General POV:
—Kill her!
—Kill her!
—Throw more stones and wood!
Fear and anger shrouded the village.
Shouts and cries filled the atmosphere as stones rained down upon a bloodied and beaten white-haired woman, tied rcilessly to a splintered wooden pole.
—We need to kill the witch to please our God.
—Let the witch burn to death!
—Kill her!
—Beat her to death!
The furious villagers hurled accusations at her, branding her a witch.
"NO!!! I’m not a witch. Please, believe !"
The woman begged and cried, yet no one listened to her plea.
Flas licked at her feet and slowly crept upward.
Eventually, as they began to burn her alive, she couldn’t help but let out an agonizing scream.
"—AHHHHHH!!!—"
Her wails echoed through the air, but the villagers remained unmoved by her pain.
Instead, they seed to have beco even more frenzied at the sight.
With bloodlust and hatred, they chanted in unison, turning into more of a monster themselves than what they accused the innocent woman of.
—Kill her!
—Kill her!
In the midst of the chaotic frenzy, the woman understood that no matter how she pleaded, no one would help her.
They all wanted her dead.
Despair clutched the woman’s heart.
But then a blurry figure appeared in her mory.
Imdiately, the woman’s anguished eyes moved, and she frantically searched for that figure in the crowd.
However, when she finally locked onto him, she couldn’t help but have a chill run down her spine that was engulfed in flas.
Because there he was, his face blurred with black static—multiple long tal rods had pierced his body, nailing him rcilessly to the ground.
He was struggling desperately to reach her, looking at her, as black tears of blood trickled down his golden eyes and he opened his mouth.
"....!!!.....!!!! ...???"
Even though his voice, just like his face, was obscured by static, the woman understood his silent cry at her sight.
His desperation, or more bluntly, madness, and his maniacally insane struggle to break free from the crowd’s clutches were evident to her.
He didn’t care how his hands split and his legs tore because of the tal rods. He fought because he wanted to reach her and save her.
Though she couldn’t see his face, she knew he was screaming her na.
But then, before the woman could process anything more or call out back to him, a despairing cry filled with anguish and despair fell into her ears.
"MOMMY!!!"
It was a heartbreaking scream, seemingly from an innocent child, that called out to her and shattered her heart.
That title, ’Mommy’ reverberated deep within the woman’s soul and awakened mories that the woman didn’t even know existed before.
Dread filled her face, but fueled by her determination, she turned her head toward the sound.
There she saw her, tied beside her, her own precious daughter writhing in agony, being consud by the sa rciless flas that were consuming her.
A horrified look appeared on the white-haired woman’s face as she looked at the little girl’s small hand reaching out to her, and unknown hot tears of blood stread down her cheeks, swallowed by the flas.
Ironically, the woman’s hand, freed from the rope because of the sa fire that was consuming them, stretched desperately towards her child.
She opened her mouth to call, but sadly, before she could utter even a single word,
Dring! Dring!
The blaring of the alarm clock shattered the nightmare.
"My daughter!!!"
Rachael jolted awake, screaming, her arms stretched forward, her body drenched in sweat, and her heart pounding in her chest.
Ba-dump!
Ba-Dump!
Tears welled in her eyes as she sobbed and slowly cried, clutching her head.
"Uwaaaa—"
But gradually, as she cald down, the room around her slowly materialized in her sight, and the unsettling realization washed over her.
"It was.... a dream?"
She didn’t know whether to feel fortunate or unfortunate about this nightmare.
This nightmare was the most frightening dream she had ever seen in her life.
Those burning flas, those ruthless curses—everything felt so real to Rachael that she could vividly recall every detail of it.
"But why?!"
Rachael yelled.
She couldn’t understand why this was happening to her.
On the online forums she checked, people said that having weird dreams was a common occurrence to people who were in the process of awakening.
Basically, they were the mories of the character one was awakening into.
It was also ntioned that sotis a person could also suffer nightmares if their character had a tragic life.
"But they never said the nightmares would be so horrifying."
These dreams were supposed to be like simple videos.
Consequently, Rachael’s nightmares were also mild in the beginning, but now she couldn’t understand why they were suddenly getting terrifying by the day.
"What kind of character am I getting the traits of?"
She mumbled to herself.
"This story... is really, awfully tragic."
Yet Rachael knew there was nothing she could do about this situation.
No matter the story, she had to accept these traits.
Sigh!
Therefore, she just took a deep sigh and pushed everything to the back of her head. At least she tried to.
Then, as if her mind clicked, she hurriedly looked at the wall clock.
Phew~!
"Thank God, I am not late."
Rachael had almost forgotten about her date with Adrian because of the nightmare.
But now that she rembered it, it also triggered her mories of what happened yesterday, even of Adrian’s abrupt confession.
Recalling that scene, Rachael seed to have finally gotten back to her usual self, as her face flushed and she once again beca nervous.
It was 6:33 AM on the clock, and there was a lot of ti, but she didn’t know how she would face him now.
When he hadn’t shared his feelings, it was alright, but now that he had, she didn’t know what she should do.
One part of her heart was happy and cheering, wanting her to accept it imdiately, but the other had worries of its own.
Slap!
Eventually, Rachael slapped her own cheeks, sandwiched them between her palms, and encouraged herself.
"Get together, Rachael. What’s going to co, will co. For now, let’s get fresh."
Finally, pumped up, she got out of bed and stretched her body.
In fact, this very nightmare haunted her in the novel as well.
In the novel, due to all the events that had unfolded in her life, she had co dangerously close to breaking apart from within.
She fell into depression and self-hatred and was swallowed by all these negative feelings that gnawed at her heart and soul, leading her towards the edge of the abyss and pushing her down.
But now, she simply rushed towards the bathroom, blissfully unaware of how she had avoided her tragic fate because of Adrian.
* * * * *
Ti passed, and the sun rose into the sky.
Since Rachael and Adrian had a date, Daisy and Sharon left early after having their breakfast.
In the house, all those left were the maids, Adrian, Charlotte, and Rachael, who ca to the living room to go out with Adrian.
But the mont Adrian saw her, he couldn’t help but have his eyebrows wrinkle.
It was because Rachael, because of her nightmare, had seemingly forgotten about the dress he bought her yesterday, and she ca wearing plain clothes.
She was wearing jeans and white short sleeves, and although they suited her thanks to her bossom that contrasts with a narrow waist, Adrian couldn’t accept it.
"Why are you wearing this?"
Hearing his words, Rachael ca to her senses and realized her blunder.
"Oops! I... Forgot? Hehe, can’t we go in them? My room is at the back, and it will take ti."
Looking at her as she scratched her head and asked awkwardly, giving la excuses, Adrian could only shake his head.
Instead of answering her, he turned to his Shadow.
"Charlotte, bring it."
Imdiately, Charlotte rushed towards Rachael’s room and brought the dress, which Adrian pushed towards Rachael.
"Remove those clothes. I want to see you wearing this dress, so change into it for our date and use Ms. Sharon’s room."
With that, Adrian directly and domineeringly tucked the dress into Rachael’s breast.
Facing the domineering Adrian, Rachael did not dare to resist. She could only take it obediently.
The little courage she had just gathered deflated like a balloon, and getting into Ms. Sharon’s room, she changed clothes obediently.
When Rachael ca back, she was wearing a long white dress.
Upon her arrival, everyone present in the living room—all the maids, even Charlotte—could only blankly stare at her with their eyes focused.
Rachael was a beauty that was hard to see, worthy of the na of one of the most beautiful girls alive.
Her sight made even Adrian amazed, though on the outside he just smiled and nodded.
Noticing Adrian’s gaze, Rachael fanned her flushed face and asked hesitatingly.
"H...How is it?"
"You look good. It suits you well."
Hearing that sincere complint, the innocent beauty couldn’t help but wiggle her fingers in sha as her mouth opened and a barely audible voice escaped her lips.
"Ah, thank you."
"Then, shall we go?"
This ti, Rachael lifted her head and looked at his outstretched hand.
There was a little hesitation in her heart, but then she finally took a deep breath and embraced his arm.
"Yes."
For Rachael, now it didn’t matter what the future had in store for her, but at least with this date, she wanted to forget that nightmare still lingering in her head.
Not to ntion, she was indeed a little excited about her ti alone with Adrian.
She imagined how he would take her to various places, like an amusent park, and she was a little excited about his plans.
But should we say that reality was often different from what one expects?
It was because the place Adrian took her was completely outside of her expectations. So much so that the mont she got it in, she was left with her mouth open in shock.
"What?! Wh... Why are we... here?"
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