The novel I’d been reborn into was called The Baby Saintess from the Future. Or Future Saintess, for short.
The work I loved most, in my past life — one I’d read more than five times over.
But loving it never meant I wanted to be reborn into it…!
Liking horror stories doesn’t mean you want to become a ghost, does it?
Anyway.
I’d first picked up the novel because the premise was fairly fresh.
Future Saintess wasn’t a regression, or a possession, or a reincarnation story — it was, of all things, a time-leap story.
The plot was a little complicated, but to sum it up:
Melody, who awakens as a Saintess, is abused and exploited by the Temple despite her young age.
Then she gains the power of time-leaping and decides to flee to a point in time seven years before she was even born.
And so she arrives on the timeline of Imperial Year 636.
Melody is adopted by a certain woman and begins a happy life…
But if it ended right there, it wouldn’t be a childcare novel.
Her adoptive mother suddenly dies, and Melody finds herself at risk of being seized by the Temple all over again. And that’s when she’s miraculously rescued and becomes the adopted daughter of the Dragon Duke.
From there on, it’s your typical, heartwarming childcare story.
The cold-hearted Duke turns into a besotted fool for his daughter, day by day, and his nephews turn into besotted fools for their little sister, more or less.
For some reason I can’t quite remember exactly how it ends, though.
But a story like this was surely bound for a happy ending, the way these things usually go.
Hah. I let out a sigh.
Well, fine. Our Melody getting a happy ending — that’s not a bad thing at all…
Honestly, setting that aside, it was still hopeless. Because the mother who dies early on is exactly the role I’ve been cast in!
Somebody let the mother live too, please.
Childcare novel or not.
I’m a person too, you know! A person!
If I could, I’d like to grab the author by the collar, but there was no such option available to me at this point.
“Hah, what a life.”
Right when things are finally looking up, this is how it goes.
In my past life, I’d been a kindergarten teacher.
A job I’d wished for my whole life, which was probably why it suited me down to the bone.
It was tiring on the body, sure, but seeing the children beam and lisp out “teacheh-” always melted my exhaustion clean away.
So I’d thought I wanted to spend my whole life surrounded by children…
Who would’ve guessed I’d die less than a year after landing the job.
And now, even after all this trouble of being reborn, I was apparently fated to die again before long. Ugh.
I snapped my bowed head up and spotted Melody, tiptoeing along stealthily.
This little rascal. Her mother was dying of anxiety right now.
Was she seriously trying to pretend nothing had happened?
“You there, sneaking off. Freeze right there.”
“Hwaaah. Uu-uu?”
Melody let out a fake yawn, pretending to be sleepy, but the act was painfully obvious.
I called out to her in my sternest voice.
“Come here, Melody. You have something to tell Mommy, don’t you.”
Nngh.
Sensing that playing dumb any further wouldn’t work, the child inched her way over, hesitant.
“Mommyyy. Heeheehee.”
This time, apparently trying to charm her way out of it, she pulled her plump cheeks up into a mischievous grin.
This scheming little thing.
Did she really think that would work on me?
Of course it worked on me.
Ugh, so cute. Her bashful little smile was so adorable that I pinched her flour-dough cheeks, gently, careful not to hurt her.
“Hehe…”
Encouraged by how the mood had softened, Melody laid on the charm again. She really did know me too well.
But I couldn’t let myself get swept along the way I usually did.
I caught her hand so she couldn’t run off, and her eyes went rolling around in circles.
“I’m not going to scold you.”
“Uu.”
“Really. I’m not going to scold you.”
That wasn’t all — I had no intention of asking for the details, either. I already knew the whole story from the original novel anyway.
Above all, Melody is a child who’s already been through so much.
Knowing full well she’d developed aphasia from the abuse she’d suffered at the Temple, I didn’t want to go digging at that trauma.
But the child still fidgeted her fingers, clearly worried.
“…Melody, you know that people with holy power have to go to the Temple, right?”
“Uu-uu?”
Thud — Melody’s expression collapsed like the sky itself had fallen, and she pointed a finger at herself. As if asking whether she’d be sent away too.
“No. That’s not going to happen. I’m not going to do anything Melody doesn’t want.”
“Uu-uu?”
Really?
“Have you ever seen me lie?”
She shook her head, hard.
Apparently she’d been more worried than I realized, because she kept shaking her head and patting her chest in relief.
Honestly. For someone this much of a scaredy-cat, how had she managed to keep such an enormous secret hidden all this time?
Now that I knew the Temple were the villains, there was no way I’d ever let Melody be taken there.
But that didn’t mean things could go on exactly as they had been.
Because at this rate, I’ll be murdered within a few months.
In the original story too, Melody hides her true identity from Viola. She believes that if she does, the two of them can live happily together, forever.
But that was nothing more than a naive child’s wishful thinking.
Because one day, the Temple realizes the Saintess exists and, in order to take the child, brutally kills her guardian Viola.
If I want to survive, I have to bend the original story.
But how?
Now that I think of it, wasn’t there supposed to be a holy relic that blocks holy power?
A relic in the shape of a necklace, said to have vanished twenty-three years ago.
If I could just get my hands on that, this would all be so much easier…
Hm. As if I could ever get my hands on it. Even the great Dragon Duke himself failed to find it in the original story.
Which meant there was only one path left.
Cain Asheln.
The father figure in the original story, who takes Melody in as his adopted daughter.
He’d be able to protect Melody from the Temple. And my life too, of course!
Honestly, going to seek out a man rumored to be quite frightening scared me a little — no, actually, a lot…
But I had to see it through. If nothing else, for Melody’s sake!
Now that I’d made up my mind, there was no more time to hesitate.
“Melody, let’s get ready to go out.”
“Uu?”
“We have to go a long way. I’ll explain on the way.”
Melody looked bewildered, but she seemed to have half-expected it and quietly went along.
“Alright, teeth first.”
“Uu-uh. Ugh.”
“Now, arms up!”
“Uu-uu.”
Nngh. Melody’s head popped out through her outdoor clothes.
Dressed nice and warm — now she was really ready!
I threw the door open with a bold shove and declared, resolute,
“Let’s go, Melody!”
“Uu-uu!”
Growwl!
Hm? At the sound of a stomach rumbling, louder than her own answer, I looked down to find Melody scratching her cheek.
Ehehe… The child looked away, embarrassed.
Hadn’t she just said she was full a minute ago? Had she digested it that fast? Her round little belly had gone flat again, somehow.
I closed the door I’d just flung wide open.
Alright, let’s go meet your daddy soon.
But first, food in your tummy!
And so, here we were.
“Wow!”
Melody bounced around, excited, before her legs suddenly gave out and she stumbled.
“Ugh.”
“I saw you getting all worked up earlier. Tired, huh?”
She nodded, her small head bobbing.
Fair enough. It was a long way to come.
We’d spent a full three days riding in a carriage, after all.
Once we reached the city, we headed for a street lined with houses. Luckily, I knew someone nearby, so we arranged to stay with them for a few days.
“Rest up, Melody.”
“Uu-ung, Mommy?”
“I’m going to go take a look around.”
I left Melody, who’d already dropped off to sleep, and stepped outside just as the sun was setting.
Past the street where people had gathered to live, rows of shops came into view. Passersby moved briskly between them.
A landscape clearly different from the peaceful countryside of Heiron village.
It was only now that it really sank in. Where I’d actually come.
“I really am in Winterwald.”
The central city of the Asheln duchy, and one of the main settings of the original story.
Whew. Feeling oddly tense, I drew in a deep breath.
I’d left the village boldly enough, but going straight to meet Cain was, in truth, impossible.
The duke’s residence is a famously closed-off place to begin with.
Someone who wasn’t even a noble showing up out of nowhere — there was no way they’d let me meet him. I’d count myself lucky if I wasn’t dragged off somewhere as a suspicious troublemaker.
So for the time being, I planned to stay here and gather information.
There was a last resort, but that would take some time to prepare before I could actually use it, anyway.
I was walking along, thinking over what to do, when a colorful toy in a shop window caught my eye.
Oh. Right up a kid’s alley! Melody would love that, wouldn’t she?
Maybe I’d bring her out tomorrow to take a look.
I was leaning in for a closer look at the display window when it happened.
Gasp.
Reflected in the glass was the figure of a man, soaked through with dark red liquid.
I spun around on instinct, and my mouth fell open before I even realized it.
No — surely not, I’d thought, but—
That’s actually blood, isn’t it?
They’d said the city was different from a country village, but this was different on a whole other level.
A man covered head to toe in blood, strolling down the street like it was nothing.
Even the passersby seemed to be quietly steering clear, as if they didn’t want to get tangled up in something troublesome. Was this what they called the coldness of the city?
Still, I am a pharmacist by trade, if nothing else.
I couldn’t just pretend not to see it either. I hurried over toward him.
“Excuse me! Are you alright?”
“……”
But the man simply ignored me and walked on past.
“Excuse me, just a moment!”
What kind of injured person walks that fast?
“I think you might be hurt…!”
Panting, I finally managed to catch up to him, and the man answered, unbothered, as if the question were an annoyance.
“Not my blood.”
Oh. I see… Well, that’s… good to know…
Then whose blood was it, exactly?
I supposed I should be relieved it wasn’t his own, at least?
I was still standing there, flustered and at a loss for words, when the man, his hood pulled down low, glanced down at me with an air of complete indifference.
“…!”
The instant our eyes met, my breath caught without my meaning it to.
Beneath the black hood, a sharp, high-bridged nose came into view. Even half-hidden, barely glimpsed, the man’s face was unrealistically handsome.
