2 - One Year Earlier

Dynah returned to her room and locked the door tightly.

The room she hadn’t seen in a while was still cramped and full of mould. It looked like sit was about to collapse, as it was one of the oldest rooms in the temple.

Still, this was the only resting place given to Dynah. The only thing Dynah had while repeating her countless lives was this room.

“…”

Dynah stopped looking around the room and walked over to her desk. The one and only drawer contained a diary that Dynah wrote in every day.

Dynah’s small hand carefully flipped through the diary. The page, which was turning quickly, soon stopped where the last entry was written.

Radoanian calendar, August 4th, year 381.

“Year 381?” Dynah’s eyes, which had not panicked even when she saw Lavienne, trembled for the first time.

The date in her diary was different from her expectations. The regression that Dynah had been through until now was the same.

The year 382, April. When Dynah was thirteen, it was always the same year and the same month.

She had no time to escape from the temple, as she regressed to the time when she was on the brink of death.

But this time, it was a year earlier. The things that had been repeated countless times were different only this time. 

‘Is something different?’

Dynah grabbed her diary tightly. Her expression didn’t change, but Dynah’s lips trembled slightly. Perhaps this was her last regression, and a little hope began to bloom.

But Dynah shook her head. She had expected countless times and had to despair as much as she had expected. She didn’t want to feel that feeling again.

‘Don’t expect anything, fool.’

It was better not to expect it in the first place. Dynah tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling. Without the lamp, the dark ceiling looked just like her, and she was saddened.

If she cried profusely, she would feel better, but at some point, the tears didn’t come out. She cried so much that she seemed to have dried up.

“What did I do so wrong?”

Dynah sighed. She was still a twelve-year-old girl as far as appearances were concerned.

But her voice was too dark and gloomy to come from a child. Dynah, who had been staring blankly at the ceiling for a while, clenched her fists as if she had made up her mind. Then she walked out of her room with a stiff expression.

Dynah headed to the temple dedicated to the Goddess.

At that moment, the temple was empty. The priests who guarded the entrance thoroughly were also absent for some reason. A temple was a place where only authorised individuals could enter and exit. It was a place that she couldn’t with her current status, a junior-level candidate.

In the past, for fear of punishment by the gods, the taboos of the temple to which were strictly adhered. But she was no longer afraid of the taboos of the temple.

It was a god who did not respond to anything if it was a god, even to her, who was a saint anyway.

Dynah, expressionless, quickly approached the statue of the Goddess. When she reached a position where the figure of the Goddess was clearly visible, she looked up at the statue quietly.

The statue of a Goddess stood tall as if she was proud of her lofty figure. She stared at the statue with empty eyes, unable to feel alive. The long-forgotten emotions became an awl, piercing her chest painfully.

“I just liked being here….”

Dynah, an orphan, entered the temple when she was five years old. Until then, she made a living by begging, amongst others. It was normal for her to starve and be beaten.

Then she happened to be noticed by the priest. Recognising that Dynah possessed divine powers, the priest bought her at her low price and brought her to the temple.

The people of the temple were not kind to Dynah, but she was grateful that she had a place to be. She enjoyed every day.

However, she lost all of this because of the power of the saint, which she obtained by chance. 

‘Why was I born?’

No one loved her. She was betrayed by everyone to whom she gave her heart.

Lavienne, whom she cherished, the priestess and priests whom she admired, and even Khalid, whom she loved.

After repeating her numerous regressions, Dynah realised that she was a cursed being, something that shouldn’t exist in the world.

If she had to live like this, she would be better off not being born into this world.

“I want to put an end to this.” 

She didn’t want to live with being taken advantage of anymore, even if it was her destiny to live for Lavienne.

However, the situation was not very hopeful for Dynah. She had made numerous attempts to kill herself, but all have been unsuccessful.

If she tried to self-harm after regressing, she was healed right away and could not die. No, rather than a cure, it seemed that her body had changed, incapable of killing itself. Self-harm only worked when she was imprisoned and tied to holy power tools that deflected holy power.

She hadn’t even tried to die at the hands of others, rather than self-harm.

This was due to the period of return always being when outsiders were blocked, and killing people inside the temple was forbidden.

‘I wouldn’t be able to leave the temple, even if I had a year to spare.’

Dynah’s origin was the problem.

The orphans were forbidden to leave the temple before reaching the age of adulthood. It was in the name of protecting the property of the temple.

“Wait a minute.”

Dynah thought for a while and then raised her head. The dark expression on her face became a little brighter.

“The celebration will be held soon!”