Chapter 1

The first thing that everyone expects after death is a field of cloud. No doubt the interpretation of heaven. Then their good long dead relatives who show up, might make you feel good and let you integrate into their circle. Then along with them you might chat or watch your foolish descendants do some hilarious things while making bet who will end up in heaven or hell. Not the case for me when I died in a case of a common troupe: death via truck. Drunk stupid driver who didn’t know better than to drink on a work night and will now face legal charges for killing a boy in front of security camera no less.

Why am I rambling you ask?

Because this time too I found myself short of breath as a man seem to choke the life out of me. Maybe due to the boost in adrenaline production or something I find myself gaining clarity even in the maws of death as I try to push the large hands away from my neck with my pudgy little hands. Is this guy seriously trying to kill me? A baby? I find myself sort of amused as tears gathered in my eyes makes everything seem blurry. It could be concluded that the original baby’s soul may have gone to the afterlife while I entered this body.

The man seemed to scream incoherently as well.

“YOU TOOK MY WIFE AWAY FROM ME YOU LITTLE BEAST!! DIE!!”

What a crappy luck this baby has. Killed by his own father. Even in the verge of death I find myself pitying the baby’s soul whose body I hijacked earlier. Just when I was about to pass out the door opened and someone seemed to have arrived. Maybe lots of them as suddenly the man trying to murder me was restrained enough for precious air to flow into my lungs once more.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING MASTER?”

“UNHAND ME YOU FILTHY SWINE! I WILL KILL HER!!”

“YOU MUSN’T! SHE IS HER DAUGHTER AS WELL AS YOURS!”

The atmosphere seemed to tense as the man who tried to kill me seem to speak in a low cold voice that brought shivers down my spine as I was still hacking and coughing.

“She is the reason Marianne is dead.”

“You are too obsessed with Mistress!”

The man seemed to laugh with disdain.

“Don’t tell me I don’t know the reason you came with my wife? You were a childhood friend of her and were in love with her, weren’t you? Enough that you came so far away in this foreign land as a butler with her. You too are obsessed with her, even more than me.”

“…….”

The person who seemed to restrain seemed to have loosened his hold because there was a loud sound.

BANG!

“Argh!”

Suddenly my whole world seemed to flip and turn. The baby crib that I was on seemed to have been blown away along with me. Turn and turn made me feel dizzy as my view wasn’t limited to the opening of the crib and the man who tried-… no he murdered the baby, I could see many things now. As the tears had dried up and the drool stopped producing on my mouth I could see the whole room. The whole place was meticulously placed from curtains to the field of small toys which could have been prepared for me to play with. The only thing that stood out were the full sets of armors of knight carrying halberds and spears in this baby room as well as the furious figure of someone closing in on me.

I took a good look at my supposed father. Black hair with red eyes and a handsome face which looked menacing since he was gnashing his teeth in rage. But now was not the time to dilly dally. I had to run away one way or another. I tried to crawl away feebly but then someone grabbed my leg hard. It hurt but I couldn’t care less since somehow I was in the air and flung to the wall. Searing pain. That was the sensation behind my head as I looked up at the wall.

Blood

I panicked but I couldn’t think straight. Somewhere in between I heard the shout of the Butler as he tried to restrain father once more. But was proven futile as somehow father managed to overpower him easily and flung him out of the room along with the door.

‘It’s over…’

I kept thinking that as I was alone with that monster of a father. He glared at me as he walked slowly.

“I thought that should have done the job but you are still alive.”

Then he got closer and looked down on me who was still trying hard to remain conscious. He kneeled and his hand slowly reached out for my neck with a deranged look on his face. At first, it was slow but then the pressure kept on increasing. I think he might be relishing in my agony because baby’s neck should easily be broken because they are just fragile in this period. What a monster this man is. I tried with all my might to dislodge the hand with no avail as I began to choke on my own saliva.

‘Is this my punishment? What did I do?’

But I already died once. It was painless as I hardly knew what was coming. Light flashed as I looked sideways to see truck coming straight at me and BAM! That was it. But this time? I can feel that every second I lived my lung was filled with burning sensation, my throat constricted. A random thought appeared in my head. Will it be ok if I were to die again? Maybe this is divine retribution since dead people aren’t supposed to be alive. Did I….. do I want to live?

Live?

As if something snapping, it became clear to me that right now I wanted to LIVE!

LIVESURVIVELIVESURVIVELIVESURVIVELIVESURVIVELIVESURVIVELIVESURVIVE

Suddenly from my finger that clutched the hand that tried to take my life away, something akin to string started to emerge. It was thin and white and there was one string per finger. It seems that only I could see it as my father barely reacted. It tried to search for something before touching the armor knight decoration. First it stood straighter that it was before. Then suddenly, two of them rushed behind father in an instant and shoved the weapon in their hand crisscrossing them as they got stuck on the floor through my father's chest.

Father was shocked as he puked blood from his mouth. He looked down to his stomach, to the weapons sticking out of him. He then looked at me with astonishment before rage took over.

“YOU EVEN HAVE HER POWER!! YOU TOOK AWAY HER EVERYTHING!!”

In between the coughs and blood my father spat. I was frozen stiff but the armor knights started pushing even deeper causing more cracks to appear in the floor.

“MASTER!”

The butler tried to remove the knights but they wouldn’t budge an inch. Maybe an instinct to protect me? Since the grip wasn’t loosening and I couldn’t breathe at all made me slowly lose my consciousness. In the end all I could see was the man who was my father slumping down as well as the knight armor breaking into pieces after my strings collapsed.

Unknown time later

I found myself nestled in between blankets. I was surprised to say the least. I thought at least I will be in a dungeon or something. That may be because I am still a baby so they won’t kill me? I think it almost got me to snicker a bit. I think I have gone a bit crazy in the head. Maybe it is because I have killed someone. It is not like he didn’t deserve it or not. It was for survival. I wonder, do I have a screw loose or am I just in shock?

I don’t even know anymore.

I don’t think this is the kind of fluffy isekai where everything caters to your need like it does to every MC in crappy novels. I always felt like such scenario was so weird. I think so did others because many such novels hardly get more than 4 ratings out of 5. I think I have said it before but I still feel kind of sad for this baby whose body I slipped into. I may be few days old and the father had already killed this newborn baby.

After a certain amount of time have passed but I think my eyes are slowly closing. Maybe because I am just a baby or so, therefore I need rest and the like. I don’t think I have eaten anything yet as well. My stomach was empty and it kind of hurts but I refuse to cry. So I slipped into sleep.

I don’t what happened next but I could feel something like liquid being passed through my lip. It seemed to sooth the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. Then I could hear a growl and then explosion or something like that. When I opened my eyes, I found myself carried by a handsome fellow. His hair was vibrant red, almost like crimson as was his eyes. He had long curled hairs which reached to his shoulder whereas the longer one at the back was at tied to what I guessed a ponytail. He looked to be in his early twenties, don’t know how. He was handsome but literal fire was oozing out of him with his angry looking face.

He must have been truly pissed. I could hear resentment in his suave voice.

“She….. Almost….. Died….. Of…. Hunger!”

Who?

He continued on.

“Just when I get back to the mansion, this is what I find? My niece, who nearly died of hunger. WHERE IS THE NANNY?!”

A small voice squeaked. Perhaps trembling too. I think so but I was more concerned with the fact that he told me I was his niece.

Oh crud. My luck couldn’t get any shittier because I was on the side of getting conquered and included in a harem. But the impact was less because I think what I experienced earlier made a deep impact on my psyche. Or whatever, all I can conclude was that my screw loosened up and that’s all there is to it.

“Yes, my….. lord…. Because…..”

My Uncle? He was growing irater, if that even is a word, by the second. Even the nanny seemed to think so as she hastily spoke.

“It’s because Miss killed the master! We are afraid that she might do the same to us!”

The atmosphere stilled. That means he did not know I was the one to kill my father? Will he look at me like a monster and kill me? I could see his expression darken. This is bad…. Maybe this time I will di-

*Slap*

-e?

What? I could see my uncle raising his hand and slap the nanny. He spoke in a calm way, but every word he spoke indicated that an unbridled rage was underneath.

“Do you know how magic is activated? In dire situation or even in the face of death itself, should one possess strong will he or she will activate magic for the first time. Usually children at the age of 12 try to activate magic. My little foolish brother did something that caused such emotion to occur in a baby. A BABY!! Look at her neck, there is a scar. A handprint. A reminder that her father tried to kill her when she was a baby.”

His face seemed to twist in a snarl. He was a nice guy, I admit. First to stick out for me whereas the Butler pussyied out when father revealed his secret. 

“And you are afraid of such a girl? It would have been ok if you had said it to the head butler but you did not, did you? If anything happens to her, I will personally decapitate you, torture your family before sending them to a labor camp. So will you do as you are told or should I make an example out of you right now?”

I could hear the shing of something unsheathing. Oi! Oi! He was really taking out his sword. The nanny seemed to scream a little before starting to sob. Just then I could hear the sound of door opening and a frantic breathing of someone.

“Sir Flamme.”

It was the butler who tried to restrain father.

“Sir Flamme, what are you doing! You did not inform me of your arrival and now you are unsheathing your sword?”

My uncle looked at him coldly before saying.

“Hmph! You have grown more senile or did not these nannies tell you that they kept my niece starving ever since the incident?”

“WHAT!!”

It seemed that the butler did not know as well. But after all the commotion, I was pretty tired. So I slept again for the third time? Or was it the second time? Well who cares? I was somehow full despite remembering that I had only taken one sip of food. Or did my uncle give me food much earlier when I was unconscious? If that is so then isn’t it dangerous?

This time I woke at night. This constant waking and sleeping was getting on my nerve as well. The moonlight was shining from the window and I could hear two men speaking. It was uncle and the butler. 

"So has the ownership changed?"

My uncle seemed to speak.

"Yes, the letter has gained approval from his majesty and you have been temporarily selected as the Lord of this Domain as long as Young Miss's coming of age." 

The butler replied in a tired way.

"Sigh...... What about the rumors?"

I could hear the tiredness seeping in Uncle’s voice.

"It has spread already. It might as well be spread all over the Kingdom by now about the patricide. I am sorry I could not quell the rumor nor did I properly took care of Master and his daughter."

"It's all right. You did your best for managing this fief until I arrived. Not all blame goes to you. It's all for today. Find another nanny to replace the fired ones."

The conversation stilled for a while. I could hear pin drop if it fell.

"I am afraid to be bearer of bad news but I don't think anyone would volunteer for her."

"So be it. I will handle it myself. Never thought a day I would settle in a place for over a month. Leave us be, the food I fed her should be able to sate her hunger till tomorrow."

"Yes, Master."

There was the sound of door closing and someone sitting. I could not see because I was in a crib but it seemed that rumors of me committing murder was spread. It might be good for me because now no foolish suitors would ask my hand for marriage then. Though the cost might have been too great for me. As I was musing in thought I could hear the sound of bottle opening. In my previous life I was fond of such sound, the sound of cork being taken out with the liquid dribbling in the glass. It felt kind of nostalgic as my goddamn eyes felt drowsy due to the lullaby of pouring alcohol. I missed the sound of someone speaking tiredly as I fell to sleep.

"Oh young brother.... I told you your obsession with her will be the end of you...."