STIH 02

chapter 02

I stared at the blurry coffin before me and thought:

Could this be my funeral?

Maybe my regrets had run so deep that I had become a ghost.

No, this is…

I blinked slowly.

A single tear that had pooled in my eye fell to the ground alongside a white snowflake.

This made no sense.

It was supposed to be summer.

Why was there suddenly a heavy snowfall?

And why did everything seem so much lower than before?

As I looked around blankly, I saw even more impossible sights.

The old cemetery that had been demolished years ago for redevelopment.

The neighborhood adults struggling to dig through the frozen ground.

And my little siblings, clutching onto me and sobbing.

Good heavens.

How could I ever forget this day?

It’s Mom’s funeral.

Was this a dream?

Or some cruel illusion?

Yet the winter air cutting through my bones and the icy wind felt completely real.

I was still blinking in confusion when—

“Cough…!”

The sound of coughing snapped me back to reality.

Looking down, I saw my siblings, only three and five years old, trembling from the cold.

Ah.

My little Hughie and Dido.

Instinctively, I dropped to my knees and pulled them into my arms.

Yes.

I remembered.

After Mom’s funeral, both of them had come down with terrible colds.

It was cold.

It was heartbreaking.

And we didn’t even have enough money to buy firewood.

I had been terrified when it seemed like Hughie and Dido might die too.

I was so powerless…

And it wasn’t just then.

No matter how hard I worked until my hands blistered, there was never enough money.

For my growing siblings, I was always a helpless guardian.

Shrrrk!

The neighbors, including a younger Morgan, began burying Mom’s coffin.

The cheap coffin slowly sank beneath the cold earth.

Soon, a crude cross made from two wooden planks was erected in place of a gravestone.

Just as shabby as I remembered.

…Did I really come back?

To the past?

Why?

How?

A sharp tingling sensation shot through my head.

Ah… there’s something I almost remember…

“Aaaagh! Damn it! I can’t die like this! It’s too unfair!”

Maybe it was better not to remember.

For a moment, an image flashed through my mind of myself crawling desperately somewhere like an inchworm.

No way.

I must have imagined it.

I shook my head and brushed away the unsettling afterimage.

Whether this was a miracle, magic, or some trick of the gods, I needed to deal with the reality right in front of me first.

“Bebe sis…”

My younger siblings buried their tear- and snot-covered faces in my arms.

Then they whined while turning away from the grave.

“Sniff… it’s cold.”

“When’s Mommy coming back?”

The sight of my tiny siblings made my throat ache.

I never thought I’d see you again.

Not like this.

With my now-small hands, I gently stroked their frozen cheeks.

If things continued this way, these poor children—too young even to understand death—would once again become deathly ill.

There wasn’t time to think.

I pulled a necklace chain out from beneath my thin coat.

At the end hung a rusty ring with no decoration whatsoever.

This is Ambrose’s…

Even now, I could hardly believe it.

It looked like nothing more than a plain silver ring once the rust was cleaned off.

Yet the shop where I had tried to sell it had recognized it immediately.

There must be magic on it.

I’d heard stories while working as a maid in a noble estate.

There were accessories that only changed appearance when commanded by their owner.

More accurately, they were magical artifacts.

Either way, this ring could serve as undeniable proof.

I looked at the ring.

Then my siblings.

Then Mom’s grave.

Mom.

I still don’t understand what’s happening.

But I think I know what I have to do next.

Taking a deep breath, I spoke.

“…Let’s go.”

To our new home.

Though first, I’d need something.

At that moment, the village’s official pushover came trudging over with red-rimmed eyes.

“Kids, it’s all over now, so let’s head ba—”

“Mr. Morgan.”

“Hm?”

“Please lend me some money.”

I’ll pay you back with interest.

* * *

People cited three reasons why the Atera Empire had prospered for so long.

First, the temple where an archangel had descended.

Second, the estate of the Great Mage.

And third…

“That is the Ambrose Estate.”

The greatest tycoon in history.

The head of a massive merchant guild whose influence extended across the entire continent beyond the Atera Empire.

Whenever war, famine, demonic invasions, an empty treasury, or the imperial family’s bankruptcy threatened the nation, there was always one person who stepped forward to solve the crisis.

And now, a worn rental carriage stopped before the residence of the Duke of Ambrose.

“Thank you.”

Carrying my sleeping youngest sibling on my back and holding the second child’s hand, I jumped down from the carriage.

We had traveled since the morning after Mom’s funeral, and now the sun was setting.

The fare, of course, had been paid with money borrowed from Morgan.

That man is struggling himself, yet he handed it over the moment I asked.

Despite rarely receiving proper payment for his medical work.

Which was why he was less of a doctor and more of the neighborhood’s favorite sucker.

Shaking my head, I looked forward.

So this is it.

The Ambrose Estate in the center of the capital.

I’d heard the Imperial Palace was practically next door…

Wait, isn’t this the Imperial Palace?

Why was even the front gate so ridiculously grand?

It was on a completely different level from the slums where I’d spent my life—or even the baron’s estate where I’d once worked as a maid.

How could a building radiate this much intimidation?

I was starting to feel overwhelmed when one of the guards at the gate spoke.

“What business do you have here?”

“Ah, I’m Bebe—”

No.

I cleared my throat and corrected myself.

“I’m the daughter of the Young Lord Ambrose. Please allow me to meet the head of the household.”

I reached into my clothes to retrieve the ring.

The guard stared at me in shock.

Then—

“Hey! You can’t do this here!”

He threw me out.

This was bad.

Night was falling, and the weather was growing colder.

After struggling with the guard who kept trying to force me away from the gate, I finally collapsed beside a nearby wall with my siblings.

As if mocking me, snow that hadn’t fallen inside the capital now began to swirl through the air.

Is even the sky making fun of me?

Brushing snowflakes from my siblings’ heads, I bit my lip.

I’m telling the truth, so why won’t anyone believe me—

Clink!

A copper coin rolled toward me.

Reflexively, I snatched it up.

A passing pedestrian clicked his tongue.

“Tsk. Poor things. Trying to beg in weather like this…”

I guess that’s how we looked.

I examined our shabby appearance.

There was no way children like us looked fit to enter a palace-like estate.

But I couldn’t go back.

Because—

I have no money.

I clenched the coin tightly in my palm.

Money.

Money.

Money.

Even after dying and coming back, I was still trapped by it.

A bitter laugh escaped me.

Then suddenly, the guards became agitated.

Through the white snowstorm, a massive carriage was approaching.

And in that instant, instinct whispered to me:

This is your last chance.

“Hughie, stay here with Dido.”

“Bebe sis…?”

Handing the youngest child to the second, I ran.

Straight toward the enormous carriage.

The coachman and guards spotted me and shouted.

The four powerful horses pulling the carriage continued charging forward.

For a moment, I thought I might be trampled.

Yet strangely, I wasn’t afraid.

The thing I feared most was money.

Look at us now.

Money was what could leave my siblings and me frozen to death on the roadside.

Screeeech!

And money was what could save us.

The expensive-looking horses and carriage came to a halt right before me.

The coin I had dropped now lay beneath a horse’s hoof.

Panting heavily, my white breath mixed with the falling snow.

After catching my breath, I drew strength into my stomach and shouted as loudly as I could.

“I am Labune Ambrose…!”

So that whoever sat inside the carriage—someone who clearly belonged to this noble estate—would hear me.

Perhaps I was announcing it to the entire world.

With frozen fingers, I snapped the old necklace chain.

Then I raised the rusty ring high into the air.

“I’ve come to reclaim my life!”

So let me in.

Please.

I stood my ground before the still-closed gates.

The horrified guards rushed forward to drag me away.

At almost the same moment, the carriage door opened.

“Lady Naomi!”

A woman who appeared to be entering middle age stepped out.

Her face was as cold as ice, and the guards immediately became even more flustered.

“We apologize. We’ll remove her immediatel—”

“Step aside.”

Her voice was as cold and sharp as her expression.

She dismissed the guards as though shooing away pests and approached me with elegant steps.

Then she bent slightly at the waist.

“Little miss, may I take this?”

“…I’m lending it to you.”

A faint smile appeared on her lips.

Taking the ring, she returned to the carriage.

The wheels began turning again.

As the carriage passed by me, a deep, dignified male voice came from within.

“Let them in.”

Clunk!

At last, the gates opened.