Episode 2
A man standing at the door raised his gruff voice and asked:
“Anna! How many have you washed? Are you done yet?”
Though phrased as a question, it was unmistakably a demand.
“Ugh, how long has it even been? Stop rushing me!”
“I said hurry it up! Even a slug moves faster than you!”
The man shouted in frustration and slammed the trapdoor above with a loud bang.
“That damn bastard. Acting like he’s the one paying me.”
Anna grumbled through clenched teeth as she glared up toward the ceiling with cold eyes.
“Give it to me.”
Lapia calmly held out her hand, looking straight at Anna. Her gesture clearly said she could wash herself if she just had a towel.
Anna bit her lip stubbornly, but eventually threw a towel and a change of clothes into Lapia’s small hands. She seemed flustered now, clearly feeling pressured by the impatient shouting.
The towel looked clean and dry at a glance, but it carried the musty smell of old, overused fabric.
“I’ll behave.”
Lapia said quickly—almost as if she were cutting Anna off before she could bark another order—and turned her back.
The basement where the children were bathed was fairly spacious, with multiple small rooms.
Lapia went into the most secluded one.
Only after carefully closing the door did she let out a deep sigh, finally able to relax a little.
Now, she could be alone—at least for a short while.
Because Anna was about to have a rough time.
If her memory wasn’t wrong, the next child in line to be bathed would flail around and end up spilling the entire tub of water.
Which meant Anna would storm out, grumbling, to draw more water.
Sure enough, from beyond the thin door came the crash of something falling and the high-pitched wailing of a child.
After washing up and changing clothes, Lapia sat down in the darkest, most hidden corner of the room.
‘What in the world is going on?’
Though she had pretended to be calm in front of Anna, her mind was in complete turmoil.
‘Did I… go back in time?’
It sounded absurd, even to herself, but there was no other explanation.
But why back to nine years ago—to when she was ten?
‘I wished for peace so badly…’
Was there really no such thing as a god?
The thought of having to live that hellish life all over again was terrifying.
But she quickly shook her head.
“No. I won’t think like that. Maybe… I’ve been given another chance.”
It was still just after she had first been brought here.
If she looked at it from another angle, perhaps it meant she could start everything over.
Taking a breath, she began recalling everything she knew.
Lapia Grenier.
She was the sole survivor to inherit the name of the Grenier bloodline.
The Greniers were a family of Word Magic users, but even among the direct line, only a rare few possessed actual power.
She was the first in 30 years to be born with the power—and for that, she had been given the name “Lapia” of the family.
The Grenier family had, throughout history, been repeatedly exploited by those in power.
After enduring countless tragedies, the elders of the clan decided to go into hiding to protect what little bloodline remained.
So, about a hundred years ago, they took refuge in the treacherous Magente Canyon—the tallest and harshest cliffs on the continent.
But peace didn’t last.
A massive fire broke out in the forest where the clan lived. The flames spread unnaturally fast—this was no accident.
Yet not a single Grenier attempted to flee the forest.
It was as if they had known this would happen.
The clan gathered deep in a cave to escape the fire, but even there, smoke began to seep in.
Everyone’s eyes and noses burned, tears streaming—but no one begged for fresh air.
Except for one.
Only Lapia, the youngest of the clan, cried out, unable to understand why they had to suffer like this.
“Mother, it hurts… cough… it hurts so much.”
Her innocent cry made the hearts of the elders waver.
“Elder… shouldn’t we at least save this child?”
“She is one of us. Regardless of our fate, Lapia’s life is in the hands of the gods.”
After a long silence, the elder made his decision.
“Bring Lapia here.”
Her mother held her close as they made their way to the very back of the cave.
What looked like a solid wall had a small hole near waist-height—just large enough for a child like Lapia to crawl through.
The elder lifted her up to the hole.
“Go. Quickly.”
Her mother smiled faintly through her tears as Lapia looked back again and again.
“Run, my darling. Someday, your power will awaken—live quietly and hide it. And Lapia, never forget your name. Understand?”
Swallowing sobs, her mother gently pushed her forward.
Lapia crawled through, dirt wedging under her fingernails, until she finally emerged from the other side of the cave.
As soon as she took in a deep breath of fresh air—
Shadows fell across her face.
“I waited just in case, but didn’t think she’d actually come out this way. You idiots! What are you standing around for?! Grab her!”
Contrary to the clan’s hope, Lapia was caught far too easily.
The rough men who grabbed her clicked their tongues as they looked back at the burning forest.
“Boss, should we go in and drag the rest of them out?”
“You idiot. We’ll all die if we do that. It’s a shame, but we’ll just take the girl.”
“What can we do with a kid this small?”
“That’s none of our business. We just need to drop her off where he said. Our job ends there.”
And that’s how Lapia was taken away—leaving behind her mother, aunts, uncles, the elder, and even the sweet old woman next door… all trapped in the burning forest.
‘It must’ve been bandits who started the fire.’
She’d heard it before she died the first time: that the rise of bandit groups had become a serious concern for the Kofen Empire.
‘If I had returned to a time before this…’
She could have fled with the clan—before the fire.
But the past was already written. And now, she had been handed over to an orphanage.
‘It’s tomorrow, right?’
She repeated the words Anna had told her and pulled her knees in tighter.
‘Will it all happen again?’
Just the thought made her chest tighten. She clenched her teeth.
‘No. I refuse to live like that again.’
The life she had lived once was painful enough that just remembering it was unbearable.
‘I won’t live in hell anymore.’
She clenched her small fists tightly.
‘I’ll change it.’
Her life. Her fate.
There wasn’t much time.
‘I shouldn’t be sitting around like this.’
Tomorrow, that person would come to take her away.
‘I have to escape. Before they get here.’
Nervously biting her thumbnail, Lapia continued thinking.
This orphanage was strange.
Rather than truly taking care of children, it seemed more like a temporary holding place before they were sent elsewhere.
‘They claimed it was to help kids become independent…’
But in truth, the place made money by arranging jobs for the children and collecting sponsorship fees.
Because of this, the orphanage kept strict watch over the kids.
No one came here by choice. Everyone wanted to leave. So the headmistress made sure it was heavily guarded inside and out.
‘I can’t escape recklessly right now.’
Lapia had only been here for three or four days.
And even then, she wasn’t allowed to wander freely—she’d been kept locked up.
She didn’t even know what floor she was on.
Even if she somehow escaped this basement, there was a high chance she’d be caught again.
‘And then they’d watch me even more closely.’
Lapia had no desire to ruin her only chance.
She pressed her lips against her knees and curled up.
As she racked her brain for a solution—something clicked in her mind.
She clenched her jaw.
‘Just once… I have one chance.’
One chance to escape the filth of that doomed life.
One chance to flee from the fate that had been forced upon her.
Summary
