WTBFCY Chapter 11

Regina kept walking even as she cried.

She knew where the estate's basement was, but it wasn't a place she visited often, so the path felt unfamiliar. As she descended the winding basement stairs, feeling along the cold stone walls, she sensed the stuffy air. It was a dusty smell from poor ventilation.

"Hic, sob."

Regina's sniffling echoed through the stone walls. Had they said Father and Mother were in the basement? Regina went down one step at a time with the feeling of grasping at a last hope.

She had all her memories from birth until now. Everything that made up who she was clearly told her she was Regina Evelyn. I know I'm me, so why are they saying I'm not?

"Father, Mother…!"

But in one corner of her heart, anxiety clung stickily and wouldn't let go. What was that strange black monster? And how did I absorb it? Could that man Noah have shown me a hallucination?

Questions bred more questions. Just when she felt her head might burst from the continuing doubts, the stairs ended. Regina, who'd reached the floor, saw faint light leaking from far down the corridor's end. The small sound of people murmuring came from that direction.

"Is everyone there?"

With a glimmer of hope, Regina hurried toward the light. She reached desperately toward the only light in the dim basement.

Click.

The interior was a place she'd never seen before. Had there been such a place in the basement? When she opened the thick iron door, sudden light stabbed her eyes. She squeezed them shut then opened them to see a space larger than expected. The room made of stone had a cold chill circulating through it.

"Oh, everyone's…"

Here, Regina was about to say, but closed her mouth. Everyone was looking down at one spot with gloomy expressions. The rectangular thing clearly looked like a coffin at a glance. A girl lying in the coffin and family members surrounding her.

Overwhelmed by that atmosphere, Regina unconsciously approached.

"We must let her go now. We can't maintain this any longer. You must lay her to rest in a proper place."

The butler persuaded Baron Evelyn with a dark expression. The baron just nodded but couldn't take his eyes off the coffin. Then the baroness burst into tears she'd been holding back and collapsed over the coffin.

"No, no! I can't send her like this—ah! Regina!"

Thump. Her heart seemed to stop. Regina, who'd been moving forward, stopped short at the sound of her name being called and stared blankly at her mother. What did she just say?

"At such a young age, why you of all people! Take me instead! No, I can't send her!"

"Dear, it's already been a week. We can't maintain it any longer, even in the basement. Let's let her go. Regina must be suffering, unable to leave."

Baron Evelyn held his collapsing wife's shoulders and swallowed his tears.

Regina had been found collapsed in the forest a week ago. They'd said her neck was broken and she died instantly. Should they be grateful the pain didn't continue?

The security force said it seemed like the work of bandits. Apparently there'd been a group robbing estates throughout the provinces recently, with reports to the security force never stopping. But this was the first murder case.

Why, why did his daughter have to be the first victim?

The baron covered his eyes with his hand. It was to hide the tears surging up, but since the tears wouldn't stop, it was useless. He finally gave up hiding his face and lowered his hand to grasp his daughter's cold hand.

It was a stiff, cold little hand.

Ah, Regina. You must have been so cold. The baron kept rubbing their hands together, wanting to warm the frozen hand, but that hand never regained its warmth.

"Father…."

Just then, he heard a small voice right beside him. Startled that the voice sounded so much like Regina's, the baron turned his head to see a black-haired girl standing there looking at them. A girl around Regina's age, who looked to be seventeen or eighteen.

"Outsiders can't come in here. Please leave."

The girl's trembling purple eyes opened wide, as if deeply shocked by the baron's words. Despite the baron's words, the girl didn't move and stared blankly at Regina in the coffin.

Pale skin, brown hair, and freckles on the bridge of her nose. Her eyes were closed so he couldn't tell their color, but her appearance matched what the nanny had described as 'Regina.'

It felt like time had stopped.

The baron tried to drive the unfamiliar girl out but strangely felt his resolve weaken and gave up. He'd suddenly remembered the dream he had yesterday. A very happy dream where he rushed to the city searching for his daughter who hadn't returned, and met Regina near the forest path and safely brought her back.

A dream where his daughter recovered and ran to him with a bright smile.

When Baron Evelyn woke from that dream he'd never wanted to leave, he felt his heart would collapse.

"Father, Mother. I love you."

The black-haired girl, who'd seemed like she'd stand there forever, suddenly raised her head and spoke.

The baron and baroness flinched at that voice, stopped crying, and turned to look at the girl. Standing there with a tear-stained face just like theirs, the girl smiled broadly and spoke again.

"She said to tell you she loves you so, so much, thank you for raising her with love. And please don't be too sad—Regina asked me to tell you."

The girl spoke as tears streamed down her face.

"……."

They should have asked questions—when and how their daughter met the girl, who the girl was—but the baron and baroness couldn't say a word. Because it was their daughter's voice. Though the appearance was different, that smile was their daughter's smile.

"…Ah!"

Seeing that smile, Baron and Baroness Evelyn finally felt their foggy minds clear a bit. Memories that had been erased for a week came back hazily, but only their daughter's appearance wasn't clear in any of those scenes.

Had they dreamed because they missed their daughter so much? Or had their precious daughter come to see them one more time because she wanted to?

"Regina…!"

With breaking hearts, the baron and baroness grasped each other's hands and bowed their heads, sobbing.

The black-haired girl watched them and cried bitterly, then at some point turned her back and left that place. Even as they watched her move away, no one stopped the girl.

As if that was how it should be.

When she walked outside the estate, dawn was breaking. Regina raised her head to look up at the clouds spreading with red light. Tears flowed endlessly down past her chin.

A girl who looked exactly like her father's green eyes and mother's brown hair—Regina Evelyn.

Then who was she with black hair and purple eyes? Why did she have Regina Evelyn's memories?

'Return to the forest, black faerie.'

Regina recalled the nanny's voice. The girl slowly moved her steps and walked toward the forest visible before her eyes. If she went there, she might get answers.

"Hey, didn't I tell you not to run away?"

Just then, a voice stopped her. When Regina turned around, Noah stood there wearing a black coat. He was dressed lightly, as if he'd just stepped out for a short walk.

"Is this your doing?"

Was he the cause of everything? Though she didn't finish the question, Noah seemed to understand the meaning and shook his head.

"Still denying reality? You saw it—you're not Regina Evelyn. You're a black faerie who ate her memories. But it's strange. Normally when they eat memories, they change their appearance to match those memories. But you look completely different from the original 'Regina.' Why is that?"

"…What do you mean?"

"Where did you first open your eyes?"

"First?"

"Where you opened your eyes after an accident or some big shock."

At Noah's question, Regina recalled the carriage accident and turned her head to look at the forest. The dark forest densely filled with conifers. When she raised her finger and pointed at the forest, Noah turned his gaze that direction.

"Ah, you were born in the 'Faerie King's Forest.' Is that why? Your appearance must be different from the original because you were influenced by the Faerie King."

"I can't understand what you're saying. Can't you explain in a way I can understand?"

Regina asked with her face marked white where tears had dried. Noah looked at her exhausted face and sighed lightly. He walked toward Regina, who stood there blankly.

"…What I know is that black fairies normally live in forests. Then when they happen to touch a living creature, they absorb that target's memories and appearance to form the same shape. For example, if they touch an insect, they become an insect. If they touch an animal, they become an animal. But when they absorb a human, the story changes."

"How?"

"Remember the monster you saw at the Jenkins estate? They transform like that. And they hunt humans periodically every month. Like I said, if they don't eat humans, they suffer from terrible hunger. Nothing but humans can satisfy that hunger."

"That's…"

Regina tried to deny it, saying she wasn't like the monster she'd seen at the Jenkins estate. But Noah cut off her words and continued explaining.

"You'll become that way soon too. Because you're a black faerie. Seeing that you haven't molted yet, Regina Evelyn must have already been dead when you absorbed her."

Regina opened her mouth then closed it again, not knowing what to say. Noah looked up at the sky and took something like a pocket watch from his coat. Then he held the watch up toward the white moon still faintly remaining.

"When black fairies molt, they can transform like that monster and use powers like illusion freely. Normally to molt, they just need to eat a person."

Click.

When he opened the pocket watch lid, the watch face touched the faint moonlight and glowed weakly. The pocket watch's pale blue light spread across Noah's face.

"I don't remember dying."

"Most don't. When absorbing human memories, they only take the memories right before death. So there are many cases where they live without knowing they're black fairies."

Noah continued speaking while still looking down at the pocket watch.

"The memory of the moment the 'original' dies sometimes suddenly surfaces, or surfaces when they encounter the one who killed the 'original.'"

At those words, Regina thought of the red-haired maid Lily and Hans. Those two people from her last memory—had they killed Regina? How did Regina die, and when and how had she cast an illusion on this estate?

Click.

Noah confirmed that the pocket watch's hands were slowly turning to point at one spot, then closed the lid. Only then did he raise his head and look at Regina.

"Will you come with me? Or should I kill you right here?"

"……."

Only then did Regina realize that his offer to kill her right away was a mercy of sorts. It was offering her a chance to die as a human. But she shook her head. She didn't need that kind of mercy.

"I want to know who killed 'Regina.'"

Regina wanted to recover her memories. If she could remember her last moment, it seemed she could accept that she wasn't 'Regina Evelyn.'

"Fine, then let's go. Well, you'll probably give in to your hunger and eat a human before we even find whoever killed Regina Evelyn."

She wanted to deny Noah's words, saying that wouldn't happen, but Regina kept her mouth shut. Because she was too exhausted.

The sky was gradually brightening. Regina looked back at the Evelyn estate one more time, then moved her steps forward.

It was the beginning of a long journey.