I Raised Snow White!

72. Full Moon Ritual

[Episode 72] – Full Moon Ritual

It was late at night, a little before midnight, when we arrived at the castle after safely finishing the hunting competition. Arriving in the bedroom with Titania, who had fallen asleep exhausted from her first trip, I changed into pajamas and sat down next to Titania’s bed, leaning against her.

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Has it been said that the most beautiful thing in the world is a sleeping child? I smiled for some reason at the sight of Titania, who was sleeping soundly. Sadly, when puberty comes to such a cute childhood…

Considering that she threw herself at Snow White to protect me, I don’t think she hated me that much. I must have done something wrong to Titania, so Titania avoids me. Otherwise, she was a child who couldn’t hate me.

Surely, it must be my fault.

I stroked the sleeping Titania’s face and closed my eyes for a moment.

‘…First, I’ll have to organize it.’

Is the reason why the events of the original works have been twisted so far is the fault of the other ‘Snow White’? I thought deeply, thinking of the ‘different things’ from the original work I had experienced so far.

‘First of all, the case in which Aurora, the first queen, became ‘Ryanan City’.

A case in which a certain ‘witch’ took advantage of Aurora’s obsession, the first queen, and made it into ‘Ryanan City’.

It was undoubtedly the biggest event in which the original work itself was greatly distorted. Because of this incident, the king, who was originally the ‘player role’, died, and I, the ‘stepmother’, took over the role.

Obviously, according to Fran, the investigation into this case was to be entrusted to the Witches’ Coven, ‘Curven’. It is said that the witches started an investigation because the victim included not only Aurora, but also the Little Mermaid…

I haven’t heard anything about the progress of the case since.

I had no way of knowing if the witch had been caught or if she was still turning humans into fairies. I thought it would be fine as long as it didn’t hurt me anymore, so I didn’t care much, but…

‘The second visit is not from the prince, but from Princess Fiona and the delegation.’

It was also an event where I felt that the original work was broken for the second time.

The prince who was originally meant to come did not come, and Princess Fiona suddenly came. Of course, the visiting Princess Fiona was ‘Snow White’ in disguise.

Perhaps he came to talk with Titania. There was an incident where the two of them had a conversation and Titania hid. And even to tell me a strange story.

‘And… The third thing happened at the hunting competition.’

I recognized that everything I had planned had collapsed like a sand castle due to what happened during this hunting competition. Everything, from trying to introduce Titania to her dwarves, to Titania going to her academy, all fell apart.

I didn’t expect from the beginning that everything I planned would fit into place like a cog wheel, but to me it was like a sandcastle that I worked hard to build. However, it was not without shock that the plan completely collapsed as if kicked.

And the person who kicked that sandcastle…

“Another… Princess…”

I let out a deep sigh and tapped, except for the earring in my ear. Then, the surface of the mirror shook and an aincel that looked exactly like my face appeared poking out from the end of the mirror.

“Ainsel, what do you think? Also, don’t you know?”

-I don’t know… I can’t believe that this happened. But… If it’s a hypothesis, I have a few things that come to mind. It’s just a hypothesis, really.

Ainsel, wearing glasses pretending he didn’t know where he got them from, touched my chin and started talking about a ‘hypothesis’ about how Snow White appeared.

-First of all, do you remember? I mean the ‘ritual’ that Vivian did.

If it’s a ritual Vivian did…

Was it a ritual to steal Aurora’s body? Obviously, the execution method was bizarre, so I still remembered it. Obviously, it was a suicide ritual to tie myself to the lake where the full moon was reflected and go there.

“Yeah, I remember.”

-That ritual isn’t originally a ritual used to enter someone else’s body. You can enter someone else’s body through that ritual, but that’s just a side effect.

“…? Then, for what purpose is the ritual originally used?”

-Before I tell you the story… Do you know this story?

The ain cell that was reflected in her earring headed for the ‘main body’ hanging on the wall next to her bed. The appearance of Ainsel, which had grown into her body, seemed like it had been a long time since I had seen it. As she stared at it, she sighed, cleared her throat, and continued her story.

-The story that there is another world inside the mirror.

“…?”

It was a story I vaguely knew.

It was a setting that often appeared in fairy tales and novels. Is it that the person reflected in the mirror is another world, or that there is a world opposite to reality in the mirror? It was a story from a famous fairy tale. Like Alice in Wonderland.

-That’s true. The mirror is also a door to another world. And in the mirror of the mirror, and in the mirror of the mirror, another world exists. There are so many worlds in the mirror that you can’t count.

As I looked at Ainsel in disbelief, the Ainsel puffed out her cheeks and said that it was real and blew her snort. ‘Can I be a mirror fairy for nothing?!’ She exclaimed, and then she went on to talk about ‘consciousness’.

-The ‘ritual’ is a ritual that uses the moon reflected in the lake as a ‘mirror’ to change the world you live in into the one you want. In fact, the world in the mirror overlaps the world in which she lives… Anyway, the ‘world’ that Vivian enters into Aurora’s body also exists in the mirror.

“If there is such a world, why did Vivian fail?”

-As I said before, the premise was different. Vivian wanted to enter ‘Aurora’s empty body without a soul’ through the ceremony, but at that time, the king was in Aurora’s body.

“…Right, it was.”

-The ceremony decided to enter Aurora’s empty body as Vivian wanted, but there was no place for Vivian to enter because of the king’s soul that was already inside Aurora’s body. Because of the wrong premise, the world did not change, and Vivian’s soul died as it had no place to go.

Thinking about it now gives me goosebumps. The image of the king, screaming with his rotting body, was still looking for Aurora. I still frowned at the scene that sometimes appears in my dreams without realizing it.

-Of course, Sylphy and I stopped Vivian because we knew that. Until then, I hadn’t been forced to sign a contract with Aurora. Still, Vivian did not believe our words and performed the ritual. And, for some reason, you entered Vivian’s empty body.

“……I see. That’s how it happened.”

I wasn’t particularly interested in the fact that I entered Vivian’s body. It’s already happened, and it was a body that couldn’t go back anyway. It seemed appropriate to say that I had just given up out of desperation. So I didn’t really want to know why I entered Vivian’s body.

And one of the reasons I didn’t want to hear about this was, wouldn’t I be able to go back to my original body if I used that ritual? It was because I thought.

I didn’t have any particular attachment to my original body. No more loving family. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to meet close friends, but…

I turned my head and looked down at Titania, who was soundly asleep next to me. Titania asleep holding my fingers in her sleep. The sight of it made me smile.

As expected, Titania is more important than life in the past.

-Anyway… What I want to say is, wouldn’t that princess…? Also come here through a ritual? I think it is. I don’t know why he came over as his ‘original body’ instead of a soul… I don’t know if he can cross the world through a mirror with his body in the first place.

“Yeah… That’s why you said hypothetical?”

-Yes, that’s right. It’s just a hypothesis. Perhaps the only one who knows better than this is the ‘Archwitch’ of Kerven. The old woman, or the witch, lived a long time, so she must have known.

Come to think of it, one of the names that always comes up whenever Ainsel talks about Curven is the ‘Great Witch’. I wondered who the ‘great witch’ was, and asked Ainsel, tilting my head.

“Who the hell is that archwitch you always talk about? Can’t we meet her once?”

-If you want, you can meet right away. But, uhm… So… The Archwitch is… What kind of person is… A big-headed grandma? Is she worse than the Queen Mother?

“Aren’t you a bad person?”

-Ummm… Well? Among witches, there are witches who don’t like the archwitch. Once you get involved, the interference is too severe. Imagine that the Queen Mother comes to nag you every time. And there’s no malice in her nagging.

“…You might not like it a bit.”

To be honest, it wasn’t a good feeling to think that the queen mother would follow me and nag me every day. In addition to that, if it was a nagging she didn’t particularly have any ill feelings for, she remembered hearing it so hard that a ticket sat in her ear at the company in her previous life. So, in other words, the Archwitch…

“Are you saying that you are a kkondae?”

-Umm… Anyway, the Archwitch lives in Fairyland. If I open the fairies’ byway, you’ll be able to meet right away… But don’t get involved unless it’s a really important situation. That human’s concept of time is like a fairy and will nag you until you die.

I vowed not to get involved as much as possible, remembering the nagging of my old boss. I wondered how much the story of Snow White would end like that, but-

-And… This is my hypothesis…

Ainsel, who was restless as if contemplating whether to say this or not, eventually let out a sigh and continued her words.

-Perhaps… I think the ‘witch’ who turned Aurora into a fairy is also that princess… I didn’t know because I was so distracted at the time… Didn’t I say that the main body was kidnapped by ‘someone’ at the time? The person who kidnapped me then…

“…Is that the princess?”

-That’s just a hypothesis! It may be my mistake! Ha, but… Maybe…

Ainsel hesitated and couldn’t follow her words. She’s sure, but like she doesn’t want to believe. She shook her head and seemed to be in denial.

I also suspected that Snow White might be that ‘witch’. I can understand why witches can’t catch criminals because they hide in huts.

But…

‘Even if Snow White came from another world as she hypothesizes, Aurora is her real mother. If she really is the culprit, why is she doing this? What’s the idea of turning people into fairies?’

This was a story that could not be understood unless you heard it directly from Snow White.

What was she thinking, what was the reason she was doing such a wrong thing. Anything I thought about was just my delusion.

I let out a deep sigh from some unknown stuffiness and closed my eyes, holding the sleeping Titania in my arms. At some point, she seemed to have entered Titania’s necklace, and Ainsel also took a seat in her necklace and sighed in the same way as I did.

I smiled and brushed the sleeping Titania’s head as if the three of them were lying on the bed together. As if stroking her head tickled her, Titania frowned at her in her sleep.

That figure was lovely too, so I kissed Titania’s wrinkled forehead slightly. Then she hugged me tighter in my arms and felt Titania’s warmth.

Since I was doing this, I felt my stuffy heart sink a little, just a little bit. Contrary to me, Titania seemed frustrated and tried to turn her body…

I hugged her even tighter and didn’t let go of Titania from my arms.

‘For now… Let’s think only of Titania. Let’s think about how this child will grow up in the future. Now…Since Titania has only five years left before she enters her academy. When that time comes, I…’