After pretending not to feel well, and going to bed early as a result, I felt ready to make my escape. Due to my supposed ‘illness’, my guards seemed to let down their guards. They weren’t permitted to remain within my bedchambers while I slept either way, so it didn’t really matter but it still helped to calm my nerves.

I felt exhilarated, doing something ‘wrong’ just seemed so fun! I hadn’t gotten much of a chance, nor did I take any of the chances which did come my way, to misbehave in my past life. Now I regretted having lived such a boring life, allowing others to walk all over me. But I wouldn’t make the same mistakes again. This time I would live life to the fullest and I would find a way to live past the age of twelve.

At the same time, I felt nervous, if anything went wrong with my escape, then this second chance would fall through my grasp. I still didn’t know what magical deity had reincarnated me into this world, and honestly, I didn’t care. Theoretically, if I found out about this deity, what would I even do? Would I approach it? Ask it a question, and possibly risk angering it. I was certain that it wasn’t worth the risk.

I suddenly awoke, it was still dark, but I could see extremely faint wisps of light from the east. It was time for me to act. I got out of bed, careful to not make even the slightest noise, flinching when I heard my feet make contact with the ground. I quickly retrieved my hidden cookies before tucking them into the front most pocket of my backpack. I then proceeded to grab a book I was in the middle of reading and tucking it in as well. Now my bag was almost bursting, with six books, some cookies, clothes and food within it.

I was extremely lucky that books in this world were thin and light, otherwise, my bag would probably would’ve filled up long ago, and probably been too heavy even before that. Hoisting the bag onto my back, I walked over to the window, realizing that I hadn’t thought this through. Although the window was on the first floor, and would be relatively easy to climb through, the window was locked shut. While I was certain the I would be capable of opening it, it was quite likely to be noisy.

Deciding to try regardless of this fact, I began to tinker with the lock. It was old fashioned and rusty, making it loud, but this also meant that it was extremely simple to open. Once I had finally finished prying open the window as quietly as possible, I brought my leg over the windowsill and shifted my weight onto that foot, I proceeded to bring my other leg over the window until I was standing normally on the other side. Now I slowly closed the window but couldn’t lock it from the outside.

I continued to creep through the gardens, strategically avoiding the leaves and twigs on the ground. I wasn’t exactly sure who would see or hear me but I still wanted to be careful. Once I had reached the gate I checked for guards before strolling through them. I wasn’t sure what this said about their security, but there were no guards and the gates had been left wide open.

Once I had exited the premises, I began to head towards the town. There was a small wall surrounding both the estate and the town around it, apparently the merchants would be leaving from the east gate. So while I wasn’t the best with directions it was still pretty easy to find the the east gaye as that was where to sun rose.

After I had arrived at the gate I saw all of the merchants packing up their stock. The sun was just over the horizon, steadily rising as I watched. The merchants would be leaving any moment now, I simply needed to jump in at the right moment. This would likely be the hardest part, getting in without being seen, and passing the checks at the gate. I was crouching behind a barrel in a nearby alley, practically invisible with my dark dress, and shadowy location.

When I saw my opportunity, I jumped at it. The merchants, who had both sat down at the front of the carriage, weren’t looking, and seemed like they were about to leave. I ran as quickly as i could, which wasn’t very fast, and jumped into the back of the carriage in one swift motion. Trying to calm my breathing, I positioned myself behind a crate of cargo. I was out of view from both where the two merchants were sitting and from the back of the carriage if they needed to suddenly stop. Now my only chance of discovery was if they had seen me get in, the guards noticed me, or if they decided to grab the exact crate which I was crouched behind.

I had been sitting in the carriage for what felt like hours, the sun was already high in the sky by the time I peeked outside. We had passed the guard checks seamlessly, with them not even bothering to check the carriage. Apparently these particular merchants were well known and trusted in the capital of Lambourg, they were regulars. I had chosen the best carriage for the job. Once we arrived at the Imperial Lands I planned to leave one of my books in the carriage, to repay this debt they probably didn’t even know about.

After a few more hours I felt the carriage suddenly grind to a halt, a man’s voice telling his partner that they were going to take a break. The sun was at its highest point of the day when I heard the men approaching my hiding spot. I subconsciously held my breath, letting out out a deep breath when they left. As soon as I let down my guard I heard one man yell.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“You're welcome to join us too, little lady.”

I breath caught in my throat, I went silent once again, as though I was still hoping they weren’t talking to me.

“I mean you, come out and have some grub. I promise I won't bite!”

After that I heard the other man laugh, they said nothing else for the next several minutes. Curiously, I stuck out my head, only to be greeted by two pairs of staring eyes.

“Finally decided to show yerself I see. Come sit, we don’t mind, if we minded we woulda turned you in to the guards.”

I reluctantly stepped out of the carriage, admitting that I had been caught as I did so. Unsure what to say, I stayed quiet, awkwardly standing as I stared at the men, wondering what would happen now.

“Didn’t ya hear me? Come join us for some grub.”

I cautiously took a step towards the merchants, unsure whether I should take them up on their offer. In the end, I decided to join them. I mean, they already know that I’m here, what else could possibly happen? I walked over taking a seat on a vacant log, the men staring at me as I did so.

“You really are tiny aren’t ya?” he asked, I nodded, unsure where this was going.

“Stop pickin’ in her mate, yer scarin’ the poor girl.” Still unsure about what exactly they wanted, I simply stayed quiet and nodded along

Finally, I spoke up, asking a question, trying to find out about what would happen next.

“So, what exactly do you plan to do with me?”

“Whaddya mean, why would we be the ones deciding what ya gonna do?” They answered.

“Well, I snuck onto your carriage without permission and risked getting you into trouble if I was caught. Aren’t you going to do something about it?”

“Of course not! We knew you were there the whole time, we’re the ones that chose to take ya out of the city. If we were to get caught it’d be all on us, not you lassy.”

I felt my breath hitch and my entire body relax. I had been worried about what they would think, but if all that they had said was true, then I”d be alright. Although I still knew that I had been careless, I felt immensely grateful to these unknown merchants.

“Thank you so much.” I practically whispered. Unable to express the gravity of my gratitude to these men.

They simply looked at me and nodded, as though to say that I had nothing to worry about. After I had relaxed, I began to eat after being prompted. As a spoonful of stew reach my mouth I realized one crucial detail which I had forgotten to ask about.

“I’m sorry to ask this, but would you mind if I stayed with you for the rest of the trip? I’d be happy to help in any way that I can, I’ll even help unload the carriage once we arrive?”

The merchants looked at me confused for a moment before they burst out laughing. “I doubt ya could even carry a single bundle of leather , let alone an entire crate full of ‘em.”

I stopped to consider this, before sighing, “I suppose you're right, I take it I can’t accompany you the rest of the way.” I said sadly.

“Whoever told ya that? It’s no trouble at all, you can help us pass the time.”

My face lit up at those words, but I soon began second guessing myself internally.

Can I really do this? Am I sure that nobody has followed me and might harm these kind merchants?

I shook my head, clearing the negative thoughts. This was crazy thinking, if somebody had followed me, then why hadn’t they acted sooner. Besides, I needed to get the Imperial Lands, if I were still in the capital city right now, then I’d probably have already been caught. While we hadn’t crossed the border yet, I doubt that the duke would send his people too far away from the capital.

As we decided to continue moving, I hopped into the back of the carriage and made myself comfortable, getting out my cookies to snack on. It would be a long trip. Poking my head out of the carriage covering, I offered the men some cookies, it turned out that one man was called Gary, and the other Derek.

Pretty generic names for old people.

As I munched on my cookies I heard a carriage coming up from behind, its horses appeared younger and faster than ours, and they quickly overtook us. As they passed I caught wind of a concerning conversation.

“Hey did you hear, the sickly daughter of the duke has been diagnosed with a grave illness, she couldn’t even attend her baptism and debut.”

“What even is a debut? Some noble crap I'm sure.”

“I don’t really know, but it’s supposedly a really important event, something about nobles getting their magic?

“I wish I had magic, that would make life so much…”

I quickly brought my head back into the carriage, careful not to let the passing travelers see me. That wouldn’t end well. But luckily, from what I heard of that conversation, the duke had given up looking for me! If he has declared me sick, and soon to die, then he mustn’t care whether I’m found or not.

This is fantastic!

I could’ve jumped for joy. If only for one minor detail. Apparently, the baptism is where nobles unlock their magic, so why had I been about to take part in this event? I was a commoner! The duke’s reputation would’ve been ruined, had I not had magic.

But actually, didn’t the novel say that the 7 year old Alice had all elements? If I’m the 7 year old Alice, then, how do I have magic? Was my mother a noble? But why did she leave me then, I thought it was because of our lack of funds. If not, then it is likely what I fear. I was truly unwanted, a mere replacement, destined to die.

A tear rolled down my cheek, leaving a small trail of moisture on my otherwise dry face.