Chapter 2
“Oh, that face looks familiar.”
Arilleti blankly searched her memories.
‘Ah… that man. He’s the right-hand man of the Marquis of Hezeite. Was he Sir Tomvel?’
Norman Tomvel, the Knights Commander of the Hezeite Count family, a family she had completely destroyed herself in the past.
She didn’t remember the name and face of every person she had eliminated. However, she clearly remembered this man because she felt personally very sorry for him.
Arilleti thought with her fading mind, ‘If I’m going to die anyway… I’d like to go to heaven.’
So, let me do a few good deeds for the world before I go.
“Listen…”
Arilleti squeezed out the last of her strength. With a trembling index finger, she pointed at the knight.
“You’re going to sell your house in the capital, right?”
“Huh?”
“Before you sell it, dig up the backyard. You’ll be happy for a hundred years…”
There’s an artifact from the White Forest buried beneath your backyard. How much was it? A million gold? In her first life, the discovery of the artifact right after he sold the house made him weep in the middle of the capital, and it was in the morning paper.
‘I was the one who bought that house to claim the artifact. I’m sorry…’
After offering her silent apology, Arilleti shifted her gaze.
To her surprise, there was someone else whose future was even more dismal.
‘Isn’t that Dr. Sergio?’
Sergio Anus. A genius doctor and potion maker known as the ‘Hand of God’ in the capital. She didn’t know why this promising young man, who had even become the 1st Prince Albert Federka’s personal physician, was with Sir Tomvel, but he only had to avoid one thing.
“Don’t get married…”
“Hmm?”
“Your bride will take everything, and you’ll be kicked out with nothing.”
Because, in her second life, she had sent a con artist to him. She planned to lure him into working for her—by having him incur massive debt from a fraudulent marriage, then offering to clear it all.
‘I was planning to poison the 1st Prince Albert Federka back then, so I needed to recruit his physician beforehand.’
They said he was a genius, but he was far too trusting. Arilleti giggled repeatedly at the memory. Looking back and reflecting, I really did commit a lot of terrible deeds. The law of cause and effect doesn’t miss anyone.
Dr. Sergio’s expression turned strange. The doctor and Sir Tomvel put their heads together and started whispering.
“Hmm… Well, since her cheeks are flushed, she must not be right at the point of freezing to death.”
“But if we leave her like this, she’ll die of exposure soon, won’t she?”
A new shadow approached. By this point, Arilleti was curious who the third person would be, so she opened her eyes slightly and looked up.
‘Ah, that man is…’
Glenn Hezeite, the Marquis of the Hezeite territory. The guardian of the Bertel Empire’s border and a Sword Master hailed as the continent’s finest swordsman. A man who had been Arilleti’s adversary for a long time. The head of the family she had utterly wiped out in the past, and the right-hand man of the 3rd Prince, who was the very bottom of the imperial succession line.
Although he looked much younger than the man Arilleti knew, it was undoubtedly him.
“Hooong…” Arilleti burst into tears.
How could all the people I harmed be gathered here! Was she seeing her life flash before her eyes because death was imminent?
‘Come to think of it, I owe Glenn Hezeite a debt.’
Arilleti, who had never lost to anyone, had been completely defeated by this man’s trickery just once in her two lives. Sometimes, a reckless, direct strike can tear apart an intricately woven net. She had been caught off guard by an unexpected move.
Glenn Hezeite could have killed Arilleti then. But he didn’t. He stared at her with eyes that were hard to read, then let her go with an equally unreadable smile.
“Go find your life, Arilleti.”
Why did he save me?
Honestly, the reason didn’t matter. The only important thing was that he had shown her mercy.
Then, before leaving this world, couldn’t she at least offer him a word of good advice? To help him survive a long time in this harsh and difficult world.
“…There will be an attack on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Inavacio calendar year 1357.”
The young man raised one eyebrow crookedly. Arilleti continued, ignoring him.
“Always be careful of the downhill path when climbing a mountain…”
But why was her tongue so twisted? Her pronunciation seemed odd.
“If you see a red flag on your way, be sure to avoid it…”
“…”
“The pretty mad dog’s lung disease will quickly go away if you brew mandrake…”
“…”
“Hee… Achoo!”
It must be because her mouth was frozen from the cold. She would have given more specific advice if she knew exactly when she had regressed, but this was the best Arilleti could do now.
‘Anyway, Glenn Hezeite, please survive and live a long time, defeat all those despicable princes, and put the 3rd Prince on the throne.’
Her heart felt a little more at ease. This wouldn’t settle all the bad karma from her past lives, but she hoped it would help his path ahead a little.
Arilleti mumbled with a stuffy nose. “Then goodbye, everyone. I wish you good luck.”
“…”
“I will receive my punishment here…”
Let no one stop me.
That was the end of her last words. Arilleti weakly rolled onto her side. Her small back, covered in snow lumps, was exposed.
“…”
The onlookers were all silent.
“Cough, Achooo!”
Once again, a loud sneeze echoed far and wide through the quiet mountain valley… and soon, the small back began to heave. Followed by the sound of sobbing.
“Huuu…”
As if she couldn’t swallow the deep sorrow bubbling up from within, the small whimpering soon turned into bitter wailing.
“Heeoooong… Huwaaah…”
Heeooong…
Arilleti couldn’t help but sob, feeling unfairly treated. If she had known she would end up in such a pathetic state, she wouldn’t have struggled so hard. She had been called a wicked villainess for what felt like 500 years. And for what?
Why were those scoundrels so “precious” to her? How could she be fooled twice, like a goldfish?
In the end, she achieved nothing, lived her life being exploited, and now was dying a pointless death.
The men surrounding the loudly crying Arilleti started murmuring again.
“What could be making her so sad, Doctor?”
“I don’t know. Her story seems to be quite the tragedy.”
“Indeed. What should we do, Junior Lord?”
“Hmm. Has anyone here ever held a child this small?”
A child?
At the unexpected word, the surroundings grew noisy. Glenn Hezeite shrugged, looking at his subordinates.
“Fine. I’ll do it.”
“Heeoooong… ACK?”
Arilleti was lifted into the air without warning. It was then that she realized something was seriously wrong.
‘Wait a minute?’
She was a nineteen-year-old adult, but her weight felt unnaturally light.
Someone suddenly appeared in front of Arilleti, who was dumbfounded with icicles hanging from her eyes, nose, and mouth. He was a handsome young man with clean, sharp features and straight, eagle-like eyes. The contrast between his jet-black hair and blue eyes was very striking.
Seeing him this close, it was certain. Glenn Hezeite was much younger than the face Arilleti remembered. He was a youth who had just shed his boyish look. Was he barely an adult?
Glenn Hezeite murmured to himself, “Mandrake for the pretty mad dog’s lung disease… Mandrake is an antidote, though.”
Pondering for a moment, he flicked the icy tears off Arilleti’s cheek with the back of his hand.
“Ugh, gross.”
But he didn’t remove the column of ice hanging like a stalactite under her nose.
“Uh…?”
Glenn, who effortlessly held Arilleti with one arm, wrapped her small body tightly in his cloak. Her body trembled from the sudden warmth.
“If you wipe your snot on my clothes, I’ll leave you behind. Figure it out.”
The young man warned her and swung up onto his horse.
Arilleti, startled, instinctively wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Feeling the small weight clinging desperately to him, Glenn chuckled.
He turned to his group and shouted in a booming voice, “We ride out again! We must keep riding all day to reach the Hezeite territory within a week, so hurry up!”
“Yes, Junior Lord!”
Arilleti’s eyes, buried deep inside the thick cloak, widened.
‘Huh? Wait? Wait, wait, wait?’
Before she could object, dozens of horse hooves kicked up the snow.
Hold on, we’re leaving now?
No, you have to leave me here!
Arilleti, who only wanted to be buried in the snow and die, was rescued. By the very leader of the faction she had completely wiped out in her past life.
And in the body of a child.
The body of a… child?!
‘Is this right?’
It felt like something had gone terribly wrong!
