The wizard is reincarnated last Time

Chapter 5

I wandered through countless memories for a long time.

Bound by soul and memory, forced to repeat life and death, none of my lives were happy.

No matter how I was born or raised, I always returned to the Demon Emperor’s side in the end. I was made that way.

At Verkiss’s side, I killed people and collected souls for him.

I nourished him, made him stronger, and finally died by his hand.

Then, remembering nothing, I was reborn. To return to the Demon Emperor’s side once more.

But Liveric, this young boy, received an overwhelming amount of love for the first time.

I didn’t want it to end like this.

I had finally broken free from the cycle.

I had finally grasped a chance to truly live.

I couldn’t die so young…

*Cough.*

I opened my eyes, coughing weakly. My throat burned, and my whole body ached.

I sensed commotion around me.  The familiar ceiling above me swayed.

Many people surrounded me, but my vision was blurry, and I couldn’t see them clearly.

Warm fingertips touched my cheek. The gentle touch and scent were familiar.

“M-Mother…?”

“Liv, Liv.”

A warm touch grazed my forehead.

The droplets that followed were my mother’s tears.  I could feel her sorrow and anguish acutely.

I coughed a few more times, the last cough so painful it felt like it was tearing my heart apart.

The smell of blood returned.

Just as I felt breathless and dizzy, a large hand covered my forehead.  A gentle yet powerful mana emanated from his palm, pushing my consciousness away.

I lost consciousness again.

I didn’t know how much time had passed, but when I next opened my eyes, my consciousness returned much more stable.

A tightness on my left shoulder and chest made me shift, and I slowly exhaled as I opened my eyes.

Darkness had fallen outside the window. The familiar scenery.

I was in my bed.

“…Liv?”

I slowly turned my gaze to my mother, who had been holding my hand the entire time.

She looked exhausted and sad. But the moment our eyes met, life bloomed on her face.

Tears began to fall from her green eyes.

“Liv, thank goodness. Truly…”

My mother squeezed my hand tighter.

I didn’t know what to say. It was the first time I had seen my mother so distraught.

She fought back her tears and forced a smile.

“I need to call your father.  And the doctor, and Mr. Klaus. …Amara!”

“Yes, Madam.”

Mrs. Amara’s voice came from nearby.

My mother instructed her to call everyone, and Mrs. Amara replied with a choked sob, “Ah,” and hurriedly left.

My mother held my hand tightly and caressed my forehead, my cheek, my arm.

“Liv, are you in a lot of pain? Are you alright?”

“Yes…”

*Cough.*

Even that single word made my parched throat constrict, and I coughed.

My mother was startled.

“Oh, right. Water. I’ll get you some water.”

Fortunately, the coughing didn’t continue, and it wasn’t as painful as before.

I sipped the water my mother hurriedly brought, and I felt much better.

“Liv!”

The door burst open, and several people, led by my father, rushed into the room.

My father, his face filled with relief, came straight to me.  He took my hand and brushed the sweat-dampened hair from my forehead.

“Thank goodness.  We were so worried…”

“I’m sorry…”

Just looking at my mother, I could tell how much my parents had worried.

My heart ached.

My father patted my back and spoke soothingly.

“No, no.  It’s not your fault. It’s that wicked demon.  I don’t know how it lured you out, but it’s alright now. We’ve taken care of it.”

“I’m sorry…”

I repeated the same words, tears welling up in my eyes.

I couldn’t understand why this had happened.

“Selina, she did it. I thought she was my friend, I thought she was human, but she wasn’t. I was mistaken for so long…”

Words began to pour out in my confusion and distress.

Every word I spoke made my chest tighten, my breath catching.

“We played together every day.  So when she suggested we go play in the back garden, I thought it would be alright.”

Everyone in the room, including my father and mother, froze, their faces etched with shock. They didn’t even breathe.

Tears streamed down my face.

Even though I felt my breath constricting, I couldn’t stop talking.

“I should have told someone.  That Selina was strange, why didn’t I notice anything…?  I’m sorry… I’m sorry for making you worry.”

“Liv, it’s alright.”

My father hugged me tightly.

I could feel the steady beat of his heart.  Listening to it, I gradually calmed down.

From above, my father asked softly,

“Selina is the friend you were talking about, right? Can you tell me what happened again?”

I nodded and rubbed my eyes, stinging from the tears.

My mother wiped my face with a cloth and offered me more water. I took another sip.

Meanwhile, everyone waited for my story with serious expressions. Luwen and Erner, who were in the room, Mrs. Amara, and the doctor from the village, all the same.

With a slightly calmer heart, I began to speak.

“Selina came to play in the library.  We always read books there together.  But she said the training noises outside were too loud and suggested we go to the back garden.  She said it would be quiet there…

She led the way, saying we could go out through the side door that she always used.”

“The side door was open?”

My mother looked at Mrs. Amara with a surprised expression.

“Amara? How is that possible?”

Mrs. Amara, the focus of everyone’s attention, was extremely pale.

She looked as though she might faint at any moment.  She was holding a tray with a pitcher on it, and the tray trembled.

Mrs. Amara finally spoke.

“Th-That’s impossible.  The side door next to the kitchen is old and doesn’t open easily. It’s always locked…”

“But Selina opened it.”

I was equally surprised.

Selina had opened the side door without a moment’s hesitation, as if it had never been locked.

“Y-Young Master… how old was this Selina?  What did she look like?”

Only after hearing Mrs. Amara’s question did I remember that Selina had introduced herself as her daughter.

“…Eight years old. Auburn hair, and blue eyes.”

*Crash.*

Mrs. Amara finally dropped the tray and pitcher.

My mother rushed to her side and supported the swaying housekeeper.  Mrs. Amara trembled pitifully and shook her head.

“This, this is impossible. Madam, Young Master, that child died young…  She died when she was only one year old.”

Mrs. Amara began to sob.

Both my mother and I were speechless.

I felt dizzy.

When did I first meet Selina?

It was when I was so young, I couldn’t even remember.  Selina had grown up with me, since before I could even speak.

My only childhood friend, with whom I had shared so many stories.

I could no longer recall Selina’s bright, smiling face.

Instead, the image of the demon, gripping my shoulders until they bled, baring its terrifying fangs, replaced it.

As I trembled and clutched my father’s clothes, he hugged me tightly.

“…Liv. How long have you known this Selina?”

It was Luwen who asked, standing by the window. His expression was grave.

“Since I was very young… we played together almost every day.”

“How could we not know? Why didn’t anyone realize Liv was playing with a dead girl?”

My father spoke angrily, and Luwen sighed, running a hand over his forehead.

“It seems that demon put a lot of effort into getting close to your son, Jaden.”

“What do you mean?”

“To get close to Liv, it absorbed the soul of the deceased child, ‘Selina,’ and became his friend, spending years with him… until today.”

I couldn’t understand what he was saying. The others in the room seemed equally bewildered.

“It seems its cognitive interference abilities were quite strong, in addition to its shapeshifting abilities. It interfered with other people’s perceptions, so ordinary people couldn’t properly recognize its presence.”

“Such a…”

My mother’s voice trembled.  Luwen clicked his tongue and frowned.

“It’s one of the survival skills demons use to hide among humans.  Still, this is the first time I’ve seen a case where one has evaded detection for so many years.”

Come to think of it, I had never seen Selina with anyone else.

That fact only just occurred to me.

A few days ago, when Shuren had burst into the library to announce my father’s return, Selina had suddenly remembered an urgent errand and left.

I had never once seen her walk back to her house across the garden.

“Why Liv?”

My father hugged me even tighter, as if to protect me.

Luwen stared intently at me.  The mage’s gaze was deep and sharp, as if trying to see inside my mind.

“As you saw, that demon grew at an incredible rate not long after it revealed its true form.  That’s…”

“You’re saying that’s because of Liv?”

“…That kind of growth is only possible after a horrific event like the massacre of an entire village.  It doesn’t happen with just a few drops of blood from a young boy. You know that.”

Instead of answering, my father gripped my shoulder tightly.  His hand was both hot and cold.

Luwen also looked pained, pressing a hand to his forehead.

“It’s probably because we were here.  They had been friends for years, and then we suddenly appeared… it must have felt threatened.”

Had the demon grown rapidly because of me?  Because of me…  Devouring my blood and mana.

I felt dizzy.

“What do you mean?  Is there something wrong with Liv?”

My confused and frightened mother asked Luwen.

*Cough.*

I wanted to hear more of what Luwen had to say, but a sharp pain in my chest made it impossible to bear.

Not wanting my parents to worry, I forced out a small cough.

Then, a throbbing pain shot through the wounds on my chest and shoulder.

“…Just a moment, please.  I need to examine the Young Master.”

The doctor, who had been quietly observing, suddenly approached, and my startled father gently laid me down on the bed.

I tried to say I was alright, but I couldn’t muster the strength.

The doctor unwrapped the bandages around my shoulder and began to carefully examine the wound.

I couldn’t even hold my head up properly. I was feverish, and every breath I took reeked of blood.

The bleeding had started again somewhere.

I couldn’t tell whether it was my chest or my shoulder; my whole body was burning so intensely that I couldn’t assess the state of my wounds.

Only one thing was clear: my father and mother were tightly gripping my right hand.

Their desperate hope reached me through their touch.