Elene opened her eyes to some place, a moment in time that seemed familiar. She was on a horse, apparently, a horse galloping at full speed. Her gold eyes looked upon her heart, no scars. So she wasn't dead but one thing was for sure when a fireball spell was thrown her way, lightly grazing her right cheek, it hurt her. This was real.

Another fireball spell broke the archmage’s train of thought, confirming what Elene feared the most. Either hell was playing an awful joke on her, or she had gone back in time.

It appeared that some entity turned back time and the white-haired woman, weirdly was affected by it. Time magic was a forbidden spell created by the dragon race, it allowed regressing back in time and keeping its caster’s memories intact, but dragons were long gone. Even the Von Drachen family didn't know how to use this banned magic, nor did she.

But why was her memory intact? Elene had no idea, and more specifically, no time to think about it. She was running—or rather, riding away and not from anyone at that. 

The mage was trying to escape the Eswere Kingdom knights, a country to the east of the continent. It must have been that day, she was sixteen then. The soon-to-be White Witch was caught in the King’s room watching him burn. That was all she could remember from that night, her father’s screams and his face slowly burning away. He didn’t die right away, the fire consuming Eswere’s King were special flames that burned slowly without damaging the flesh too much. It was known as the most horrible death one could experience in the world of mages. And the very reason why Elene was referred to as a witch worldwide.

Tears were streaming down her face and disappearing in the wind. She couldn't remember why she was crying even after all this time, she only knows that those memories were sealed in a powerful artifact a long time ago, by herself. Come to think of it, it was a paradox. 

Hours passed by, the sun was rising and it seemed like Elene finally outran her hunters. She could finally rest and decided upon going to the same inn as in her last life. It was owned by a foreigner with a strong accent, that was all she could remember. But first, it would be best to change her appearance.. After all, white hair and yellow eyes stick out too much. With a snap of her fingers her white strands gradually turned a brown colour, her golden eyes turned green. That way she will never stand out to anyone.

With a big old smile that felt like home, the innkeeper yelled a greeting just like in her last life.

"Oye, welcome to the sun's keep! Wha' can I ge' you, ma'am?"

The small round man eyed the newcomer trying to guess what they would like, he wasn't only the owner of this place but the bartender as well.

"Everything that's on the menu." she whispered shyly.

"Oh oh oh, such a slim figure, bu' a big appe'i'e! I respect that!" replied the man before shouting the order to the cooks as a petite figure ran to the kitchen behind him, it probably was his daughter or something. Seeing how the old man smiled when she turned her back.

Oh to have a normal father-daughter relationship.. Elene forgot how that worked. Her memories that happened before the murder were all blurry. She couldn't even remember why she killed him. The only clue Elene had was that a sharp pain struck her heart when she was thinking about family.

Around thirty minutes after ordering, a first serving was brought to the table where the Witch was sitting.

The food didn't seem that great, well of course it couldn't compare to what a palace chief could create... but it was still somewhat good enough to call it food.

Nevertheless, after twenty minutes or so, Elene had already finished eating, definitely faster than anyone in the inn had expected. Some people even stopped to admire the weird spectacle of the noble-looking lady vacuuming great amounts of food like it was nothing.

Her evening was spent devouring all kinds of meals, some she had never seen before. Once the mage was done, she considered her experience and decided that she would leave a tip, it was a custom to leave more money than expected. Elene secretly slipped a gold coin inside the bar counter and hoped that it would make a difference in that family's life.

And now it was time to sleep.

—

A dagger in the heart, choking on blood, and those eyes... those terrible eyes. Blue orbs staring right through her, making the mage feel vulnerable, weak. And now the laugh, it was unbearable. When the cold dagger was retrieved, pain shot through her chest. 

Thank the gods, it was only a nightmare, but, in a way, this awful dream was real, and Elene was brought back to reality, waking up in a cold sweat. 

A second chance in life was interesting to say the least. But the questions of who gave the banished princess that opportunity and most importantly how were floating in her mind. But it wasn't even the main problem at all, something else was.

It was around nine o’clock last night. Elene was meditating in her room after filling her stomach when she noticed something terrible. Her heart was still bound by the hundreds of vows that she made in her life, were souls actually real?

This whole going back through time, keeping one's memories and shackles, did not make sense. But Elene's whole existence did not make sense to others as well. 

Nevertheless, an opportunity is an opportunity, and no matter who gave the archmage this chance, she was grateful. It was time to fix things up.

And above all: Kill The Emperor.