Memories of her past life came rushing back all at once to the six-year-old princess Claudia. Meanwhile, she was staring at her attempted murderer. The man in front of her had pushed her out of the tower window. Her uncle—her own blood—meant to kill her.
“Don’t hate me,” he said. “Your death means we can raise Leonora as a princess! And as her guardian, I’ll be able to live lavishly!”
Claudia stretched her hand out, marveling at its tiny size even as she fell. She gazed up at her uncle’s face, meters away now, and blinked.
Her smile was eerily calm.
Foolish man.
He gasped in shock, but she didn’t hear anything he said; her body continued to plummet the vast distance toward the forest below.
I wonder if he truly thinks he can pass off his own daughter as the princess. Although...considering how Father and Stepmother have confined me in this life, perhaps no one will notice my absence, replaced by my cousin.
The words of the lady’s attending maids floated to mind as her unwilling descent continued.
“I can’t believe my dismal luck in being forced to serve the Lacking Princess! She doesn’t possess even an iota of magic despite her station.”
“It’s inevitable. Even His Majesty’s royal blood wasn’t strong enough to overcome her mother’s lowborn stock. The woman might have been a diva of unparalleled beauty, but in the end, she was simply a commoner without any relations.”
“I’d like to return to the capital at the very least. I can’t stand living in such a remote forest, one in which monsters appear, to boot! Ahhh, if only Princess Claudia didn’t exist...”
A chortle threatened to escape her lips as she thought back on these memories.
To call me lacking and magicless! How very droll! Hee hee. They can’t even imagine the power I wielded in my old life.
Society would have deemed her perfect in her previous life as Adelheid. Her blessings had been many. Born to a pedigreed family, she had overflowed with talents aplenty and possessed an intellect to match that put them to good use. Though she had been showered with praise, her life had ended too soon, which brought her to now.
Reborn yet disdained by even the servants. Such was this life.
“Right, then.”
The wind whistling past her ears coupled with the sound of birds cheeping. The tops of the trees were rapidly approaching before Claudia’s very eyes, ready to pierce through her—or perhaps she would crash through branches hosting birds’ nests and slam to the ground instead. She spread the fingers of her small right hand and pointed the palm down before mentally casting a short spell.
Stop.
Her body stopped immediately. A moment later, the hem of her dress billowed softly around her. Just like that, Claudia slowly descended until her feet gracefully reached the ground. She clenched and unclenched her tiny fists vigorously as she felt the magical energy circulating through her.
One can never be too cautious, so I cast the spell silently, but it seems to have worked fine. Though it would be best if I vocalized for more powerful magic.
She hadn’t expected much from this vessel, but it could prove more useful than she’d thought. For a child’s body, it reacted quickly to an invocation and withstood the resulting recoil well enough. In which case, she needed to think about what came next.
I could return directly to the tower, but I’d rather not. I must say, it would be more amusing to crush my uncle’s ambitions once I’m a bit older. That aside, I have a pressing problem to solve, since it seems I’ll be forced to wander the forest for some time...
Claudia lightly brushed her hand over the space in front of her. A mirror appeared.
Look at me, clad in such atrociously unsuitable attire.
She peered at the reflection of a child too slight in build for a six-year-old. Reed-thin limbs and broken nails. Shoes with scratched tips and an exceedingly plain white dress. Her hair, which had grown past her knees—not by her volition—lay in a disheveled mess. And her pallid, unhealthy complexion only made matters worse.
The nerve of them to treat her so horridly. Still, she realized she’d lived her life with nary a complaint before recovering her memories.
Claudia pursed her lips tightly in annoyance before clicking her heels together.
Purify, Restore, Mend, Tidy, Fortify...
With every one-word spell she cast, beads of light burst forth from the heels of her shoes. They whizzed around and enveloped her, caressing her with a comforting warmth. Then she looked in the mirror once more.
I suppose this will do.
With that thought, she combed her fingers through her beige hair. As she did so, a young girl possessing big eyes framed by long lashes and small lips stared back at her from the mirror. Her hair, now shortened enough so that it fell midway down her back, gleamed like it had been combed with a real brush. No longer tangled, it hung pin-straight and fluttered in the gentle breeze winding through the forest.
Claudia revitalized her skin with magic until it shone, and she transformed her plain, worn-out dress into a soft, luxurious one. She couldn’t do much about her thinness, but she made sure to polish the tips of her shoes. The next thing she did was check her eyes.
The striking pair resembled a doll’s, large and round. Previously hidden by the unruly fringe of hair, they were visible now, their color changing depending on the light. They sported all the colors of the rainbow, like a multitude of jewels crushed and mixed together.
“The greatest witch of our time. The true conjurer, Lady Adelheid!”
“Your prismatic eyes are proof of your ability to manipulate magic. You truly deserve to be called magic’s beloved!”
She sighed, recalling words once spoken by her former disciples.
Everyone knew the legend of the mighty conjurer, Adelheid, the woman who made a name for herself with her power. Before recovering her memories, even the listless Claudia had heard the name.
I harbored a tiny hope of living my next life as I pleased. To think that I was reborn not only as a princess, but an oppressed, confined one. And to remember this all as a terribly young girl, at that.
She narrowed her eyes as she gazed up at the tower she’d fallen from. The smirk on her face suited a wicked witch.
Honestly...I couldn’t have asked for more!
Today was a day of celebration. Her mood improved by leaps and bounds, she made the mirror disappear with a snap of her fingers before she took her first steps deeper into the forest. She practically bounded forward, she was so exultant.
Time for a stroll. Let’s see what this forest, rumored to be the den of monsters, has in store!
She unconsciously started singing a tune from her old life. Sometimes she lisped and stumbled over the words like young children are wont to do, and her voice reverberated throughout the woods.