Prologue - No Child Bears Sin
All children are born innocent. At least, they should be.
"You'll grow up to commit some nasty crime, so three years in prison. You're an even worse one, so seven years." If it were you, could you accept a verdict like that without having committed any crime?
"Estasha Latias de Kaizen."
But the world seems uniquely harsh to me. Reincarnating as a girl was injustice enough to die for, and now I've been under a life sentence since birth. It's almost funny. And now it's the death penalty, no less.
"Do you know your crime?"
Honestly, I still don't fully understand. The only sin I committed was living diligently in my previous life.
Without a single helping hand from so-called parents, I dragged my half-paralyzed body through and got into university. I worked part-time jobs to pay for tuition and living expenses. I tutored. When that wasn't enough, I lucked into a construction gig that didn't require using my legs. I lived so frantically that I never had any real hobbies. No time for games, obviously, and barely any for movies or dramas. I did manage to squeeze in some novels here and there, but I can't help regretting that now. If I had, maybe I could've figured out which no-name novel's world this was.
"I still can't fathom what you're thinking."
It's so unfair. I'd need ten lawyers just to vent my grievances.
I died inexplicably on a construction site, and apparently that's why I reincarnated into this inexplicable fantasy world. Being a girl was a slight drawback, but I was born with fully functional limbs, and they even said I was an imperial princess, so I thought life was turning around. But no such luck.
Turns out I'm fated to become the Demon King who'll destroy the world. Absurd prophecies spread, and everyone was hell-bent on killing me.
"You still refuse to answer to the end?"
The one holding the sword to my throat right now is the next emperor—my half-brother. With the hero already dead and gone, he has to fill the role, I suppose.
Either way, I've grown utterly sick of this life. I'm ready to let go of running away or fighting back. I nearly doomed the world, but I ultimately saved it too, so I figure that settles the score.
"Just kill me already."
"...You're really like this to the bitter end."
He thrust the merciless blade forward. It finally hit me that I'd reached the true end of this life.
I wonder if there's another life waiting for me after this. I closed my eyes and pondered.
If I get reborn again, I hope it's not this medieval era but the modern world. A place with clean water for baths and fast food everywhere. It'd be nice if I could use magic too. I did grow quite fond of it in this life... Just not in some dystopian world overrun by monsters. I'd bite my tongue and end it right there, no joke.
And... and...
I have to treat kids fairly, without discrimination...
"..."