“Ten minutes,” A woman with light blue-haired muttered, fixing herself into a loose dress as she made her way to the balcony of her inn room. Her steps were light and delicate, almost soundless as she opened the doors, fingers grazing the railing as she gazed down at the silent streets in the dead of night, only a few people remained.
“The city at night is quite beautiful, isn’t in my lady?” A man joined her from behind, fixing on a shirt to join her, brightly smiling down at her as the button on his shirt were struggling to stay on and keep his toned body hidden. She couldn’t help but admire the view for a moment.
He was tall and tan with dark violet hair, his body wasn’t obnoxiously muscular, but was still quite toned, she made sure to feel every bit of that beneath her fingertips moments prior. Despite his red coloured eye and the eyepatch he wore covering his right eye, he still looked friendly and attractive, there was no doubt about that. How unfortunate that such a lovely person would be witnessing her death.
“Indeed it’s beautiful, such a shame however,” She mumbled an empty reply, fingers grasping at the railing, climbing on top as she turned around to stare down at him, her gaze essentially void of emotion but a smile adorning her lips. “You should look away while you can.” With that, she jumped backwards, the room on the fourth floor of the inn, shutting her golden eyes as she was content.
Her twenty fifth life was a fun one, she decided to travel to a new part of the world rather than deal with being a priestess, and for the first time she had a one night stand with someone, a surprisingly pleasant feeling. In her next life, she’d likely visit the neighboring nation, human culture were quite interesting, differing so much despite being so close to one another.
As she internally counted, five minutes until her nineteenth birthday would end, she would have to die within those next minutes. Without fail, anytime on her nineteenth birthday she would always die, a loop of death on repeat that won’t stop, dying from being stabbed, starved, betrayed, to simply falling on her face or choking, she would never escape death.
“My lady, are you insane?” The stranger shouts, her eyes opening as she was halfway through falling, wind keeping her up and lifting her back onto the balcony, pushing her into the room as he shut the door behind him, crossing his arms staring down at her, bewildered. “Are you trying to kill yourself?” He asked, though it was more of a rhetorical question as she felt herself placed onto the bed, the wind dissipating as he looked at her with disapproval, rambling slightly about how dangerous that were.
Four minutes. He came closer to her, inspecting her closely for any bruising, asking her if she felt any pain, before letting out a sigh of relief upon finding out she was unharmed. He still looked at her in disapproval, not sure what to do. “Why did you do that?” He huffed at her.
Three minutes. “I told you to look away,” She replied, attempting to stand up again and jump down once more, this was for his own good. Better for her to end her life than have the cycle of death take her in front of his eyes as he watched helplessly to whatever may happen, probably a heart attack, if she were to assume. “Please refrain from stopping me.”
Her feet were lifted off the floor, wind pushing her back to sit down against the edge of the bed again as he stood in front of the balcony door, absolutely refusing to let her pass. “You’re not going anywhere, are you not sane of mind, or are you making a bad attempt to avoid responsibility for your actions?” He asked her as that last part confused her, but she did not appreciate being stopped. Maybe her death may be from being killed by magic, she thought.
Magic users were rare, they’re almost unheard of in terms of humans, yet she was fairly sure he was a human. Despite being good looking, he was probably a mistake to of had a one night stand with, but it won’t matter in a minute. “My lady, are you listening to me?” He continued his worried rambling as she internally counted down the minute to the second, 12:01.
His words became even more distant as she wondered if she somehow messed up the time, impossible. She knew that it was midnight, and she just passed her nineteenth birthday alive. She didn’t know what was happening as the wind died down, the man approaching her and bending down, tilting her head up. “I don’t know if there’s something wrong with you, or if you’ve just come to the realization that you’re responsible for your actions, but after all this time there’s no way I’m letting you die when you’re just in my grasp.” He sighs as she zoned back in, not quite hearing what he said.
She’s alive, despite twenty four previous deaths, she lives now. Although not the worst timeline, certainly not the best. There was a stranger hovering over her concerned for her mental state, she had just slept with him, and her cycle of death broke, perhaps he was right in being concerned about her mental stability. Why did the loop break now, of all times? The panic sunk in. She wasn’t a fool, if the loop were to break that alters everything, her actions not only now had consequences, but that could mean she is on her final life at the moment, she really could be dead for real if she tried to die now, she wasn’t willing to test it.
It hit her. She wasn’t willing to test it, but why was that? Despite her nonchalant view of resetting her life, she never once wanted to die, she knew she wouldn’t die for real before and never treated it like she would, but now at the risk of actual death, she had come to the realization in her twenty fifth life that she still wanted to live, and her resetting chances may be over.
“Sorry, could you repeat yourself?” She asked the man, unsure whether her death loop was delayed, or whether it had stopped. Either way, she had no choice but to deal with the situation at hand first. She wasn’t too sure if she could manage to sweet talk her way out of this one, she had never been a smooth talker before, preferring to be direct.
With a sigh, she watched the man lean back up, crossing his arms before smiling at her. “Seems you’re finally listening, and you’re not looking as rough as you did a moment ago, I was really worried for a second. Are you alright, my lady?” He asked.
“I’m fine, I just.. slipped.” She said, not even believing what she said, but looking him dead in the eye as he stared down at her, mouth slightly agape clearly not buying a bit of what she had said. “My lady is aware she told me to look away? And that she climbed over the railing and then turned around, not just accidentally slipping? And proceeded to try and do the same two minutes later?” He reminded her, as she continued staring up at him with a straight face.
“I slipped. And you imagined the second part. I’m completely of sane mind, now please continue what you were saying before.” He wanted to argue, but he had to give her a bit of credit, she was seriously committed to lying to his face so brazenly. He would of laughed if the scenario was slightly different, but for now he would drop it, she didn’t seem like she was trying to get him to lower his guard to let her jump again, and he trusted his own magic capabilities and reaction speed.
Worse came to worse he would simply have to take her to a doctor himself to get evaluated. “As I was saying earlier, you are responsible for your actions so please don’t try to avoid it,” He reiterated to her as her face finally slipped out a bit of emotion, confusion. Sensing this, he realized that she truly did not know what he meant. “My lady, please take responsibility for being my first time and marry me.”
Her mental cheering stopped, relieved he dropped the topic into one of absolute dread. “Absolutely not.” She replied without even thinking, rejecting him almost immediately. There’s no way that this man genuinely believed she would marry him, a stranger, just because they slept together once? Though he had such a lovely face and friendly demeanor, there was no way he were actually that innocent, surely?
“That was so quick it was nearly hurtful, but please reconsider. After all, think of the benefits that would come with it, my lady. Wouldn’t protection of a magic user be helpful, considering you’re a runaway priestess of the sea?” He smiled, her instinct was absolutely right that he weren’t innocent, scowl appearing onto her face as her fingers balled into fists, clutching the sheets.
“I have no idea as to what you are talking about,” She said, attempting to smile despite her clear weariness of him. “You have a wild imagination.” How much did he know about her, if he knew that she was a sea priestess? Her kingdom were an incredibly small empire of merfolk, located on an island in the middle of the sea far away from human civilization, and this continent. There should be almost no way for him to know of her people, let alone the fact that she was a sea priestess, this man was dangerous to be around.
“Imagination? Then I suppose the fact you’re being sought after is also my imagination, huh? Sorry.” He smiled cheerfully, clearly knowing what he was doing. She would of had to deal with the consequences if she the loop reset, of course she wouldn’t think this far ahead. There was absolutely zero chance she would return to that place, nor was she a priestess. If she were, then perhaps her god wouldn’t of caused her to loop and die for her people repeatedly.
With a sigh. “How much do you know?” She glared at the man. He was certainly dangerous, but as far as she were aware, he wasn’t on their side, but he still wasn’t exactly on her side, either. Just what would he want, knowing her identity and wanting to marry her?
“Evangeline Calyska, the priestess of the sea people, who is currently missing and being sought after. However, it seems like you’d purposefully ran away rather than were kidnapped and have no intent on returning, though I do not know the reason, nor will pry. What I do know is that you’re being sought after by multiple parties, not just from the people of the sea, and your safest option would be marrying me, a magic user.” He smiled hands in the air.
“I wouldn’t call myself a bad person, and I will not force your hand. However, I could easily provide you a change of identity, a title of nobility, wealth, and all that you could ask for as your husband. Being the duchess of the Faust duchy would make it hard for anyone except this empire’s royal family, and five families touch you.” He finished, getting down on his knee and kissing the back of her hand.
There weren’t many options as she knew exactly what he meant by other parties, so very, very, well. It also just registered with her what he said and who he was. She traveled to the country for fun, knowing next to nothing on the culture, economy, and history, the same would go for most other countries, even if she did she wouldn’t manage to survive alone, and being hunted and taken hostage by that man would be a fate worst than all her deaths combined.
“I’ll marry you, but only under certain conditions,” She replied, he was still suspicious and served himself on a gold platter for her, but if he was so insistent she would use him for her benefits. “First is to explain just who you are and how do you know so much?”
