It had been two weeks since I regained the memories of my previous life.
After my morning lessons were over and I had lunch, I was practicing my magic power control on the balcony of my room.

The magic power flowing through my entire body is concentrated in my left hand and then, released.
Concentrate on the left hand… and release!
Concentrate… and release!

Concentrate… and release!

Concentrate… and release!

… It’s not going well.

The magic doesn’t concentrate as I want it to, when I concentrate too much magic on my left hand it spills over, or when I intend to release it, it goes straight back into the flow inside my body.

This really requires a lot of practice.

By the way, it’s not particularly meaningful that the place to concentrate my magic power is my left hand.
It’s just that I’m left-handed, so it’s just that it’s easier for me to concentrate on my left hand.

Right-handed people probably do it with their right hand. And there are some people that use other parts of their body like their legs to accumulate magic and release it in a powerful blow.

It isn’t what I want–
I digress.
Why do I practice magic control? There are two reasons for this.
The first one is simply that when I returned to my eight-year-old body, I realized that I no longer had the control over my magic power that I had in my previous life.

Even though I was an excellent student in my previous life, I enrolled in the Magic Academy and studied there until just before graduation.
So naturally I was able to control my magic power back then, which is one of the fundamentals you learn on the academy.

However, the magic power flowing in the body of an eight-year-old girl is much wilder than that of an eighteen-year-old, and even if I try to apply the same techniques to control it, I can’t.

If the flow of magic power in my 18 years old body was like a calm river with adequate flood control measures, then the current flow of magic power in this young body is like a raging river the day after a heavy rainfall.

Those who can’t control the magic power, of course can’t use magic, and if you try to force yourself to use magic at an uncontrolled stage, it could lead to an accident.
This doesn’t often happen because the amount of magic in the human bodies is normally minimal, if you can’t concentrate that small amount, you can’t reach the “embodiment of magic power” which is the stage right before a magic spell activates, so magic accidents because of poor control are extremely rare.

By the way, it’s natural that the flow of magic power in a child’s body is wilder compared to that of an adult, without any practice or training, the body starts to regulate the flow better from the 15 years old of so.
That’s probably one of the reasons why the entrance age for the Magic Academy is exactly 15.

However, I had a “second reason” why I couldn’t wait until then.
The reason is, it’s essential to become a sorcerer as soon as possible in order to obtain my happy future with Mason!

Let me explain why I came to that conclusion.

First, as expected, I could confirm that there is still no private army or any servant named Mason Beckford in the Rosedale family.

In fact, I met him in my previous life when I was in the final year of the Magic Academy, so it is most likely that he won’t start working in this mansion until a few years.

If that’s the case, what should I do and how should I try to approach him?
How do I find Manson and hire him to work at this mansion?
…Hmm, even though I’m a duchess, I’m only 8 years old now, and it’s almost impossible to find Mason with the information I have.
Where was he or what was he doing at this age? That is something I don’t know.

Besides, he was eight years older than me, as I recall, so he’s probably sixteen now!
Would a sixteen year old boy believe an eight year old little girl who says to be in love with him? No, he wouldn’t.

… On the other hand, in the unlikely event that he accepts the love of an 8-year-old child, that would be sad… and scary!!
The conclusion: It’s not the right moment to search for Mason.
Anyway, there is no need to fall in panic!

What should I do from now on and how should I try to do it?
What can an 8-year-old girl do? In order to get her happy ending with her future boyfriend (or future husband) that she can’t go to see yet?

… Of course, develop the skills necessary to be able to live together when the time comes.
In my case, magic is the skill I need.

He was a private soldier of Rosedale’s family when I met him for first time, but before that he was an adventurer, if I don’t remember bad he told me he was a foreign, a commoner but from another country.

And I am the daughter of a very powerful nobleman, the Rosedale family.
Normally, a permission for marriage between people of different status wouldn’t be an easy thing to accept for nobility.
There is a high probability that we will have to elope and live in some distant country.

Then, the primordial thing I need is to find a way to earn an income for our daily life and learn how to protect myself too.
Eloping with a woman who doesn’t have any ability for daily life tasks, doesn’t know how to earn money or even protect herself, anyone would see it as a burden.
Even if Mason doesn’t say it I don’t want to become a nuisance for him!

In my previous life, my magic skills were something everybody admired, even those who hated me sometimes said ‘only your magic power is first class’ and ‘it’s a waste that someone like you have that much magic power’.

Therefore, if I work hard to improve my magic skills at an early stage, surely I will be stronger when the time of eloping together comes.

… Yes, in my previous life I was so focused on my relationship with the Second Prince (or rather, a one-sided love) that I didn’t have any interest in learning magic or anything like that.
Really… Even if I say so myself, it’s still shameful.

And you may ask if it was a one-sided love, then why you need to learn magic? Just don’t fall in love with the prince and done! Learn magic in the Academy after you turn 15, meet Mason and then run away, there is no need to hurry.

But that is wrong, that is the way my sweet naive old self would think, I learned by my own experience in my previous life that for my family I’m only a pawn for a political marriage.
As soon as I became useless for them, they all abandoned me, my own family and the servants (except for my beloved Mason and my loyal only-real-friend Irene).

It’s not uncommon for royal and noble families to decide their children marriage’s partner earlier… too earlier.
In my previous life my engagement was decided when I was 9.
Even if I avoid the engagement with the Second Prince somehow, I’m still the daughter of one of the 3 great dukes of the Kingdom.
Almost certainly my father will receive many applications for a political engagement with me in the future.

Of course, I have no intention of marrying any man other than Mason.

So what could happen then? Most probably, they will disown me early, Why? For being a useless daughter, because I have no intention of fulfilling my role as a pawn in a political marriage.

The other probably result is, they will ignore my tantrums and the engagement might be decided without caring about my opinion.

In both cases, I’ll need to earn money and protect myself until I met with Mason.
Being disowned early or having to run away if they try to force me to marry someone, I’ll have to survive on my own.
That’s why I say that I can’t wait until I enter the Magic Academy or anything like that.

… Yes, in that way, I won’t need to worry if my parents engage me with someone who doesn’t care for me and then decides to dispose of me because he found his true love.
Exactly what happened to me last time.

“……..Um……. Can you hear me? Miss?”

Before I knew it, my personal saint Irene appeared, she was looking with concern to me, probably I was starting to act a little sentimental when I remembered the circumstances of my previous life.

Oh no! I was completely in my own world.
Maybe she spoke to me a few times and I ignored her.

“Oh, sorry, I was just… thinking about something. What’s going on?”

“Yes, Miss, I have a message from your father, he wants you to be at the salon at 3pm.”

“Father…? I understand. Thank you.”

Irene smiled and bowed her head as she went back to work.
In this two weeks since I woke up in my bed again, I feel like I’ve gotten to know her so much better, we’re starting to develop a good relationship.
That makes me so happy!

By the way, I heard the other servants yesterday and it seems that my reputation is improving between them.
I’m consciously being nice to Irene, but I’m just treating the others as I always did… Or so I think.

It’s rather… nor a cold treatment but a dry, yes, a distant treatment. Surely, they are shocked because they are being treated as human beings.
So awful! Was I so selfish or wicked, huh?

But anyway, father is calling for me… I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

---

“Oh, Chelsea. Are you feeling okay now?”

My father, mother and brother were already present at the saloon I headed to at the appointed time.
The dandy man with a well-formed face who had just approached me was my father, the Duke Anton Rosedale.

He seems to be an ideal middle-aged man who has an age-appropriate austerity but still maintains his youthfulness, and he still has many fans in the social circles.

“Yes, I’m fine now. I’m sorry for causing you to worry.”

“Uh-huh. That’s good to hear…”

My father looks a little sad. I guess I was too cold with my words.

“How’s your memory? What do you remember?”

“No, I’m afraid it remains vague. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not something to apologize for…”

This time, a beautiful woman who looked just like me, slightly evil looking eyes and an always cold gaze, said so.
My mother, the Duchess of Elena Rosedale.

… No, I guess I don’t remember her at all.

But I still can’t forget the cold look on the faces of the other members of my family when they cut their ties with me.

It’s still a recent memory in my mind, I was disowned and treated coldly by them. So it’s natural that I treat them in the same way.

My brother, Alan Rosedale, 11, is enjoying his tea, not reacting to our exchange, nothing, no emotion at all.

–He didn’t even blink!
By the way, he was drinking tea when I was kicked out of the house and looking at me as if he was looking at garbage.

My brother has a cold, villainous face just like mother’s.
It’s a very handsome face, though.
Father’s genes I suppose, each time he put up his kind face’s mask, I was completely tricked.

“Oh! … Today, I’ve got some good news for Chelsea.”

“Is it good news for me or for you…?”

As I was thinking about such unimportant things like my heart being broken to pieces only for their interests, father cleared his throat once and then regained his composure to continue talking.

I had to be careful not to let my attitude show that I won’t play their game again.

“Chelsea’s been wanting to go to the Royal Palace for a while now, hasn’t she?”

“… Yes”

I replied to the question with a tsk-tsk sound in my mind, ‘One of the top 3 places I don’t want to step foot in, ever again!’

“To tell you the truth, there’s a tea party at the Royal Palace on Friday in two weeks. It’s the birthday of His Royal Highness Prince Kyle, the second prince.”

Ah, that tea party is probably ‘that one’.
Calm down Chelsea, you can get rid of them.

… I don’t want to go to my death again.
Seriously, whether he noticed me being truly disgusted or not, father continued to talk happily.

“Chelsea, you know, we received an invitation. And it says the queen personally invited you.”

---

After going back to my room, I fell over my bed and stared at the sea in a daze.
I don’t want to go to a tea party, and I want to never see the second prince’s face again, but if you are personally appointed by the queen, basically you can’t say no.

To be honest, I briefly considered the option of complaining that I was going to withdraw due to my health condition and memory problems, but I decided against it because it’s probably not worth it.

I’m sure I’ll be invited to these kinds of events frequently in the future anyway, and since the second prince has magical powers and is the same age as me, we’ll be on the same campus for three years… If I enter the Magic Academy, of course.
So there’s no point in declining this tea party in particular.

Reluctantly I decided to attend.
On the day of the event, I’ll just do the bare minimum amount of greetings and hide somewhere else, maybe I can even kill time practicing my magic powers control.

Speaking of which, during the earlier conversation with my family, they asked me how I was spending my time these days, and I honestly told them that I was using my free time to practice my magic powers control and learn the basics of magic, hearing that made my father and mother extremely happy, and they agreed to arrange a good tutor for me as soon as possible.

Well at least, that is good, isn’t it?

Translated by Djurasico (dot) home (dot) blog