Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Flood of Memories
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Thud after thud, horrific sounds hammered straight into her skull like nails.
Blood trickled from the corners of her eyes, and the acrid stench of gunpowder clung stubbornly to her nose, refusing to fade. The memories that began from that moment of inescapable death raced backward in a blur.
'It's getting dark, so head out early.'
Seoul in winter, reeking of snow and fish guts.
'Sir, try stretching your legs out straight like this.'
Her head throbbed.
'Your teacher won't punish you for stuff like that.'
Her head felt like it would split open as she sank into the memories, drowning like she'd fallen into water.
Dead...
'Dead... my corpse.'
Far too many memories for a three-year-old to handle flooded in like a torrent.
'Try doing some squats.'
Whose voice was that?
'The burpee test is...'
'When your hip joint hurts, loosen it up like this...'
What were all these memories?
Familiar yet alien voices echoed in her mind.
It felt like lips had sprouted everywhere, all chattering around Mariella at the center.
Her head, her ears hurt so much...
"Mariella!"
The hand that grabbed her staggering body, tilting toward the stairs, belonged to a child bigger than Mariella but still small.
Mariella barely managed to open her eyes.
A cozy scent wafted from the pajamas covering the face in front of her, and the warmth enveloping her body was piping hot, just like a child's.
"Dietri."
"D-don't look over there. The servants will handle it, so don't worry too much..."
Dietrich's voice trembled—he was only seven years old—but he was trying his best to calm his little sister.
The one warm presence amid the unfamiliar voices ringing in her head.
Someone who worried about "Mariella," about her.
Only then could she scratch at her burning throat and finally speak.
"My head hurts so much..."
"What? Hey, Mariella! You...!"
The thread of consciousness she'd barely clung to snapped in an instant.
She was bedridden for a full week.
Thankfully, the butler didn't die as pointlessly as Kang Haejin from her past life. Instead, he'd injured his legs badly, so his children rushed up to take him back to his hometown.
Things had been so chaotic that she hadn't gotten a proper look at him leaving, but she felt a little relieved anyway.
The servant injured in the fall alongside her had been dragged off by the guards.
'And in the midst of it all, I recovered my adult memories.'
I sat obediently in bed, letting the maid spoon-feed me soup.
My head still ached a bit, but the shock of her past life's memories resurfacing had mostly subsided.
I'd never imagined reincarnation was actually real.
"Miss, how are you feeling now?"
"I'm okay."
This much was bearable.
But the maid, who'd placed her hand on my forehead and then pulled it away, looked worried.
"You're still running a bit of a fever. Eat first, then take your medicine. Once the fever breaks after the medicine, I'll put you to sleep."
"It only hurts a tiny bit now, so I think it'll be fine without medicine..."
"No, that's not allowed. You have to keep taking it until you can do that lunge pose you used to do so much. Say ahh."
...
I hadn't realized those odd words popping up sporadically were remnants of my past life.
I'd thought it strange that all these weird words and movements kept surfacing, but to think they were memories from my previous life.
Reincarnation. Something I'd never even dreamed of.
'Honestly, it still feels a bit... awkward.'
Every time I looked in the mirror, cheeks puffed out like they might burst.
Pink hair like cotton candy.
Brilliant blue eyes that never got easier to look at.
And most critically, the soft, squishy slime-like body with all the hard-earned muscles from my past life completely gone!
'Mariella Kalenberg.'
I quietly rolled my awkward new name around on the tip of my tongue.
'The shock of the accident brought my memories back.'
Past life.
Reincarnation.
I'd never imagined something like that happening to me.
Because my life had always been like rolling dice that only landed on 1s or 2s.
A life of middling bad luck, never great but never terrible—just boringly average, always drawing the same dull cards.
And now, reincarnation for someone like me?
'I'd never wished for a second chance at life.'
Of course, I'd tried my best to live enjoyably in my own way.
In my past life, I'd made my passion and talent my career and lived diligently. I even tried to enjoy various hobbies.
But separate from all that effort, the thought of having to support myself entirely without a single family member to lean on made life feel exhausting.
So how did someone like me end up reincarnated?
If there was a next life, I'd wanted to be reborn as a rock or a tree and live peacefully. But this...
'And in a three-year-old's body, no less.'
What could I even do in this unfamiliar world with such a squishy little form?
With fine motor skills underdeveloped, even using a fork properly was tricky. Looking at my predicament, it was both ridiculous and absurd.
"This is weird. Why won't the fever go down?"
The maid's hand touched my forehead again as I nibbled on bread to chase away the medicine's bitterness, spilling crumbs everywhere.
This maid's name was... Betty, right?
Digging through my memories for her name, I leaned my face fully into her cool, pleasant hand.
"Even after the medicine, the fever's not breaking. Can you stay alone for a bit, miss? I'll go fetch the nurse."
"Yeah, sure. Go ahead."
Now that I'd recovered my adult memories, being alone was no big deal.
I nodded readily and sent Betty out.
Betty returned just as my consciousness began to blur, teetering on the edge of sleep.
"Miss, I brought the nurse... oh my."
Too lazy to open my eyes, I'd squeezed them shut, but I felt a hand touch my forehead.
Another person's hand still felt cool, so the fever must be pretty high.
"Betty, go prepare a cold compress. We need to cool the miss's forehead."
"Yes, ma'am."
As Betty left, the nurse who remained began patting my chest in a steady rhythm.
Anna, the nurse, was one of the people who felt especially close now that my past life memories and reincarnated ones were jumbled together.
The Mariella I remembered had been separated from her parents right after birth and raised by the nurse.
Seeing the nurse now made my fever feel even higher all of a sudden—like acting spoiled around someone comfortable.
"Weren't you sleeping? Did I wake you?"
Suddenly curious to see the nurse's face, I snapped my eyes open to find her staring down at me with wide eyes.
"Nope."
"You could sleep more. Resting a lot is best when you're sick."
Not wanting to drift off again, I scrambled for another topic to hold her attention.
Hm.
"Nurse, where's Dietri?"
Talking about the other child in this house, raised by the nurse instead of their parents' arms, was most useful at times like this.
Dietrich Kalenberg.
My little big brother in this reincarnated body.
The infamous troublemaker of the house who caused an accident every time you turned around.
'But the day the butler got hurt, he protected me.'
Normally, he'd call me ugly on sight and pick fights, but that day he'd acted like a proper big brother.
And he was only just seven.
Trembling all over from fear himself, he'd still tried to keep me from staring too long at the bottom of the stairs.
Considering his young age, Dietrich must have been shocked too, but I'd been bedridden the whole week and hadn't been able to look after him.
"Doesn't Dietri hurt anymore?"
"He seemed a bit shaken, but everyone's taking good care of him, so he's already perking up."
That was a relief.
"The young master worries about you a lot too."
"Dietri does?"
"He came by twice while you were unconscious..."
That was the moment.
A sharp, clear burst sound pierced through the nurse's words, followed by people's screams.
This damn house never had a peaceful day!
There'd been a loud noise outside, so I should probably go check.
High chance Dietrich had caused another mess, so as one of the family heads of this house, I'd have to step in and clean it up.
Especially now that there was no butler.
"Nurse, let's go."
"But miss, you had that big shock not long ago. And your fever hasn't broken yet."
"What if Dietri got hurt?"
The nurse, who'd been about to dissuade me, couldn't overcome her worry at those words and scooped me up in her arms.