Chapter 3
1. The Agony of the Former Villainess (Age 5)
Arilleti El Klemens Cardis.
She once had such a magnificent aristocratic name. She probably had it until she was one or two years old, though she wasn’t sure.
The Cardis Viscount family was not particularly prominent. When Arilleti was barely babbling, the family was purged for treason. She was too young to remember the exact charges or why her mother had to flee through the dark swamps with her. In fact, she only knew they were a traitor family because the 1st Prince Albert Federka told her.
But one thing her mother whispered desperately remained vivid in her mind:
“Always remain neutral, Aril. The Sage of the White Forest must always stand one step back from the mortal world. You must not take sides recklessly, and absolutely never interfere in matters that can change destiny. If you do, you will surely pay the price. Do you understand?”
Until she awakened her power at age twelve, she didn’t know what that meant, and after twelve, she half-forgot it.
She should have heeded that advice.
Did she regress this much as the price for not just interfering in human affairs, but leading the charge to change the world?
Arilleti seriously held up her two hands.
‘They’re short. And chubby.’
This time, she rolled her body and stretched her legs towards the floor from the bed. No matter how hard she straightened her knees, her feet just dangled in the air, not touching the floor.
Arilleti grabbed the bedsheet and carefully lowered herself down.
Swoosh, Thump.
‘Ouch!’
Her tailbone hurt enough to make her tear up.
Arilleti swallowed her shame and crawled across the carpet. It was incredibly difficult to stand up because one of her legs was heavily bandaged, but after a while, she managed to get up on both feet.
She crawled determinedly to the mirror, where a shocking sight appeared.
A doll-like baby with calm, rosy pink hair and turquoise eyes was staring back at Arilleti with a spaced-out expression.
“…”
Her two cheeks were puffy like generously risen dough. Her eyes took up half her face. She was a tiny being with an innocent expression that smelled of baby powder—more a baby than a child.
This confirmed all the circumstances.
‘Aaaaaaah.’
Arilleti grabbed the mirror with her sausage-like hands and cried out in despair.
‘Why a child! I’ve never regressed this far back before!’
How old is this body, anyway?!
As a consequence of rolling around in the snow in the middle of winter, Arilleti caught a terrible cold. Her throat was so swollen she couldn’t pronounce a single word correctly.
Still, she managed to figure out roughly how much she had regressed.
“Huh? What’s this?”
Tanesa, a maid working at the Hezeite Count’s estate, crouched down and looked at the paper.
Arilleti diligently pointed back and forth between the crudely written numbers and herself. She wanted to ask, ‘How old is someone born on October 15th, Inavacio Year 1343?’ But what came out of her mouth was a ridiculously shameful pronunciation.
“How, how owd…” (How, how old)
Aaaaargh.
Arilleti cried out in agony again. The age where she couldn’t even pronounce words correctly!
But the shocking truth didn’t end there.
“October 1343? Let’s see, that was three years and three months ago, wasn’t it?”
Approximately 39 months ago!
‘Then this year is 1347, and since it’s January…’
Five years old!
Rumble. Thunder struck inside her head.
Arilleti trembled, clutching the piece of paper that took her a full 30 minutes to write.
Good heavens. This time, she had regressed a whopping 14 years, not just one or two!
“Is this your birthday? I was wondering how many months you were, but you must have just turned five. And you already know your birthday? You’re so smart, little one!”
Tanesa burst into laughter.
“Look at that sulky face. You are so cute, baby!”
The present situation was so absurd that Arilleti even forgot to feel shame.
Arilleti chewed on the bread soaked with her tears.
‘I should have just died…’
Even after narrowly escaping death, she was still hungry.
“Eat slowly, little one. What’s your name? And where is your home?”
“Ari-retti…”
“Arilleti? Aww, even your name is cute.”
Arilleti was currently at one of the rest stops on the way to the northern border of the Bertel Empire. They seemed to be briefly staying at this village inn. The only people in the inn were Arilleti, Tanesa (who was assigned to look after her), Dr. Sergio, and a group of intimidating-looking Hezeite knights. From the conversation, Glenn Hezeite and Sir Tomvel had taken the rest of the company out on patrol.
The bulky men kept circling around Arilleti all day.
“Little Miss, Little Miss. Aren’t you going to tell the uncle your name? Hmm?”
“Aigoo, look how fair she is. How did this little bite-sized thing end up in the snow? Little one, where did your mommy go? Do you not have a daddy?”
Arilleti kept her mouth shut and glared at the big men.
What’s wrong? Haven’t you ever seen a five-year-old before? Have you not?!
She was extremely stressed from this unwanted third life. Her glare was not polite.
The big men didn’t seem to care, though.
“Little Prophet, my name is Doris Dunken. Can you give Uncle some good advice too?”
Are they mocking me right now? Are they looking down on me because I’m a little kid who can only talk baby talk? Is that it?
Worse, the men dismissed all the advice Arilleti had struggled to give as the silly ramblings of a child. Her stomach was churning.
“Knights, stop teasing the child. She’s distressed!”
“Oh, is she? Sorry, baby. Finish your bread. There you go.”
The muscleman who introduced himself as Doris Dunken lifted Arilleti up. He started rocking her like a cradle, but her tailbone kept bumping against his muscular forearm.
It hurts! Is this a human arm or steel?!
Dunken, who looked like a simple potato, pointed at Dr. Sergio and asked.
“Why can’t that slick-looking doctor get married? Will he really be kicked out with nothing?”
“…He looks ripe for a scam marriage.”
“Why a scam marriage, little one… I just lost all my savings less than a month ago.”
Dr. Sergio, watching Arilleti from among the men, covered his face in despair.
Oh, so he was a habitual victim.
Dunken roared with laughter, shaking the inn, and slapped the doctor hard on the back.
“Bookworms can’t be helped, I tell you! Listen, Doctor. Let’s do some special training when we get to the Hezeite territory. If you rub shoulders with the territory people while facing the brutal snowstorms of the North, you’ll naturally learn to read people! You won’t regret deciding to serve our Junior Lord!”
Arilleti chewed her sesame bread and tilted her head.
‘That’s strange.’
In her two previous lives, Dr. Sergio was always on the side of the 1st Prince Albert Federka, or the 2nd Prince. Why had he suddenly joined the Hezeite side this time?
If this was 1347, the doctor had just graduated from the Imperial Medical Academy and was merely a sapling. His genius was not yet widely known. Did the Marquis recognize his talent earlier this life? If so, the future might change a little.
“I am so happy that we finally have a doctor who majored in Mana Studies in our territory. I look forward to working with you, Doctor!”
“Haha, the pleasure is all mine, Vice-Commander.”
The muscleman, Dunken, seemed to be the Vice-Commander of the Hezeite Knights.
Arilleti strained to listen to the information flowing around her, even as she was being jostled on his arm. She was still hungry, so she kept chewing tenaciously on her bread crust.
‘It seems these people are heading to the Hezeite territory.’
Well, they were the knights led by the Marquis, so that made sense.
‘But if it’s 1347, hasn’t Glenn Hezeite even inherited the Count title yet? Is that why he’s called the “Junior Lord” (Sogaju)? And why are they taking me with them?’
It looked like they didn’t take Arilleti’s “will” seriously. If so, taking her along would be useless…
She wished they would just leave her somewhere suitable. Why did this sesame bread have to taste so good right now?
Just then, the entrance became noisy.
“An ambush! The 1st Prince Albert Federka’s Black Lion unit attacked the patrol!”
Arilleti dropped the bread she was eating.
Who? The 1st Prince Albert Federka?
