Chapter 5
“How could this…”
With flustered hands, Anesa felt over her body.
A lively, youthful face. Soft, pale skin. Everything had become younger.
Even after confirming it with her own eyes, Anesa grabbed the mirror as if she still couldn’t believe it.
“This can’t be.”
Her eyes trembled slightly as she denied the reality.
How did this happen?
Anesa pulled her gaze away from the mirror and blankly stared at her own face. At that moment, the door suddenly burst open and someone stepped inside.
“Lady Anesa. It’s time for your meal.”
Anesa silently looked at the maid. She knew this maid well. Was her name Sophie? She had been her personal maid back when Anesa was still a princess of Edelite.
A maid who didn’t have even the slightest trace of respect for her master.
After standing stiffly for a moment, Anesa asked the maid,
“What year is it today?”
“Huh?”
At her question, Sophie asked back with an irritated tone. It was an attitude full of insolence.
“It is Imperial Year 472.”
“472…”
At that answer, Anesa pinched the back of her hand hard. The pain digging into her skin reminded her that this wasn’t a dream, but reality.
‘Imperial Year 472.’
It was eight years ago. She was only twenty one. This was before she had even met Damien. With that realization, her heart pounded as if it would burst.
‘I came back to the past? Me?’
Her hands trembled. It wasn’t fear or terror. This was exhilaration.
She didn’t know how it had happened, but the heavens had granted her wish.
“Hurry up and eat.”
At the sharp voice, Anesa snapped out of her thoughts. She looked at Sophie. The way the maid tossed the dishes onto the table showed no manners or respect toward a princess.
At that, Anesa stared at Sophie.
Yes, Sophie had always been very arrogant.
Back when Anesa had been a powerless princess, Sophie had been one of the maids who tormented her relentlessly.
And all of it had been led by Elodie, the legitimate daughter.
While Elodie’s mother had been from a ducal family of the kingdom, Anesa’s mother hadn’t even been a noble. She had merely been a maid in charge of laundry in the royal palace.
Moreover, Anesa’s biological mother died from postpartum illness right after giving birth to her. Because of that, there was no one to protect her. If her mother had lived and continued to receive the king’s favor, perhaps she might have been treated a little better than this.
No, more than that, if it had been discovered sooner that she possessed an extraordinary guiding ability, the treatment she received in the royal family would have been different.
In the Edelite royal family, high rank Guides had been born for generations. And power was authority.
Royal family members born with guiding abilities married into the imperial family of the Altrevion Empire.
In other words, it was no different from a political marriage with imperial family members born with extraordinary abilities—Espers.
Thus, royal princesses were prepared from birth to be married off to Altrevion. And the stronger the legitimacy of their bloodline, the stronger their guiding ability tended to be.
Naturally, everyone expected that Elodie, the legitimate daughter, would have the higher Guide rank. But that assumption was everyone’s mistake.
Clink.
The last spoon made a sound as it dropped onto the table, signaling that the meal preparation was finished.
Anesa naturally walked over to the table and looked at the food laid out on it.
‘As expected.’
Then she let out a hollow laugh inside.
‘Of course.’
While living in the empire, she had forgotten what kind of treatment she had received here.
