A week had passed since I moved into the tower.
“Oh, no, no, no!”
I let out a shriek as the shelf attached to the wall fell, shattering the glass on top of it.
“Urgh…”
The plumes of dust sent me into a coughing fit.
I had been cleaning nonstop since I arrived at the tower. After a long, hard battle, I managed to finish tidying up the bedroom and had since moved on to the living room. It wasn’t that big, so I honestly thought I’d get it done quickly, but the room was a lot filthier than I imagined. Moreover, doing all this in a child’s body was difficult indeed. Here I thought things would be easy with the help of my past-life memories, but the reality was different.
Yes, I was born with memories from my past life—memories from when I lived in a country called Japan. Finding myself in this brand-new world was bewildering, to say the least. One moment, I was a grown woman in Japan, and the next I was an infant somewhere the likes of which I’d never seen.
In my previous life, I was born into a family that prioritized education. I managed to endure the extreme pressure from my parents and graduate from college. I was hired by a famous company, so I was certain I had fulfilled my parents’ expectations. Ten years passed, and all the while I assumed I’d continue living my life the way it was, working my way up the corporate ladder.
But for some reason, I turned into a baby.
I thought it was a dream at first, but I was a baby when I slept and a baby when I woke. It didn’t seem like I would return to my reality at all. Why had this happened? So many times I wanted to grab someone by the collar and force them to explain why. Unfortunately, my body wouldn’t listen to me, so I tried to observe my surroundings instead. I was clearly in a place filled with complete strangers, somewhere that looked like Europe in the Middle Ages.
Out of the corner of my eye, I occasionally saw the mysterious phenomenon called magic. At first I thought this confirmed that I really was in a dream, but after living in this place for several more years, I realized that this was my new reality. And that was how I, Luxeria von Ausgrid, found acceptance. No, I suppose it was the opposite: Luxeria von Ausgrid accepted that she had the memories of a woman from Japan.
Though my past-life memories confused me, they sometimes helped me get by alone in the tower. In fact, compared to my past life, my new life was amazing. I didn’t need to pay rent, and I got to eat delicious food all the time. I just needed to do a little upkeep, like cleaning and laundry.
Aah. What a great life!
Out of the blue, a knock came at the door.
Who could that be? I never thought someone would visit a place like this. Curious, I opened the door. On the other side stood a girl about my age. She had light red hair and striking jade eyes.
Why is such a cute little girl here?
“Nice to know you. My name is Alicia. Are you Princess Luxeria?”
Nice to know me? Maybe she meant nice to meet me.
I nodded. “Y-yes, I am.”
“I see. Then you’re my mistress.”
Startled, I stood rooted to the spot. “Your…mistress?” I couldn’t quite process what she’d said.
“I have been gave—um, given—the task of serving you, Your Highness. I look forward to being your humble servant.”
“Hey, wait! Come inside before you—” I stopped mid-sentence, thinking back to the horrific state of the living room. There wasn’t even room to stand! I couldn’t possibly let her in. That said, we couldn’t just talk in the doorway.
“Wait here for a bit,” I told her. Then I dashed back to the living room and frantically hid the glass shards and remains of the bookshelf. I could clean up afterward. After returning to the front door, I welcomed her in. “You can take a seat over there.”
“Huh?”
Seeing her hesitate, I frantically thought to myself, Oh no, is the chair dusty, too?!
“I was telled—told—that it’s bad manners to rest in front of one’s employer…”
Phew, so it’s not the dust.
“Come on, just sit. It’s hard to talk if you stay standing,” I said.
“Then I’m gonna sit.”
That’ll keep her from seeing the mess I made earlier. Good thing I got around it! Relief washed over me anew. Now that I could relax, I studied her for the first time. How strange. My magic doesn’t work on her.
“So, who told you to serve me?” I asked her.
“Umm, the king did. His Majesty, I mean.”
“Father did? But why?”
Judging by her speech and appearance, Alicia wasn’t from a noble family. Was that why father had chosen her as my maid? Because she was lowborn and therefore expendable?
I immediately doubted myself. There’s no way my kind father would give such a cruel and heartless order. More likely, he’d sent her to me because he assessed her magic and guessed mine wouldn’t work on her.
“Uh… He—His Majesty said, ‘Luxeria’s magic might not work on you.’ He also said, ‘Since you have nowhere to go, you can join her.’”
“Aha. I thought that might be the case. I’m sorry, but I can’t hire you here. I’d like you to go back to the palace.”
“Wh-why? I need the job!”
“If you’re looking for work, I’ll ask Father to hire you for a better position. One inside the palace.”
“Nah, I can’t—I mean, no, I cannot do that.”
“You can’t? What do you mean, you can’t…?”
“His Majesty told me you’d reject my employment. He said, ‘Although she is my daughter, this is the only request of hers I will not accept—I believe my daughter needs you. If she says what I anticipate her to say, I want you to tell her this, word for word: I do not intend to let Alicia work anywhere other than the tower.’”
“Did you just…tell me what Father said, word for word?”
“Huh? Um, yeah.”
I wondered why she was so eloquent all of a sudden; it turned out those were Father’s words. If she really did repeat it verbatim, her memory was amazing. Alicia herself didn’t seem to realize how remarkable that was. She looks so cute with her head tilted to one side, all puzzled like that… No, now’s not the time for fawning!
“What a waste… You have such a good memory. I can’t believe he wouldn’t let you work in the palace. With your talent, you can definitely get by doing something else. You should really get a job that can make the most of it.”
“That would be a problem. I need money to live. When d’you think I’ll—I mean, when might I be able to get a job like that, Your Highness?”
We looked at each other for a short while. Though she seemed quite troubled, her eyes glimmered with expectation. This wasn’t good; she was not backing down.
I let out a soft sigh. “I’ll tell you why I don’t want to hire you. Once I do, you’ll want to leave. My magic, Heart Realm…affects the hearts of others.”
“It affects people’s hearts?”
“Yes. I’ve been able to hear mysterious voices since the moment I was born. Those voices are people’s innermost thoughts.”
In the beginning, I had no idea it was my magic. It came so naturally to me, I thought everyone in this pseudo-European world had the same ability. Back then I was also still reeling over the fact that I’d reincarnated, so I couldn’t dwell on the voices in my head. As it turned out, I was the only one hearing them.
“I thought it was normal to hear people’s thoughts. I would reply out loud to what my mother was thinking. Not just once—I did it often.”
She shrugged it off the first time, thinking I was just a perceptive child…but it clearly wasn’t a coincidence after it happened again and again. Soon enough, my parents discovered the nature of my magic.
“Once my parents found out what type of magic I had, things became awkward between me and the servants. I heard everyone’s thoughts, even the ones they wanted to keep secret. It’s understandable that they wanted to avoid me and my…creepy powers.”
“His Majesty and Her Majesty as well?”
“No. Thankfully, they both love me. Even though they, too, are afraid of my magic.”
I heard my parents’ inner voices along with everyone else’s, and they were just as frightened by that as the servants. Despite that, their hearts emitted whispers of pure love and affection toward me; I couldn’t express how happy and grateful that made me feel.
“Then why did you move away from them?” Alicia asked.
“Imagine if you could hear everyone’s thoughts—even the ones you wished you didn’t. It’s much less taxing to be isolated, even if it means I can’t leave.”