IRMN | 21

Chapter 21

Before living her new life as Elinor, her previous life had been lonely.

Her mother had given birth to her at a very young age, alone.

The child’s father, a fellow student at the same school, had gone abroad for what seemed like an escape and lost contact.

For a young student who couldn’t even take care of herself, being responsible for another life was anything but easy.

Eventually, when she turned five, her mother abandoned her at an orphanage, leaving behind the lie that she would come back in ten nights.

“If you were going to abandon me, you shouldn’t have given birth to me. Or at least, leave me when I don’t remember anything.”

The child, left alone, resented the mother who had abandoned her.

At the same time, she tried to understand her mother’s cruel choice.

“There must have been some reason. A reason she couldn’t come for me.”

Even at a young age, she realized that the world was harsh toward single mothers.

She had already experienced countless forms of discrimination simply because she had no parents and was from an orphanage.

“It hasn’t been ten nights… but hundreds of times that long.”

Still, if her mother were to come back and apologize for being too late, she would embrace her.

“Maybe she doesn’t even know where I am, which is why she hasn’t found me.”

She felt that, to reunite with someone she had parted from long ago, the fastest way was to become famous.

So she worked with all her strength to succeed.

Starting far behind others, she became a young CEO whose name everyone would recognize—not by luck.

And indeed, her plan succeeded.

Her mother came looking for her.

“I hear you have cancer. Make me the beneficiary of your insurance. Think of it as your last filial duty to the mother who gave birth to you, okay?”

Her mother, terminally ill, was after her inheritance and insurance money.

Everything felt meaningless in that moment.

All her life, she had wished to reunite with her mother.

But in the end, she really had been abandoned.

There was no sign of regret for abandoning her child in her mother’s attitude.

Instead, she seemed quietly pleased.

When she died, her mother could monopolize all the vast wealth and assets she had built.

Perhaps due to the shock of meeting her mother again, her already fragile health rapidly worsened.

She could not last even another month and passed away, only to awaken as Elinor Winston.

“I won’t expect anything anymore.”

Realizing she had transmigrated into a novel, she decided to keep her distance from her new family.

After all, Elinor Winston was a character who tormented her younger sister Charlotte and met a horrible end.

Keeping a moderate distance would be safer for both sides.

“Elinor is really amazing.”

“She hasn’t even graduated, but everyone wants to take her. A genius, surely Winston would say that.”

So, after entering the academy, she lived quietly, preparing to become independent from her family.

“A baby…?”

She never expected that, upon briefly returning to the mansion after graduation, she would meet Charlotte’s child.

A child abandoned at a much younger age than herself.

Seeing the baby lying alone on the bed and crying, Elinor realized she could never turn her back on her niece.

The first time she met the baby, she felt as if she were looking at herself.

Projecting her failed life onto a newborn who had just started theirs.

She felt guilty toward her niece yet could not stop identifying with the child.

If the baby survived and reunited with Charlotte, and if Charlotte sincerely regretted her past mistakes and cared for the child, perhaps the deep scars in Elinor’s heart would heal, even just a little.

“It shouldn’t have happened this way.”

Elinor blamed herself in the raging flames.

“I shouldn’t have waited for Charlotte to come for the baby. I should have taken the baby to Charlotte myself.”

If she had wanted, she could have found Charlotte first.

After all, as a transmigrator, she had exclusive knowledge of the original story.

But Elinor did not.

She wanted Charlotte to come herself and make amends for her past mistakes.

The baby was not herself from her previous life.

Out of selfishness, wanting her own wounds to heal, she had put an innocent child in danger.

The flames roared.

Elinor gasped for breath.

“Baby!”

She looked around desperately, shouting at the top of her lungs.

But no matter where she looked, the five-month-old baby was nowhere to be seen.

She could only hear the pitiful sound of a child crying out for its mother.

The stench of burning filled her nose.

Her heart pounded wildly.

“Baby! Where are you!”

Elinor ran through the scorching flames, searching for the baby left alone.

“Waaah!”

“Baby!”

She finally found the child trapped in the surging fire and rushed to scoop it up.

At the same time, a crimson wave poured down above her head.

“No!”

Startled, Elinor held the baby tighter to protect it.

“Hah…”

She woke from the deep dream, finally opening her eyes.

“Huh, hah…”

Elinor gasped for air.

She saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

It wasn’t the marble ceiling of the academy dormitory she had seen every day for seven years, nor the old wooden boards of an inn.

Where am I now?

And more importantly, the baby—where is the baby?

“Huh…”

Elinor forced herself to sit up.

The room wasn’t large.

All it contained were the bed she had been lying on, a small tea table, and a chair.

The furniture seemed high-quality, a curious detail, but Elinor couldn’t focus on it.

There was no sign of her niece anywhere.

“Baby. Where are you…! Ugh.”

As she tried to get off the bed, she lost her balance and steadied herself with both hands.

Her head spun.

She had no strength in her body, as if she were waking up from a very long sleep.

Had the fire smoke caused this?

She strained, gripping her waist and groaning, trying to get upright.

At that moment, she heard a click as the door opened.

“Mom?”

Matthias entered the room, his left arm bandaged, looking surprised.

And behind him…

“Baby!”

Her niece, whom Elinor had been desperately searching for, was in the arms of a woman who seemed to be a maid.

Elinor flailed her arms.

She wanted to rush and reclaim the baby immediately, but her body would not obey.

The maid looked at Matthias for guidance.

Matthias nodded.

“Hand the child over.”

At his permission, the baby finally came into Elinor’s arms.

The baby seemed to recognize her, cooing softly.

“Baah—”

“You’re not hurt. Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness…”

Had the baby been inside the inn during the fire, what might have happened?

A helpless child in the flames…

Hot tears rolled down Elinor’s cheeks.

She held her niece tightly.

“I will never make such a mistake again.”

“I will safely return you to your mother. I’m sorry I wasn’t enough as your aunt.”