Episode 1
“Your Highness, please wait! Oh, my goodness! By the goddess Velis!”
The desperate cries growing fainter behind her only spurred the young child to quicken her pace through the long corridors of the imperial palace.
Her small figure, nearly swallowed by her voluminous dress, dashed forward with determination.
Her shoulder-length silver hair shimmered in the sunlight streaming through the large windows, catching the light with dazzling brilliance.
“Mom! I’m here!”
The girl burst through the wide-open door, stumbling slightly as she stretched out her short arms and called out energetically.
Startled, the attendants standing silently like statues turned their gaze toward the girl in shock.
“Your Highness, the Princess!”
“Be careful, Your Highness!”
One of the Empress’s maids reached out to catch Etern, who seemed on the verge of tripping.
However, Etern skillfully dodged her grasp and sprinted straight toward the Empress’s bedroom.
“Good morning, Mom!”
Despite her daughter’s boisterous greeting, Empress Meikellen, lying in bed, did not stir. She appeared to be in a deep sleep, her breathing faint and barely perceptible.
‘Hmm… let’s see.’
Pretending to inspect her mother, Etern made a circle with her thumb and forefinger and placed it over her eye.
Through the small ring, her emerald-green eyes gleamed, and a faint cloud appeared to hover over the Empress’s body, visible only to Etern.
— Meikellen Shiot Aphier
Empress of the Sidernell Empire, 30 years old.
1. …….
2. …….
3. …….
‘Sigh… It’s the same today. Still no sign of improvement…’
Letting out a deep sigh, Etern slumped onto a chair by her mother’s bedside, resting her chin on her small fist.
Though her childlike demeanor and tilted head were typical of her age, her expression was unusually grave.
“Oh my, Your Highness!”
Startled by the nanny’s voice from behind, Etern glanced back before once again forming a circle with her fingers over her eyes.
This time, a similar cloudy shape appeared above the nanny’s head.
— Liv Dora
Nanny to the Princess, 52 years old.
1. Oh, heavens, this is going to give me a heart attack!
2. I’m over 50 years old—when will Her Highness ever understand that?
3. She must miss her mother so much… That blasted soup!
Quietly giggling at the words that appeared in the cloud, Etern removed her fingers from her eyes and said,
“Dora, don’t worry. Running a bit won’t give you a heart attack. If anything, it’ll make your heart stronger.”
“What? No, Your Highness!”
“Then why did you insist I finish the soup? I told you I had to see Mom quickly.”
“Well, even so, you must finish your meals. No, never mind. Oh, Your Highness…”
As the large-built nanny let out a deep sigh, Etern smiled mischievously and turned her gaze back to her sleeping mother.
‘I can see what others are thinking, but I can’t see what’s in Mom’s mind. She must be in such a deep sleep…’
Etern pouted her lips like a sparrow’s beak and blinked her big round eyes a couple of times.
Her gaze reflected an uncharacteristic worry and concern for a child her age.
***
– One Month Ago
‘What on earth is going on…?’
Etern lay on the bed, stretching out her short limbs, and stared blankly at the ceiling.
She recognized the unfamiliar but somewhat familiar pattern. As soon as she saw the small stain on one side of the chandelier, she realized this was the room she had used during her childhood.
“This is unbelievable. I’ve really turned young again.”
Her fingers stretched toward the sky, moving slightly.
“And I’m alive, too.”
She had definitely died.
The face of the one who had mounted her and choked her to death was still vivid in her memory.
When she took her last breath, a whistling sound came from her throat. And after that…
There was nothing. It was as if she was floating aimlessly in a pitch-black space.
‘I can still maintain a sense of self even after death… Is this the process of becoming a ghost?’
As such thoughts repeated over and over in her mind, she saw a bright blue light blinking somewhere in the distance.
Like a shipwrecked boat meeting a lighthouse in the vast ocean, Etern unknowingly moved toward the light.
As she got closer, the light’s pull grew stronger.
‘What’s happening? My body… it’s disintegrating? Wait, no. I don’t want to be left as just a floating head—!’
When her limbs and body vanished in separate directions, her surroundings suddenly turned blindingly white.
And then, an immense amount of knowledge invaded Etern’s mind, accompanied by unbearable pain that made her think death might have been preferable.
Afterward…
‘I came back to life.’
As she lay in thought, she abruptly sat up in her small body.
Whether it was a gift from the gods or a curse from the devil, Etern had returned to her childhood form.
And now, she was living a second life under the same circumstances.
‘No, not the same circumstances. It’s much better this time!’
At the moment Etern wished to die again rather than endure any more, she gained immense knowledge and abilities—things difficult to acquire even in a lifetime.
This was an opportunity.
‘I’ll never die like that again. Never.’
Her ultimate goal for her second life was determined while lying on the spacious bed: to live peacefully without meeting a horrible end.
***
“Hey, Dora.”
Etern, seated beside her sleeping mother, swung her legs dangling from the chair.
“What is it, Your Highness?”
“Mom is alive, but she can’t wake up, right?”
At Etern’s innocent question, Dora’s expression noticeably darkened.
“Of course, Your Highness. Her Majesty the Empress is merely tired, that’s all.”
Etern tilted her head toward Dora before forming a circle with her fingers again and placing it over her eyes.
— Liv Dora
Nanny to the Princess, 52 years old.
1. There’s no way Her Majesty the Empress could pass away. She was so kind and healthy.
2. But looking at her now, it’s as if…
3. Oh, dear God, how heartbroken Her Highness the Princess must be!
As she removed her fingers from her eyes, the cloud hovering above Dora’s head dispersed like mist.
‘Coming back to life has even given me this kind of power.’
One day, as Etern struggled to adapt to her smaller, younger body, she accidentally discovered this unexpected ability.
By forming a circle with her fingers and holding it to one eye like a monocle, Etern could read the thoughts of the person she was looking at through the ring.
However, she couldn’t read every thought entirely—at most, she could see three.
Some people only had one thought, while others had two. And like Empress Meikellen, there were those whose thoughts were completely unreadable.
‘Perhaps I can’t see the thoughts of someone who’s asleep. I couldn’t see Dora’s thoughts when she was napping either.’
Dora, her nanny, was always filled with thoughts about Etern.
Even before her death, Etern remembered how Dora had cared for her with great devotion.
But back then, Etern hadn’t been kind to her.
[Don’t argue with what I say if you value your life!]
[A nanny? And so what? Are you trying to pretend to be my mother?]
As these shameful memories resurfaced, Etern subtly hid her reddened cheeks with her hand.
Back then, she had always been angry. No matter what others did for her, she never felt joy or gratitude.
She spent her days sharpening her words, treating others cruelly, convinced they were mocking her misery behind her back.
It was foolish.
‘I need to repay Dora, little by little, starting now.’
“You know, Dora. Why doesn’t Father visit Mother every day?”
At Etern’s candid question, Dora’s face turned slightly pale.
‘It’s because seeing Her Majesty in her current state would be too painful for him.’
But Dora couldn’t voice these thoughts aloud.
Speaking recklessly about Emperor Wintier, even in passing, was bound to cause trouble someday.
“He’s busy, that’s all,”
Dora finally replied, giving a safe, neutral answer.
‘Every time I bring up Father, everyone clams up like this.’
Etern pursed her small lips and sighed quietly, closing her eyes.
‘He may not be the madman who strikes fear across the entire continent, but he’s still scary enough as he is. I get it.’
