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Chapter 2
I am an ice ability user, Genuere.
A reincarnated person inside a novel, and originally, a villain destined to be brutally killed by the Empire’s strongest guardian knight, the Grand Duke of Enar.
I realized that only three months ago.
And that day was also the first time I awakened my ability.
“It worked!”
“The experiment succeeded!”
“Oh, God!”
Noisy voices rang loudly in my ears.
I was lying inside a vertical cylindrical glass tube filled with cloudy smoke.
When I opened my eyes slightly, I could vaguely see adults beyond the glass cheering and hugging each other like blurry ghosts.
Suddenly, one of them walked toward the glass tube.
Clank! Hissss—
As the door opened, the smoke inside slowly drifted away.
And once the smoke cleared, a priest wearing black robes with golden patterns stood before me.
After helping me up, he carefully checked my condition before suddenly hugging me tightly.
“Genuere, well done! You finally succeeded!”
“……”
Right.
My name is Genuere.
I was born an orphan and spent my entire life until the age of thirteen inside this underground laboratory of the temple.
‘But what is this memory?’
After briefly losing consciousness inside the glass tube, memories from a completely different world flooded my mind.
A world that could not possibly belong here.
‘The priest uncles never mentioned that new memories would appear after the experiment.’
Still, those memories felt strangely familiar.
‘As if I had personally lived that life myself.’
What was this called again?
Right.
A past life.
I slowly recalled the memories of my “past life.”
A modern city with advanced civilization.
A family that loved me, even though we were not wealthy.
And me, enduring exhausting work every day while stubbornly continuing my life.
The ordinary life I had lived as part of society passed through my mind like a panorama.
Since I stayed silent for a while, the priest looked at me and laughed warmly.
“Yes, yes… It still doesn’t feel real yet, does it? You have finally become an ‘ability user.’”
Excited, the priest suddenly grabbed my right hand and raised it high into the air.
“Yes, we did it. We created an ‘ability user!’”
At his declaration, the other priests dropped to their knees with joyful expressions and cried out together.
“Oh, Leventos!”
“At last, we have fulfilled your mission!”
“Leventos! Sob, sob!”
…Wow.
Watching the chaotic scene unfold before my eyes, I could only blink blankly.
And as I looked at them, I thought,
‘How can the priest uncles, who always looked like the smartest people in the world, suddenly seem so stupid?’
Honestly, if I hadn’t regained memories of my past life just now, I probably would have knelt beside them and prayed in joy too.
The priests here had always taught me never to forget praying to God.
‘Even when the experiments were unbearably painful.’
But this time, I simply could not pray.
Because the memories of my past life had made me realize something.
I finally understood how abnormal my thirteen years of life had been.
Locked up here since birth and used as an experiment subject.
In my past life, although we were poor, my mother loved me dearly.
Even though she worked hard every day and returned home late at night, she always hugged me warmly and told me she loved me.
And because of those vivid memories, I finally understood.
‘A thirteen-year-old child being imprisoned and experimented on like this is not normal.’
And that wasn’t all.
No matter how I thought about it, I was definitely reincarnated into the novel I had read in my past life.
<The Beloved Daughter of the Grand Duchy>.
The story was about a heroine who was thought to be cursed, but was actually an ice ability user destined to save the Empire.
She was adopted by the Empire’s strongest guardian knight, the Grand Duke of Enar, and received endless love in a healing romance fantasy story.
‘And among the characters was a villainess named Genuere, who became jealous of the heroine, bullied her, and was eventually brutally killed by the Grand Duke.’
And I realized that I had reincarnated as that very Genuere.
The shining emerald eyes reflected in the glass tube.
The silver hair.
And the name they called me.
Everything proved that I was Genuere, the villain of the novel.
‘And that’s not all.’
If I quietly stayed here in the underground laboratory, I would eventually follow the exact same path as the novel’s Genuere.
The priests constantly said they would create a fake ice ability user and send her to the residence of the strongest guardian knight—
The place known as the Enar Grand Duchy.
They had even carefully taught me everything I should do after becoming the adopted daughter of the Grand Duke.
And all of those things perfectly matched the villainous actions Genuere committed in the novel.
Especially the most ridiculous one of all.
‘They told me to trick the Grand Duke into taking a blood test and deceive him into believing I’m his lost real daughter. Seriously, how ridiculous!’
Thirteen years ago, the Grand Duchess of Enar disappeared in an accident.
The priests planned a scheme claiming that the missing Grand Duchess had actually been pregnant.
And they intended to disguise me as the Grand Duke’s biological daughter.
Their plan was to make me the heir of the Grand Duchy, and once I inherited it in the future, they would control the family through me.
But more importantly—
‘Before any of that can even happen, I’m destined to be brutally killed by the Grand Duke anyway!’
Because eventually, the heroine—the “real ice ability user”—would appear before the Grand Duke.
And during the process of the Grand Duke loving the heroine, my identity as a fake ice ability user created by the Temple of Leventos would be exposed.
In the end, I would die miserably by the Grand Duke’s sword—
The Avalanche Sword that freezes hearts solid.
A typical villainess ending.
‘I refuse to accept that fate!’
At that moment, a new plan formed in my mind.
‘Escape!’
I could no longer remain the obedient Genuere who faithfully listened to the priests in the underground laboratory.
‘I don’t want to stay trapped here anymore.’
After making up my mind, I lifted my head and looked toward the heavy iron door of the laboratory.
It was tightly shut.
Strangely enough, until now, I had never once thought about leaving through that door.
But—
‘Now, I can do it.’
Because a new power was flowing through my body.
‘It feels like a new engine is humming beneath my heart.’
Right now, beneath my heart, a delicate crystal engine had been implanted inside me.
Of course, I only knew this because it was mentioned in the novel.
True ice ability users like the heroine used elemental mana from the air.
But I, a fake ability user created through the experiment, was different.
‘When I stretch out my hand, power produced by the crystal engine flows through my veins and bursts out from my fingertips!’
In the novel, when the heroine appeared, Genuere became consumed by inferiority because her power was artificial and fake.
But my thoughts were different.
‘This power is strong.’
Because the crystal engine was specially designed for ice abilities, it could create extremely cold ice much faster than ordinary ice ability users.
Of course, there was one fatal weakness.
‘But at this point in time, that weakness won’t matter.’
Then—
I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched both fists tightly.
‘I’ll use this power and escape from here.’
I was nervous.
Holding my breath, I stared at the firmly shut iron door.
Perhaps because it was the first real decision I had made in my life, my chest tightened and my heart pounded wildly.
But then—
A priest wearing glasses suddenly grabbed my wrist tightly with his large hand.
“Be good, Genuere. Come with me.”
Adjusting his glasses, he grinned.
“There are still many tests left. From now on, we’ll check the limits of your ability. Don’t worry. If you pray to Leventos as usual, it won’t hurt very much—”
‘Ah!’
I looked up at the priest with glasses.
With his sturdy build and cruel smile, he was always the one who dragged me into experiment devices while saying things like,
“If you pray to Leventos, the pain will lessen.”
Since the priests were the only adults in my life since birth, I had genuinely believed them.
So every time I endured experiments, I prayed sincerely.
‘But did prayer really lessen the pain?’
No.
I had simply endured it myself.
‘Because Leventos in the novel is an evil god. Praying to him would never reduce anyone’s pain!’
Still, realizing their intentions and actually escaping from here were two separate problems.
‘Can I really do this with my own power?’
After thinking briefly, I raised my head.
“Um, glasses uncle.”
“Hm?”
“Shall we test it?”
“…Genuere, what do you mean by that?”
Instead of answering, I acted immediately.
Smack!
The moment I forcefully shook off his hand, the priest with glasses stared blankly at me with his mouth hanging open.
That was understandable.
I had never once disobeyed a priest’s orders before.
“…Y-You little brat, Genuere!”
Recovering from shock, the priest’s face quickly turned red with anger as he reached for my arm again.
At that moment, I focused all my senses on my fingertips.
‘I have to succeed.’
Perhaps because of my desperate determination—
The strong energy humming inside the crystal engine flowed through my veins and gathered at my fingertips.
At the same time, the priest’s movements seemed to slow down before my eyes.
Then white mist burst from my fingertips like sparkling starlight.
And the moment the priest’s hand touched that mist—
He screamed loudly.
“Aaaagh!”
His hand began to freeze over with cold ice!
Crack crack crack!
The ice quickly spread up his arm and swallowed his body.
“Aagh, cold! AAAAAAH!”
The priest screamed wildly before collapsing backward with a crash.
He desperately kicked his legs in agony—
But it didn’t take long before the ice completely covered his entire body.
Crack crack crack!
“Mmgh! Mmph…!”
With even his nose and mouth frozen solid, only his eyes remained barely able to blink.
It took less than ten seconds for the priest with glasses to become a frozen priest.
The other priests, who had been praying joyfully just moments ago, stared back and forth between us in complete shock.
I took a deep breath.
‘Wow! It actually worked?!’
(To be continued)
