Chapter 49: Time has passed, and the past will never come back

Here she comes.

“Ahahaha, what a coincidence! How can I run into His Majesty the King here?” Tina’s panic was visible to the naked eye, almost ready to confess her past misdeeds.

“Oh? It’s not a coincidence. I specifically came to find you.” Lia’s smile never faded as she helped Tina pay the bill. “So, Tina, why are you here? Not at work?”

“Um… I was too tired from practicing dance yesterday, so I need to rest today.”

“Alright then, no practice today.”

Unexpectedly, Lia didn’t continue to press the previous topic, which made Tina feel a sudden sense of unease.

“You asked me what I looked like before transforming, right? Why don’t you ask anymore?”

“I see you don’t want to talk about it, so I won’t ask. Or rather, there’s no need because I already know what your original self looks like. Right now, I’m just playing along with you.”

“Could it be… you actually want to tell me? I wouldn’t mind.” Lia didn’t need to guess; she knew Tina wouldn’t answer honestly—Tina had been avoiding her all along.

Though Lia didn’t understand why, Tina had been avoiding her for six whole years, refusing even to return to Kellyville to see her.

Lia wanted to bind Tina right now and force her to explain why she had waited so long, why she had been searching so desperately.

Is this Tina before her—the one without any complicated thoughts?

Or was this all just a long con, a scam that lasted six years, stealing her heart and then abandoning her without a backward glance?

“If I said I’m the original self now, would you believe me?”

“Hmm~”

Lia’s soft, noncommittal reply showed she had already anticipated this act.

More than whether Tina was the original or not, what Lia cared about was—

“I said before, I would leave after the auction, right?”

“That’s right, what about it?”

Tina was somewhat uneasy. Could it be that Lia intended to stay here for a while?

“Don’t be so nervous.” Lia patted Tina’s shoulder. “Are you worried I’ll cling to this place and refuse to leave?”

“No no no, it’s not like that…” Tina shook her head like a rattle, trying hard to prove she had no such intentions.

“There’s no need to lie to me.”

With a simple sentence, Lia pierced through Tina’s defenses.

Lia—did she already know her true identity? Tina couldn’t help but feel afraid.

“Why do you have that expression? What on earth… what huge lie did you tell me that made you go to such lengths to avoid me?”

Lia almost bluntly confronted her.

But Tina still chose to play dumb. “Haha, we never met before, right? So how could I have been avoiding you?”

After she spoke, she heard Lia let out a heavy sigh.

“You’re right. Maybe we never really met.”

It was the first time Tina saw Lia so sad, her entire being enveloped in a somber aura, like a shell that had been dead for days.

“But that’s okay. If we never met before, we can make up for it in the future.”

Suddenly, Lia became excited again. She leaned in, grabbed Tina’s hand, and said:

“Like I said, I’ll make you willing to follow me. But if you don’t…”

Lia paused, not finishing the sentence.

If she didn’t follow, Lia would be heartbroken.

She cared so much about Tina that she had come to the room just to tell her she knew she was at the tea party.

She even used some unknown magic to save Tina’s life, preventing her from being poisoned.

Yet Tina still acted as if nothing happened, avoiding any connection with her.

This Tina still had the kind heart she had before, but—

Why had she become so dishonest? Why was she unwilling to go home?

It seemed that having a new body with legs reminded her of the wonderful freedom of walking.

With legs, she kept thinking about the outside world, enjoying hanging out all day, abandoning her responsibilities.

Even the promises made in the past, the marriage vows, had all been forgotten.

I waited a long time.

I won’t wait any longer.

If you still refuse to come with me after two days, then I’ll have to make you return to the old self—the one confined to a wheelchair.

That way, you will never leave me.

You will always stay by my side, giving me everything—your love.

Ah, the love of a Witch!

“Uh, you seem to be thinking about something really dangerous, haha.”

The happier Lia smiled, the more frightened Tina became.

Although Lia’s face was beautiful, that kind of smile was not heartwarming but purely chilling and terrifying.

“Hey hey, you’re going to come back with me, right?”

Her mood had brightened considerably, even her question carried a tone of joy.

Because she had already figured out what would come next.

No matter what choice was made, it would lead to the same ending.

The difference was only whether the process was more complicated or more straightforward.

“I’ll… see how things go.”

Tina dared not speak rashly. She was afraid Lia would immediately tie her up in a dark room and do unspeakable things day and night until she completely broke mentally.

That would be the most hopeless way to die.

“Hehe, that’s good. I really like this kind of Tina. If you refused outright, I’d be heartbroken~”

Lia browsed around the shop and then bought several Magic Potions. “I never expected Valencia’s Magic Potions to be more advanced than ours. Each bottle has rare effects you hardly see normally.”

Tina saw Lia holding one bottle of Pink Potion, bubbling like soda, its effect unknown.

Another was a completely black Magic Potion, looking undrinkable, but she bought it too.

“Your Majesty, is there a special reason for buying these?” Tina asked, trying to play along.

“Hm? No, just collecting them. Probably won’t need to use them.”

“Oh, just for collection.”

Tina twitched at the corner of her mouth. If someone didn’t know better, they’d think the Pink Potion was for enhancement, and the Black Potion was a nuclear deterrent.

“Finished shopping. It’s about time; let’s go back now~” Lia squinted, her smile growing wider.

“Go back… where?”

“Hmm? At this hour, of course back to my room. Where else would you want to go?”

“But you said no dance practice today?” Tina was puzzled.

“Right, but does no practice mean you can’t come? We can still do other things, like…”

“Like?” She had a bad feeling.

Lia propped her chin on her hand, thinking a moment. “How about tonight, Miss Tina tells me a bedtime story? I haven’t heard one in a long time.”

“Ah, just a bedtime story? That’s easy.”

Exactly, start with bedtime stories to gradually get familiar again, and step by step return to the life we had before.

That was Lia’s plan.