Chapter 1: A Fresh Start
1-1 Becoming a Good Child
When I opened my eyes, I found myself on a soft bed. Not the hard bed in the prison tower where I had been confined.
Thank goodness. What happened before was just a bad dream.
Still, it was a terrible nightmare. My body felt hot and was drenched in sweat because of it.
I tried to call for a maid, but instead,
“Waaah!”
I cried out.
“Oh my, you’re awake!”
A maid, who must have been nearby, immediately came and effortlessly lifted me up, cradling me against her shoulder.
(Huh? Am I small?)
A tiny hand came into view, resting on the maid’s shoulder. It looked like a doll’s hand. Thinking it couldn’t be, I tried to move it, and the small hand lifted.
(What?)
I desperately tried to turn my head to look around the room, but it didn’t work as I intended. All the while, the maid kept gently soothing me.
This was undoubtedly a room in the mansion where I used to live. It looked a bit cleaner, but there was no mistake.
Over the maid’s shoulder, I finally spotted a large mirror.
What I saw reflected there was the image of a baby being held by the maid.
After that, I screamed and cried. The maid was flustered, but I couldn’t care less about that.
I thought I had died, only to find myself reborn as a baby. Of course I wanted to cry. Or rather, it seems babies are prone to crying easily due to their intense emotions.
After crying for a while, I calmed down. To be specific, I fell asleep. A baby’s body easily drifts off to sleep with just a bit of fatigue.
When I woke up, I had regained my composure, but my tongue wouldn’t work properly, so I couldn’t speak clearly. Even though I wanted to talk to the maid, I couldn’t communicate my thoughts. I don’t think this maid was here when I was alive before.
I probably have been reborn. I’ve read about this in books before. This is what they call the afterlife. For convenience’s sake, my previous life where I was executed would be called the past life, and this new life I’ve been born into would be the present life.
However, oddly enough, it seems I’ve been reborn in the same mansion.
I wanted to know who exactly I had been reborn as. When I was alive before, there shouldn’t have been anyone pregnant in the mansion. Perhaps many years have passed in this world?
While I was pondering this, someone entered the room.
The maid called her “My Lady.”
Twisting my body that I couldn’t move well, I looked towards the door to see my mother, looking younger than I had ever seen her before.
The same silky, beautiful long black hair as mine. A face so beautiful it seemed almost artificial.
At first, I thought it was just someone who looked similar, but from her voice, way of speaking, and gestures, I was certain it was my mother.
Mother didn’t even hold me, just glanced at me once before leaving the room.
As expected, she seemed indifferent to me. My father and mother’s relationship was only a marriage in name, and mother had no interest in me. Even when I was confined to the prison tower, she never once came to see me.
Ironically, seeing this cold mother of mine finally allowed me to grasp the situation.
It seems that rather than being reborn, I’m reliving my life as Selina Rosenberg from infancy.
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Even after understanding the situation, there wasn’t much I could do. Babies are powerless creatures.
Besides, it would be strange if a baby suddenly started talking.
So during this period, I decided to contemplate my situation.
The reason I met such an untimely death was because I didn’t have capable allies.
If I had proper allies, Eleanor would have been dead long ago, and I would have become queen. My previous life was simply unfortunate in terms of the people around me.
Therefore, what I need in this new life are loyal servants who will work as my hands and feet.
The problem is how to gather them, but thanks to having plenty of time to think while being unable to move from my bed, I came up with an excellent plan during this period.
To execute this plan, I need to act like a pure, righteous, and merciful child.
Of course, I am inherently a wonderful person, but I need to make those around me think I’m a hypocritical saint like Eleanor.
Thus, after my third birthday, I started to act by thinking, “What would that detestable Eleanor do?”
When a maid dropped and broke a vase, in my past life I would have said,
“My, that vase is worth more than you are. Shall we see if you break when dropped from the roof too?”
But in this life, I said things I didn’t mean at all, like,
“Are you alright? Are you hurt? Your body is more important than some vase.”
I said something unintelligent.
If a maid spilled tea on my dress, in my past life I would have said,
“Shall we wet your clothes too? With your blood.”
But in this life, I made a tasteless gesture of consideration by saying,
“This might not be a bad color to dye clothes with.”
I said, with a touch of bad taste.
If a maid mistakenly conveyed my schedule, in my past life I would have said something intelligent like,
“Well, now your future schedule is blank too.”
But in this life:
“I wasn’t in the mood for that appointment today anyway. Don’t worry about it.”
I told a blatant lie
Thanks to this, my reputation in the duke’s household improved.
“Lady Selina is so merciful,” “Lady Selina possesses high virtue even at such a young age,” and so on. Everyone must be out of their minds to fall for such an obvious act. There’s no way anyone could be so considerate of others.
However, this helped me understand how Eleanor had cunningly won people’s hearts. Surely Lord Edward must have been deceived by that venomous woman’s act of playing the saint.
Meanwhile, I also devoted myself to my studies. Etiquette and such weren’t a problem, as I had already mastered them in my previous life. But to ensure I never meet such a death again, I needed to become strong myself.
Namely, horseback riding, swordsmanship, and self-defense. Normally, these aren’t things a duke’s daughter would earnestly pursue, but being forcibly restrained in my past life had become a trauma for me.
I wanted to train my body to prevent such disrespectful treatment.
In this do-over life, I have no intention of allowing anyone to touch me at will, regardless of who they are.
I also focused on studying magic. The duke’s family has a lineage of producing individuals with high magical power, but I hadn’t been blessed with much magical ability, so I hadn’t taken it seriously in my past life.
However, in this life, magical power is necessary. For this reason, I secretly engaged in training to enhance my magical power since infancy. Training to increase magical power consists of repeatedly chanting basic spells and image training, which can be done at any age as long as you have the knowledge. Moreover, I had more than enough time.
This training during early childhood seemed very effective, and my magical power grew rapidly.
“Lady Selina has a talent for magic!”
My first magic tutor, who was assigned when I turned six, exclaimed in admiration. Of course she would. I had been training since infancy. I was on a different level compared to other children.
However, I possessed an uncanny amount of knowledge about magic, which puzzled even me.
(Hmm, was I this knowledgeable about magic before?)
Our house had an extensive collection of magic books, but there were several books whose contents I remembered well, despite not recalling having read them.
Contrary to remembering books I didn’t remember reading, I also felt like there were books that should have been there but weren’t.
Despite feeling this sense of incongruity, my magical powers continued to grow steadily.
By the time I was eight, I had mastered intermediate magic and received praise from those around me, but I wasn’t satisfied with just this. When the time comes, I want enough magical power to incinerate that accursed Rosewood Academy entirely.
I dedicated myself to studying magic, aiming to annihilate in one fell swoop the classmates and teachers who had abandoned me.
TLNOTE : While waiting, I implore you dear readers to read other masterpiece novels that also written by the same author :
- When the Monster Meat I Ate Led Me to the Throne
- Who killed the Hero?
- The Suspects of Necromancy
- The Exiled Merchant Saves the World with the Power of Gold (translated by my friend meerkat)
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
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