It burns.

It ignites.

My body is continuously engulfed in flames.

Aaaaah─!

The pain of being burned alive is so horrific that screams escape my lips endlessly.

When did it start?

When did I begin to cry out in agony instead of speaking?

– That witch did it! It’s because of her that our children are dead!

– Evangeline commanded the demonic beasts to kill the children!

– We treated you so well, so why?!

Even if I desperately shouted that I wasn’t like that to the people pointing fingers at me as a witch, no one paid any attention to my words.

– It’s revenge! Burn the wicked witch to death!

– I will return the pain the children suffered, and then some!

– Witch hunt! It’s a witch hunt!

Even when I pleaded for my innocence to those lighting the stake that bound me with cries for vengeance, no one believed me.

– Burn her!

– Burn her!

– Burn her to the ground!

Or was it when the flames scorching my body, the stares of the villagers causing me pain, made me realize that no one would ever reach out to save me?

The truth is, it didn’t really matter when it was.

If there was no one to listen to what I had to say, then—

If every word I spoke held no meaning—

Then all I needed to unleash from my mouth was a scream.

Aaaah─!

The unending torment brought forth unending screams.

With all the screams I let out, it felt as if the entire world could drown in them.

But a sound persisted, one that couldn’t be erased, filling my head.

Burn!

Burn it!

The cries of those shouting for the witch, for vengeance.

Every time that word echoed back in my mind, the flame ignited once more from my loathing and anger.

With every flare, pain surged.

With every wave of pain, anger against the world that tormented me rose.

With every surge of anger, flames reignited.

And in that endless chain, the voice in my head grew louder.

What was once a voice belonging to the people began to wail in my voice.

Somehow, my body began to move in accordance with that voice’s commands.

Burn.

When the voice cried to burn, I burned.

Burn it all.

When the voice screamed to burn it all, I burned it all.

Please, please, let me live.

To those begging me to stop, saying they did wrong.

To the entirety of the forest they lived in.

Ah, if only one person had listened when I said those words, I could have stopped.

But because no one did, I had made it so that from their mouths only screams would emerge instead of words.

I returned to everyone the burning pain I felt, the solitude of having no one listen to me.

All that remained in the end was nothing but regret.

Yet despite having burned like that, the flames that didn’t extinguish continued to scream at me.

Burn!

Burn it all!

The people who made me like this.

The world that has tormented me so completely.

This hatred that burns me, the resentments, the sorrow, the curses, the rage.

So that the entirety of this world may feel the same.

Everything, everything, burn it all!

Aaaaaah─!!

As I screamed, thick emotions flowed like red tears down my face.

Through the reddened sight, I saw the things I hadn’t managed to burn.

A voice echoed again.

The voice wished for me to burn everything I could see.

So just as I was stepping forward to follow that voice, unexpectedly—

I felt something grip my ankle.

When I looked down,

“…No.”

There stood a girl.

With her flaming pain crawling on the floor, a girl with red hair clutched my ankle with her hand.

“…You can’t.”

The girl shaking her head continuously spoke softly.

Her voice was so faint that it seemed she might lose consciousness at any moment.

The strength holding my ankle was weak enough to shake off if I truly wanted to.

I should have pushed her hand away and set fire to everything before my eyes, following the voice in my head.

…But why couldn’t I shake off that hand?

Why did I feel like her words, that I shouldn’t, were right?

As I stared blankly at the girl, who appeared to be fading in and out of consciousness with her flickering red eyes, she murmured to me.

“You promised. That you would protect the people.”

…What was she talking about?

My name is Evangeline.

To someone bearing that cursed name, people were something to be burned.

Yet why would I protect them?

That was an impossible story.

The moment I heard her mention a promise,

I found myself in extreme turmoil.

Why? I asked myself.

I, Evangeline, never made such a promise.

I made a vow only to burn this world that bound me with curses.

Why does that question about a promise shatter me like this?

As I struggled with those thoughts, I inadvertently caught sight of my left arm.

My arm, engulfed in flames.

There was a strange sense of discomfort from the sight of that left arm.

It felt like something that should’ve been there was missing.

Caught between that discomfort and the voice shouting to burn inside me, I glanced down.

I saw the girl with red hair, now motionless as if she had lost consciousness.

However, the moment I looked at the hand still gripping my ankle, I realized what I had been feeling uneasy about.

My left arm was also made of metal, just like the girl’s.

That left arm bore my name engraved upon it.

And the name inscribed upon it wasn’t Evangeline.

Everything…

That’s right.

I am—no, I was.

Scarlet Evande.

“Huuh…?!”

The moment I realized this, my separated consciousness was hurled back.

Gasping for breath, I looked where I had been thrown, and the girl engulfed in flames gazed back at me with eyes streaming with blood.

[…I thought we had completely merged, but is there still a self-awareness left?]

With her words, I was assured I had just recently separated from the unity we shared.

Because we had been one until just a moment ago, her identity was already ingrained in my mind.

The vengeful witch, Evangeline.

What I had desperately tried to avoid had come to pass.

I had lost my self to not be consumed alongside the demonic beasts, and yet here we were.

Trembling with horror at the chilling realization that the worst possible scenario had played out before me, I glared at her.

Then, Evangeline, who had briefly been looking my way, suddenly lost interest as if bored, turned away, and muttered.

[…Well, it’s fine. Since it turned out like this, I can no longer be hindered.]

Having mumbled that, she shook off the hand gripping her ankle, likely that of the original Scarlet Evande, and attempted to walk away.

Still sharing consciousness, I knew better than anyone what she intended to do. I urgently shouted.

“…! Stop!!!”

[……]

But even with my cry, she didn’t even pretend to listen.

If I left her to her own devices, it was obvious she would start to set fire to the entire city, and driven by the thought that I needed to stop her, I squeezed out words to divert her attention.

“Stop it!! You don’t want to burn them either, do you?!”

Yes.

Having united as one, I learned.

I learned that Evangeline regretted her actions of burning the people.

But,

[…So?]

Knowing this made her retort painfully piercing.

[You know now, don’t you? My will doesn’t matter. If this curse that dwells within me desires it, I cannot resist it. Just as you did before, neither can I.]

“Ugh…..”

Having experienced it directly, I couldn’t argue against her claim.

The fact that my body moved according to the voice urging me to burn was not something I could resist.

However, I also couldn’t leave her to burn everything. Therefore, it became clear what I needed to do.

Just as the girl, Scarlet, had once done, I needed to hold onto Evangeline’s ankle.

So as my thoughts came to fruition, I jumped into the flames engulfing her.

“─Gah, haah?!”

I screamed as my whole body was subjected to agonizing pain.

It felt strange.

The burning pain of the flames, since I had experienced it multiple times, I thought I would manage to endure it somehow.

But it wasn’t like that. This was a pain beyond what I could endure.

Why, why?

[How foolish. Right now, you’re just left with consciousness and are no different from a regular human. A human without resistance against flames can’t endure them. Moreover, if you burn like that in your current state, you will completely disappear, so if you want to at least keep your consciousness, it’s best to stop.]

I looked at my body burning away from her words.

How long had it been since I leaped into the fire; I had already charred and crumbled like charcoal.

As parts of me crumbled and scattered, that sight filled me with deep terror.

Am I disappearing? Just like this?

In that fear, my legs staggered involuntarily as I prepared to leap out of the flames.

But then—someone’s voice echoed from somewhere.

– This is nothing!!

I heard Yoon Si-woo’s voice.

What? Where on earth?

Caught off guard by that suddenly heard voice amidst the flames, Evangeline muttered with a smirk.

[…So the effects of our merged consciousness lingered. By the way, your friend is quite the fool. He was advised to swing his sword when we meet next.]

With her words, an image abruptly flashed in my mind.

The image was of Yoon Si-woo rushing toward me.

I could tell he wasn’t coming to kill me, now a witch.

What I felt from Yoon Si-woo was not malice but a will to save me.

“Ah…”

– Gah, aah!!

As Evangeline waved her hand, flames surged toward the approaching Yoon Si-woo.

But even being engulfed in those burning flames, his approach did not wane.

With every time my body flared, Yoon Si-woo was regenerating endlessly.

“Don’t…!”

His desperate run was so intense it took my breath away just to watch.

Tears spilled from my eyes as I realized the price of that regeneration.

But Yoon Si-woo was undeterred, approaching me while regenerating.

“Stop…! Enough…!”

How much of his lifespan was being shed in this moment?

He was burning his lifespan running toward me, trying to save just me.

Why? Why go so far for someone like me?

I wished fervently that he would stop with the reckless behavior.

“Enough!!!!”

Yet even as I shouted, my voice didn’t reach him. I threw my all into charging toward Evangeline, trying to at least do something about the flames engulfing him.

Running toward Evangeline just as Yoon Si-woo was rushing toward me.

“Aah…!”

“Ah…!”

Our screams overlapped.

My body, lacking the ability to regenerate like Yoon Si-woo, was being consumed by the flames and disappearing.

Yet I couldn’t stop like this.

Because Yoon Si-woo was screaming over there.

So, I must do something for Yoon Si-woo.

“Ugh, Aaaaaahhh…!!!”

With every ounce of strength, I screamed.

I took a step forward.

But—

Unlike Yoon Si-woo, who managed to reach me, I couldn’t touch Evangeline.

My legs had long turned to ashes and crumbled to dust.

Not just my legs.

My arms, my torso, my head.

Even my consciousness was turning to ashes and scattering away.

In the blurred vision, I saw Yoon Si-woo, a wreck, bringing a blade to my heart.

I saw Evangeline reaching out to burn him.

In the end, because of me, Yoon Si-woo was going to die.

Ah, that much—

That much was—

In my final moment filled with regret and reluctance.

Returning to—

Scarlet.

In that instant, faintly, Yoon Si-woo’s voice resonated.

“─Can you endure this…!!”

With a whoosh, flames ignited from the ashes.

[What…?!]

From the flames that soared, my extinguished consciousness returned.

The body that had turned to ashes was regenerated from the flames.

Like a phoenix reborn from the ashes.

Once again, flames soared.

[What is happening…!]

Evangeline’s voice revealed her inability to conceal her panic.

What had happened?

I didn’t know clearly.

Perhaps because of the effects of merging with her, or the power of witch I had been living as until now.

Did remnants of that power linger within me?

I too didn’t understand how this was happening.

But that didn’t matter.

What mattered was that I could step forward once more.

I extended my leg and dashed toward Evangeline.

[Ugh…?]

As I rushed to stop the flames that would incinerate Yoon Si-woo, I grasped Evangeline’s outstretched hand.

[No matter what’s happening, do you think you can stop these flames by doing this?]

She looked startled at my sudden revival, then yelled at me as if to say there was no way this would work.

Like defending her words, the flames that had engulfed her spread to me as well.

And just like when I had once merged with her, the voice began to whine in my head.

Burn, burn it all.

Return the hatred, the resentment, the sorrow, the curse you felt back to the world.

Those horrific and deep-seated emotions began to encroach upon me, threatening to consume me.

“Do you think I care about that!!”

But a single emotion that had already filled my heart pushed those feelings all away.

It was an emotion I knew all too well.

Rage.

“Don’t lay a hand on Yoon Si-woo, my precious person!!”

The pure anger I felt at the thought of her trying to harm my precious person surged up like never before.

And that rage—

[A…?]

Ignited the red flames within me.

A small but intensely hot crimson flame.

That small crimson flame began to consume Evangeline’s flames that had aimed to swallow me.

[The flames…!]

Flames screamed as they flailed.

However, just as those flames struggled in futility, the crimson flame slowly absorbed them until ultimately, they were completely engulfed.

[To suppress flames, one needs stronger flames…]

Now, the flames that were once burning Evangeline were extinguished.

Only my flames remained, rising fiercely.

[Aah, I see. I could only grieve and rage for myself. Yet you can do so for others as well.]

Evangeline, mystified by the scene, murmured.

[So, it’s only natural your anger is stronger than mine.]

Thus, Evangeline, the witch finally liberated from the cursed flames that had bound her for countless years, spoke with an expression of relief.

After enjoying her newfound freedom for a while, her face changed to one of gratitude as she turned to me and opened her mouth.

[Though I’ll thank you for freeing me, I must tell you this.]

She looked at me with a worried expression.

[Living as a being different from others must be harder than you imagine.]

She seemed to ask if I would be okay, and I nodded as I replied.

“Still, I have to go. There’s someone waiting for me.”

I promised, after all. That I would grant a wish.

At my answer, Evangeline chuckled and murmured.

[…I see. If it’s you, then I’m sure you will overcome it.]

Beyond the hazy consciousness, I could hear her voice.

Now, Scarlet Evande.

Now, you are rage.