I Reincarnated to Another World as a Woman-Chapter 252: Toward It

AU: Content note: This Chapter contains themes of grief, trauma, and self-harm ideation.

CRASH!

Alicia staggers backward and knocks a mug off the table. It crashes onto the floor and shatters into pieces.

She clutches her head with both hands, trying to shake the image away.

But the scene is too vivid.

It is not fading.

It is not weakening.

It is playing out in front of her like a stage performance, and she is strapped into the front row, forced to watch.

She struggles to breathe.

Each inhale is shallow.

Each exhale is ragged.

It sounds like a severe asthma attack.

Her eyes are wide, unfocused, filled with shock, fear, and something deeper.

Grief.

Her chest tightens painfully.

She presses a hand against it, convinced she is about to have a heart attack.

Her lips move.

"Alex."

She whispers his name again.

And again.

And again.

Like a chant.

But the pain does not lessen.

It intensifies.

Alicia has never known pain like this.

Not even when she lost both of her parents in a car accident.

"Stop."

Tears spill down her face.

"Stop."

Her voice cracks.

"STOP!"

She collapses to the floor, sobbing violently. Her breaths come in short, uneven bursts that scrape through her throat.

"Please... stop," she begs between broken cries.

It feels like forever.

But the pain remains.

Strong.

Clawing.

Unrelenting.

She pushes herself up, face soaked with tears, and stumbles toward the kitchen.

Her movements are frantic.

Desperate.

She grabs the largest knife she can find.

Her hands tremble as she lifts it.

She does not want to die.

She just wants the pain to stop.

She raises the knife.

And brings it down toward herself.

But just before it connects, she hears his voice.

Alex.

She sees his lips form the word.

"Run."

The knife freezes mid air.

Her breath catches.

She stands there for several long seconds.

Then she moves.

She runs.

The knife still clutched tightly in her hand.

------------------------------

Theo rises from his seat and walks toward the kitchen where Maeve is preparing dinner. He is about to say something when he notices she is humming softly to herself.

He smiles.

At least she is happy.

"Maeve?" he calls gently.

"Hm?" Maeve looks up. There is a faint dusting of white powder on her cheek and near her temple.

Theo chuckles.

"You have some white powder on your face."

She blinks, then wipes at it with the back of her hand, only managing to smear it more.

"Oh. That. Don’t worry about it. It is bound to happen when you are cooking with flour," she says with a light laugh.

"What are you making?" Theo asks, leaning slightly against the counter.

"Dumplings."

Theo’s grin widens immediately.

"I love dumplings."

Maeve laughs again. "I have noticed that you like almost all food. I have yet to see you dislike anything."

Theo laughs with her. "Yeah."

Then his voice softens, dropping almost to a whisper.

"That’s what I love about this world. Food."

Maeve pauses for a second, then smiles knowingly.

The two of them share a quiet, conspiratorial smile.

"You want to ask me something? Or did you just come to check what’s for dinner?" Maeve teases without looking up.

"I prefer knowing about dinner," Theo replies with a faint smile. "But that wasn’t it."

His expression turns serious.

"I’ve been thinking about what you and Claudia said. About us leaving Alicia alone like that. Do you really think that wasn’t the right thing to do?"

Maeve’s hands pause in the middle of mixing the dumpling filling.

She takes a slow breath before answering.

"Yes and no. There isn’t a clean right or wrong answer here, Theo. We weren’t there. We don’t know the full situation well enough to judge whether you were right or wrong."

She resumes mixing slowly.

"But generally speaking, women tend to process things through emotion first. Men tend to process things through logic. Through definitions of proper and improper."

She smiles gently at him.

"We rarely think like that."

Theo considers this.

Maeve glances up again.

"How did she look to you?"

"Look?" Theo frowns slightly.

"Yes. Did she seem sad? Angry? Cold? Spiraling? How did she look to you?" Maeve presses gently.

Theo searches his memory.

"She seemed..." He hesitates. "Detached. Almost like she genuinely doesn’t believe she lost eight months. Not grieving her brother for a second time. More like refusing to accept that the first time even happened."

Maeve sighs softly.

"It will be very hard on her when she remembers."

"Poor Alicia," she murmurs.

Silence settles between them.

Then suddenly, Theo tilts his head slightly.

As if listening.

Maeve notices it immediately.

Theo’s entire body goes still.

Then he whips around toward the apartment door.

He pauses again.

"Theo?" Maeve asks.

He does not respond.

The next second, he bolts toward the door.

"Theo!" Maeve calls out.

She sets the bowl down quickly and wipes her hands on her apron as she rushes after him.

Julian and Liam, hearing Maeve shout, come running from the living room.

"What?" Julian demands.

But Maeve is already at the door.

"I don’t know. Theo just ran outside," she says, not slowing down.

Julian and Liam exchange a look.

Then they follow immediately.

------------------------------

Arthur is in the middle of a discussion with Claudia about Rhaenas’ press conference.

Claudia had approached him earlier, asking when they planned to hold one. Arthur had insisted it was still too soon.

Now she is making her case again.

"It’s been too long, Arthur," she says firmly.

"Claudia, trauma does not have a time limit," Arthur replies, his tone sharpening slightly. "Mentally, Rhaenas is drained. What we experienced in that dungeon was no joke. We are all still feeling the effects. Even right now."

He glances briefly toward a nearby table.

Arthur II is sitting there, casually tapping away at the laptop.

Arthur looks away quickly.

"Okay," Claudia says, nodding. "I am willing to accept that. But what about the public? They deserve to know what happened. So it does not happen to them."

Arthur lets out a bitter chuckle.

"It will not happen to them. It was a dungeon. What happens inside a dungeon stays inside a dungeon. It cannot spill into the real world. The public does not need to know the details."

He folds his arms.

"They only need to know that the dungeon has been cleared. The heartstone extraction is already ongoing. St. Lucas is accessible again for tourists."

He forces a thin smile.

"It even boosted tourism numbers. The people win. Now they should leave us alone."

"Yeah, but..." Claudia trails off.

Her gaze drifts toward the security monitor mounted on the wall.

Something catches her attention.

"What?" Arthur asks, following her line of sight.

Claudia leans closer to the screen.

"In the monitor... are our Sentinels fighting someone? And losing?" she says slowly.

Arthur stands immediately and steps closer.

The screen shows the Sentinels guarding the building entrance.

They are engaged in combat.

With someone.

A figure with fiery red hair is fighting them with alarming speed.

And Claudia is right.

They are losing.

Arthur’s eyes narrow.

A flash of light bursts across the monitor.

"That person has a knife."

On another monitor, a blur of white hair streaks past the frame.

Maeve appears seconds later.

Then Julian.

Then Liam.

Arthur does not hesitate.

He rushes toward the entrance.

"Hey!" Claudia calls out as she rises from her seat.

"What’s going on?"