# 3
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'Wow! 'Have you been exposed?'
I was surprised and tried to move my body to escape, but my left foot did not move as if it was stuck to the ground.
When I looked carefully, I found that the shining magic circle had turned into what looked like handcuffs hovering around my left ankle.
"Lyric! Go call the commander. Tell him we've caught the little mouse."
The man with a large build ordered the person next to him, then began to advance towards me with wide steps.
“I will change your mental state.”
The man's voice was full of brutality as he growled.
He twisted his knuckles, making a loud sound to protect his body.
The moment he approached me and raised his hand roughly.
Chuak!
I grabbed a handful of earth and threw it with all my might at the man's face.
"Aaaaak! You damned girl...!"
Looks like I hit the target.
The man covered his face as he staggered, perhaps because of the dust that got into his eyes.
However, the magic circle began to flash until my left foot gradually began to move.
This is the right time.
I left the suffering man behind and quickly headed towards the place where the sound of the waterfall could be heard, even though my legs were still trembling and limp.
What...
Water was falling forcefully from the great waterfall towards the deep valley.
“Fuck...”
But I had to stop in shock.
Because the place I arrived at was the end of a high cliff from which a great waterfall poured without end.
impasse.
What do I do? Where do I run away? I tried to activate my mind, but my mind, which had reached its limit, could not think deeply.
Meanwhile, the angry search party appeared with the sound of horses' hooves.
“We found it!”
I saw the frightened faces of the search party members under the moonlight.
“There you are, you mouse-like girl!”
Once they were sure I was at the slope, they quickly blocked the escape route.
Now, I have nowhere to run to.
I became like a mouse in a trap, so I retreated backwards into the abyss with hesitant steps.
“Stay where you are!”
They got off their horses and started approaching me step by step to catch me.
Will I be led away like this without escape?
I started to step back further to avoid them.
One step, two steps.
But soon I had to stop; Because my back foot touched the void.
I looked back to find that I was right on the edge of the abyss.
A small stone fell from under my feet and disappeared at the bottom of the slope.
If I put a little pressure on my foot, I'll fall like that stone.
“Now, stop running away, miss.”
The knight who threatened to break my limbs said, smiling maliciously and despicably.
Even if I get caught and adopted by the Duke's family, maybe I can change the course of the story there.
On the other hand, living as a duke's daughter might be better than living as a homeless orphan outside the empire.
But the strange thing is that my instinct was screaming at me never to go to the “Roseblier” family.
'Don't go even if you die! Don't go!'
For them to deal roughly like this with a child who will become their mistress in the future is a very suspicious thing!
I mocked the knights and threw my body into the abyss.
"no!"
They screamed as they watched me fall endlessly.
“Damn it! It was a hard-fought test sample, and you messed it up.”
“What shall we say to the Duke’s lady?”
The search team's screams and insults reached the bottom of the valley.
'They didn't catch me.'
Maybe it's a feeling of relief that they didn't catch me? The tension gradually began to dissipate.
Due to the accumulated fatigue, I slowly began to lose consciousness.
'I hope this is all a dream when I next open my eyes.
I wish I could wake up in my bed.'
I kept praying like this without ceasing.
How much time has passed?
I regained consciousness at the sound of noise around me.
‘Please let it be my room. My room!’
People's voices like that cannot be heard in my room where I live alone.
But I slowly opened my eyes, clinging to any tiny bit of hope.
“Oh! She has opened her eyes, Mr. Envoy!”
“She seems to have regained consciousness!”
When I opened my eyes, I saw people wearing white clothes.
They were moving briskly and calling out to someone quickly.
I tried to move my body, but it was heavy like wet cotton and would not move against my will.
I had no choice but to move my eyes.
I was lying on a bed.
A white and soft bed with a pleasant scent.
I felt relieved that the bed wasn't infested with cockroaches and mold.
At least, I'm not in the orphanage.
Could it be the Duke's family, "Roseblier"?
As I moved my eyes anxiously, something happened.
“Oh, you're awake!”
A man appeared in my field of vision with those dressed in white.
Waaah...! Wow.
I lost the ability to speak as soon as I saw him.
Isn't this paradise?
The man with carefully tied silky white hair and red eyes,
He was the most beautiful person I had ever seen in my life.
Clear skin without blemishes, a sharp nose, handsome facial features, and red eyes that shine like rubies.
It was a beauty that radiated light, as if God had carved it with extreme precision.
If he had not been crying while looking at me, I would have believed that he was a carved statue due to his extreme beauty.
But why is he crying?
“I'm sorry. It's all my fault.”
I don't know why, but he started apologizing to me and came closer to hold my hand.
I felt the warmth of his body from his long white hand.
Drops of water were falling from his big, beautiful eyes.
Even the tears that fall to the ground, how can they be so beautiful?
When I saw the moisture filling his long eyelashes, I felt uncontrollably sad in my heart.
Is a handsome man crying that sad?
"I will never lose you again. I will love you like you said. So please, don't walk away from me."
The man said incomprehensible words, then he put my hand on his cheek and started sobbing hard.
A... oh. Looks like you got the wrong person...?
I wanted to talk to him, but my mouth was dry as if I had swallowed sand, and only a rasping sound came out without words.
After being awake for a short time, fatigue and drowsiness began to attack me.
The vision gradually began to darken.
“Why…why is this happening?”
I saw the man's confused features through my eyelids, which began to close.
“You have not recovered yet, Mr. Envoy.”
“The physical damage was severe from the moment she was found...”
I fainted again, hearing people's whispers.
A comfortable darkness enveloped me.
Because of the comfort that I had not felt in a long time, I fell asleep with peace of mind.
When I opened my eyes again, I was lying alone in a tidy and clean room.
“Oh… oh?”
Since my incarnation, my body has always been very heavy when I wake up, but now it is as light as a feather.
It was like the afternoon of a holiday after a deep sleep.
I suddenly got up.
Am I in Korea? Am I really back?
But my joy did not last long, as I saw my long white hair that reached my waist.
Huh, as I expected.
I am still in the state of incarnation.
I sighed deeply and removed the quilt.
My feet, which were full of wounds and blood when I fell from the waterfall, were now soft and free of any traces of wounds, as if nothing had happened.
Even my arms and legs, which had never been free of bruises from the beatings in the orphanage, recovered completely and my skin became white as milk.
"What happened?"
While I was muttering and examining my body, the door to the room opened.
A young girl, about ten years old, entered, wearing the clothes of a white priestess.
“Huh. My rank is high, and yet I still have to do these jobs?”
The gray-haired girl was muttering incomprehensible words, carrying a large bucket of water as if it weighed nothing.
Suddenly, our eyes met as I sat on the bed.
"Aaaaak! She's awake!"
She suddenly screamed as if she had seen a ghost, then fell to the ground and ran outside.
“W-what?”
Is my vision a reason for all this panic?
I returned to sitting on the bed with a stunned expression.
It doesn't matter. The important thing is that I escaped from that hell in the orphanage.
I rested my face on the white pillow, and inhaled a strong smell of soap, which seemed to have been carefully washed.
And at that moment.
Knock, knock.
A knock was heard on the door from which the girl came out.
Who's there? Are they the villains of the orphanage or someone from the Rosebiller family?
My body trembled with unknown fear.
I quickly got up, hugged the pillow, and looked towards the door.
"Sorry."
A calm and beautiful voice was heard.
Then the door opened slowly and an old woman entered with a kind face and gray hair.
She was wearing white priestess clothes like the previous girl.
“You are awake, sister.”
She made the sign of the cross and put her hands together in front of her chest to greet me.
Neat white clothes, and a necklace with a familiar pattern.
Amidst her kind smile, I remembered a theology book I had seen one day in the orphanage.
Who are you? And where am I?
Since I had lived in violent situations since I arrived in this world, I felt that that tender smile was strange to me.
It may turn violent at any moment.
My voice trembled uncontrollably.
“Who... are you?”
She answered my question with a smile:
“My name is ‘Celadia’.”
This was the first normal response I had heard in a long time.
What was it like before? I was lucky if I didn't get hit.
Usually the speech was full of insults.
But this grandmother seemed as if she would not respond to my question with violence in the least.
I felt a little reassured and asked her again:
“Where... am I?”
She smiled and replied:
“This is the Temple of Terena in the Geronia branch, sister.”
“Geronia?”
Since I had learned the basic knowledge of this world in the orphanage under the pressure of beatings, I knew the names and locations well.
“Geronia” was a coastal city located in the far south of the continent, and the journey there from the orphanage took five days and nights on horseback.
How did I get to this far away place? She looked at me, noticing the surprised look on my face, and asked me:
“Do you remember where you used to live, sister?”