Chapter 2: Back to the present.

Faint light from red magic lamps filtered in through the bars.

The shadow of a grass flower cast on the edge of the basement might have resembled the silhouette of a palm tree.

But the tropics were too far away from this dark room.

“Sister! Please open it!”

In fact, a bit too far.

“I was wrong! I’ll never try to sneak out of the mansion again!”

He shook the bars, which barely protruded above the ground, with all his weight.

There was no response beyond that.

For a boy trapped in the basement prison of the mansion, all he could do was scream.

He was only twelve years old. To shout at the bars, which were over 2 meters high, he had to gather all sorts of junk from inside the prison and climb on top of it.

“I’m reflecting on my actions!”

No matter how much he shouted like this, his ‘sister’ wouldn’t even bat an eye.

In fact, she probably wasn’t even listening.

But there was a reason for doing this. He was signaling someone other than his sister.

Familiar footsteps were heard from the other side of the darkness.

It wasn’t clearly visible, but it was obvious who it was.

With a small sigh, the owner of the voice lowered her head close to the bars.

“Young Master. That’s why I told you it wouldn’t work.”

“Aina? Is that you?”

“Yes. It’s Aina. I just finished my work and came back.”

“Does my sister say it’s okay for you to let me out?”

“…No.”

“I guess not. If she did, you would have come in through the prison door, not the window.”

“You’re as smart as ever.”

Ignoring her compliment, I reached my hand out over the bars.

“Give it to me.”

“Give you what?”

Aina pretended not to know.

“You brought it, didn’t you? I know you did.”

“Haa…”

As if she couldn’t help it, she rummaged through the pockets of her large apron and took something out.

And handed it to my outstretched hand.

“You really mustn’t get caught. You must hide the trash after you eat it.”

“Don’t worry.”

Aina checked again, as if she didn’t trust me.

“You really understood what I said, right? If I get caught, the mistress will whip my calves.”

“Even if I get caught, I won’t say you gave it to me, so don’t worry.”

I said, unwrapping the candy and cookies and munching on them.

“I’m the only employee in the mansion, so what’s the point!”

Aina shouted.

It was something that would have been scolded as impudent if it had been said by an employee of another house, but neither I nor ‘Sister’ were people who cared about that.

“Anyway, don’t worry, I said.”

There were also bottles of milk and fruit juice next to the snacks.

She must have brought both kinds because she didn’t know what I liked. She was a smart person.

“Ha. I feel alive.”

“Hide the glass bottles well. They’re expensive.”

“Of course.”

“Then I’ll go. I think the mistress will probably let you out tomorrow morning. If you get too cold, shout again.”

“I will.”

Saying that, she walked away softly again.

‘Shout again if you get cold’, what a thoughtful consideration.

Would she hear that, wake up from her sleep, and bring me a blanket?

As she said, she was a diligent and kind person. It was a waste of talent to work in a fallen family.

She probably didn’t get paid much, so I didn’t know why she was working here.

I ate the snacks and drinks in an instant, and as she said, I hid the trash well in the box inside the prison, which was on the verge of being destroyed.

I didn’t want her to get beaten by my sister either.

Even if it was just a level where she barely touched her with a stick…

Anyway, getting scolded wasn’t a pleasant situation.

And I thought about it carefully. What exactly went wrong to get me into this situation.

“…A tripwire is too cowardly a method.”

I thought it would be a piece of cake to escape the mansion, which was on the verge of collapsing and had no guards. I ended up falling into a classic trap.

The sight of me hanging upside down from a tree branch near the mansion wall must have been quite a sight for my sister.

…But being cowardly or not, it wasn’t a means to use on a twelve-year-old.

“Damn it…”

If it had been my ‘previous life’, I would never have been caught by such a basic means.

But now my senses were dulled, and my strength, speed, concentration, none of them were the same as before,

and decisively, my height was incredibly small.

That was probably the biggest problem.

Who knew I’d be reincarnated again in a place like this.

I had returned to this world from the brink of death.

I was living my third life.

To be precise, I was experiencing the same other world for the second time.

First. An ordinary office worker in South Korea,

Second. Thermis Solenas, the eldest daughter of a Duke’s family,

And right now.

Signo Irendel.

That was my name.

The first life was a disgusting and ordinary one that wasn’t worth mentioning, but the second life was a little more extraordinary than that.

Back then, I had lived as a child of a Duke’s family.

I was born with an extraordinary bloodline, received the best education, and built a solid major.

Thermis Solenas, the crazy eldest daughter of a Duke’s family who should have died of a fever.

The moment she died of a fever, I possessed her body with my personality and spirit intact.

I didn’t know the principle.

I didn’t receive a revelation from some kind of god or transcendental being.

It just happened.

People often say that there’s only one life, but it turned out that that was a complete lie.

After dying in an unremarkable traffic accident, I woke up to find myself in a completely different world, in the body of a completely different person.

From the beginning, I didn’t have any special sense of mission.

At first, I was just a little grateful that my life, which should have ended a long time ago, had received an opportunity to continue in another world.

Once I ‘inherited’ the body of a person with a personality disorder, it turned out that there were advantages as well as notoriety.

At first, it was very difficult to adapt. Because no one wanted to talk to me.

But whenever I happened to do a favor for those around me, they would make expressions as if they couldn’t believe it.

And they would start to be more impressed than necessary.

Even if I just said that dinner was delicious, or that her hair ornament was pretty today, everyone would burst into tears…

It would be a lie to say that I didn’t enjoy this.

At first, it was true that I felt a distorted emotion like a sense of superiority from giving to others.

……I wasn’t such a good person.

‘Ah, don’t you know? This is called ‘praise’. It’s something you deserve.’

Such trivial narration would automatically flow in my head.

But this…

It was more strangely addictive than I thought.

I kept feeling a strange sense of fulfillment that made me want to do even better.

It was really like a drug.

1 favor would return with 2 gratitude.

If I gave 2 favors? Then 4 gratitude would definitely return.

No one could even think of not repaying my favor.

Because I was the eldest daughter of a Duke’s family.

Even if I had a bad reputation, I wasn’t in a position to be easily betrayed or ignored.

It was on a different level from the position of a mediocre office worker.

Then what about 3? What about 4? If I gave 10 favors,

I would be happy just imagining how many times that would come back,

and in the end, I would end up scattering favors everywhere like a fool.

The rumor that the ‘crazy lady’ Thermis had finally come to her senses spread quickly throughout the mansion.

Every time she learned new things and cared for others, admiration and rewards poured out, and constantly trying became a new way of life.

For the first time in her second life, she had a sincere desire to do better, to be a better person, and to become a better version of herself.

She had forgotten how grateful it was to live as an adult without failures and criticism, without time to spare.

So when the crisis of the end of the world came, she did not refuse the order to solve all these disasters.

I was indebted to this world and those around me.

The life of ‘Thermis Solenas’ was only a slight extension of her own miserable life, which should have ended long ago.

And if she could use it in the most valuable place, she was willing to do so.

Fortunately, by that time, my reputation among the nobles was already not bad.

No, it was more than okay, although it was a bit embarrassing to say it myself.

Recommendations that ‘I can trust this person’s judgment unconditionally’ flew in from all around,

and I was able to gather the youngest and most promising magicians in the empire and create a knight order that I commanded.

The Wyvern Knight Order.

‘It was ridiculous. The leader of that magic knight order couldn’t use magic.’

Of course, it wasn’t easy.

I wanted to give up. Every moment.

After experiencing things like being imprisoned and starved to the point of near death, having a dark blade pierce through my chest,

or having the skin of one arm completely burned off…

I couldn’t help but think, ‘No, but did this adventure need to be so full-scale?’

But, I was afraid of pain, and I was afraid of mistakes and failures, but what I was more afraid of was the gaze of others.

Whenever my head turned white and I wanted to sit down and cry,

I couldn’t bear to turn away from everyone who was looking at me with eyes that said, ‘Thermis-nim will definitely have a solution.’

That was too cruel a betrayal.

I couldn’t be a traitor.

They’re all just teenagers.

At most, they were in their early twenties,

and I had burdened them with the irresponsibly overwhelming mission of gathering girls who were much younger than me under my command to save the world.

But I couldn’t bring myself to say ‘I can’t do this anymore’ in front of them.

‘Because I’m an adult.’

Yes. I was an adult. Including my first life, I had lived twenty years longer than them.

I wasn’t a perfect person.

I just thought that if I was given a second chance, I should be better than the first.

Whether it was thanks to luck or thanks to my efforts, I finally did it.

The wolf that eats the world, the beast of disaster, the first Demon King.

To fight against that formidable opponent who absorbed all the surrounding magic, I headed alone to the final battleground.

I left only a letter with lies, saying that you were all disgusting morons,

that I didn’t like you ignoring me because I couldn’t use magic,

and that I felt like throwing up from your arrogant attitude from the beginning.

Because all the forces I commanded were magicians,

they would not only be useless in this final battle, but would rather be helpful to the opponent.

‘I’m sorry to everyone who was hurt by that letter…’

I was the only one who could take on that final battle.

‘I’m a dropout, so I can hardly use magic, but…

I had been chosen by two holy swords, and I was more confident than anyone else in this world when it came to swords.

And it was good until I won.

It was certain that I had taken care of the opponent.

The gamble of choosing to die together in the last moment, which I thought was hopeless, worked out very well.

‘I can still clearly feel the sensation of stabbing the knife into the opponent’s heart at the tip of my hand…’

But what about after that? I didn’t remember.

After being fatally wounded and collapsing, I seemed to have seen something like a hallucination of my younger sister with a hazy mind.

‘That can’t be. I probably wasn’t in my right mind just before I died because of the pain and anemia.’

Anyway, it was a serious injury with my heart and lungs torn out.

If it hadn’t been for the magical blessings I had received from everyone, I would have died in a few seconds.

When I came to my senses again, I was possessing the body of a boy named ‘Signo Irendel’.

This time too, it was the twelve-year-old son of a barony who ‘should have definitely died’.

The Irendel barony, which I came to belong to in this life, was quite exemplary in fulfilling its obligations as a ruler.

During the great war to prevent the end of the world,

that is, the parents of ‘Signo Irendel’, took the lead and enlisted in the military, and both died in battle.

They left behind two children.

The second child, me, Signo Irendel, and my sister, Minon Irendel.

My sister, who became an orphan at a young age and the successor to the baronial title, faced the thoroughly destroyed financial situation of the family.

Most of the territory was damaged by the war and was judged to be almost impossible to restore,

and at least for the next ten years, it would become a wasteland where not a single grain of wheat would grow.

In order to repay the huge debt, all kinds of businesses and prime real estate owned by the barony were sold off cheaply,

and eventually even the mansion and small fortress, which were symbolic, were lost.

Minon Irendel, who barely settled in a dilapidated villa that she didn’t usually use,

that is, my sister, vowed in front of her parents’ grave that she would do anything to rebuild the fallen family, and she really became a person with poison in her eyes.

But she needed business capital for reconstruction.

What is the most valuable thing left in the barony now?

A chipped longsword? Rusted armor? A necklace with only the jewels removed and sold? A few mules and cows?

Of course not. Signo Irendel, that was me.

It was a bit awkward for the person in question to say this, but Signo Irendel’s face was quite handsome even in the appearance of a young boy.

His parents must have given him very good genes.

The remaining portraits of his parents were 선남 선녀 themselves.

I heard that their relationship was very good.

Portraits are usually beautified as they are, but in this case, the real thing must have been the same as the picture.

Since this was not originally my body, I could evaluate it more objectively.

He was twelve years old now, but if he was only three or four years older, there would probably be quite a few marriage proposals from young ladies who wanted a handsome and obedient husband.

I could guarantee that.

He himself would probably be traded at quite a high price.

He might be sold to some rich and bad-tempered old maid with a dowry sufficient to rebuild the barony.

Being forced to be a submissive ‘trophy’ for the rest of his life.

The possibility that his life could be ruined was certainly not welcome,

but more than that, it was a matter of conscience to marry someone now.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t received recommendations related to marriage in my previous life, that is, when I was ‘Thermis’.

At that time, the huge burn on my face was a good excuse.

‘It would be too sorry for the other person to have to live with someone with this face for the rest of their lives.’

That was really a magic spell.

Because anyone who heard those words would immediately make a heartbreaking expression and understand.

But the biggest reason was that I had taken someone else’s life.

It wasn’t intentional, and it was because I had entered the body of someone who ‘should have died’ anyway, but…

Strictly speaking, I was borrowing someone else’s body.

If I told the current sister, ‘Minon Irendel’, that I’m not your brother,

and that I’m a pessimistic and dark-hearted man who I don’t even know where he crawled out from, what kind of reaction would she show?

It was enough to deceive the family with a stolen name, a stolen body, and a stolen life.

Speaking of sister, I had a younger sister in my previous life too.

She was a smart kid.

She never became close to me until the end.

She was always sharp and cold in her personality. She never allowed private conversations.

She didn’t even let me into her room.

No, she was the one who kept going in and out of my room.

But well… that’s what younger sisters are like.

She was a kid who I could never hate.

Anyway, another reason why I was reluctant to get married was…

After all, the difference in mental age was the reason.

Here, it was common to look into families to get engaged when they were only around twelve years old, and to decide on a marriage partner before and after the coming-of-age ceremony if there were no special flaws.

How much was the accumulated mental age after living two lives?

To have lived that long and then marry a teenager, I couldn’t help but think that it was the heart of a thief.

Speaking of marriage, marriage was truly a nightmare-like topic in my second life.

……As you can see from the name ‘Thermis’, in my first previous life, I was a woman.

A woman.

With a body.

I lived as a noble eldest daughter of a Duke’s family, a war hero, and countless marriage requests came to me.

It was truly a gut-wrenching experience to have the heads of prestigious families line up naive, handsome, and well-mannered boys in front of me

and come to me saying, ‘My son is still immature, but…’

Needless to say, the fact that the majority of the boys were blushing red when they looked at me was a particularly bad part.

‘What kind of reaction would they show if I lifted the hair I had grown to cover one eye and showed them my burn?’

I often thought about this, but I never actually put it into practice.

‘I’m too busy with thoughts for the world, so I’m not ready for that yet…’

I rejected them all while spouting words that I didn’t mean in a chilling tone,

but as the deadline for marriageable age approached, the maids as well as everyone around me were urging me to get married.

‘Thermis-nim, why do you hate marriage so much?’

I couldn’t answer. I was a man.

The noble and beautiful eldest daughter of a Duke’s family, Thermis Solenas, was originally an ordinary man who was pessimistic about everything.

That’s why I’m desperately hiding the fact that I’ve been reincarnated and living.

……Anyway. It’s really unexpected to be resurrected a second time in the same world, but…?

At least this time I wasn’t a woman.

I woke up in the body of an eleven-year-old son of a barony who ‘should have definitely died’.

And after watching and observing the situation for a year, I was now twelve years old.

‘I became a woman and then became a man again. It’s really absurd… From a man to a woman to a man.’

‘Come to think of it, there was a saying that the second foretells the third…’

If that happened and I became a woman again. Then it would be really funny.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

‘No, it’s not funny. It’s not funny at all. That should never happen.’

I was sweating cold at an unknown eerie premonition.

…It won’t happen, right? That kind of thing will never happen again, right?’

Well, considering that I was almost mentally ill in my previous life, it was a long way to go.

I took exactly half and half from the 50-50 probability, so at least I have no complaints here.

Moreover, it’s a life that I would have died in on the spot.

Even in her current state, my sister had quite a lot of expectations for me.

That’s why she’s reacting so nervously to my attempt to leave the mansion.

‘Signo! How many times do I have to tell you! The barony’s territory is not safe anymore! What if you get kidnapped after going to a street stall or market!’

That was the sermon I heard before being trapped here.

‘But bandits or something… Um, who am I? Can’t I do something about it?’

I pulled out a thin pin that I had put in my pocket.

It would be a piece of cake to pick the lock on the dilapidated prison door with that.

In my previous life, I used to break it, but it would be difficult to do that now.

I’ll go out all night, come back before dawn, and wait quietly inside.

It was a plausible plan.

The facts that I could know inside the sequestered mansion were too limited and few.

Above all, there was one fact that I wanted to know the most.

What happened during the short gap between when I was reincarnated again.

I unlocked the lock.

The work didn’t take even a minute.

Third life, Signo Irendel.

It seemed that dying wasn’t so easy after all.