“The witch has bewitched the Hero!”
“Burn the wicked witch at the stake!”
Deafening shouts tore through the dark night, sharp enough to bleed into my ears. Countless torches illuminated the sky, casting a savage, bulging glare across the faces of the angry mob. Their greedy eyes locked onto a single destination: the execution pyre.
Towering stacks of firewood. Raging, hungry flames.
…And right at the center, my sister.
Her beautiful violet hair, once shimmering like an iris in full bloom, was scorched and blackened. Her face, once a delicate masterpiece, was ruined by soot and burns.
Tears spilled over my eyelids.
“Kyang!!”
(No! My sister isn’t wicked!)
I wanted to run to her. I had to pull her out of that burning hell.
“Kyang, kyang!”
I bit down on the iron bars with all my might, scratching frantically, but the cage holding me captive refused to budge a single millimeter.
“Will you shut up, you damn cat?!”
Suddenly, my world tilted as a man hoisted the cage into the air, shaking it violently while barking curses at me.
“Myaak!”
My small body bounced off the cold metal bars, sending sharp waves of pain rippling through my bones as if they were snapping.
“Hey, isn’t this fascinating?” a man sneered, pressing his grotesque face right up against the bars. “To think she walked right into a trap with her own two feet, all just to save this tiny, pathetic cat.”
Another human chimed in with a dry laugh. “No kidding. They say witches look after their familiars like they’re their own children… Real pathetic.”
“Choosing death over a useless beast? Witches really are stupid, aren’t they?”
The men burst into crude laughter. I curled my small body into a tight ball, their words driving daggers straight into my heart.
It’s all my fault.
Days ago, a hostile crowd had surrounded our home with torches and blades, their eyes gleaming with pure malice. My sister had tried to flee with me, but I had been foolish enough to wander into a trap.
“If you want this brat to live, come over here right now!”
“…Alright, just don’t touch Maybel.”
In the end, my sister surrendered herself. If only I had been faster. If only I possessed the strength to protect her instead of dragging her down. She could have left me behind to save herself, but she didn’t. She climbed onto the pyre willingly—just to protect me.
“If it weren’t for this witch, our Hero would still be alive!” someone sobbed in the crowd.
I forced my heavy head up. A figure draped in pure white priestly robes was making her way forward.
“Ah, the Saintess!”
“The Saintess has arrived!”
The crowd surged forward, desperate just to brush against the hem of her white dress.
I’m scared.
They looked like madmen. A sudden gust of hot wind swept past, whipping the woman’s long brown hair into a frenzy. She turned toward the roaring red flames, her amber eyes flashing with fierce resolve.
“Our Holy Temple will never forgive this shameless witch!”
“Waaaaah!!!”
“Avenge the Hero!”
“Death to the witch!”
The roar of the crowd echoed endlessly, hot tears blurring my vision.
No. It’s all a lie. Vengeance? They were so close.
Adrian. He was the guy who always casually hung around my sister. I knew he was the Grand Temple’s officially recognized Hero—righteous, fair, and beloved by all. To me, he was just kind Adrian. My sister would put on an indifferent front, but she always listened closely to his silly jokes. If he were here right now, he would tell everyone the Saintess was lying!
I bit the iron bars desperately once more.
But the fire wouldn’t wait. It devoured the wood greedily, growing higher and bolder until my sister’s face was almost completely obscured.
And then, through the blazing inferno, my sister looked straight at me.
— My beloved Maybel.
She spoke to me with her eyes, even as she burned, even as agony racked her body. Even though she must have wanted to collapse.
— May, I’m okay. So…
Beyond the flickering wall of fire, my sister offered a faint, gentle smile.
— Our May… must be happy, no matter what. Promise me?
With that final, heartbreaking smile, the fire surged upward and swallowed her whole.
“Myaaah!!”
I’ll listen to you from now on! I won’t be a picky eater, I won’t nag for treats, I won’t be lazy when you ask me to run errands, and I’ll study hard! I’ll become a proper familiar who actually helps you. So please…
Hot tears streamed down my face.
Please give my sister back.
“……May.”
“……”
“May!”
My eyelids snapped open. I gasped for air as if I had just been dragged up from the deep ocean floor.
“Gasp, gasp, haah.”
As my lungs burned, my blurry vision slowly sharpened.
Where am I…?
The room around me was entirely familiar. A walnut table and chair, a chest of drawers, a bookshelf, white linen curtains swaying in a gentle breeze, and a soft rug spread across the floor.
“Myaa?”
I blinked blankly. Isn’t this our house?
My trembling gaze drifted to a desk calendar sitting nearby.
“The cat drawn on this calendar looks just like you, May. Doesn’t it?”
It was the calendar my sister had picked out herself, featuring a snow-white cat.
The date printed on the page read: March 5, 1827.
The day my sister was consumed by flames was February 21, 1837—roughly ten years in the future.
“Kyang?”
Why was a calendar from ten years ago sitting right here? I tilted my head in total confusion.
Right at that moment—
“May, what on earth is wrong?”
A gentle hand stroked my forehead. I reflexively turned toward the touch and froze completely.
“…Nyaa?”
Sister?
A shaky groan slipped past my lips.
Long, cascading violet hair. Red eyes shining like rubies. A proud, elegant expression.
The very same sister who had been burned to ashes right before my eyes was looking down at me with a worried expression—completely unharmed, without a single hair out of place.