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[Translator - Tangrine ]
[Proofreader - Seeker ]
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Chapter - 7: If pigs had wings, they could fly
It had already been a month since Priscilla started her roleplay.
“Haah…? It’s already morning?”
-“Of course, Pippy. It’s a miraculous morning. Let’s make the most of today. How about starting with some light stretching?”
Priscilla went to the forest to gather herbs every morning.
She slowly regained her strength by building mana in her heart, and at home she played the role of a kind and loving daughter.
She lived each day faithfully to complete the curse and cure its side effects.
“Oh my, Anna. Did you gather herbs again?”
“Yes! There were so many in the forest.”
“Playing is good, but don’t go too deep. There might be scary beasts.”
“Of course! I stayed close to the village.”
“I love you, my dear daughter.”
“…Me too, Mom.”
The more she lived each day faithfully, a strange feeling of suffocation began to grow deep inside her heart.
It was odd.
Everything was going well but she felt like she was missing something very important.
‘…Maybe it’s because I haven’t found any clues about the curse yet. It’s just frustrating how slow my progress is.’
It was all because of this girl’s body.
No talent for mana, weak constitution, and maybe because she was still growing, she almost collapsed into sleep every night.
- ”Prippy, don’t be too impatient. It’s slow but you’re changing little by little. Just take it step by step, one step at a time.”
Yeah. No need to rush.
Just living faithfully in the moment was enough.
As Priscilla thought this, she suddenly felt something strange about the whole situation.
‘…No way, could it be that I’ve started thinking like Gigachad?’
Before she knew it, she was thinking just like him.
It was strange.
.
.
.
Time flew like an arrow shot from a bow.
Priscilla grew accustomed day by day to living as the girl named ‘Anna.’
“Mom! I’ll take care of the laundry today, so please get some rest! You’re still not feeling well.”
“Oh my, then I’ll leave it to our daughter today.”
-“Good job. Helping others is a sign of strength. The good vibes are slowly catching up.”
Helping her mother with chores.
“Mom, I brewed some herbal tea that’s good for your joints. You said your knees were aching the other day, right?”
“Thank you, my dear daughter.”
-“Perfect. Remembering what others say and doing what they need is the most certain way to change the world."
Taking care of her mother’s health.
“Mom! Please tell me a fairy tale today!”
"Hehe, my daughter is still a child? Then today I should tell her the story of the Seven Crows, your favorite story.”
-“Oh, children need to act like children sometimes. You’ve gotten good at pretending, haven’t you?”
Being affectionate with her mother.
“I love you, my daughter.”
“Yes! I love you too!”
-“Another victory today. Then sleep well, my Daughter. For tomorrow’s miraculous morning.”
It was a perfect day, like a picture painted with love.
Lying in bed, feeling her mother’s warm hand gently brushing through her hair, Priscilla closed her eyes.
As she closed her eyes, she heard a voice full of affection
“How can you be so angelic, my Anna!”
“……”
Only upon hearing that gentle voice calling her daughter’s name did Priscilla realize.
The source of the heaviness pressing on her chest all day long.
Even though everything was going perfectly, she still felt inexplicably anxious.
‘…I am not Anna.’
She felt guilty for enjoying a love she didn’t deserve.
‘I am just a witch who stole this little girl’s body.’
At that moment, something inside Priscilla snapped.
After the mother left the room.
Priscilla called out a name she never thought she would.
“…Gigachad, are you there?”
-“Of course, Prippy. Always by your side. Surprisingly, you called me first.”
Priscilla looked seriously at the macho man before her.
Her inner self.
The passionate man who read her thoughts like breathing, nagged in a strange tone, and interfered annoyingly.
The hallucination was born from the failure of her curse.
At first, this hallucination terrified her but now she even found this macho man somewhat familiar.
A faint smile tugged at the corners of Priscilla’s mouth.
A powerless smile that let go of many things.
“Gigachad, I’ve decided. I’m going to commit suicide.”
This was it.
Trying to imitate love is why a witch ends up this miserable.
She had forgotten that fact for far too long.
Foolishly, she had made a mistake only a novice witch would make.
-"Prippy, you seem lost in thought. How about we take a walk at night?"
"No thanks. I was doomed to fail from the start. Just like all witches who chased immortality. Trying to reach an impossible dream only leads to constant failure."
In that sense, how lucky was she?
The worst side effect of her curse was just having a macho guy nagging beside her.
Thinking about it, it was strange she had trembled so much over such a minor side effect.
“I’ll kill myself until I steal a better body, then build a cabin in the woods with you. Honestly, I’ve started to like you. It’s ridiculous to say this to a hallucination... but don’t you think we could be decent partners?”
-"You’re running away."
“…What?”
-"Stop lying like a pussy. I’m your inner self. You can fool yourself, but you can’t fool this Gigachad."
“What do you mean—”
-"Prippy, you’re just scared. Scared of being hurt by someone you love. And scared of hurting them back. So you’re just ignoring this moment and trying to run away."
His expression was cold and serious, unlike the passionate man he usually was.
At that moment, Priscilla’s face twisted fiercely.
“So what? What if I’m running away?”
-"Prippy."
“Yeah. I’m running. Like a coward, scared of love. But what if I don’t run? People die anyway. In the end, I’ll just keep living as a parasite, stealing someone else’s life. So what the hell else do you want me to do?!”
-"Stop overthinking. You’re not in control of yourself right now. Focus on the present first—"
“—Changing little things one by one? What lesson am I supposed to learn from that nonsense?! Keep pretending to be that stupid little girl and deceiving my mother? Is that what you want to say to me?”
-"……"
“You’re a hypocrite, Gigachad.”
Priscilla burst out in a scream of emotion, then started to sob.
Her powerless shoulders shook up and down.
“I wish I’d never been born…so I wouldn’t be afraid of death.”
Priscilla cried for a long time.
After a while, Gigachad finally spoke.
-"Yeah. You’re right about everything. Life is precious to everyone, and we must do our best to survive."
“……”
-"Prippy, just because you have to live a desperate life doesn’t mean you should become a desperate person. You have to accept the way of life you choose for yourself. Even if life exists to bring you pain, you still have to do your best within it."
"…I don’t want to keep lying to Mother anymore. I’m afraid my true identity and my lies will be exposed. I just… want to run away."
-"Don’t worry. You won’t have to lie to Mother anymore. You don’t need to run away."
"What?"
Priscilla suddenly felt the air around her turn cold and still.
The house was eerily quiet.
-"You’re already feeling it, aren’t you? Because you are me. You’re yelling this loudly but why isn’t Mother coming in?"
The moment Gigachad finished speaking,
Priscilla hurriedly got up from the bed and rushed out of the bedroom.
She immediately flung open Mother’s bedroom door but only an empty bed was there, and no one was inside.
"Mom—where did you go?"
-"Congratulations, Prippy. You don’t have to do that damn role-playing anymore."
"You son of a bitch. Tell me. Where did Mother go?"
-"Don’t you smell it? The familiar stench? Rotten eggs, ash, maiden’s blood, and the smell of death swarming with maggots..."
Hearing Gigachad’s words, Priscilla’s face turned pale blue.
"Devil worshippers…? Why would they be here?"
-"Now, the final role play. A hero will come to kill the devil worshiper, so act as the ‘poor girl who lost her mother to the devil worshiper.’ Then you won’t have to fear the hero anymore. You’ll finally get what you wanted—safety!"
"Losing Mother...?"
-"Exactly. Isn’t this what you wanted?"
At that moment, Priscilla ran out barefoot like a madwoman.
Her fragile feet were scratched and wounded by stones and branches.
She stumbled and fell repeatedly, barely able to keep her balance.
The more she walked, the more wounds she gained.
-"What’s wrong, Prippy? With that body, healing wounds must be hard. Are you hoping the hero will give you a potion? Looking as pitiful as possible must work in your favor."
"Shut up."
-"Isn’t this the situation you wanted? Where you don’t have to take any responsibility, where you don’t have to worry about getting hurt by love."
"……."
-"Congratulations, my daughter. The role play is finally over."
"What are you? Gigachad wouldn’t say something like that."
The girl suddenly looked back at Gigachad.
Gigachad smiled casually and answered with ease.
-"Does it matter how I say it? I’m your inner self."
"……."
-"Look at you. No matter how much I try to stop you, you keep moving forward. It’s something your old pussy self couldn’t even imagine."
Only then did Priscilla realize that Gigachad was teasing her.
With that mischievous grin, it was impossible not to notice.
-"No matter what I say, I can’t move you. Because—"
"The only one who can move me is me."
-"Of course."
"Ha…haha. I hate you, Gigachad."
-"That’s strange. I’m you, yet I love this Gigachad so much!"
"Yeah… maybe that’s possible too."
At that moment, a thread of magical power flowed from Priscilla’s heart and completed the curse.
Maybe she’d end up hunted by heroes.
"Like you said, I’ve changed."
She wouldn’t hesitate anymore.
First, she would save her mother.
Then, she would kill those damn devil worshipers.
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[Translator - Tangrine ]
[Proofreader - Seeker ]
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