Why is it cold… my head hurts, who am I…?

I think… I remember now… my name is Mary Tudor, but why do I have memories of a past life?

In this past life, I was a male. However, looking at my body I am currently a female.

That past life was miserable, I was a perfect child with no friends. My previous parents treated me like a trophy. I was told that I was worthless unless I got perfect scores on my exams. I spent most of my time in cram school instead of after school clubs. I was told that my existence was meaningless unless I did everything as they told me. Most importantly, I was told that humans were scary people that would endlessly take advantage of me, “so I must listen to mother in order to stay safe.”

I listened to her, but why? “Because mother knows best.” 

The world I lived in was a cold and dark place. I needed help, I needed warmth, I needed an escape… and I managed to find it.

I fulfilled my escapist fantasies by playing video games. My favorite series was the Dragonlord series. I picked up the series when the 3rd game of the series was being released: Dragonlord III: Corruption when I was 7 years old. Despite how buggy the game was, and how the graphics of the game were, I fell in love with the game.

10 years later… I was in the middle of playing Dragonlord V: Resurrection - Remastered Edition when my drunken stepfather stepped into my room. He was angry as usual, after all, my mother was seeing other men. My mother was no stranger to seeing other men because all she desired was “perfection” and it was that desire that would lead to my mother divorcing my father.

I do not have many memories of my real father, but from what I have heard, he was a “normal” white-collared worker. He worked for a black company for 12 hours a day to support my mother and me. My mother would stay home all day as a housewife raising me. However, that symbiotic relationship would not remain forever. When I was 2 years old, my mother divorces my father and re-married a few years later to my current stepfather.

My stepfather was a wealthy man, he owned several companies and a large mansion, contrasting with my previous father. He was also younger than my mother by a couple of years, but they both married with an agreement in mind… I would be raised to be the heir to his conglomerate.

Returning to my stepfather entering my room in his drunken state…

“_____ where is your mother?!”

“Mother is currently away on a short “business trip.”

“You damn brat tell me where your mother is!”

“I’ve already told you where mother is.”

“You god damn for nothing liar! Tell me where your freaking mother is!”

“I don-” I replied as he picked me up by the collar of my shirt.

“Don’t mess with me you little piece of crap.”

 “Why does this have to be a weekly occurrence?” I mumbled.

“What was that?! Are you insulting me? After all, I have done for you!”

He tossed me onto the ground.

“All these games and consoles I bought for you and you are being an ungrateful bastard, aren’t you?”

He picked up my console and looked at me straight in the eye.

 “I am going to make you regret making me angry ever again!”

An hour later I was heavily bruised and bleeding all over. I tried to pick myself up, but I was too weak. My throat felt dry and my body ached all over. I used my eyes to look around my body. All over my body was just red. My face felt hot. For some reason, in my head, I knew if I survived my life would be even more of a living hell. How long have I been laying here 10 minutes? 30 minutes? I began to drift away as the time quickly past. After what felt like long several hours, I saw my mother standing over me.

“So, this is the state he reduced you to, tsk… he couldn’t even finish you off properly.”

The malice of her words made my entire body quiver. The feeling of goosebumps all over my body, I knew what was coming next.

In her hand, she had a thick red pillow. The shade of red of the pillow reminded me of the color of dry blood. The thickness of the pillow was as large as mountains. The gloves she wore were like the ones that detectives in those crime scene investigation dramas would wear when investigating a body.

“I can’t have my “perfect child” looking like this,” she said with a dastardly grin.

So that was her plan all along, after all, I laughed on the inside. So, this is how it ends. When I am this bruised my stepfather would be arrested for child abuse and several charges that came with domestic violence. He would be jailed for a long time and I would be placed in control of the company. However, mother killing me would allow her or one of her lovers to take control of the company.

As she slowly placed the pillow on my face, I took my last gasp of air as she attempted to kill me through asphyxiation.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

My throat was beginning to burn up even more. My eyes began to fill with tears as I struggled.

Why was I struggling? This world is not even worth living in anymore. Why did I want to continue living? These questions filled my mind repeatedly until I heard a voice in my head…

“Would you like to escape this world?”

 “Yes.” I thought without hesitation.

 “Then I shall grant you your wish…” said the voice as suddenly, the current world around would fade as my consciousness began to slip…

----------------------------------------

The memories of my previous life were wiped from my head for the time being and unbeknownst to me, I was reincarnated into a new world.

In this world my dad is a Human, he was the lord of a small town known as Lancastershire and several minor villages. He was tall, had brown hair, brown eyes, and had fair skin, His build suggested that he was a warrior, unlike typical lords in stereotypical Medieval settings.

My mom is a Dark Elf and a former adventurer, she had beautiful long silver hair, light brown skin, and long pointy ears. Her eyes were red but were filled with love and gentleness.

In this world, half-breeds did not exist, thus a child would take after either the race of their father or their mother, which I got the latter of.

I inherited my mother's silver hair, light brown skin, red eyes, and long pointy ears. As I was growing up, many of the villagers that I saw looked like my mother. Dad would often tell me that when I would grow up as beautiful as my mom.

I spent most of my days learning how to fight from my mom and her servants, as my father was often away on lord business. Mom taught me how to fight using daggers because I did not have the strength to use a sword. When mom was busy helping my father, I was either taught how to use a bow or the intricacies of magic by their servants.

Some days I would finish early and go explore around the town with one of dad’s combat butlers. The townspeople were often nice to me and treated as if I was their child. The town, despite being small, was filled with people of different races, from Dark Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves, Humans, Lizardmen, Orcs, Catkin, and Lesser Dragonkin.

The town was peaceful and depended on traveling adventurers or merchants who plan to cross the nearby border of the Empire of Kalmar. Of course, this peace would not last forever.

When I was 8 years old, the Federation of Alvenheim and the Empire of Kalmar would declare war on the Saxon Kingdom, which Lancastershire was a part of. The town was swiftly attacked a couple of days after the declaration of war was received by the Saxon Kingdom capital, Anglospire.

The town which I grew up in was under siege and I was ordered to stay at the Lord’s Manor until the fighting ceased with the battle butlers while my mom and dad fought to defend the city. The fighting lasted 2 long weeks before it ended. The enemy ended up storming the Lord’s Manor killing everyone in their sights. In the end, I was captured because Intercontinental Law banned the killing of children in wars.

When the fighting ceased, all the surviving denizens of the town were sent to the town square. In the town square many soldiers were lined up and in front of them were the warriors who were defending the town, both of my parents being part of the lineup. I watched in horror as each warrior was executed one by one until finally, it reached my parents.

The enemy soldier who I assumed was the officer in charge stood in front of my parents.

“Citizens of Lancastershire, today I bring you salvation under the name of Emperor Gustav Kalmar! Your foolish lord was stupid to not have surrendered at the sight of the 1st Kalmar Imperium (the name of the division that attacked Lancastershire). I, Duke Adolf Hjort, proclaim this town under the occupation of the Empire of Kalmar!”

He lifted my mom by her hair and grabbed his sword. In front of me, I saw my first tragedy of this world, someone I truly loved being killed in front of me. His sword pierced my mother's heart and I screamed as I saw the life in her eyes disappear in front of me. I looked at my father as anger swelled up in his face, but he was left powerless as he was swiftly carried off by the invading forces.

I remember his last words before he was carried off… “Mary, remember who you are… you must survive!”

As the town square began to clear I was thrown by the invading forces onto a carriage. The carriage would take me into a prisoner-of-war camp where I endured hell for the next 5 years.

The POW camp was filthy and many of the prisoners there were children of village elders and nobles. This camp became known as “Helheim,” to use prisoners, since many of us were malnourished and forcibly demoralized to prevent us from becoming rowdy children. We wore tattered clothes that we were never allowed to wash, and our diet consisted of mainly bread, potatoes, and water. Most days of the camp were spent doing nothing or randomly digging holes.

Occasionally the POW was inspected by the Prime Minister of the Kalmar Empire, Duke Alexander Falk, to ensure the “safety” of the children. During his inspections, anyone who had turned 15 years of age was taken by him to another camp and was never seen again.

When I turned 13, a couple of days before his inspection one of the POW guards was hitting on a friend of mine who just turned 15. 15 was considered the adult age of this world and guard was probably going to take advantage of the fact that she was legal now.

I had a friend here before I regained my memories, her name was Elizabeth, she was the daughter of a village elder, a mere commoner unlike me, Despite the difference in our status, during these last 5 years Elizabeth had taken care of me. She was like an older sister to me. A nice and beautiful older sister.

“Hey, missy, why don’t you let me take care of you before you are taken to a different camp?” Asked the guard.

“Uhh… no thanks, I think I am good,” Elizabeth replied.

“Huh, why don’t you let me, after all, I have been taken good care of you after all these years.”

“Who are you again?” she replied as he grabbed her wrist and forcibly pushed her onto a wall.

“Oh… feisty one, aren’t you? Why don’t I make you remember me?”

I grabbed onto a rock and threw it at his face.

“Stay away from big sister!” I yelled.

“Tsk… why don’t you shut up little girl!” he said as he punched me on the face.

I ended up losing my balance from the punch and fell onto the ground. When he saw me fall onto the ground, he began to kick me repeatedly.

“Stupid child, this is why you should mind your own business!”

The pain every time I got kicked was increasing, and each time he kicked he made sure to not give me any chance to recover. He wanted me to suffer.

Elizabeth was watching as tears began to flow out into her eyes.

“Stop! Stop! I said STOP!!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

The guard for his last kicked put enough force into my gut that caused me to cough out blood.

“I will do it… just please stop kicking her,” said Elizabeth while crying.

“Good girl,” said the guard with a smile full of malice.

He took her away as with only enough energy to move my head to watch him drag her away.

“Big sister…” I groaned before I fell unconscious causing my head to hit the ground extremely hard.  

As my head hit the ground, I heard a voice that sounded familiar.

“Mary… remember…”

Those were the last words I heard before I fell into a deep slumber and woke up with memories of my past life…