I'm certain you just called my name. It's not a mistake. Dodolea knows who I am.
‘How did she know? She can't see my face.’
At that moment, the countess who had run over grabbed me firmly as I stood there in a daze.
"Get out!"
When I came to my senses, most of the believers had already fled. The meeting was over, and the countess had survived. Our plan had succeeded. There was no reason to linger. Just as I was about to follow the countess out, I heard a chuckle from behind.
‘Chuckling.’
A familiar laugh, the very same one I had heard in the carriage. I stopped in my tracks and turned my head to see Dodolea standing in place, laughing.
"Are you curious about how this happened? Why you heard the hallucinations. What the face that was burning was. And that's not all. You must have had something come to mind on the way here. For example, that this place used to be the site of an old, rundown cottage. You must have many questions, right?"
"……!"
What did I see and what hallucinations did I hear? How does she know?
My ankles felt heavy as if shackles were attached to them.
"Curious?"
"……What are you? Who are you?"
As if she had been waiting for me to ask this question all along, a smile spread across Dodolea's face.
"Are you only asking now?"
Dodolea hugged herself with a look of ecstasy. She slowly walked down from the altar. Now, there were no believers left. The countess, hesitating whether to leave me behind, and my stepmother, following Dodolea emotionlessly, and Reina, who looked at us two anxiously, were the only ones left.
"I live an eternal life."
‘The witch who cast the curse lives eternally...’
"I know about the misfortune that has taken root in the Laphireon family."
‘Someone must have cast the curse initially.’
"The one those people were serving just now."
‘They said it was actually a god, not a witch.’
My hands trembled. No, my whole body was shaking. Dodolea, who had stopped walking, smiled with the wrinkles of someone who had lived for eons.
"Yes, I am that 'witch.'"
"……!"
A chill ran through my body from my toes to my head.
"Didn't it take you too long to figure it out? I gave you hints every time."
"……That's impossible."
"Phineas Laphireon. The one who studied the misfortune that befell the family, didn't he know a lot about witches? Of course. I wrote down things about witches and placed them in conspicuous places. If not, the research on witches wouldn't have even started."
That's why what Phineas had told me before and what the countess had said were the same. Dodolea shrugged as if it was nothing.
"Ter…"
Dodolea, who was about to call Terdeo, stopped and laughed bitterly. Then, she continued as if it was no big deal.
"Prince Laphireon. Why did he have a dream about you crying after taking the pill? I told you that, didn't I? It's a kind of spell that makes you remember your past life. If you had looked a little, you would have found the answer."
"What…? Past life?"
"I also asked if you remembered me and told you that moving in this princess's body was uncomfortable and that the taste didn't suit me. Yes, this is not my body."
Dodolea smiled widely like a playful child.
"If you had thought a little more carefully, you would have found the answer long ago. Or, if you had just asked who I was, you would have known long ago. But you didn't even think about it, you fool."
Dodolea clicked her tongue. Dodolea, the witch? That means she's the one who cursed the Laphireon family? ...No, that doesn't make any sense. Ignoring the intensifying flames, I stood and looked at Dodolea.
"Lie. If you really are that witch, why would you tell me these things? What good would it do you? Besides, you're the one who made the Laphireon family miserable. How dare you say you love Theo?"
It's full of contradictions. I looked at the burning temple with a mocking smile.
"Same here. This temple is a cult that worships that witch as a god, right? You must have deified yourself in your obsession with the cult. You must be mistaken, thinking you are that god."
As soon as I finished speaking, the smile on Dodolea's face vanished. Dodolea, with her cold, lifeless eyes, muttered in despair.
"Why did you reveal your true identity? Why did you create the cult? The reason is simple."
For a moment, anger flashed in her colorless eyes. Her face contorted, and Dodolea transformed into something terrifying.
"Because you forgot me!"
Her scream hurt my ears.
"I'm alive here, but no one remembers me. Who I am! What my name is! No one is curious. So, I had to reveal my identity myself."
Dodolea's eyes darted around.
"People are so fickle. They can become a 'witch' that should be shunned because they are different, or a 'god' that should be worshipped because they are different. It's just a matter of a piece of paper. It's as easy as turning a palm."
Dodolea pointed at the burning temple.
"Now that I'm revered as a god, no one will forget me. They will remember my existence clearly. But…"
"……"
"……You ruined it again!"
Dodolea scowled as she watched the space where she existed as a god burning.
"You always interfere with me. Yes, a thousand years ago, too. Ahim was mine! My love! You took him away."
Ahim? Ahim was the name Dodolea had called out when she saw Terdeo. And it was the hallucination I heard like an echo when I came here in the carriage.
"You're pretending not to know. I showed you your past life."
Past life?
"Once was enough, right? You were greedy to have it in this life too! I waited a thousand years for Ahim to reincarnate as the Grand Duke of Laphireon. Only then would he be the Ahim I loved."
The words she spat out in her intense anger were hard to understand. What did I have in my past life? Reincarnated as the Grand Duke of Laphireon? What does all this mean?
"I sealed myself away, blaming myself for killing Ahim. When I learned he had reincarnated, I broke the seal and came out, but as expected, you were by his side, not me."
Sealed herself away? Broke the seal? I had heard this somewhere... Ah, this is the story the countess told me earlier.
‘She used too much power to break the seal and became weak. That's why she needed a "sacrifice" to replenish her divine power...’
The sacrifice was needed by Dodolea. To absorb life force and strengthen her power.
‘Was that god... the witch really Dodolea?’
But before I returned, Dodolea definitely died of a chronic illness. Terdeo was there then, so why did she die? My head was a mess as I couldn't organize my thoughts. No, there's no need to overthink it. There's no need to listen to her story. Whether it