Opening my eyes, I saw the familiar figure of Char sleeping on a bed positioned at the foot of my own.

Knowing that she wouldn't have been sleeping at this time unless she was really tired, I could only thank her silently for what god only knows she did.

Softly sliding my heavy blanket off, I took a look at my body.

First, I checked the condition of my bruises and cracked bones.

Overall, they were healing pretty well, and most of the purple on my skin had already been long gone with the winter wind.

But, I could tell that my bones were still healing, apparent by the dull throbbing pain I felt in one of my legs, my side, and one of my arms.

Second, I checked the overall condition of my body.

You see, over the past half a year, when I had been on the trip with Sari, and then the return trip with the children, my body had become tempered.

And, even though I was only 11 years old, my abs were already showing, and my arms and legs were only made up of lean muscle, as no fat could be seen on them.

Looking in the mirror, I could also tell that my face and overall appearance had changed.

The lines on my face were now sharp, none of my baby fat could be seen, as it had all frozen and burned off during my travels through the frozen north.

My purple hair had grown past my shoulders, and sometime during my sleep, either Char or Gwen had styled it for me, so that my bangs now fell down between my eyes, making me look like a real distinguished noble.

(A/N: Picture of MC in the paragraph comments.)

And overall, I had grown to look older too, more like a 14 year old even though I was still 11.

It was honestly a stunning transformation, and it was now pretty obvious why Karina hadn't recognized me.

Anyways, after I was done staring at myself narcissistically in the mirror, I carefully opened the door and left the room, allowing Char to sleep for a longer time, as, she probably needed it after dealing with the aftermath of what had transpired.

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Walking through the gray hallways, I saw through the windows that the never ending gray blizzard had started again, and I could only sigh at the fact that on the one clear day up here in the north, I was being lauded for execution.

But then, snapping me out of my depressing thoughts, I saw one of the children rushing towards me in a little maid uniform.

"Big Bro! You're awake!"

As the little girl rushed towards me, I crouched down a little and picked her up, enveloping her in a hug.

"It's good to see that you're okay Maddie."

"We were so worried about you, Big Bro! They kept telling us that you were a disgusting slave trader and that you were going to do bad things to us! We were really confused at first, but then Big Sis Sari told us that it was just a misunderstanding and to play along with the big bad scary men so that nothing bad would happen to Big Bro!"

Hearing her childish rambling, I could only smile before putting her down and starting to walk slowly as her tiny hand clutched mine.

"But then they asked us to do something bad to Big Bro, but we had to refuse, and then they got all mad at us, beating Big Sis Sari up in the process!"

Hearing this, I turned to look out a passing window as my face darkened, but it soon switched back to a sweet smile as I looked back down at Maddie again.

"Do you know what happened to these big scary men?"

"Yeah, we saw Auntie Charlotte squish them into a pulp when they tried to attack her!"

I was actually surprised by this, and it showed evidently on my face, but this wasn't because Char killed them, no, that was expected of her being my protector. What I was surprised about was how this little girl was talking about the cruel killing of some grown adult men like it was the most normal thing ever to talk about at her age...

Well, pushing this to the back of my mind, I continued to just listen to Maddie's story as I walked with her to where the other children were staying, just to show them that I was alright.

Arriving in their living quarters, I was surprised to find that they all had different uniforms on, and I immediately knew that they had each been given tasks to do around the castle by Char or Gwen.

'I mean, we needed the help, but is it too much to ask children to do it?'

But then, I shook my head at my own naive thought, as I was, for some reason, thinking using the standards of Earth, not like the mindset of someone living in this world.

Then, I was taken out of my thoughts as all the children swarmed me and gave me the warmest welcome back that I had ever had in any of my two lives.

'I knew it, only family is the best.'

That was my last thought before I let myself be absorbed by the happy, jolly energy of the children.

...

I was currently sitting in the drawing room of the castle, waiting for Karina to arrive.

It had been a week and a half since the "incident", and by now, most of my injuries had healed fully, or were close to that point.

Sipping the always excellent black tea that Char made, I put the cup down and posed a question to the person standing behind my chair.

"How many more minutes until they arrive?"

"About 5 more, Young Master."

Nodding, I straightened my clothes and put on my gloves.

You see, due to the "accident" during my pleasant "stay" in the jail cell, I had for "some reason", grown disgusted of being touched by someone that was not my "family", evident from the way I had accidentally stabbed and killed a random pickpocket on the street as he accidentally touched my bare skinned arm.

Seeing this, and thinking that I had been put through a horrible trauma, which it would have been had I not been a literal test subject for the most of my last life, Char had immediately bought high quality white gloves for me to use.

Of course, I wasn't putting on these white gloves because of Karina, but due to the fact that I was going to meet the governor of this province, and so, I would definitely need to shake his hand at one point.

"Young Master, they're here."

"Tell Char to bring them in."

I didn't even need to look to know that Gwen had blurred for a second, before her figure coalesced again.

Then, I only had to wait one more minute, before two people entered the room, accompanied by Char.

Char directed them to their seats, and then brought them each a cup of our finest tea, but made by Gwen, as only I and Ev... well only I could drink Char's tea.

Waiting for them to get situated, I finally broke the silence.

"Esteemed Governor, the Radiant Shield of the North, what brings you together, here at my humble residence today?"