Plunged into darkness...

- Aysel.

A gentle female voice came from somewhere...

- Aysel von Wissarion.

I followed him, and when I opened my eyes...

- Y-Your Majesty! Wh-What are you doing?

The first thing I heard in the world when I was carried out of the chambers was the agitated voice of an elderly man in a robe and cap. The first thing I saw in this world was the point of a sword and the cold gaze of a handsome but embittered man. 

He is the Emperor of the Dragoman Empire, renowned for its military might. His shoulder-length mint-green hair was gathered in a low ponytail, and his blue eyes were fierce and capable of killing anyone, including me, in a split second. It was a little frightening, but if I had screamed, it would have enraged him even more, which would have hastened my death.

The servants trembled and clenched their teeth, restraining themselves from crying.

- The girl... A girl!

Ah, now I understand. They only want to kill me because I don't have a bolt between my legs. It's amazing.

Why am I so calm? Because I realized that I was reborn the second day after Aysel, the former owner of this body, was born.

According to the rumors I heard, the baby or babies were supposed to be born dumb and blind, but since I'm here now, that means she was born dead. But I can see perfectly, hear perfectly, and possess a voice - such is the unexpected but pleasant gift of rebirth.

In the month that I've been in this kind of "medieval preservation," I've been depressed, panicked, angry, and finally resigned to my fate, but... damn, what a shame!

It's only been a month since I finally bought my apartment! I took a vacation and was going to spend all that time playing games, relaxing and bumming around, but this stupid rebirth ruined everything! I don't even remember what I died for!

- Your Highness, why did you have to become a child-murderer? - the man in the doctor's white coat said in a persuasive tone. If it were not for that tone and his kind eyes, I should have believed him squeamish. - Look at her eyes - gray with white pupils. This girl is dumb, blind, and sick, and she won't last long in that condition.

I was silent and tried to react as little as possible. God, I'm glad I haven't made a sound since I was born.

- You dare tell me what to do? - The room grew cold and dark. It was hard to breathe under that pressure.

The doctor was silent and lowered his eyes.

"Daddy," who was holding my little body by the scruff of the neck, examined me. Surprisingly, I hadn't felt any physical pain since I woke up here.

- ... How about proof? - The blue eyes brightened, and a smirk appeared on his face.

- ...

No one dared answer him.

- If what you say is a lie, I shall have you executed! - he said to the doctor with a fierce expression on his face. All this amused him very much.

The doctor nodded briefly.

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"Proof that I am an invalid? Interesting."

He summoned several servants, and they hesitated, but as soon as he barked at them, they quickly approached.

The sword previously aimed at me changed its course.

My eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but then quickly returned to their usual calm state.

"What a sick man," I thought to myself without much emotion.

I could clearly see him killing one servant girl after another. His movements were precise, his blade sharp, and in just two minutes the clean room was stained with blood.  A lake of blood formed on the floor, the heads and bodies of the dead drowned in it, and the air was full of mettal.

The magician and the doctor stood with dumbfounded faces, but there was nothing they could do.

"Welcome to the Middle Ages, baby~"

Putting the dirty sword aside, the man squatted down and began to poke my face into pools of blood, taking my small palm and touching the severed heads with it, but... I remained with the same stony face.

"I'm blind. I see nothing."

- Do you feel fear? Danger? Don't be afraid to cry if you're scared.

Whispers in my ear like a tempting demon, but it won't work.

After all, in my life, now past, I worked as a pathologist.

In other words, you screwed up, Emperor. I've seen corpses, and I'll tell you even more, I've worked on and with them, yes, yes. Besides, I'm from Russia. You see what this is all about? There's not much to surprise me.

"Dad" looked at me, waiting for some kind of reaction. I restrained myself from adorning his handsome face with my saliva.

- Throw it to the Phantom Palace. - He said it without any emotion and as if I were going to die, probably along with the wizard, if I didn't disappear right now. 

- Don't worry, kid, everything's going to be all right... - The wizard whispered comfortingly to me, and with a flick of his hand made the corpses and blood disappear. I love magic and this wizard! At last I was comfortably held in my arms, not by the scruff of my neck!

- What about the legend of the ghost of the dead concubine? - The doctor's kind eyes grew restless again.

- It would be better this way. The sooner she dies, the better.

- But...

- Enough, Danielle. You may be the best doctor in the empire, but you must know your place. Is that easy for you to say, since you've only just had a son? - And yet jealousy creeps in.

- Indeed, Your Majesty. I beg your pardon," the doctor bowed guiltily, and the "father" hurriedly left the disgusting room without even looking at me.

Thus ended the Emperor's first and hopefully last meeting with his newborn daughter.

***

Five years have passed since then.

And, of course, I have not died.

As ordered, I and the nurse and maid assigned to me were sent to the Phantom Palace, which turned out to be terribly old and dirty. Just as I thought, there is no ghost here.

Neo, the young maid, did what seemed reasonable to me: instead of cleaning the whole palace, she only cleaned the rooms we were in. To my surprise, she and Grandma Merritt treated me well. They cried tears of happiness when they found out that I was not really an invalid, as everyone thinks.

"Princess, please keep this a secret, or the emperor will kill you!" - Grandmother Merritt told me then, but I knew it without her.

I am an abandoned, unwanted child who killed his mother by being born. My existence was long forgotten, and that was a good thing, because otherwise I would have been considered a parasite and killed.

I stared at myself without blinking, without noticing that I was clutching a fork in my hands.

Different feelings filled my heart.

"Aysel, I'm glad you're really dead and not going through with it."

I didn't care that I was forgotten, but it would probably have saddened her.

- Princess, didn't you like my cake? I tried so hard! - Neo was more excited than I was on my fifth birthday in this world.

This short-haired, brown-haired girl is a little noisy, but thanks to her I learned a lot about the empire and my "family."

The emperor has only three children, not counting me. All of them by the same woman, the empress. Two boys and one girl. How did she survive? When the green head wanted to kill her, she smiled, and she also looks a lot like our mother.

- No, it's delicious. It's very tasty. - I answer and send another piece of birthday chocolate cake into my mouth.

The money I get for pocket money is not much, and I have to save, but I am not complaining.

I had been saving for an apartment for seven years. So I got used to the status of "Save money". I would have preferred not to celebrate my birthday at all, but Grandma Merritt and Neo insisted.

And, come to think of it, this princess is already eight years old. Beautiful dresses, lots of servants, delicious food, a fancy palace, and more - she has it all. And best of all, the emperor favors her.

Am I jealous? I don't think so. She wants to survive, too. I feel no hatred for her. I feel nothing for her.

After the holiday dinner, Grandma and I went for a little walk and then she put me to bed.

"I don't want green-headed love or anything like that. Cold has always been my thing. I'm going to prove that I can be a successful person without their love!" - With these thoughts in mind, I didn't notice how I fell asleep.