‘It is so warm; it feels so good...’

For the first time in my entire life, the temperature had never felt better, allowing the comfort to keep my entire self-satiated. That was when an unclear voice popped into my mind, waking me from the drowsiness and unnatural state I was in.

‘What was that? Who...?’

I wondered about the mysterious unfamiliar words, swearing to myself that they sounded strange, far from what humanity once did. But with no time to think about it, I felt a trembling yet ticklish sensation around my body. A pulsating, tremendous strength kept me locked in place, pushing me up and down.

‘What’s going on?’

While I struggled to understand what was happening, a chilly breeze touched the top of my head.

‘No... It’s so cold. Whatever it is, please stop! Leave me alone!’

Despite my distress and confusion, it only grew worse, mercilessly by the second.

Muffled voices slowly becoming clearer approached from someplace nearby, along with sporadic, thin screams. Right after, a rougher, masculine shout reached deep inside my tiny ears.

“I can see the head! Just a final push, you’re almost there...!”

The cold sprayed through my body, obstructing me from the pleasures of being inside the best place my skin had ever felt. My body sought after such pleasantries, which made me feel cozy, warm, and even safe.

‘No!’ despair flew inside of me as I remained reluctant towards everything that was happening outside my control. This time, it felt clearer to the point of understanding a familiar language, yet I stood clueless about its source. Somehow, my eyes were unable to see anything around me clearly as pitifully, my skin tried to spread apart from each other, giving up moments after, having miserably failed to do so. A numb sensation traveled through them as if the gift of sight had been stolen away from me.

“It’s a girl!” The surrounding voices grew exhilarated by the news. 

Something partially touched my skin, creeping me out. A weird, slimy sensation made me feel bewildered.

But, above all, the fluids that permeated my skin kept flowing in the same direction which was. It certainly didn’t feel like I was upside down, meaning gravity was likely doing its work.

‘This feels kind of sticky and disgusting.’

A rough elderly voice followed my inner complaints as the gentle touch of two unknown, yet rough, hands held me firmly.

“Congratulations Rosaline, Luke!” In return, they thanked him.

Unexpectedly, I soon sensed the cold dissipating from my body as a different warm substance nibbled at me. ‘This feels like... water? Everything would be much easier if I could see.... why can’t I?’

Gently, hands patted me with what felt like a soft piece of cloth throughout my body, allowing the strange smell to dissipate a bit each time it passed.

‘It feels ticklish! Stop it! What’s going on now?’ My questions and doubts remained. The fabric caressed my eyelids, allowing the viscous substance to fade away.

A moment later, after being gently smacked on my back, I cried. After enduring a lot of struggles, my eyes finally opened, but much to my surprise, everything was blurry.

‘I think I opened them... didn’t I? Why can’t I see?’

I attempted to recall everything that had come to pass, but wistfully, there was not much flowing from my deeper memories. However, minutes later, everything became clearer: my vision became less blurry, allowing my focus to come across a strange old-looking person staring at me with a creepy, big smile.

‘Who are you!? Why are you touching me? Where am I?’

The realization of my words not coming out frustrated me. It enhanced the confused state within me as more questions kept popping into my mind.

 ‘What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I speak?’

After some minutes, his figure finally became completely clear as translucid water, allowing my attention to lay on the elder’s hair that resembled the snow, greatly merging with his long beard. Wrinkles embraced his face, alongside heavy bags which pulled down his dark-brown eyes. Softly, he placed me in a large yet cozy place that resembled home.

There I noticed twin mountains rising on my sides, leaving a pinkish tone at their top. It looked just like a caramel pudding. Her eyes connected to mine, displaying how exhausted they were.

‘This woman is beautiful... but who is she?’ Her hand touched my face, caressing it kindly, allowing me to take notice of a happy yet faint smile on her lips through the open gaps between her sleek fingers.

‘She looks happy. Her palm... why is it so big? Could I be the small one?’

From her kindness, my body grew relaxed, allowing my mind to calm down deeply, almost falling asleep. I fought the sensation to remain awake, as something strange was happening to me. My mind came across a potential solution. Yet somewhere within my heart, I longed to hear the truth from someone else.

Not too long after, a feeble, sweet tone reached my ears, enlightening me about everything my brain wished to know.

“Our daughter is so beautiful, don’t you think so, Luke?”

Her hand left my field of vision, allowing me to take a peek at their faces. That’s when I took sight of tender brown eyes, allowing my heart to race.

“Indeed, dear! She even inherited the bright golden hair from you.”

My mother giggled happily at the comment before my father resumed his words.

“Rosaline, my love, congrats on becoming a mother after such a long and arduous struggle! The best one this world will ever have!”

Upon the flattery, I noticed the woman’s cheeks blushing. She further smiled as the man’s hand, bigger than hers, passed softly on her right cheek. In response to such love, she leaned her face comfortably, as if it was a pillow.

“Thank you, and congrats on becoming a dad, my dear Luke.”

I had never seen so much happiness in one spot before. To me, this was the greatest surprise.

‘To think... I was born again.’

At the very least, I no longer felt doubts within me about this. My new parents relieved me of such confusion, which my heart felt immensely grateful for. They celebrated with a soft kiss, sharing a love that at a different time felt feeble and non-existent. Through the course of my past life and from what I could remember, such memories were tainted in dark tones, sparkling hints of darkness within my mind. The more I felt them, the faster they came to life, awakening my old identity and reminding me of who I truly was.

Soon after, my father adjusted his position and noticed something peculiar. I could tell that from the way his eyebrow raised, astonishment loaded his expression. My sight was no longer blurry, not perfect yet, but it was getting somewhere. Abruptly after, he lowered his head, closing in on me, causing my heart to race and causing me to feel uncomfortable, as I couldn’t do anything about it. This reminded me of the fear portrayed by my past father.

“Hum? Strangely, our baby has green eyes. I have never seen such a color before, other than...” He gulped. “The Saintess...” 

His statement brought a new emotion to my body: suspicion. I reckoned they would hate me for it, causing me to follow the glance he shot to my mother and the elder. Surprise and consternation spread through them, forcing the woman to utter words of her own, knowing nothing good would come from such uneasy thoughts being left unsolved, “do you think so, darling? I don’t remember anyone from my family having such a cute tone. They look like little emeralds!”

My heart melted from another compliment, allowing my mind to once again calm down. There was now a big chance that they wouldn’t loathe me for it, ‘my eyes used to be like that... but no one liked them...’ I tried to tell her the reason why, willing to solve their doubts, but despite all my efforts, they amounted to nothing. Thus, sadly for me, words didn’t come out, but at least for my father, they did.

“I’m not too sure either...”

Upon my parents’ conversation, the doctor added some positivity.

“There’s nothing wrong with her eyesight. Plus, having green eyes, the same as the Saintess, can only be a good omen!”

“Thank you, Vicent,” the old man shyly smiled, happy to soothe their worries, causing relieved expressions to follow. Soon all their six eyes gazed upon me.

‘Saintess? What does that mean?’

What looked like my right hand involuntarily passed in front of my eyes as they moved randomly, causing the adults to chuckle.

‘Are these mine? They are so tiny! I can’t actually control them,’ I did some more attempts without success. ‘It’s like they have a will of their own. I can’t seem to handle them at all.’

Suddenly feeling the remaining of my limbs, I attempted to move the different parts of my body, failing miserably one time after another.

‘I still remember how to walk, but why is it a problem now?’

Rosaline touched my cheek softly with a finger, followed by a kind smile spreading on her lips as she attempted to calm my shaking body with a delicate and sweet maternal tone.

“There, there. Everything is alright, my sweet baby.” She said as my father intertwined his fingers with her free hand, displaying a similar expression to hers.

Within my vast darkness filled with sorrow, looking at them gave me a tiny light ray of hope.

‘They look really happy to have me...’

I despised many of my old memory whose anguish gave birth to a rather sincere thought: ‘it truly wasn’t my fault that she died...’ Back then, my mother passed away soon after giving birth to me. Ever since that day, my father’s heart turned into ice, hating my existence on a daily base. Once I reached a certain age, he forced me to call him by his title: duke.

‘The last thing I remember was trying to get into the mansion’s attic, and then...’ my brain tingled, making me disperse from such thoughts. I then allowed my eyes to hover over the lightly tanned skin of Rosaline and then, in the same manner, finding a darker one belonging to Luke.

Despite my effort to pull in some memories, a tingling haziness took over whenever I tried. ‘I guess something must have happened...’

My gaze lowered, finding a shelf with very few, but familiar items on it, further away near the wall, situated opposite to what seemed to be my parent’s bed.

‘Maybe someone used magic from the stories of my books, and I ended up here as a baby. Would that even be possible?’ My eyes voyaged through the room, attempting to look for clues, but to no avail. ‘Perhaps the most logical explanation would be that I was just born again.’

The old man glanced at us before interrupting my chain of deep thoughts, startling me.

“Everything’s done on my side. Your wife just needs to rest now, Luke.”

He lowered himself, disappearing out of my sight for a moment. Shortly after, he rose, causing his figure to lumber over us, his hands holding a dark bag a bit below his waist.

‘I am glad there were no casualties.’

I saw him rushing with lengthy steps at the other man, going as far as to give him a hug.

“Thank you so much, Vincent!” my dad added gratefully, filled with warmth in his fuzzy heart, smiling handsomely and prideful at his newly formed family.

 ‘Thank you for not letting Rosaline die...’

My sorrow yielded at the good things this old man granted me. I heard a muffled slap, causing my gaze to notice the elder hand hitting my father’s back.

“You welcome Luke. Just be good to her, along with your lovely wife. I’ll be taking the dirty clothes, you can handle the sheets, and as promised, I’ll be keeping the little one birth a secret,” the elder smiled while receiving a nod from my parents.

Then my mother threw him some friendly words of her own, “Thank you very much, Vincent! I’m truly grateful for everything you’ve done for us!” she cried up happily and relieved, placing both hands in front of her mouth, unable to add any other word.

“Take good care of yourself, Rosa. I’ll be taking my leave now, still have some appointments to do. I’ll be waiting for you two at the shop soon; new potions will be coming soon.” 

As the elder was leaving with a smug on his face, he ended up stopping halfway, stealing a glance in Luke’s direction.

“Alright Boss! We’ll meet you as soon as possible!” He replied eagerly to go back to work and then turned back to me.

‘Seems like they work for this old man, Vincent. But if he’s a doctor, then what’s a potion shop?’ Some words remained in my mind as I tried to make sense of them. ‘Why would they keep my birth a secret?’ Suspicion grew within me, as this didn’t feel right.

“Rosaline...” Luke looked at his wife, with a stern expression at his wife causing her tired eyes to sharpen slightly, clearly curious about her beloved next words.

“Yes? What’s wrong?”

He swayed his head to the sides, relaxing her, “nothing is, but... what are you naming our daughter?”

My eyes saw how his own brimmed, becoming full of expectation upon noticing a small yet caring smile from Rosaline, “I wonder which name would be cute enough...”

Leaving my mother to think about it, he reminded himself of their agreement out loud, gesturing accordingly by raising one finger as if both hands blabbered in synchronization with his lips, “Remember our deal? I’d name the baby if it was a boy. But if it was a girl…”

“So it’s on me, is it?”

Ultimately, my father crossed his arms over one another while sealing his mouth, waiting patiently as he watched over us.

After some time passed, Rosa’s eyes fell on me as she came up with a decision, “hey, Luke. I’ve decided on one for our daughter. I’ll name her Iris,” she smiled while holding me comfortably, without thinking too much, as the name insisted on replacing all others inside her mind.

My bewilderment went up a level, causing my arms to move in disarray. ‘How is that even possible? What are the odds? She picked the name… I had in my past life. It’s hard to believe… this to be a coincidence!’

Abruptly, Luke complimented her choice, “that’s an adorable name, honey!”

A joyful tone resounded from the man, soothing his wife and especially my body, which seemed rather energetic.

Some more time passed, allowing the tiredness to grow in me, forcing me to fight to keep my eyes open, ‘I’m feeling rather sleepy... it seems like babies have little energy...’

‘Not like I had much back then, always being starved by those maids...’ sadness swelled inside me from such thoughts, making me want to cry but unable to.

My parents kept me in their tender gaze, “Iris looks comfortable in your arms, dear.”

With a lower tone, as Rosaline noticed my eyes closed, she added carefully, “Indeed, Luke, she looks so adorable.”

System: Welcome to the world of Artana! We have gifted you with two random skills from the divine library. They will remain sealed till the human ceremony upon the contract.

The unfamiliar and fresh voice that entered my mind without my consent forced my body to be more energetic. ‘wait, who are you? What do you mean by skills? A ceremony?’

They quickly became surprised, causing my mother to hush me with a soft mutter.

‘Was worth a try...’ it seemed my attempt at communication failed. ‘Too bad it didn’t work. What do I do now?’

My eyes gazed upon the couple while extending both arms in the air, unable to control them, causing their hands to gently hold on to my fat, tiny fingers.

‘I suppose I can’t do anything as I am now. I’ll have to wait till I grow up...’