*plip* *plop* The sound of water dripping down was heard in the cold dark room.
Chained against the wall, a girl with lifeless silver eyes seemed to have given up on life.
'In my previous life, I didn't have to struggle this much…'
In my previous life, I was a poor orphan who struggled to survive. I studied every day, I did a lot of part-time jobs in order to pay my bills and feed myself. And when I finally got a decent job… I died in a car accident. It's a pretty shitty ending if you ask me.
Then as if God saw all of my struggles and efforts. I was Reborn, in another world. Although I was still born as an orphan, it was completely different from my previous life. I didn't have to worry about being starved by the orphanage. No mean adults who would always try to find fault with me. I even got a job much more stable than the one in my previous life. It was the life I had always longed for.
I was happy.
That is… Until the day I was discovered to be a Reincarnated soul. It turned out that there were others who were also Reincarnated into this world. They were treated worse than pigs. People like me were given the title Reincarnator. Reincarnators were branded as abnormal beings who are the sin of humanity. If you were lucky you would be directly sent to the Asylum. But if you were unlucky, you'd become a slave or sent to the magic Tower to be experimented on.
And me? I had the worst luck, since I was the royal family's Arch mage, you can imagine what my treatment would be like.
I was tortured, countless drugs were injected in me, I was starved to death there was not a single day where I didn't feel pain. That the person who caused all of this was none other than my close friend, Arien the fourth Prince of the Ixalon Empire.
The person I trusted the most, betrayed me.
***
The sound of the door opening could be heard. "Well, it seems that they really messed you up." The girl slowly looks up in the direction of the voice. Standing before her was a man gazing at her arrogantly with his dark blue eyes. His platinum blonde shone under the dense Moonlight which pierced through the only window in the room.
"But it seems that not even the Magic Tower, which is famous for it's torture could break you." He sarcastically says, "as expected from someone who was Reincarnated from another world! You really are…" he gets closer to the girl, lifting her chin up, "an abnormal being."
The girl answers with a cold gaze in her eyes, "... you talk too much."
The two guards that came with the young man glowered, "how dare you be disrespectful of his highness the fourth Prince!"
The man raises his hand, gesturing to them to stop. He holds the girl by the cheek with a face full of adoration. "My beautiful Aciel, why do you have to make it so hard for yourself?" He closes in on Aciel, his face an inch away from her ear. "If only you had agreed to help me ascend the throne when I asked. Maybe you wouldn't have to be executed tomorrow."
The moment she heard that last sentence, her eyes opened wide. The eyes which were empty were replaced with shock, and then relief.
'I'm going to be executed tomorrow?'
That's great, what a relief. I can finally, finally be put out of my misery.
"Prince Arien."
"What is It?"
'Did she come to realise how dire her situation is and want to beg for forgiveness?' He thought gleefully.
"You'll never be able to succeed the throne no matter how hard you try."
Prince Arien's expression freezes in place. "...what?"
"Just like how I'm about to die, you'll never be able to succeed your father the Emperor. Much less defeat the other Princes."
"H-how dare you!"
Aciel smiles at the fourth Prince whose face was distorted, "you'll never make it with that personality of yours. So, don't you just give up?"
Prince Arien snaps, "you bi–" as he was about to grab her and teach her a lesson, a voice interrupts them, "Your highness, you've over exceeded your stay. Please leave."
"Tch..!"
He glares at her, "You better count yourself lucky!"
Prince Arien leaves the dark room along with his men, along with the cold sound of the door closing. Aciel was once again accompanied by silence.
'If if I knew this is how my life would end, I would've just lived quietly. Just like I did in my previous life…'
***
The next morning, Aciel was woken up by the sound of the heavy door opening. She slowly lifted up her head, shocked by the person who came in, she exclaimed, "Teacher?!"
A man wearing a dark blue garment walks into the cell. "You do not need to address me as such."
"Ah," Aciel smiles at the man, "is it because I'm about to be executed today, so there is no longer a need to call you teacher?"
"That's–"
"Or is it because the student you were so proud of, turned out to be a Reincarnator everybody despises?"
"Hey..." Aciel takes a breath, "Teacher… no. Inais Fescher, what was I to you? Your student? Or just some poor orphan that you could abandon at will?"
Inais only stared at Aciel, he did say a single word. His silence felt like being stabbed in the heart. How could he be so heartless? At the very least, she was his student! The child who he raised like his own and taught her so many things in this world! How could he be so cruel as to throw her aside after finding out that she is a Reincarnator?! Were those memories nothing to him? Just mere dust?!!
This betrayal was even more unbearable than when Arien betrayed her and sent her to experience this hell. "Hypocrite."
The door suddenly opened, a guard entered the room, "Lord Fescher. We are here to take the criminal to the execution site. Please say whatever you have to say quickly."
"Alright then." Inais glances at Aciel with a complicated look in his eyes. Aciel was his most competent and hard working student. It was a huge loss for both the empire and the Magic Tower to lose such an outstanding Mage. However, as a Reincarnator, There was no way they could allow her to live.
"I'd like to ask you something."
Aciel looked up at her former teacher, and she asked, "What is it?"
"Your previous life, how was it? How did you live your life that made your soul be Reincarnated here?"
Aciel was taken aback by Inais's sudden question. Did he think she lived her love as a criminal? Was it so wrong to be Reborn? Is it a sin to want another chance at life?!! Gritting her teeth, she stares into Inais's eyes unwaveringly. "It was a miserable life. I was struggling to survive every single day. But you know what Teacher? It was much better than what I had to go through in this life when you people threw me away like trash."
Yeah, that life was much better. At least, she was alone from the beginning. She wasn't praised by others, nor was she treated with kindness and love. At least… In that life, she never had to feel the despair of betrayal. It was like God was playing a cruel prank on her. He lifted her all the way up to heaven, let her enjoy all the good things that she could never hope to have. Then ruthlessly threw her down to hell.
Inais looks away, a hint of guilt in his eyes. "May you safely pass on into the afterlife this time, and be ridden of your suffering."
Aciel said nothing. There wasn't much left to say.
The guards unlocked the chains tying her to the wall, and cuffed her with heavy metal cuffs on her wrists and ankles. As she walked past Inais, she spoke so that only he could hear. "I wish… we never met."
Aciel left with the guards leaving Inais alone in the cold dark room.
Aciel looked at her cuffs, 'It's imbued with magic huh?' Were they that afraid of Reincarnators? It was ridiculous. Except for the fact that they had previous lives, they were the same kind. What was there to be afraid of?
With each step she took, she nearing her death. Surprisingly, she wasn't as depressed as she thought she would be. Perhaps the betrayal of the people she loved and trusted was far to great and overshadowed the fear of death
If there was one thing Prince Arien got right, it was that she was indeed abnormal. Any normal person would be overcome with fear. Perhaps she was never 'normal' to begin with.
***
When Aciel was brought outside, she couldn't help but be blinded by the dazzling light she could never see since her imprisonment. It was nice, it felt like she could finally breathe again. As she walked up towards the guillotine, the crowd below watched her with contempt, glee, fear and hatred.
"...." Aciel looked up into the sky she thought, 'to think that I devoted myself to this disgusting empire.'
The Emperor who looked down while sitting on his throne, asked, "Aciel Greyhearte, do you have anything to say before your death?"
Aciel coldly glanced at the Emperor, "Nothing much, just" she raised her voice so that everyone could hear, "I was so blind to devote my life to this repulsive empire."
Everyone was shocked, how dare she say that to the Emperor directly to his face?!
Displeased, the Emperor commands, "so be it. Execute her!"
She didn't regret what she said, this empire was truly disgusting. As the guillotine plunged towards her neck, she made a wish to never be Reborn again.