The first person to come when she heard my screams was my maid, Irene.
She was my personal maid, a kind girl who had taken care of me until the end, even though I had given her a lot of troubles and hardships only.
I’m sure she is five or six years older than me, so she was 20… Before I woke up here… But the maid in front of me now looks like a girl of 14 – 15 years old!
“Miss, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I scared you.”
“No, no, it’s fine– Miss! You’re awake! Thank God! How are you feeling now? Do you have any pain anywhere?”
“What? No, not really. Maybe… I’m okay…?”
No, I’m not really okay with all that happened, but… Did you almost die once? Or I was dead? And suddenly, I became a little girl?!
“Good! But you mustn’t get out of bed yet, Miss. You have been in bed with a high fever for two days. Please, would you go back to bed and wait for me to call the doctor?”
“What, high fever? Not hypothermia or something?”
“…yes? Hypothermia?”
Oh, no, it’s going to make things more complicated to explain.
In the first place, I don’t understand the situation either.
Until I have a better idea of what happened, it’s probably best not to bring up the theme of the ship or the monastery.
“Sorry, never mind. I’ll wait quietly in bed as you say. Thank you.”
“…? … Yes, yes. I’ll get a doctor right away.”
Irene froze for a moment with a bemused look on her face, then ran off, her ash gray hair shaking.
Ump? Was what did I say so strange?
…it’s not. Maybe it’s– Oh, right! I’ve never said “thank you” to her before.
On the contrary, it’s normal for me to ignore her or order her to leave, and when I’m in a bad mood, I take it out on her or torment her by making her job more difficult… Yes, that is what I normally do.
Since the words “thank you” came out of my mouth, she froze for a moment probably afraid I was planning something.
I’m really the worst, aren’t I?
… I must properly apologize later.
◇◆◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
The doctor who came afterwards diagnosed that there was nothing wrong with my body.
That I should take a rest for today and gradually return to my daily duties tomorrow.
The doctor didn’t hear from my mouth about the ship, that I nearly died nor anything but still…
He noticed that I was behaving strangely, and he started by asking me what my name was, then questions about my age, the names of my family members, and where I was and what year I was now.
What it turned out, I’m apparently back to the same person I was when I was eight years old.
When he asked, I didn’t know how to answer the questions about my age and what year it is, so I answered honestly “18 years old” and “Year 292 in the new calendar”.
And since I couldn’t remember anything specific about what happened before I got the fever (it would be impossible for me to remember the details of my childhood 10 years ago), I was diagnosed with “temporary memory impairment”.
“Hey, Irene”
“…! Yes, yes, Miss.”
I’m speaking softly to Irene, who was checking on me tonight as well.
From what I heard, she had been taking care of me the whole time I was in bed with a fever.
Now she froze again for a moment before answering.
Maybe she’s really scared of me, or maybe she’s just not used to me calling her “Irene”, since I never did so before.
What I used to call her was… “you over there”.
… Yes, I was like that.
Getting up from my bed, I walked and stood in front of Irene, then for her surprise I bowed my head deeply.
“I’m really sorry for everything I’ve done to you. I will change my attitude from now on, so please keep taking care of me like you always does.”
“…! Oh, no. Please raise your head, Miss…!”
My sudden action was completely unexpected for Irene, and after a while, when I raised my head, she looked troubled.
As she wasn’t saying anything back to me, because she wasn’t sure what to say, I looked up to her and grabbed her skirt softly.
She used to have a poker face and a cool personality, but today she’s very expressive.
… It’s because I always do bad things to her, so she doesn’t know what to expect this time.
“I’m sorry, I startled you. But what I’m saying is the true, I want to formally apologize for my attitude toward you.”
“No, no… no… you don’t have anything to be sorry for, young lady.”
No, that is not true, there are many things I’ve to apologize for, you know that well. … Oh, but–! If I’m 8 years old right now, Irene has probably been in our home for a short time.
If that’s the case, then maybe she hasn’t suffered much from the natural disaster that was me, not yet. That must be it! Well, let’s hope so.
“Thank you. It’s not a trap, I’m really looking forward to working with you… for a long time!”
“Yes, of course! It’s nice to meet you too!”
In my heart I said, “She’s the most loyal person I met, after all.”, thinking so, I stretched my small body as best I could and hugged Irene.
However, I’m still to short so more than a hug, it was me clinging to her skirt.
Irene froze for a moment, but she quickly returned the hug gently.
I still don’t know what’s going on, and I think the situation is even more incomprehensible for Irene, she’s looking at me like, “Did the high fever affect the Young Lady’s mind?”
Anyway, just as she did in the past with me, I’ll take care of her!
She’s the one that protected me and never abandoned me, even in the end!
When my family abandoned me and the other servants only looked at me with disdain, she was still there for me.
This time, I’ll definitely repay her kindness!
◇◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆
The next day I was busy organizing the situation and gathering information.
In my room, I hid for half a day and wrote down the events that I remember occurred between those years.
Since I was 8 to my 18th birthday, as well as the names of people, places, and all the incidents that I can recall, and then I hid in the mansion’s library to read many books, later I interviewed my family and the mansion’s servants.
After several days of activities, I concluded that I’m most likely back to my eight-year-old self but conserving the memories of my eighteen-year-old self.
Maybe it’s weird of me to think so, but at first I seriously thought I had gone back to my parents’ house as a ghost.
After that, I came with the idea that all what I saw before was just a nightmare… a long one.
Later I discarded both thoughts.
Why?
Well, I’m hungry and I have to go to the bathroom.
Every night I sleep normally, and when I hit my little toe on the table yesterday, it hurt so badly that it brought tears to my eyes.
Yes, for all intents and purposes, all the basic functions of a human being are operating normally.
So I think a ghost isn’t the correct answer.
The detailed information of many events that will take place in the next years is something that my eight-year-old self couldn’t have predicted, but in reality, there are many things that indicates that those events are highly-probable to occur.
A dream… No, neither.
For example, St. Andrew’s Abbey, where I was going to be imprisoned.
This monastery, built on a small island in the far northern ocean, really exists!
And in the same place as I remembered.
Every royal nobleman that I met on my memories, including the unfaithful Second Prince who was my former fiancé, they all are real!
If this was truly a dream, they I can foresee the future, but I don’t think I’ve such abilities.
… Well, well, maybe being able to see the future is still a more realistic conclusion than being a time traveler.
Come to think of it, in the last moment of my previous life (“previous time line” or “previous life”, I’ve thought of many ways to call it, but I’ve decided to call it simply “previous life”), I think I wished that I could start my life over again…
Maybe God granted my last wish!
If so, I’m really grateful! Or sorry? What a merciful God to listen to the wishes of such a villainous lady like me.
Thank you so much!!
This time I will live modestly, without following the path of my destruction, I–
… Back to the story, if my memories of the last ten years of my life, whether it was a past life or a prophetic dream, if my memories were what could happen in the next ten years, then… I already decided what I’ll do!
That is, of course, to go and look for the man who really loved me during the last week of my past life, and I’ll have a happy future with him!
This is what I decided.
I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving him so much that he will melt!
And I’m going to do my best to make sure that someday when we die, he looks at me at his side and says, “I’m really glad to have met you”.
Just like I said to him in our previous life.
So… Just hang on, Mason! Let’s be happy together in this lifetime!
Translated by Djurasico (dot) home (dot) blog
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