After all her guests left, Nicola sat by her lonesome in her study. She replayed that sweet memory of her first time with Romy in her mind over and over again, showing a melancholic smile on her lips.

  She finally succeeded in the thing she set out to do a thousand years ago. Romy’s soul, wherever it may be now, was whole again. Not a single part of her remained to be tormented by being bonded to a creature like Lethe.

  After a while, Nicola got out of her chair and wandered the castle. Its thousand-year-long history weighed heavily on her. She did whatever she could to build her own nation and protect those who lived at the foot of her mountain with her wooden soldiers, no matter what she had to do to achieve that goal. Was she a monster? A saint? Something in-between?

  What kind of legacy would she leave behind, if she were to leave something behind at all? People have long forgotten about her as a minstrel, would they remember the aristocrat? Would the people of Earth remember the ‘crazy marionette lady’ after a few decades? Questions about her legacy kept piling on, now that she fulfilled her duty, and she pondered all of them carefully.

  As she approached the large doors to her little theater, she transformed into Urfin, stepping next to the door and bowing to no one.

  “Right this way, your ladyship,” she announced as she opened the door, changed back into her normal, aristocratic form and stepped through.

  “Thank you, Urfin,” she replied to no one.

  With the visitors gone it was just her and two hundred marionettes which did menial tasks or guarded the castle. They cooked for her, they cleaned, they brought deliveries from town and communicated news to her.

  This only extended to her castle; she once utilized the marionettes as labor in the city but stopped as she noticed her citizens’ dependence on them.

  Despite her immortality she was certain that she wouldn’t be here forever to be relied on, and a full collapse of her convenient workers could spell doom for the people she’d leave behind.

  She walked through her theater, gently caressing the props and the screens at the back. She learned glamouring magic to project her mind’s theater towards her audience, but she was still very fond of the physical pieces which she used in her earlier days.

  She wasn’t a minstrel anymore; she had no right to try and restore her old harp, not after what she did to the fair lady’s hair, after promising to never use it for any other purpose than to play music, but she was still an artist at heart. So, she learned the trade of a marionettist, building on previous, casual experience doing puppet theater, and occasionally delighted the people of the city with her performances. She thought back fondly to all the simpler times; after she accepted her fate and her curse, she spent a few centuries being the benevolent ruler her citizens knew her as to this day. She made her city a safe haven for all races to mingle, and the long-lived elves and dwarves sharing her streets forgot about long-standing animosity, working hand in hand instead, while being firsthand witnesses to the Madame’s many deeds.

  One time, there was a war with a neighboring city. Supposedly a relative of the forgotten king was trying to get revenge, though Nicola knew it to be complete pretense and fabrication, as the bloody monarch had no kin. She didn’t show this adversary’s city any mercy, save for the citizens who came to her before her armies laid siege.

  The city’s destruction sent a strong enough message that for the next few centuries no one dared to threaten Romystedt again, ensuring peace and prosperity for her citizenry.

  After a few minutes of quiet contemplation of her past Nicola took a deep breath and withdrew from the theater to perform her daily activities.

  At first, she visited one of the castle’s towers. From its ceiling to its floor it was covered in magic runes, each and every one of them instrumental in casting teleportation magic across dimensions. With a few tugs on her marionette controllers, a small group of her carved soldiers woke up in the castle’s storage area, went to the armory to cover their limbs in razors and finally marched into the tower to take positions.

  She went back to her workshop and placed a crystal ball on her work desk for another one of her ‘performances’.

  She picked a random spot in Tokyo, keeping an eye on it through the sphere. By casting a spell her tower activated, sending her soldiers on their way with a lightning strike, while a matching strike hit the street in Tokyo, delivering the actors for today’s play.

  She knew that the Flower Brigade would be alerted immediately. At this time of day, on this day of the week, they would be ready to respond right away, and she timed her actions accordingly. The first generation of the Flower Brigade used to be her first choice of heroes she could raise to face Lethe, until she found Minerva. She never found out who their patron was, and it didn’t matter, but over the years, even with the changes in their roster, she had grown fond of them and almost regarded them as old friends.

  Following her performance’s script, Marionettes swung at pedestrians, injuring some of them. She had the marionettes move in a very specific pattern to keep the illusion of danger up while never actually killing anyone.

  She kept half an eye on the movement of the Flower Brigade, estimating their time of arrival. She made her marionettes raise their arms dramatically, implying that they would kill the bystanders they caught, just slowly enough for the Flower Brigade to storm in and save the day! The marionettes about to gore innocents were utterly destroyed.

  Nicola smiled and clapped her hands in applause for the girls’ performance for a moment before she continued commanding the rest of the marionettes.

  Today she decided to give the encounter a bit of a lighter challenge, seeing how the girls were still partially exhausted from fighting the Rodent Regiment before.

  She exchanged blows with them, some of hers even landing and sending Cherry or Violet flying. After five more minutes, her marionettes were smashed, and the Magical Girls emerged victorious.

  She stowed the crystal ball again, content with her work.

  They did look like they improved a little.

  Her daily duties were done, and with Lethe dead, Nicola didn’t have any research into the nature of curses to do.

  It was only now that she realized how utterly lonely she felt in this massive castle, and the feeling threatened to crush her.

  She wondered what she could do now. She decreed that a new holiday was to be celebrated from this day forth, and part of her wanted to participate in the festivities, but an even greater part of her objected.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  You don’t deserve to celebrate among them, curse bearer.

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she let that involuntary thought course through her mind. In the end she decided that she would transform into Holda and simply watch the festivities from afar.

  She put her hand on her work desk and put her weight on it to push herself on her legs.

  In that moment she felt a sharp pain. She forgot about her carving knife and left it lying out in the open, like a clumsy novice. She shook her head in response to her airheaded accident and looked at the cut on her hand, waiting for it to close.

  Three… two… one…

  Nothing happened.

  Nicola stared at her bleeding hand, and bit by bit it dawned on her that she was mortal again.

  And now that Romy’s soul is whole…

  ***

  Nicola entered her castle’s chapel, dedicated to the three deities of her world. The sky, the earth and the ether.

  She didn’t actually believe in them, as she saw multiple times that what some people consider deities are just powerful entities native to other realities. Her world was no exception. Visits of strange entities from elsewhere left towns in ruins, maidens pregnant with powerful wonder children, and changed the course of history every time they happened, as they did with the forgotten king. Even the Light Elf Nicola saw as a young woman was simply a wanderer from elsewhere, as she later found out. No doubt the three of her world’s pantheon were merely visitors, popping into her reality for their own amusement at some point in time. They may have even forgotten this world entirely after they left.

  And yet, she had a plea for any true deities that might be listening.

  “I hope whatever gods are watching have forgiven me for my past sins and will allow me to see my beloved again.”

  Tears streamed down her face as she pulled a dagger she kept on her garter and turned it, pointing the tip at her own throat as she held the steel with both hands.

  “I want to see her again. I miss her… I miss her so much.”

  The strong fa?ade of the aristocrat, the puppet master, all of it crumbled in this instant. She was simply a lonely woman, yearning for the love of her life as she put all her hopes into reincarnation. A single drop of blood formed on her throat where she pierced the skin, marking her willingness to follow through.

  Her expression turned serene. She amended her mistakes and made her peace.

  She prepared for the final push to end her life and let her soul rejoin the cycle of reincarnation.

  Hifumi was utterly lost. She entered the castle with the objective of finding Madame Bille and talking to her. She wanted to learn more about this enigmatic woman, who pretended to be a villain.

  She took a wrong turn somewhere and found herself in a dungeon. There were torture implements which never saw any use, most of them simply rotting away. Hifumi recognized some of them from the eroge she sometimes played. They could be used to inflict more erotic kinds of pain, rather than actual torture, if one used them right, and the thought kept her exploring more, until she forced her mind back to her original task.

  I have to hurry and get out of here to find Madame Bille… she looked so sad.

  She finally found her way out of the dungeons, but she was now faced with both a steel door and a turn towards a staircase.

  With a shrug she turned towards the door and opened it. Inside she was greeted by a stupendous amount of golden jewelry: many rings, tiaras, pendants, armbands, bracers, and other things shone with embedded jewels. Some of the items looked like weapon handles without blades.

  Hifumi stepped into the center of the room and let out a silent ‘wow’, before her presence appeared to trigger a trap.

  Purple glowing strings shot at her from every angle, wrapping around her body and limbs, pulling her arms above her head. They dug into the skin of her arms and thighs, wrapped around her small chest and she could swear she felt one in her crotch, too.

  For a moment she was scared that one would close around her throat as well, but the one string that caught her under her chin simply came loose again, as if that eventuality was considered in the design of the trap.

  She dangled in the strings, with about a dozen conflicting feelings regarding her predicament brewing inside her mind.

  Nicola was stopped before she could commit to the final push. There was a tug from an incorporeal string connected to her left middle finger, indicating that an intruder got caught and was now dangling in a web of strings in the treasure chamber.

  She let out a long sigh, putting the blade aside. She grabbed a cloth and bandaged her bleeding hand, dabbed at the red spot on her throat as well as her wet eyes and got back on her feet. It wouldn’t do if she disappeared now and left some hapless fool to starve in her traps.

  Passing the armory, she grabbed her rapier from the wall and slung the belt around her waist, marching down the corridor. She descended and took a turn just before she would enter the dungeon, facing a large steel door which stood open.

  She never needed to lock her vault, so she didn’t. The fact that someone was bold enough to enter her castle and try to steal from her was somewhat commendable.

  As she stepped through the door and her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the person who was dangling in her purple strings. The young woman’s wrists were tied above her head, with more strings wrapping around her torso and tying her legs together.

  Nicola was face to face with Hifumi Ebiko, the writer from Earth who she sheltered for the past two days.

  “What are you doing here, novelist?” she demanded to know with a raised eyebrow.

  The girl squirmed in the strings and appeared unable to hold eye contact. Unsurprising, it must have been quite embarrassing to be caught red-handed and strung up.

  “I was just… exploring. You know, you gave us all a key so we could come visit? I thought ‘hey, Madame Bille looked a bit lonely and sad, so I should visit her immediately.’”

  “And you somehow landed in my vault where I keep magic artifacts?”

  Nicola looked around. The room was filled with jewelry with magically infused gemstones. Some of them were delivered to her by the young witch Mana Kanno, others she made herself whenever she had the time.

  “I mean… it’s a castle! I wanted to find hidden pathways! Or maybe the kinky torture dungeon…” Hifumi adopted a pouting expression, though she still squirmed, unable to look her captor in the eyes.

  Nicola raised both eyebrows now.

  “Kinky tor…? Never mind, I’ll get you out of there for now, novelist.”

  She let out a long sigh as she raised her hand to command the strings holding the captive woman.

  “And no need to be so embarrassed, girl. These traps were made to catch some of the most cunning thieves in my world. You never stood a chance.”

  The girl now made eye contact. She was furiously red.

  “T-that’s not the issue, Madame Bille…”

  “Then what is it?” Nicola hissed in annoyance. Now that their eyes locked, something felt familiar about the girl.

  “…I-I’m just thinking… this entire situation… is incredibly hot. Being tied up and utterly at the mercy of a villainess in an old European castle…”

  Nicola was completely stumped and just stared at the girl until she spoke again.

  “…can you leave me like this for a while longer? Maybe uh… touch me with the flat of the blade? Like, lift my head by the chin? I’m getting so many ideas for my next story!”

  Nicola felt something she hadn’t felt for an incredibly long time. The ridiculousness of the situation, this woman’s carefree attitude, everything coalesced. At first it manifested as a chuckle, but as Hifumi’s words rang through her mind a while longer, she finally burst out laughing, no matter how much she tried to stifle it.

  Hifumi looked on with an awkward smile as Madame Bille, the villainess, laughed her head off. She laughed so long that she felt dizzy, so hard that her lungs hurt.

  She hadn’t laughed like this in over a thousand years.

  ***

  Instead of staining this day with her blood, the villainess called Madame Bille had a chance encounter with a very eccentric young woman with peculiar tastes.

  After freeing Hifumi from her strings (and indulging her fantasies for a bit, mostly by lifting the novelist’s chin with her blade and looking her in the eyes with a stern expression), the two of them sat in her guest room, by the fireplace. Hifumi told Nicola all about her ideas for novels. Aside from ‘The Starfaring Maiden’, most of them they were vulgar, but still straight from the heart. Nicola listened intently and in turn told Hifumi all about the plays she wrote over the course of the centuries and was met with genuine interest.

  This girl possessed the soul of an artist. An artist she knew.

  On the day Nicola decided she wanted to die she instead found her soulmate again. And with her, her reason to live.

  (Volume 3 End)

  (End of the 'Forgotten Memories' arc)

  https://archiveofourown.org/works/67800346