“Hey! Come back here, you little thief!!!”
A man holding a stick was chasing after me.
When I looked back to see how the person was doing, I quickly returned my gaze forward and gripped the pieces of fruits tighter.
The man who was chasing me was the owner of the fruit stall and the things I carried were the products he sold.
“When I get my hands on you, you’ll wish you were dead!”
When I heard his shout from my back, I increased my speed while avoiding people along the sidewalk.
A smile surfaced on my face when I saw the entrance of the backstreet up ahead, this was an alleyway I was used to and grew up in.
I was quite confident that I could lose him when I entered that place.
“Damn kid!”
“Watch where you’re going!”
Complaints resounded all around me as I hastily avoided the crowd.
I continued to run until I arrived at the front of the entranced and entered it with quick steps.
Once I had arrived at the narrow alley, I quickly turned left and then right.
Repeating this turns, I arrived to a place where a lots of crates were stockpiled.
I jumped in between a pile of crates and hugged my legs.
Taptaptap*
As the sound of footsteps got nearer, the fear of getting beaten up gripped my heart.
“Shit, where the hell did that damned brat go.”
When I heard the sound of his voice, I slowed my breathing down and stopped moving.
Even after a few minutes, the man still didn’t give up in searching for me.
“… Kya!”
I accidentally made a strange voice and hurriedly covered my mouth with both of my hands when I saw his feet in front of me.
“I think I just heard her voice… what the… it was just a rat.”
Taptaptap*
The man’s footstep slowly got further away.
I waited till the sound of tapping was gone before I crawled out from my hiding spot.
“Haa~ that was quite dangerous…”
I breathed a sigh of relief and crouched down on the floor.
A piece of fruit which was red and round rolled in front of me.
Seeing that food, I quickly grabbed it with my two hands and voraciously ate it.
“It’s been a while since I’ve eaten a meal that satisfying… Fuu~”
Today, I managed to eat 3 pieces of that fruit today.
Having that amount of food eaten in a day was already considered a luxury for me.
Yawn*
“… after eating that amount of food… and getting chased around by that vendor… as expected, I’ve become quite exhausted… might as well take a small nap here before going back home.”
Lying down on the floor of the warehouse, I closed my eyes and let my consciousness fade away.
Even though it was cold and very rough sleeping here, I had already gotten used to it.
Ever since my mother had died 2 years ago, my neighbors from the slums invaded my home and stole everything.
Although my mother was buried a day after her death, those people didn’t even have any guilty conscience as they did it.
Throughout that time, I continued to plead not to steal anything from my home.
The men who saw me kicked me away and spitted on my face as they continued to do their deed.
When it was night time, I who was left alone in the world, cried myself to sleep.
I didn’t blame the neighbors for what they did, nor did I curse god for the things I experienced.
They were only doing it just to survive.
I, who knew that, couldn’t blame any of them because even I know how hard it is to survive here.
Here in the slums, you’re already considered lucky if you’re able to eat once or twice a day.
Everyone here was living a very difficult life and when a chance appears, we would grab it.
Even if that chance came from a child who lost its own parents… like me.
This was an everyday occurrence here; this happening to me was nothing special.
Many children who were orphaned due to circumstances didn’t have any time to mourn for the loss of our parents.
If we did mourn for them, we wouldn’t have the chance to live on the next day.
The tears I had shed that time was for saying goodbye to my mother for the last time and also, because I was frustrated by my own weakness,
A tear fell from my cheeks as I remembered that day.
I have learned to steal, deceive, and exploit people since then.
I didn’t regret the things I’ve learned, all of them were necessary for me to survive.
Though I keep telling those things to myself to calm emotions, my guilty conscience would always pop up in my mind whenever I try to sleep.
After a few minutes of forcibly closing my eyes, I had finally entered into the land of dreams.
[Huh? What is this?]
When I thought I was asleep, I suddenly found myself floating in a dark place.
In front of me, I was seeing things I’ve never seen before.
Tall building reaching out towards the sky, writings I haven’t seen before and boxes with wheels that turned by without any help from a horse.
At the edge of my view, I spotted a boy who looked very depressed.
This boy’s head was down and his shoulders were slumped.
He walked towards on a road and was headed towards a building.
“Just what did I do to deserve this?”
[Just what did I do to deserve this?]
Even though this was the first time I had seen this boy.
I spoke in unison with him the moment he saw the building called school.
Here, his day was gonna start the same as usual.
He’ll be bullied by the entire class without the teacher even knowing it.
[Eh?]
Question marks started floating around my head.
[Why do I know of this?]
Since pondering of things I didn’t know about was useless, I decided to shift my gaze towards the boy named Keichi Acever.
“…”
Keichi was standing in front of the school entrance, but instead of looking at the building, he was staring at me.
I met his gaze with mine and for what seemed like an eternity, he silently stood there, watching me.
Out of nowhere, my head suddenly felt like it was splitting apart.
[A—Ahh!]
I wanted somebody to help me… but from whom?
The only people who were here were Keichi and me.
[Wait… I’m Keichi… then who are you?]
The Keichi look alike that stood in front of me became distorted.
His image continued to change between a short girl which had silver hair and red eyes to a boy with black hair and black eyes.
When the image of it finally became concrete, it took the form of a short girl of around a 100 cm with white hair that reached up to her hips.
It was then and there that I realized the true identity of the creature in front of me.
[You are me… no that’s wrong… You were me.]
“Yes, I was you but now you are me”
As I spoke those words, the pain in my head disappeared.
Everything became clear as I fixed my gaze at it.
I opened my mouth to it and continued.
[You are dead and I am alive.]
“Yes, I am dead and you are alive.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
[I was Keichi Acever but now I am Eulalia.]
“Yes, you are Eulalia and I am also Eulalia.”
Eulalia who stood in front of me walked to me in very small steps.
As if she was walking on water, every step she did, made ripples with blue lines on the darkness.
I also stopped floating and stood on the darkness.
When Eulalia was within arm’s reach, she grabbed both of my hands and twined her fingers with mine.
I didn’t make any resistance to what she did and allowed her to pull me.
She closed her eyes as I approached her and when our brows met, all the things I’ve learned and experienced as Keichi Acever flowed into me.
All the happiness and sadness I’ve experienced as Keichi Acever became vividly clear.
Eulalia suddenly separated her brow from mine and showed me a smile.
No, the form she took right now was Keichi.
Keichi, was 10 cm taller than me, Eulalia.
So to see his smile, I had to look up to him.
“I’ll be within you, Keichi/Eulalia.”
[I’ll be with you, Keichi/Eulalia.]
Blinding light overflowed and dispelled the darkness which surrounded us.
I closed my eyes to stop the light from it would make me blind, despite it being a dream.
“Haaa… Haaa… Haaa…”
I opened my eyes and found the familiar roof of the warehouse I slept in.
Standing up from the floor, I exited from the place.
The sky had been dyed orange and it was becoming cold.
Rubbing my shoulders, I trotted my way back to the street.
When I exited the backstreets, my eyes opened wide from the scene that greeted my eyes.
Before Keichi’s memories merged with mine, I was quite bored of the scene that greeted me.
But now, everything looked and felt different.
The buildings were made of blocks of stone and wood, making it scene appear to be a painting about the Middle Ages.
Carriages, Coaches and Wagons were pulled by horses.
Even the dresses of the people were the same as what the peasants wore in the Middle Ages.
My heart was filled with awe.
I walked along the crowds and stared at how the humans lived in this world.
Along the way, I saw some men who were equipped with swords and staves.
I was curious as to why some of them carried staves and was shocked at the site of the things they did.
A ball of fire was floating on his hand, it was something science could never explain of.
In other words, what the man was doing was ‘Magic’!
It was very shocking for me who had just recovered my memories.
According to the memories which had just awakened, magic only existed in fantasy in my previous life.
When I woke up from my daze, I was surrounded by a bunch of people who wore armors and had swords dangling on their waists.
“You brat! You dare block our Lords path!”
I directed my gaze at the source of the voice, I saw a man with light brown hair and blue eyes unsheathing his sword.
I only stared at the man not moving an inch.
With practiced motion the man raised his sword above his head.
“Oi brat, move it or I’ll kill you.”
“…”
“I’ll really kill you if you don’t move it!”
“…”
A vein popped up from the man’s temple and swung the sword down with an irritated face.
Fwoosh*
Just when the sword made penetrated the skin of my neck, the force suddenly stopped.
A small amount of blood traveled from the blade and dripped to the ground.
I made a small smile as I felt the slight pain from my neck and single mindedly stared at the baffled man’s face.
“Stop what you’re doing Leo. You’re making a scene in the middle of the road.”
A deep crisp voice was heard from the back of the man named Leo.
Leo quickly removed the sword from my neck and made way for the person behind him.
“Even though you were about to die, the eyes you have at that moment held a very strong will. Young girl, may I know your name?”
A tall man who height was around 190 cm faced me.
He had deep wrinkles on his face and his blue eyes showed his deep intellect.
The garb he wore loosely fitted his body and the sleeves on his arms dangled about in the wind.
His purple dress looked very expensive and was filled with intricate engravings of a phoenix.
Judging from the clothes that he wore, this man was a ‘Nobleman’.
With a smile that only a granddaughter could love, the Old Nobleman reached out his hand.
I stared at the hand of the man and thought what he was planning on doing.
“Don’t worry Young girl, this old man only wants to know your name.”
“(Well, there’s no harm in giving out my name.) Kei-- … Eulalia.”
Although I stuttered and almost gave out the name of my previous life, it seemed like the nobleman didn’t notice it as he was nodding if he understood something.
“I see, so your name is Eulalia. What a lovely name. It suits you quite well, Young girl.”
I knitted my brow as I heard his flattery, but since he is a noble, it’s better to at least show him some sliver of sincerity.
I placed my right foot at the back, pinching an imaginary skirt and lifted it to the front before making a bow.
What I was doing to the old man was a curtsy, it was a greeting made by girls in the middle ages.
Since I’m now a girl, it wasn’t exactly unpleasant to do this.
“Thank you for the compliment, Dear Sir.”
“Hoo~ you seem to know proper etiquette, Eulalia.”
“I’m just copying the things I see on the streets, Dear Sir.”
The nobleman looked around the streets and made a smile as he understood the meaning of my words.
“It’s quite a waste to have a child as sharp as you waste here… okay, I’ve decided. Eulalia, you are hereby my maidservant.”
“…”
“You should feel honored that Lord Stuart has made you into his servant, you damn brat!”
Peasants like me are under the mercy of nobles.
No matter what they do or ask, we are always obliged to accept whatever they did.
Since I have no choice but to accept this request, I shifted my gaze to the soldier who kept calling me a brat and made a small sigh.
“… Then I’ll be in your care… Lord Stuart.”
###
Haha! It's me again!
Well, I've posted the revised version of chapter 1 and titled it Eulalia. I suck at giving titles so bear with it.
Hmm... Oh yeah the changes...
Well, I added a glimpse of Eulalia's life before the return of her memories, showed how her memories awakened in the dream instead of just saying 'I saw in my dream', and also placed Stuart and Leo here... LOL
Oh yeah, this chapter was a congregation of chapter 1, 2, and 3 in the previous version. :D
Hmm... I don't think most of you remember them cause I was on Hiatus and it's boring to explain it so I'll stop here. LOL
See you tomorrow, I'll upload the next revised chapter then
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Yatta~ View count was resetted! I'm back to 7 or something.