Chapter 2
There was no miracle of invoking the status window.
“So I prepared myself.”
Name, Arellin Sigria Halbern.
Title, The only child of the Duke of Halbern, one of the five great dukes of Albrecht of the Great Empire.
Halbern’s eldest daughter and heiress.
And heir apparent.
That’s me.
“Wow, diamond cutlery!”
‘There was a time when I used to say, ‘Wow, diamond cutlery!’
A body that staggers upon waking. A head that pinged immediately. Today, her body was rubbish.
“So this is what… feels like when your body gets nerfed?”
Is this what it feels like to go from a top-of-the-line sedan car to a 50-year-old, fuel-economy shitty used economy car?
“Why did this ordeal happen to me?”
What is the world giving me because I’m too good?
You mean it wasn’t just a time limit like this [3205 hours until death]?
“What am I supposed to do with this rubbish body?”
In the novel, the female lead was trying to make a loyal vassal even if she was a baby, doing business, getting God’s favor, and doing everything, but it was too much. She lost.
“Oh, well, maybe it’s because she’s not possessed in the first place.”
She didn’t want a character like this, with all the benefits and none of the penalties.
What convinced her that it wasn’t a possession, but a reincarnation, was how vividly she remembered every detail of her second life as Arellin.
So was it good?
She doesn’t know.
She hadn’t realized it when she was gone, but now that she remembered, her mental age had increased a bit, and she could see bits and pieces that she hadn’t noticed before.
“Oh, that’s him…”
The piercing stares that made her cringe every time she went out.
She didn’t know what they meant then.
“Yes, the Archduke of Halbern says she’s his daughter he picked up outside.”
“And he doesn’t even know who her mother is?”
“She may be illegitimate, but she has been officially recognised as the heir, and will be the next Lord of Halbern.”
“An illegitimate child is the next Lord of Halbern, I tell you.”
Now she understands.
“A baby that the Archduke of Halbern picked up out of the blue that day. We don’t know if she’s his real daughter, and we don’t know what happened to her, because he left her in the care of his deputy and left for the frontier north. Then Arellin died before she was ten years old, and the truth was lost forever.”
Arellin’s death coincides with Halbern’s own.
Since the majority of the novel focuses on the main character, we don’t get a clear picture of Halbern’s future.
Wow, that’s confusing.
Not easy. A new life.
“Ha…”
She didn’t know if it was her body’s exhaustion or her mind’s exhaustion from the memories of her previous life, but she just wanted to let it all go and rest.
She was supposed to be here, using her survival instincts to cure the sick, prevent the family from falling, huh? She was supposed to, but she was not motivated at all.
Either she dies or not.
We all die anyway.
Maybe she just was too stuck.
“I heard you’ve been confined to your room lately, so I thought I’d drop by.”
There he was. My guardian.
***
A sharp-looking man with fine, silky wheat-coloured hair and light-green eyes that looked like gold in the sunlight.
“Mehen.”
But if you underestimate this man, you will not survive in Halbern Manor.
Halbern House only, for this man is a predator.
Archduke Halbern’s agent.
The Archduke of Halbern’s chief aide.
Caretaker of the capital mansion.
And.
“It’s been a long time, my lady.”
Her poor chaperone.
Mehen said in a tired voice, pressing her temples together.
“If you have any complaints, please let me know…”
In the tone of a jaded civil servant taking complaints…
When she had no memory of her previous life, she was afraid that the stern aura in which Mehen stood seemed angry. She thought he would be angry with her at any moment.
But now she realizes that he’s just a poor K-worker who’s getting ripped off by a black company.
‘Poor guy, he can’t get out of work.’
‘Yeah, you’re guilty of something, you’re guilty of having the wrong boss.’
No, she should say, he got the wrong lord.
Mehen Lebochgen.
This genius, who was taken in as a child by the equally young Confucius and brought into the Halbern household, chewed everything up with his abilities despite the limitations of his commoner status.
So much so that when Confucius became the Archduke of Halbern, he was elevated to the nobility and remained firmly in place as his right-hand man.
‘Though he lost his job in exchange.’
‘He’s bought himself a townhouse and a mansion in the capital, and they’re making fun of him for missing work. Poor guy.’
And her on top of it all.
She felt sorry for herself.
Parenting a 25-year-old bachelor. She honestly thinks it’s her biological father’s fault.
If Mehen hates me, I don’t think I can help it.
“It’s been a while.”
“Yeah. Yes?”
Mehen, who had responded to the greeting with inertia, looked back at me and scratched his head.
Why such a puzzled reaction?
Ah. She was afraid of Mehen. Oh well.
“Uh… so.”
Mehen coughed, as if she had surprised him with a mere greeting.
“Nothing’s wrong, don’t worry.”
“Well, I see.”
“Yeah.”
She hit the player, robbing Mehen of his words, and there was a deathly silence.
“…”
“…”
Mehen’s eyes narrowed.
As if he was trying to get something out of me.
“… But, lady. I heard from the Nurturing Corps that you haven’t been out much lately.”
“I thought you hated going out.”
“…”
Mehen’s expression turned puzzled.
“Because it’s hard on the heart.”
“Well, I did, but, um. Yeah.”
“I’ll be quiet.”
Mehen fell silent. She thought that was the answer she wanted, but the silence was longer than she expected, and she shook her head.
“… Did I do something wrong?”
“No, you didn’t.”
A quick denial. But Mehen’s expression was still complicated.
“That…”
Mehen looked at her, unsure of what to say.
A long pause.
“Okay, lady.”
And then came the answer.
“Then rest.”
“Yeah.”
Mehen shook his head and left
She flopped back down on the bed.
***
Emerging from Arellin’s room, Mehen shook his head.
Something was off, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He tried to ignore it, but it bothered him like a thorn in his neck.
“Ha…”
It had been three months since he saw Arellin’s face, and he had a lot of work to do.
Was that the problem?
Was there something different about her?
Mehen was supposed to be blind to such things, but he couldn’t help but notice.
“Mehen?”
“Dylan.”
Finally, after some deliberation, Mehen called the nursery group together.
“Tell them to gather.”
***
It was six years ago.
After disappearing for weeks without a word, the Archduke of Halbern suddenly reappeared with a baby in his arms.
“Who is this baby?”
The Archduke of Halbern casually handed over the newborn.
“She is my daughter. Raise her well.”
“What?”
Then, suddenly, he was on his way to the imperial palace, and then to the northern frontline.
It was a blow out of the blue for Mehen, who was 19 years old, a rare genius, but didn’t know the “a” from the “b” of parenting.
“What do you want me to do, mad lord?”
A polite letter, full of frustration, came back with a reply: “My daughter’s name is Arelline. Raise her well.
“I trust you,” was the only reply he received in response to his unresponsive and abusive letter.
What can he do with this shameless lord?
Putting aside his lower impulses to chastise himself for choosing the wrong master, Mehen faced the reality of his situation.
He was stuck.
Even if Mehen was a genius, this was business and management.
In the end, he decided to leave it to the experts. Someone who could handle the monarch’s money.
A talented graduate of the Ernst International Academy of Butlers and Maids. A dedicated care team for Arellin, comprised of the best and brightest in theory.
Known collectively as the Nurturing Corps
They were experts. In theory.
“I see.”
“Strange, isn’t it?”
“You look strangely lifeless, or should I say, the intelligence in your eyes is dead.”
Lena, the head maid, gave me a sullen look.
“He’s locked himself in his room and won’t come out.”
“He eats well.”
Ern, the head butler, chimed in.
“You’ve lost a lot of your smile, but you used to laugh when I made you laugh…”
“Is something wrong?”
“It’s not like we don’t know something’s wrong.”
Poof. Poof.
In the midst of this lively exchange, only Mehen, seated at the head table, tapped quietly on his desk.
“What about her health?”
Mehen’s question was quickly answered by Uni, the maid in charge of health.
“She had an accelerated check-up a few days ago.”
“What did the doctor say?”
“He said there’s nothing wrong. Her body is too weak to see anything unusual.”
Everyone fell silent.
Even for the all-powerful Duke of Halbern, healing Princess Arellin’s body was proving too difficult.
“This is the first time she’s been confined to her room.”
“She’s always wanted to get out and about…”
“This is when she wants to run around and play, and I used to have to dry her off.”
The complete opposite.
“Well, firstly, we’d need something to bring her out of her room so we can see her…”
“Is there any reason for that…”
The moment when everyone gets serious.
“Oh, come to think of it, tomorrow was the day!”
The solution was in sight.
***
Today was the day.
The day to meet the leading man.
‘Not …, but a social gathering of crown princes, scions of the great nobility, and imperial talent.’
In any case, for the present, it was the day to see the leading man.
“Welcome, Princess Halbern. Thank you for coming. Your friends are waiting for you. Let me show you around.”
“Have fun.”
She was breezily escorted by her butler, Ern, into the crown prince’s palace.
This was a world that ran on highly advanced magical engineering.
In Earth terms, it was on the cusp of modernity.
As such, the Yellow City, where all the capital and technology was gathered, was nothing short of lavish.
The culmination of this was the Imperial Palace.
‘I feel like a tourist in a neighboring country.’
Fuck that money.
She marvelled at the fantastic, artistic and sophisticated structures.
It’s a feast for the eyes.
‘In a world like this, business might have been worthwhile?’
Well, I wouldn’t live long anyway, so it doesn’t matter.
Even as she was thinking about this, she was out of breath after a short walk.
…What a rubbish body.
Just a short walk and this is what happens.
“Princess?”
“I’m fine.”
Fortunately or unfortunately, pain was familiar to me, both in my previous life and in this one.
“Here.”
There were already many children gathered in the drawing room.
As she walked through the door the palace maid opened for her, a few glanced at her and said hello, but none of them seemed interested.
Hmm, familiar.
She should have felt insulted and resentful at this exclusion, but instead she felt comfortable.
I’m comfortable alone.
Even better, she didn’t have to force herself to smile and socialize with six-year-olds.
She crumpled into a corner seat and surveyed my surroundings.
‘These are the future of Albrecht.’
‘The crown prince’s little friends,’ Empress Ageni had handpicked and assembled.
That’s the accidental twins of the other five dukes.
A later marquis who became the crown prince’s personal guardian knight.
It’s like watching a celebrity.
Do you see popular people here that you only see in novels?
‘So, he’s going to be a great flirt who makes Albrecht’s women cry, and she’s going to be a swordmaster who hears crazies?’
It was a strange feeling to know someone’s future.
Even if I wasn’t in it.
‘It’s a shame you can’t intuit the love triangles that make the Empire tick.’
As she was mulling this over in her mind, there was a commotion at the door.
“Pession!”
“His Highness the Crown Prince!”
You’ve come.
All the children were at the door in a flash, wide-eyed and excited.
“Hello, everyone!”
Amidst the commotion, the hero of the day made his grand entrance.
“Oh…”
She couldn’t help but be impressed.
Is that really the beauty of a seven-year-old?
