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Chapter 3
Ariletti El Clemens Cadiz.
Once upon a time, she had possessed a name that grand and aristocratic. Probably until she was one or two years old, at least.
House Cadiz, Viscounts of modest standing, had never been especially prominent among the nobility. And when Ariletti was still babbling nonsense as a toddler, the family was purged for treason.
She had been too young to remember the exact charges. Too young to know why her mother had fled through a pitch-dark marshland with her clutched tight in her arms.
In fact, she had only learned they were a traitor’s family from the First Prince, Albert.
But one thing—just one—remained crystal clear in her memory. Her mother’s desperate whisper against her ear.
“Always remain neutral, Aril. The Sage of the White Forest must always stand one step apart from the human world. Never take sides recklessly—especially never interfere in matters that can alter fate itself. If you do, you will pay the price. Do you understand?”
Before her power awakened at twelve, she hadn’t understood those words at all. After twelve, she had half-forgotten them.
She should have listened.
Had she regressed this far as payment for interfering in human affairs? For stepping forward and turning the world upside down?
Ariletti slowly raised both hands in front of her face.
“Short. And chubby.”
She rolled toward the edge of the bed and stretched her legs down.
No matter how much she straightened her knees, her feet dangled helplessly in midair, nowhere near the floor.
Gripping the blanket, she carefully lowered herself.
Slide… thud.
“—!”
Her tailbone screamed in agony.
Swallowing her humiliation, Ariletti crawled across the carpet.
One leg was wrapped thickly in bandages, making it nearly impossible to stand. But eventually, wobbling and determined, she managed to get onto both feet.
She trudged toward the mirror.
And then she saw it.
A doll-like baby with calm pink hair and teal-green eyes stared back at her with a vacant expression.
“……”
Her cheeks were plump, like well-proofed dough.
Her eyes took up nearly half her face. She looked less like a child and more like an actual baby—soft, round, faintly powdered, and completely clueless.
That settled it.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Ariletti slammed her sausage-like hands against the mirror and screamed internally.
Why a child?! I’ve never gone back this far before!
Just how old was this body?!
As a reward for rolling around in the snow in the middle of winter, Ariletti came down with a vicious cold. Her throat swelled so badly she couldn’t pronounce a single word properly.
Still, she had managed to figure out roughly how much younger she had become.
“Hmm? What’s this?”
Tanesha, a maid working in the Hezeit county, crouched down and examined the paper Ariletti had scribbled on.
Ariletti pointed back and forth between the crooked numbers and herself.
She had meant to ask:
If someone was born on October 15th, 1343 in the Inabachio calendar, how old would they be this year?
What came out instead was humiliating beyond belief.
“Me… how… old…”
Aaaah.
Another internal scream.
She couldn’t even pronounce properly.
But the true shock came next.
“October 1343? Let’s see… that’s three years and three months ago.”
About 39 months ago.
Then if it’s 1347 now, and it’s January…
Five years old.
Thunder crashed in her mind.
For a full thirty minutes, Ariletti clutched the paper and trembled.
Not one or two years.
This time, she had regressed fourteen whole years.
“Is this your birthday? I was wondering how old you were. You just turned five, huh? And you already know your birthday? So smart!”
Tanesha giggled.
“Look at that pout! You’re too cute!”
The situation was so absurd, Ariletti forgot to even feel ashamed.
She chewed on bread soaked with her tears.
I should have just died…
Even after dying and coming back to life, hunger remained.
“Slow down, little one. What’s your name? Where’s your home?”
“Ari…retti…”
“Ariletti? Oh my, even your name is adorable.”
They were currently staying at one of the stopover villages on the way to the northern border of the Bertel Empire.
At this inn were Ariletti, her assigned caretaker Tanesha, Dr. Sergio, and a group of intimidating Hezeit knights. From what she gathered, Glenn Hezeit and Sir Tombell had gone scouting with the rest of the men.
Broad-shouldered giants hovered around her all day.
“Baby miss, baby miss! Won’t you tell uncle your name too?”
“Oh my, look how pale she is. How did such a tiny bite-sized thing end up buried in snow? Where’s your mama, little one? No papa?”
Ariletti clamped her mouth shut and glared at the shoulders.
What? Never seen a five-year-old before? Is that it?
She was under extreme stress from being forced into a third life she never asked for. Of course her eyes weren’t exactly gentle.
The shoulders didn’t seem to care.
“Little prophet, my name’s Doris Dunken. Won’t you give uncle a blessing too?”
They were mocking her.
They thought she was just a lisping toddler.
Worse, they dismissed all her carefully offered advice as childish nonsense.
Her insides boiled.
“Knights, stop teasing her. She clearly hates it!”
“Oh, is that so? Sorry, little one. Finish your bread, okay?”
The muscle mountain who introduced himself as Doris Dunken suddenly scooped her up.
He rocked her like a cradle.
Her tailbone knocked against his iron-like arm.
It hurt! Was that an arm or forged steel?
Dunken, who resembled a wholesome potato, pointed at Dr. Sergio.
“So why can’t this slick-looking doctor get married? Think he’ll get kicked out to Algundoni?”
“…He looks perfect… for scam marriage…”
“Why a scam marriage, little one… I just lost my entire fortune a month ago.”
Dr. Sergio covered his face in despair.
Ah. A repeat victim.
Dunken laughed so hard the inn shook and slapped the doctor’s back repeatedly.
“Bookworms can’t be helped! When we get to Hezeit, let’s train you properly. Spend some time in northern snowstorms with the locals and you’ll learn how to judge people! You won’t regret serving our young lord!”
Ariletti tilted her head while gnawing on sesame bread.
Wait… that’s odd.
In her previous two lives, Dr. Sergio had always sided with the First Prince—or the Second.
So why was he with Hezeit now?
If this was 1347, he had only just graduated from the Imperial Medical Academy. His genius hadn’t even become widely known yet.
Did the Margrave recognize his talent first this time?
That would definitely change the future.
“We’re thrilled to finally have a doctor who studied mana sciences in our territory. Please take care of us!”
“The pleasure’s mine, Vice Captain.”
So muscle potato Dunken was the vice-captain of the Hezeit knights.
Even while being jostled around on his arm, Ariletti absorbed every bit of information. She was still hungry, so she stubbornly kept chewing her bread.
So they’re heading to Hezeit territory.
Of course. The Margrave himself led the knights.
But if it’s 1347, Glenn hasn’t inherited the title yet, right? That’s why they call him Young Lord? Then why am I coming along?
From the looks of it, they hadn’t taken her so-called “last words” seriously at all.
Then she was useless to them.
They could at least drop her somewhere safe.
Also—why was sesame bread this delicious right now?
That was when the entrance erupted in noise.
“We’re under attack! The First Prince’s Black Lion unit ambushed the scouting party!”
The bread slipped from Ariletti’s hand.
Who?
The First Prince?
