mind, made it impossible to collect herself.

Perhaps that was why, memories unfolded before her eyes like a panorama.

Her childhood, abandoned by her parents.

There was a common phrase her mother and father used.

"Why did we even have her?"

Her parents' words, that it would have been better if she had never been born.

Those words, heard at such a young age, remained vividly etched among the memory fragments.

When she was six years old, her parents abandoned her.

At an age when attachment bonds are formed, she was forsaken by the parents who were her entire world.

Nothing was left for her.

"Why are you here?"

Just as she was slowly dying, hungry and thirsty.

A woman appeared before her.

Her master and foster mother.

Mariisa.

Mariisa cherished Vinisha more than anyone.

It was a love Vinisha had never experienced in her entire life.

However, Vinisha had already lost her entire world once.

As a result, she became excessively obsessive about Mariisa.

To avoid being abandoned again, Vinisha put in all her effort.

A void of affection that had never been filled once in her life.

Vinisha's obsession with Mariisa, the only one who could fill this void, was, if anything, natural.

That's why Vinisha desperately learned the magic Mariisa taught her.

Fortunately, Vinisha had talent, and Mariisa praised her greatly every time.

For the first time, Vinisha felt the sensation of her emptiness being filled.

She realized this was happiness.

Then one day, Mariisa brought two more children.

Two children, even younger than Vinisha.

Both children had also been abandoned on the streets.

A young boy and girl, of the same age.

The boy was Grantony, and the girl's name was Musika.

'Why did Master bring others besides me? Was I not enough?'

At first, Vinisha wasn't pleased with the two.

It wasn't easy to monopolize Mariisa's love, and now there were others she had to share it with.

'I must hold back.'

But Vinisha couldn't show her true feelings.

She thought Mariisa wouldn't like such a thing.

Including Vinisha, Grantony and Musika grew up quickly.

During that process, Mariisa discovered that both of them also possessed outstanding talent as Soul Weavers.

Naturally, Mariisa raised them both to be Soul Weavers.

Grantony was certainly talented, but the truly exceptional talent among them was Musika.

Musika's talent was something even Vinisha couldn't dare compare to.

As a result, Mariisa often unintentionally put Musika in the spotlight.

"Remarkable, Musika! Your talent is so great, it could be called the best in the world."

"Hehehe, that's all thanks to Master teaching me so well!"

Musika was a very bright child.

It seemed that brightness shone wherever she went.

Therefore, Vinisha certainly disliked Musika at first.

She was a shameless being, stealing Mariisa's love.

But Musika was a good child.

"Vinisha, big sister!"

Whenever she saw Vinisha, Musika would wave her hand first and run over.

For the first few times, Vinisha felt uneasy around Musika and tried to keep her distance.

But Musika knew no distance.

Bright and cheerful, she would seek out Vinisha whenever she found something good, begging her to join in.

Vinisha didn't particularly care for Musika, yet for some reason, she couldn't refuse her.

One bitterly cold, snowy day.

Mariisa had an errand, and it was Vinisha's turn to prepare dinner that day.

She had been grocery shopping but got distracted, returning home a little late.

Though older than Grantony and Musika, she was still at an age brimming with curiosity.

That's why her curiosity led her to get distracted.

Still, it was alright.

The streets were relatively bright, and many people were out.

It was just that, being midwinter, a biting wind blew.

Vinisha hunched her body, hurrying her steps.

Just then, Vinisha's eyes caught sight of a girl.

It was young Musika.

She stood in the snow, trembling, blowing on her hands in front of a lantern.

As soon as Vinisha saw Musika, she was startled and approached her.

"Musika, what are you doing out here?"

"Big sister, I waited for you. It's scary to come home alone at night, isn't it?"

Musika smiled brightly and took Vinisha's hand with her frozen fingers.

"Sniff, I was blowing on my hands to keep them as warm as possible."

Musika, sniffling, had a face flushed crimson.

"Why did you wait, of all things?"

"Because I missed you, Big Sister."

To wait like this in the middle of winter, just because she missed her...

Vinisha couldn't quite understand it, but she quickly took Musika home.

She thought that if Musika caught a cold, Mariisa might dislike her for it.

When she returned home, Grantony was there.

Grantony, a little more reserved than Musika, had lit the stove and prepared warm water.

"Big sister, here's a blanket!"

As Vinisha sat in front of the stove, Musika scurried over with a blanket.

She then draped the blanket over Vinisha, before sitting in front of Vinisha's knees and pulling the blanket over herself.

"It's much warmer this way!"

Then Grantony subtly nudged his way under the blanket too.

The moment she saw this, Vinisha realized.

Ah, so this is what unconditional love feels like.

And these children were truly giving her love.

It was the moment Vinisha truly accepted Musika and Grantony.

However, that was merely the beginning of another chain of tragedies.

The deep scars her parents had left long ago were not easy to heal.

As days passed, Musika displayed increasingly exceptional talent.

Accordingly, the days Mariisa spent tending to Musika increased.

Vinisha's scarred heart certainly wanted to cheer for Musika.

But separate from that, the child she once was cried out.

That if things continued like this, she would lose her parents again and be abandoned.

Mariisa undoubtedly loved Vinisha.

But Vinisha's heart was a gaping hole.

A hole that, no matter how much love was poured into it, kept leaking.

'This must be part of me growing up.'

Surely, once she became an adult, these feelings would disappear.

Such ugly jealousy would fade once she was an adult.

She wished for that.

However, her anxiety kept binding her.

Ultimately, the day she opened the Otherworld with insufficient skill, intending to raise her rank as a Soul Weaver.

An irreversible event occurred to her.

The Aberration, which had been waiting for Vinisha to open the Otherworld, planted a seed within her.

The memory of opening the Otherworld had been completely erased.

The Aberration's seed had wiped away the memory of that day.

However, from that day on, Vinisha felt her emotional fluctuations growing increasingly abnormal.

Before, even if she felt a stirring of emotion when looking at Musika, the sense of preciousness was greater.

But now, the throbbing of her emotions felt like it was constricting her head.

It was as if an unquenchable fire had been lit on the fuse of her emotions.

Vinisha chastised herself repeatedly, trying to regain her composure.

But the Aberration's seed was relentless.

It constantly provoked and tormented her emotions.

"Musika, thanks to you, I've been boasting so much at the Soul Weaver's Association lately, you wouldn't believe it."

"Oh, really, Master, it's just because you taught me so well."

"Even so, this level of talent at your age is impossible. You're the best among your peers."

Finally, on the day Musika received great recognition from Mariisa.

'I can't be Master's most cherished child.'

Vinisha's heart twisted, and the Aberration's seed bloomed.

"Big sister, I'm home!"

That day, Mariisa and Grantony were out on errands, leaving Vinisha and Musika alone at home.

Musika had just returned from an academic conference related to soul weaving, to which she had been invited.

"Big sister, look at this. On my way home, I saw a delicious cream cake, so I bought it for us."

"Musika."

Musika happily chatted as she unknotted her scarf.

As Vinisha cut her off, she turned towards her.

With that, Musika's face slowly began to stiffen.

Because half of Vinisha's body was no longer human.

"I-I'm, sorry, I, think, I reached, my limit."

Tears welled up in one of Vinisha's eyes.

The jealousy and void of affection she thought would eventually be suppressed by time.

These emotions, combined with her immature skills, led her to tamper with the Otherworld and summon a being that should never have been called forth.

At Vinisha's gesture, the Otherworld unfolded.

She vomited blood, screamed, and rampaged like a madwoman.

Musika instinctively knew.

If left like this, Vinisha would surely die.

To save her, Musika had to cross into the Otherworld and stop the Aberration.

And Musika knew what the outcome of that would be.

Nevertheless, she ran.

Vinisha was the sister she loved.

"Big sister, I'm sorry. I guess I didn't understand you enough."

That's not true.

Even while being controlled by the Aberration, Vinisha cried out repeatedly.

It was all because she was a weak person.

There was no way it was Musika's fault.

"You know what? I loved having you as my big sister more than anything in the world."

Musika unleashed her soul weaving.

"No, don't! Don't!"

Vinisha shrieked.

But Musika crossed into the Otherworld and, against all odds, severed the link between Vinisha and the Aberration, closing the gate.

In a blinding flash of light, Vinisha's consciousness was blown away by the severing of the link.

And when she regained consciousness, everything was already over.

Her Master, who had sacrificed her life to save Vinisha.

Grantony, whose face had been torn away when he was caught in Vinisha's rampage.

And Musika, who was nowhere to be seen.

In Vinisha's hand was the pendant her Master had given her.

She let out a hollow laugh in her precious home, now in ruins.

With her emotional core shattered by the Aberration, she had no idea what to do now.

So she simply walked aimlessly.

With every step she took, the memories that remained within her gradually shattered and vanished.

She had become utterly empty.

An existence devoid of memories, emotions, everything.

That was Vinisha.

A flash of light.

Vinisha's eyes opened.

Around her eyes, only the traces of ceaselessly flowing tears remained.

"Ah."

Now, she understood why her heart had been in such agony.

She finally realized all the sins she had committed in the past.