Lady Mille-Feuille...! Lady Mille-Feuille...!
“I am no mere lady. I am a royal princess!”
“P-Princess?”
A bewildered voice woke me up from my slumber. When I opened my eyes, a teary-eyed Parfeil was there before me.
“Lady Mille-Feuille...! Oh, sorry, Princess Mille-Feuille!” Parfeil said, correcting herself.
“P-Princess?” I stammered.
“You just told me to call you that.”
“Forget about that. You can call me what you always have.”
“All righty.”
My head was throbbing in pain, quite understandably so. It was hard to believe, but my memories from a past life had come back to me. It sounded like a fairy tale, but it was the only explanation I could think of. My past life was that of the Kingdom of Sacristain’s princess, Charlotte, a beautiful maiden with long, wavy, golden locks and eyes as blue as the deep ocean...or so it seemed.
“Parfeil, bring me a mirror,” I said.
“Got it.”
As ordered, Parfeil brought me one. The face reflected on its surface was completely different from that of Charlotte when she was alive. I had my mother’s milk tea-colored hair and my father’s spring-green eyes. I had been told once or twice that my almond-shaped eyes suggested a “strong-willed” personality. It appeared that being reborn didn’t mean that I retained my old appearance.
My memories from a past life, huh...
“Lady Mille-Feuille, are you all right?” Parfeil asked. “Should I call the doctor?”
“No need, I’m fine. I was just a little dizzy. Could you bring me some water?”
“Got it.”
I tried to organize my thoughts while drinking the water from Parfeil.
When a person died, by divine providence, their soul returned to a blank slate before being reborn in a new body. This cycle was known as “reincarnation,” or so said a book I’d read somewhere. A case like mine, where I suddenly remembered my past life, must’ve been rare. It had probably happened because I’d seen the Dragon Duke—someone I was connected to in my past life—and because he’d mentioned the name “Charlotte” on top of that. Of course, this was all just conjecture.
The Dragon Duke Vacherin... He was Charlotte’s lover during her life and they had even been engaged. And people said that he hadn’t shown himself in public for the last one hundred years...
I turned to my attendant. “Parfeil, what year is it in the Aela Calendar?”
The Aela Calendar counted the years since the creation of the world. It wasn’t used by dragonkin, so I hadn’t been keeping track in this lifetime. If Charlotte had died in the year 3200 of the Aela Calendar, how many years had it been since then?
Parfeil took out her pocket watch and opened it to confirm the date. “It’s the year 3300 in the Aela Calendar.”
“Year 3300?!”
“Yeah, that’s right.” Parfeil pointed to the window on the watch that showed the year. There was no doubt about it—this was the year 3300 of the Aela Calendar. In other words, it was exactly one hundred years since Charlotte’s death.
I remembered the Dragon Duke’s words from earlier. “Why must I be reduced to a public exhibit on the day I parted with my dear Charlotte?”
To think that he still remembered his fiancée Charlotte, a hundred years after her death...!
“Parfeil, is the Dragon Duke married?” I asked.
“I don’t know. For the last hundred years, there’s hardly been any information about the Dragon Duke’s royal family. There was talk of him getting married a century back, but it seems his fiancée passed away young. There hasn’t been any news since then.”
“I see.”
The talk about him getting married over a hundred years ago must’ve been referring to Charlotte. Since there hadn’t been any other public information about the royal family over the last century, it was impossible to know if he was still single or if he’d gotten married since.
“Speaking of which, I heard that there was a woman among the Dragon Duke’s royal family. What about her?” I asked.
“Who knows? Like I said, nobody knows anything about the Dragon Duke or his royal family.”
What if she was his consort...?
I felt a sharp pain in my heart as that thought crossed my mind. It must’ve been due to Charlotte’s memories that lingered in me. There was just no way I would feel that much shock from hearing about the marriage of a man I’d never even met. I pressed my hands to my heart, trying to suppress the pain. I had to hold back my tears.
“Lady Mille-Feuille, are you really all right? I really think we should call the doctor...” Parfeil said, concerned.
“I’m fine. No need to worry about me.”
“Got it. Please tell me if you start feeling sick again, okay?”
“Of course.”
It seemed like I had passed out in the royal courtyard from the shock of remembering my previous life. I had been out cold for three hours.
“Parfeil, I would like to be alone for a while,” I said. “Could you please tell father, mother, and my brother that I’m fine now?”
“All right,” Parfeil replied, and once she left the room, I let out a sigh.
To think that my previous self was Princess Charlotte of Sacristain and that her fiancé was the Dragon Duke... That wasn’t something I could just immediately accept. Even though I had her memories, I was still me. It wasn’t like I had become Charlotte all of a sudden.
When it came to Charlotte, I just couldn’t see her as being me. Despite now having her memories, it wasn’t like her will was overpowering mine or anything. In fact, her personality was the complete opposite of mine. She was a pure and innocent princess, almost childlike, and I couldn’t imagine her being averse to other people.
On the other hand, my personality was cool and calm, even as a child, to the point that grown-ups knew me to be quite composed for my age. I didn’t need to study much to remember my lessons. When I learned how to curtsy—the noblewoman’s greeting—from my etiquette tutor, it didn’t take much practice for me to do it perfectly. I was sure that Charlotte had learned all those noble customs over years and years of effort.
It made me feel like I hadn’t worked hard enough to get where I was. Thinking about it made a mixture of frustration and embarrassment well up inside me.
“Can you believe all this?” I absentmindedly started talking to a fish in the aquarium atop my bedside table.
The fish paid me no heed and kept swimming along its merry way.
I felt like all my confidence had crumbled away. I needed to put in more effort and not be haughty about my achievements.
I let out another sigh—I had completely lost count of how many times I’d sighed today.
Previous life or not, even though I wanted to live my life as usual, memories of Charlotte spending her days with the Dragon Duke had returned to me.
Despite the barriers between humans and dragonkin, they had seemed to be a completely normal couple. They’d held hands in the garden, enjoyed talking to each other, and exchanged warm smiles.
The Dragon Duke had seemed to be a kind man back then. I could hardly believe that the Dragon Duke I’d seen today was the same person. Was society so harsh to him that he became dejected over the last century?
A couple tragically separated only to reunite after a hundred years was the stuff of fairy tales. In fact, I bore no romantic feelings for the Dragon Duke at all.
But what about the man in question? I suddenly remembered the last words he’d uttered by Charlotte’s side as she died...
“No matter where you’re reborn, I promise that I’ll find you!”
Shivers ran down my entire body as I recalled his words. His wail had been mixed with pure hatred. Despite the memories I now had, I didn’t know what could have happened to make him scream like that. Had Charlotte done something to make him angry? In fact, what if it had been the Dragon Duke who’d killed her in the first place? If so, then I couldn’t afford to let anyone know about my past life. Thankfully, despite having my past life’s memories, it wasn’t like that person had started taking over my entire personality. Charlotte’s memories just happened to reside within me.
“I really wish I didn’t remember my past life...”
If the Dragon Duke found out about this, it would mean nothing but trouble for me. I just had to keep quiet about it and take the secret of being Charlotte in my past life to my grave. I wanted to live a calm and peaceful life, without needing to experience someone trying to kill me.
And with that, I swore to never get involved with the Dragon Duke in any way.