This Time, I'll Find My Own Happiness [HIATUS]

Chapter 23

𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝕿𝖎𝖙𝖑𝖊: 𝖂𝖎𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝕸𝖊 𝖇𝖞 𝕳𝖆𝖑𝖘𝖊𝖞

***

I felt my lungs burning. I can't breathe for a moment. Then I heard my gasps, felt my hands grip and tasted my salt tears.

That's when I thought I died again.

But it seemed impossible this time.

"So you're finally... awake," a deep, unfamiliar tone of voice greeted me as I looked around. I could see I was in my room in our family's manor.

I saw myself breathing hard and sweating like I'd been chased. My hair's a mess, but my dress isn't.

I remembered that I and the old masked man were in the forest.

But right now, he was here.

He had been sipping on his tea with crossed legs. He looked at me after saying that I was finally awake. But I'm terrified. No, perhaps not. I'm rather confused.

Why is he here?

Wait, did I miss something? I certainly missed what happened, thinking that my second life would end in a stranger's arm rather than in an execution arena. But I woke up.

To be exact, I woke up in my room like nothing had happened.

"Are you still in shock at what happened?" The old man asked again.

This time, he came near my bed. He sat on the edge. I felt like I wanted to speak, but I couldn't. I'm still confused.

"I see," he said with a sigh. Then he snapped his fingers.

Sparks flew above us. I saw the mirror, and it reflected the yellow mists. I'm not dreaming, am I?

"If you think you're dreaming, no, you're not," he said as if he were going into my thoughts.

I began suspecting him of being an old magician, but then, do magicians perform like this as if it were real?

I heard him chuckle. I gazed at him to see that he was looking at me.

"For a second, I will show you the world that this empire didn't teach its citizens," he said with a low, familiar whisper.

Before I began blinking my eyes, the yellow mists went into my sight and brought me to a different place.

The place was like ours, but it only looked a bit older. The people were building their small houses in a village using their magic.

A different scenario came into my view when I blinked. There was a school for children, and the books were floating in front of them. They were doing some arm exercises, but it was a ritual to perform their magic.

I could see different colours when they executed their spells.

When I blinked again,I saw some people wearing expensive clothing, like some nobles of our time. They were executing such magic in building their houses and making their dresses.

I was even transported to a time inside the imperial household. Their knights were divided into four divisions. The first division trained with their magic on water. The second was on fire. The third was on air, and the fourth was on earth.

These scenarios felt like a different place and time. But then the houses, the villages, and the people were quite familiar, especially those nobles' seals and the imperial family's crest.

Everything about those was a century old in our history.

"So now what do you think?" The old man's whisper sent some tingles behind my ears. He gripped my hands. So I turned to look at him when I found he had become young again. But the mask was still on his upper face.