Chapter 17
“…Right. I’ll just say I awakened metal magic! And that I can only summon a key for now.”
But there was one problem.
Since she still wasn’t skilled at handling it, whenever she summoned the magic key, the blue book would float out together with it as a set.
“If the book and key get summoned together like usual, I’m doomed.”
If someone saw the book, they might learn the secret of the key.
And besides, the book wasn’t even made of metal, so it would be hard to lie about it.
“I guess I need to practice summoning the book and the key separately.”
Her room was risky in case the maids came in, and the magic training ground was even worse since other children passed through there all the time.
Wasn’t there somewhere she could freely take out the magic key alone?
Looking at Kiki, Lyria spoke.
“I’ll have to go outside. You’ll help me, right?”
“Pipit!”
When she thought about a place where no one would run into her, one place came to mind.
If it was the source of that scary rumor, no one would be there.
Among the children, an old rumor had always circulated.
They said that on the hill in the northern forest of the castle lived a cabin keeper who ate children.
“There’s a huge cauldron in the hut where the cabin keeper lives, and someone saw a little foot sticking out of the boiling water… and it was a child, they said.”
It was a frightening story for children, but most of those rumors were usually exaggerated.
Anyway, it meant the northern forest was rarely visited, so she would just practice a little near the entrance.
“Kiki, how about hunting for food in the wild for the first time in a while?”
“Gguuk!”
“You’re that excited?”
Placing the thrilled creature on her shoulder, Lyria told the maids she was going to catch bugs in the nearby garden and slipped out of her room.
The duke’s castle was ridiculously huge, so it took quite a while to walk from the east wing to the north gate.
But she had to endure this much for proper training.
Just then, Ralph, the coachman who usually drove the children of the east wing, spotted her and asked,
“Oh my, Miss Lyria, where would you like me to take you?”
“Ah, um… the e— no, the east gate.”
If she got at least that far, the walking distance would be cut by more than half.
Not long after getting into the carriage, they arrived at the east gate.
“We’re here.”
“Yes, thank you, Mr. Coachman.”
“It’s nothing. Shall I meet you here again later?”
“Ah, really? I’d appreciate that!”
They agreed to meet again in two hours, and she parted from Uncle Ralph. Thanks to him, she had arrived comfortably.
Step, step.
As she walked from the east gate to the north gate, sweating, Lyria repeated to herself,
‘Someday, I’ll definitely get the teleportation key Grandmother once had.’
Before she knew it, she looked up and saw the north gate.
But there was a soldier guarding the entrance.
After watching for a few minutes and deciding this wouldn’t work, Lyria set Kiki down on the ground.
“Kiki, can you distract him a little?”
Kiki’s black eyes sparkled as if to say, Just trust me.
Approaching the gate, Kiki let out a small “Pipit!” The soldier lowered his head to look down. Kiki stuck out his pink tongue and groomed his fur, trying to charm him.
“Ahem. Where did you come from?”
In response, Kiki flopped onto his back and showed off his soft, pale pink belly, waving his front paws in the air.
The soldier, captivated by the cuteness, reached out his hand. But Kiki rolled away quickly, moved slightly aside, and flipped over again to show his belly once more.
Determined to pet that fluffy stomach at least once, the soldier wandered far from his post.
“Now!”
While he was distracted, Lyria quickly slipped past the castle gate.
After letting the soldier pet him once, Kiki scampered after Lyria.
“Hehe, thanks to you, I made it outside the castle!”
It was her first time going outside the gates alone.
A dense forest and a stream spread out before her.
Walking under the warm sunlight made her feel light and giddy.
Beyond the forest, she could see a low hill.
So the hill really does exist.
Right in front of the stream were plump wild raspberries growing in abundance.
Lyria’s eyes sparkled.
“Wow, they look so delicious.”
She swallowed and glanced around.
Then she picked three raspberries, rinsed them in the stream, and popped them into her mouth.
The burst of fresh juice was delightful.
Kiki didn’t seem interested and lay on the grass with his belly up.
Seizing the chance, Lyria began picking a large number of raspberries and stuffing them into her bag.
“It’d be delicious if I make strawberry jam later. It would taste good with whipped cream too, right?”
Lost in happy thoughts, she kept collecting berries until her once-flat bear-shaped bag bulged round.
Still, it looked like there was room for a few more.
Smiling brightly, she swung the bag to her front and filled it completely with more berries.
At that moment, she heard a rustling sound behind a tree.
She felt someone’s presence.
‘W-Who’s there?’
She thought no one was around.
Startled, Lyria instinctively shrank back.
Thud.
There was a sound, and a piece of clothing fluttered in the wind beside a large tree.
Did someone fall?
Half worried, half curious, Lyria’s round eyes darted about as she carefully held her breath and approached.
Meanwhile, Kiki, ears perked up, sprang to his feet and followed closely behind her.
But she didn’t dare look behind the tree right away.
‘I’ll look after I count to three!’
With that resolve, she began counting.
‘One, two—’
Suddenly, the other person jumped out first.
Swoosh.
In an instant, a small wooden sword was pointed at Lyria.
“Thre—! Wh-Who are you? Hic—!”
At the same time, the boy also froze in surprise.
He had the wary attitude of a wild animal.
The wooden sword poked further into Lyria’s bag.
Red juice, like blood, dripped onto the grass.
“Kyaa…!”
The past flashed through her mind, and startled, Lyria fell backward onto the grass.
Her heart pounded wildly, and her breathing became rough.
The raspberries in her bag must have been crushed.
The sweet, strong scent of strawberries filled the air.
‘No. That’s not blood. It’s just crushed berries.’
Before she had possessed this novel—
In her previous life, Yena had been stabbed by a stranger and died.
After that, in Lyria’s body, she had never seen blood… and she hadn’t realized it.
It seemed that long-ago incident had remained as trauma.
She shook her head repeatedly, trying to forget the memory, but her body trembled uncontrollably.
“….”
The startled boy dropped his wooden sword and sank to his knees.
Belatedly, he crawled closer to the fallen Lyria.
“Hey… you. A-Are you okay?”
He had never intended to hurt a child.
He had meant to scare her, yes—
But if she could be hurt by such a thin wooden sword, maybe she was very fragile.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I was just surprised. Oh, and this isn’t my blood. Look, it’s raspberries.”
Her voice was young and clear, like a chirping bird.
Even so, her breath and voice trembled slightly.
“…I wasn’t trying to attack you.”
The boy lowered his head deeply.
“I know. I’m not hurt at all. Just surprised. Your wooden sword turned my bag into this.”
“….”
His head remained lowered.
“You’re silly. At times like this, you’re supposed to say sorry.”
With a small sigh, Lyria stood up first and held out her hand to him.
“Come on, get up.”
But instead of taking her hand, the boy pushed himself up from the ground on his own.
Pulling her hand back, Lyria finally regained her composure and looked at him properly.
The boy was in terrible shape.
Brown hair covered half his face, messy and tangled.
His clothes looked like rags he had picked up somewhere, so filthy it seemed they hadn’t been washed in a year.
His thin, small body was covered in minor wounds.
Seven years old? Or eight?
He looked only a year or two older than Lyria herself.
Then a breeze blew, revealing his face more clearly beneath the hair that half-covered it.
What stood out most was that his eyes were closed—
And that he was incredibly beautiful.
So beautiful that it was almost startling.
