The Princess, that walked through the streets, emanated an air of arrogance. Despite her cut hair and the simple dress, she looked every part the royal she was. Every step she took was taken with confidence. Annoyance spread through the crowd. The Princess's eyes looked at them like they were dirt. Quite a few insults were thrown at her before her walk ended in front of the wooden scaffolding at the execution grounds. On top of that scaffolding, her executioner awaited, and her life would end.

Elizabeth climbed the wooden stairs of the scaffolding. She tuned out the sounds of the crowd and the words of the official who listed her crimes. Every part of her was focused on maintaining the facade of a confident lady. She would respect the last words the Queen said to her.

[ ”Listen to me my daughter.” Her mother said in a hushed voice. “Tomorrow I will be executed. As my proclaimed heir you will probably follow. Even if your uncle wanted to keep you alive, his advisors will be against it. You are too dangerous for them to be left alive. When you die, die with your head held high. A noble should never let herself show weakness.” ]

Fear clenched her heart. She didn't want to die. The two months that had passed since her mother's execution had allowed her to strengthen her resolve, but now standing in front of a crowd of people wishing for her death, it began to crumble.

“Any last words?”

The fourteen-year-old girl nearly shook her head, but before she could do that, Elizabeth once again remembered the words of her mother. She raised her voice, willing it to sound more confident than she really was.

 “You are not worthy to hear my words.”

The crowd roared angrily, but the voice of the official was still loud enough to understand. He motioned to the executioner.

“Do it!”

A hand pushed down on her shoulders. Kneeling, she rested her head on the execution block, always looking above the heads of the crowd as if they weren't worth her notice.

'Please let it be over quick and painless.'

The executioner raised his sword. Elizabeth tried to calm her nerves. She didn't close her eyes, that would have shown that she was scared, but instead focused them on the horizon.

The sword shone in the sun before it severed her neck. The neck was severed in one blow. Swift and painless.

 

***

 

Elizabeth opened her eyes in confusion. She didn’t remember closing them.

‘I am still alive? But why? I did not pass out during the execution, did I?’

This thought however was soon forgotten when she inspected her surroundings.

‘Where am I? Did they change my room?’

Her eyes fell upon a woman. Elizabeth opened her mouth, wanting to ask the woman what was going on. Before she could speak, the woman reached out and picked Elizabeth up.

‘What th-?! Put me down! Who do you think you are!?’ Or at least that was what she tried to say.

“WHHAAAAaaa- “

She stopped, shocked and confused by her own voice. Elizabeth looked at her body. Unable to lift her head, she could only inspect her hands. The sight of her hands confused her only further. The skin tone was darker than she remembered. They were small, tiny even. They were the hands of…

‘A BABY!!?’

While Elizabeth tried to come to terms with the fact that she had somehow become a baby, she was wiped, wrapped in a clean cloth and then put into the arms of a woman, who gazed at her affectionately.

“I hope you grow up healthy and happy, Liviana. My sweet daughter.”

Liviana inclined her head to the side and looked at her mother. The words of the foreign language made no sense to her.

 

***

 

Liviana laid in her crib. She had just met her family and was still exhausted from the event. Her brother had been very fascinated by her and her father had been so careful that one could belief he was holding a fragile family heirloom in his hands. In the hour that she had spent with her family, Liviana got the impression that they were different from her old family.

Her situation was just too crazy. She wanted to just run away from her problems and ignore it, but she knew that she should at least think about the problem to some extent. Ignoring it would do no good. Pondering about her situation, she let out a sigh.

‘I don’t even know where I should begin. Why am I a baby? Why does my family speak a foreign language? Why are they unlike any family I have ever known? I have at least an Idea how to answer one of these questions. Maybe I have been given another chance? I’m sure that I was executed, so maybe I was reborn? Then why the foreign language? Maybe I wasn’t reborn in the kingdom? But from what I have seen the culture looks similar…’

She was at a loss. Not wanting to think about it any longer, she let out another sigh and closed her eyes. But sleep didn’t come. She was hungry. Liviana tried to draw attention to herself.

“Ah…Ah.”

No one responded to her attempt at politely calling for a meal.

Frustrated, Liviana felt tears welling up in her eyes. She had mostly lost the ability to control her urges and emotions. Becoming a baby could do this to you.

“Ah…AH…AAAAAAHHHHH” She began to cry.

Her mother rushed to her side. Unlacing part of her dress, she freed one breast and picked Liviana up. When Liviana had witnessed that the first time, she had been shocked by her mother’s behaviour. Which lady would breastfeed her child herself? Even now she couldn’t help thinking that it was unladylike. It wasn’t like they didn’t have a nanny. It seemed like her mother just preferred breastfeeding Liviana herself.

 

***

 

About a year later, Liviana had adopted to her new life. Her grasp of the new language was now good enough to mostly understand what people said to her. Liviana had considered asking a few questions that were on her mind since her reincarnation, but she resolved to wait until she could properly speak. The baby talk was just too degrading. One event however made her break this resolve.

In the last few months, the visits of her mother had become scarcer, and her nanny would take care of Liviana most of the time. Today was one of the few times her mother had time to visit Liviana.

In the precious time Liviana's mother could spend with her daughter, her mother always sought to amuse her. She would tell fairy tales, read stories or play games. Her mother quickly noticed that Liviana was not as interested in playing games as other children and that she quickly grew bored of the same stories. To entertain her daughter, she did what she could do best: Magic.

She held her daughter in her right arm while she willed her magic to flow in between the fingers of her left hand. Fiery vines of magic entwined her fingers and flaming flowers bloomed on her hand. 

Liviana looked at her mother’s magic. It was beautiful. Beautiful and impossible. Magic didn’t exist. Captivated by the display, Liviana didn’t even realize that her mouth was open.

“Houw? What ish thish?” She flinched, embarrassed by the childish lisp in her voice.

The flames vanished. Looking up, Liviana could see an exited smile spread across her mother’s face. Liviana wondered why…

An hour later Liviana was finally free. She made a mental note that speaking while being a baby was dangerous and not just embarrassing. Her mother had shown her to nearly every person in the mansion and although Liviana finally got to see the whole mansion, she could not appreciate it in the slightest. Her brother had been the next worst after her mother. The seven-year-old boy had been as excited as their mother and was extremely disappointed when he had to go to his training. At the end of it all, Liviana was utterly exhausted and just wanted to sleep. Maybe it was because she was a baby, but since her reincarnation, she tired rather quickly.

‘She did not even answer my question.’

“I have not answered your question, have I?”

‘Can she read thoughts?!‘

They were back in Liviana's room. Her mother still held her in her arms, in a way that Liviana couldn’t see her expression, but it seemed like her mother was lost in thought. After a few seconds of silence, she began to speak.

“What I showed you was magic…”

Her mother stopped, thinking about how to explain what magic was.

“Magic is something you too are able to do, although you will have to learn how to do it first. It is the ability to manipulate mana and…”

Liviana's mother remembered that she was talking to a one-year-old child.

“It is difficult to explain. You will understand when you are older.”

The explanation didn’t really explain anything, but it confirmed Liviana's suspicions. Since she was reborn, she had felt that something was weird. That something was different.  And the existence of magic more or less confirmed what she had speculated.

‘This is not the world I died in, is it?’

 

***

 

[ The eight-year-old Elizabeth walked through the corridors of the royal palace. Her $&%§ had come to visit the royal palace and Elizabeth could hardly contain her excitement. Struggling to maintain a moderate pace, she continued to walk through %$&%§$%...

"A commoner like you should be grateful for serving me. " Elizabeth said to the maid. They were in the gardens and she had just finished her afternoon lessons. "Staying by my side is an honor." While drinking tea, Elizabeth repeated the %&§&%§&/...

"You have to honor §$%%& family. You $%& my daughter not $%&§$% girl but my daughter. You cannot allow yourself to $%&%$%&" Her $%&§$§ scolded her after she had heard what happened %§&§%§. Tears glistered in Elizabeth's eyes, but she nodded.

"Yes, I understand, $%§&" ]

Liviana woke up with a start. After calming down a bit, she brushed her black hair aside with her hand. She wasn't Elizabeth anymore. Her black hair and tan skin of her hand assured her of that. But something about her dream or rather memory made anxious. She didn't know what but something was very wrong.

Three years had passed since she had left her life as Elizabeth behind. Dreams of her past life weren't uncommon, but usually she could remember the contents clearly even after waking up. This time she couldn't. Confused, Liviana noticed that even her memories of that time were foggy and incomplete. 

'Well, it has been nine years since then. It would be weird if I could remember every detail.' 

 

***

 

Another two years passed. She learned how to read and write, the history of her family, basic math and etiquette. Her daily life was mostly like she had expected, but there were differences. One day, she had slapped a maid after she had repeatedly broken a few cups. That girl had been utterly incompetent and after Liviana reprimanded her, she had made even more mistakes. Finally, she had slapped the maid and told her to go and scrub the floor of the entrance hall. After that incident, her father reprimanded Liviana for her actions. 

"You can't just slap someone even if it is a servant, especially if it is a servant." Her father told her in a serious but gentle tone.

Liviana didn't dare to speak. Arguing against her parents was futile. She had learned that the hard way in her past life. The easiest way out was to listen to everything, nod and say that she was sorry. He wouldn't listen to her part of the story anyway.

"Why did you do it? Why did you slap the maid?" 

Liviana gave her father a startled look. Wary, like she suspected some kind of trap, Liviana began to speak.

"The maid broke a cup."

Not content with her answer, her father's gaze grew more severe. 

'In my past life this explanation would have sufficed.' 

"I reprimanded her, but she made even more mistakes. She broke two more cups and nearly spilled tea at me."

"So you slapped her." He sighed. "I see that you didn't do it without reason, but it wasn't the right thing to do. The slap was unnecessary. You should apologize."

"I'm sor-"

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to the maid."

Liviana grimaced. She didn't think her actions were wrong and now she had to apologize to a commoner? But she didn't voice her complains. The expression on her father's face told her that his decision was final, so she swallowed her pride as a noble.

 

The incident with the maid didn't have any repercussions for Liviana except for her wounded pride. Her life was enjoyable and her studies progressed smoothly because of her past life's memories. Everything was well, until one morning she heard life changing news after breakfast.

“Livia, I’ve heard that your lessons are going well. Maybe we can start your combat lessons earlier than planned. Your training will begin when you are six, but it doesn’t hurt to start the theory lessons a bit earlier.” Her father said in a cheerful voice.

Liviana's fork stopped halfway to her mouth. She had gotten used to her father’s breach in etiquette during meals and normally she would have just ignored it. It took some time until Liviana fully comprehended the words of her father.

‘Training? Who? Me? Wait…! Me?!’

She gave the Marquess a confused look. Her father however didn’t notice her confusion and waited for her to speak. An awkward silence filled the room. Liviana's mother noticed the startled look on her face and explained.

“It is a tradition of the Vaymoure family that every child learns how to fight. The training begins at the age of six and ends when they turn sixteen.”

It took Liviana an immense amount of self-control to not throw a tantrum. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like it and it was hard to control herself, because of her age. She had realized that her current age influenced how good she was at self-control. A five-year-old was quite bad at suppressing her feelings.

“I understand. I am a bit unwell, so I will retreat to my room.”

Liviana stood up, opened the door and went up the stairs to her room. There she took a pillow and beat it until she had calmed down a bit. After beating the innocent pillow to death, she restlessly paced across the room.

'Argh! Who in their right mind would teach their daughter how to fight?! It’s so unladylike! Who would marry a girl who could beat you to death?! Isn’t it the job of men to protect the women?? I won’t even have time for social events, right?! And I wanted to learn magic! Will I be able to do that when I train all day?! Maybe learning magic is included in the training? Mmh, maybe it’s not as bad as I initially thought?... No, no, no learning how to fight is a big no! I still have a year left. If I can convince him, I might be able to avoid learning how to fight. What do I do if I gain muscles? It will ruin my figure!'