Chapter 1: Awakened and Abandoned
“LAETITIA, as of today, our engagement is over.”
With those words, my future came screeching to a halt.
This man—the crown prince, Fritz—left me dumbfounded with his sudden declaration.
“How cold…”
My whole body shivered as I spoke.
But what chilled me to my core wasn’t just the gaze my fiancé Fritz cast down upon me.
Drops of water formed from my wet bangs and fell before my eyes.
I’d been completely soaked in cold water, and my body trembled violently from the drastic change in temperature.
“How cruel… What did I do to deserve being pushed into the fountain…?”
“Are you really going to play dumb? I know all about you harassing Sumia.”
That’s not true. I never meant to cause her harm.
When I raised my head to object, I was met with the sight of Sumia clinging to Fritz.
Sumia was a young girl with soft chestnut hair and round green eyes.
Her charming face was clouded in fear as she looked at me. I could even see her trembling.
“Don’t you see how frightened she is? Have you no sympathy for the poor girl? You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“…I haven’t done anything to be ashamed of,” I asserted.
I was certain I had nothing to apologize for.
When Fritz had informed me that he was ending our engagement, and with Sumia standing there by his side, all I did was approach the two of them to ask what was going on.
But one of Fritz’s followers had pushed me back, sending me tumbling into the water.
“Still trying to worm your way out of admitting guilt, are you? The dip in the fountain didn’t manage to wake you up?”
“…Wake me…up…?”
The words slipped quietly from my lips.
In a way, I was completely awake now.
My eyes had been opened.
Rattled by the shock of losing my fiancé and being pushed into a fountain, I realized that I’d regained the memories of my past life.
✦ ✦ ✦
“JIRO, are you ready to go on a walk?”
“Arf!!”
When I peeked under the red roof of his doghouse, Jiro, my Shiba Inu, sauntered toward me.
After a quick stretch of his front legs, followed by the back ones, Jiro was ready for his walk.
I couldn’t help but smile fondly as I watched him sprawl out in front of me. Then I reached over to grab his harness.
Jiro knew the process by heart. He turned toward me and raised his head up eagerly. I pulled the harness over his head, observing the patches of gray around his muzzle as I did.
They say dogs go gray with age just like humans do.
We adopted Jiro when I was still in high school, and now, after many years, he’d grown into a little old man.
“~~~~♬”
Spring was in the air. It was the perfect weather for a walk.
I hummed a tune to myself as the two of us strode along the countryside roads outside of my parents’ home.
Trot. Trot. Trot.
I kept an eye on Jiro’s ailing legs as we walked, and my thoughts drifted to the kitchen back at home.
Homemade strawberry ice cream was waiting for me in the freezer, and it would be ready to eat when I finished walking Jiro. The craving for that delicate yet fruity flavor was vivid in my mind, bringing a smile to my face. I couldn’t wait to feel those thick chunks of strawberry on my tongue.
I’d left lots of strawberry seeds in the mixture too. The ice cream itself was soft and airy—my favorite treat to whip up when spring arrived each year.
Though it was an annual tradition of mine to make strawberry ice cream, the first time I tried my hand at the recipe, I accidentally misread the amount of water to add. The result wasn’t pretty.
When there’s too much water in the mixture, the ice cream doesn’t crystallize properly in the freezer, and the strawberry flavor comes out much weaker.
But with all those failed attempts under my belt, my strawberry ice cream was finally turning into a tasty treat that even my family enjoyed.
“♬ Straaawberries! Straw-berr-iiies! ♬”
I quietly sang a little tune of my own making, strolling along with the rhythm.
My song was pretty terrible, but it didn’t matter that day.
A few years had passed since I graduated from university and started at my current job.
My company kept me incredibly busy…in fact, I’d even call it downright exploitative. I could count on one hand the number of times I made it home on time. Naturally, we had to come in on holidays too, and as the end of each quarter approached, we were so busy, I don’t know how we even made it out alive.
But for once, I had an entire Sunday all to myself.
I used the day to finish up some chores I’d been putting off, then got on a train to visit my parents’ house, which was less than an hour away.
Seeing their smiling faces, playing with Jiro, and eating delicious ice cream—it had the makings of a perfect day off.
“Jiro, wait.”
The traffic light in front of us was red.
Jiro was quick to obey when he heard my voice.
When we first adopted Jiro as a puppy, I was the one who taught him how to respond to commands.
…I’d always heard that Shiba Inus were stubborn creatures, and Jiro certainly wasn’t any different. It took quite a while for him to start listening to me even a little.
“Wait” was the command he struggled with the most. I was only in high school at the time, so it was a real test of patience for me to train him.
Three seconds, then five. Little by little, Jiro learned to “wait” in longer intervals, even though there were plenty of setbacks along the way.
But in the end, it just made me all the prouder when Jiro finally started to listen to me, even outside the house. It felt like he’d finally accepted me as his owner.
“Okay, Jiro. Let’s go.”
The light was green now.
We made it halfway across the street, when suddenly…
“Arf arf!!”
“What?!”
With a loud roar, a truck came barreling in our direction, with no regard for the crosswalk or our green light.
This is bad. I have to move. I have to save Jiro.
I yanked his harness as hard as I could, letting out a shriek…
And then I felt the impact.
The world went fuzzy around me.
The next thing I felt was a growing pool of warm liquid soaking my body, and I realized I was sprawled out on top of the concrete.
As my consciousness faded to black, the last thing that “I” made out was the sight of Jiro running toward me.