Chapter 217: The Past I Don’t Want to Remember

Sefina watched Kefi, who was emotionally uncontrolled and trembling, and a deep reluctance and pain flickered in her eyes. Without hesitation, she stepped forward, rose slightly on her tiptoes, and extended her arms to tightly embrace the crumbling girl.

“…It’s not true… Teacher Sefina… tell me… it’s not true…”

Kefi’s voice was fractured, carrying the desperate plea of a drowning person.

She still seemed to be trapped in that fragile cage built from warm memories, unwilling to face the cold reality outside.

Kefi began to struggle, pressing her hands against Sefina’s shoulders, pushing hard, repeating broken words:

“Impossible… my mom and little sister… they’re just… just…”

The force of Kefi’s resistance was strong. Sefina was pushed back half a step, her embrace loosening slightly.

But in that brief moment of separation, Sefina’s gaze, as precise as a hawk, landed on the old wand that Kefi always kept at her waist.

That was a relic of the Former Saintess Liana, and likely one of the key mediums maintaining the distortion of Kefi’s memories.

In a flash, Sefina’s left hand shot out like lightning. Before Kefi could react, she had grasped the old wand.

Then, under the stunned gazes of the three young girls, Sefina suddenly exerted force with her right hand—

Crack!

A crisp breaking sound rang out. The old wand snapped in two.

From the broken end of the wand, a long, thin object slid out, and Sefina caught it precisely.

It was a double-headed needle artifact, made of a material neither metal nor wood, gleaming with a dark metallic sheen. One end was a somber black, the other a piercing scarlet.

This was an artifact from the Church Vault.

Kefi’s gaze fell blankly on the broken wand and the strange needle. She seemed stunned for a moment, but then an even more intense emotional flood overwhelmed her.

Kefi suddenly grabbed Sefina’s shoulders again, shaking her violently, and demanded madly:

“Why?! Why did you break my mom’s wand?! Why are you lying to me?! They’re still alive! I was just hugging Kelin! Mom was making a fire over there! Why are you lying to me?!”

Sefina let herself be shaken, her wine-red eyes fixed calmly on Kefi. She didn’t defend herself or push away.

Instead, she slowly raised her own ice-blue wand, the tip aimed at Kefi, who was right in front of her.

Kefi’s movements suddenly froze.

She felt an invisible force instantly envelop her entire body, immobilizing her.

It was Sefina’s [High-level Levitation Spell].

“You… Teacher Sefina…”

A trace of panic and deeper confusion flickered in Kefi’s eyes.

Sefina stepped forward, gently raised her left hand, and touched Kefi’s cold, tear-streaked cheek.

Her movements were exceptionally soft, her gaze brimming with tenderness and pity, along with a hint of deep-seated guilt.

“I’m sorry, Kefi…”

As she spoke, Sefina took the strange double-headed needle artifact in her right hand and gently pressed its scarlet end against the center of Kefi’s forehead.

The moment the needle tip touched skin, Kefi didn’t feel a sharp sting, but rather a cold, strange sensation drilling into her mind.

Kefi’s eyes flew wide open, her pupils contracting to pinpricks.

“Ngh—!”

It was as if a dam had completely burst. Countless chaotic, fragmented images flooded into her mind the next second, drowning all her consciousness.

Sefina withdrew the [High-level Levitation Spell] at that exact moment.

“Aaaaaah—!!!”

Kefi let out a scream, clutching her head as if it were about to split open. She fell heavily to her knees on the cold floor, her body trembling violently.

Sefina immediately knelt down as well, ignoring the dust on the ground, and stretched out her arms again to tightly hug the convulsing Kefi to herself.

Mia and Ellaria stood to the side, watching this heartbreaking scene. Their eyes were filled with pity and sorrow, but they didn’t know how to intervene. They could only hold hands tightly and watch the pair with complex expressions.

In the torrent of Kefi’s memories—

That day, the weather seemed good.

The classroom at the Elementary Magic Academy was bathed in sunlight.

Kefi was diligently copying the magic circuit diagram for the [Flash] spell, thinking that when she went home for the weekend, she would tell her mother she had finally managed to cast [Flash]. Her little sister Kelin would surely clap and cheer.

Then, from some corner, fragmented, panicked whispers spread and drilled into her ears.

“Did you hear? Something huge happened at the Church!”

“The Saintess… the Saintess…”

“She’s dead! They say she died horribly!”

“It’s true! Everyone on the street is talking!”

“No way? The Saintess was so kind…”

Every word was like a cold hammer ruthlessly striking Kefi’s heart.

Her mind buzzed, blank.

‘Mom… is dead?’

‘You’ve got to be kidding…’

Yesterday, when her mother came to visit her, she had gently reminded Kefi to dress warmly, saying that when she came back, the family would go to the new dessert shop in town…

‘Mom… is dead?’

‘You’ve got to be kidding…’

The pen in her hand fell with a clatter onto the table, leaving an ugly ink blot.

No, impossible!

She must have heard wrong!

She suddenly stood up, knocking over her chair without noticing. Ignoring the shocked stares of her teacher and classmates, she rushed out of the academy gates.

She had to go home!

Now!

Right now!

She had to see with her own eyes that her mother was still safely at home, baking bread, waiting for her!

The streets were heavy with suffocating tension.

People gathered on both sides, whispering, their faces a mix of shock and sorrow.

Then she saw it—

A procession of clergy in white ceremonial robes, escorting a coffin covered in white cloth, slowly approaching from the end of the street.

At the front of the procession, someone carried the holy emblem and scriptures that the Saintess had used daily.

A mournful hymn drifted faintly through the air.

The shape of the coffin…

The direction of the procession…

The suffocating atmosphere…

‘No… no… don’t…’

Kefi murmured, staggering through the crowd to the very front of the street.

She stared fixedly at the approaching coffin, as if trying to burn through it with her gaze, to prove it was empty.

When the coffin passed before her, a sudden gust of wind lifted a corner of the white cloth.

She saw it.

A corner of a familiar white robe, and… a small lock of brown hair spilling out.

The world lost all color and sound at that moment.

Kefi’s heart felt as if an invisible hand had violently crushed it. A searing pain instantly spread through her limbs, making it almost impossible to breathe.

A rasping hack came from her throat, but no sound of crying emerged.

Everything before her seemed to blur.

This…

This felt unreal.

Like a nightmare…

“Mom… Mom…”

Kefi trembled, forcing out the two words with all her strength, her voice faint and shaking.

The murmurs of the crowd, the songs of the funeral attendants, the noise of the street…

All faded away.

Kefi only heard the sound of her own heart shattering, felt an icy cold rising from the soles of her feet.

How could this happen?

They had promised…

Just a few days ago, her mother had smiled and patted her head…

Everything had been so beautiful before…

Why?