Chapter 03
Maya finally arrived at the dining room and spotted Elize.
“Oh my, Maya. What do you think you’re doing, not even greeting me? You should’ve stayed in your room and waited quietly for your meal.”
Elize, her mother, who widened her eyes at the sight of her, scolded Maya harshly.
Maya stared at her calmly.
In the past, Maya would’ve bowed her head, followed obediently, and tried desperately to earn Elize’s love.
But now, things were different.
“Some people just aren’t worth expecting anything from.”
Maya vividly remembered Elize’s past atrocities.
Elize was trash who could crap just fine without even going to the bathroom.
“Maya, you have to be a good girl and listen to your mother. Don’t you want to be loved?”
She used her mouth, that’s how she did it.
Elize had an uncanny ability to poke at her weaknesses.
“It was a foolish hope.”
She was a trash mother who neglected her daughter and doted only on her son.
Still, Maya had respected her, simply because she was her mother.
She had believed that was the right thing to do.
It wasn’t until after she became a knight commander and was completely ruined—nearly dying because of someone else’s gambling debts—that she woke up.
Old habits die hard. Elize had once again tried to sell Maya off to cover gambling debts and ended up dead in the process.
All feelings had been drained away in her previous life.
“She’s only ever used me.”
After all of that, Maya could no longer see Elize as family.
Love, affection, family—those were illusions.
“Maybe this is my last chance to redo a regret-filled life.”
She’d spent so many days resenting herself for being dragged around silently, never saying what she wanted to say.
“I had things I wanted to say to Elize back then.”
Maya smirked.
“Screw it all.”
It’s just a dream anyway, isn’t it?
She would no longer be swayed by love or affection.
Throwing your life away for an illusion was nothing but foolish.
“You’re going to sell me off anyway, and you still want me to call you Mother?”
Maya snapped coldly, her words dripping with sarcasm.
“Wow, that felt good.”
Her chest felt so much lighter.
Maybe it was because it had been so long since she’d spoken her true feelings.
Elize was flustered.
She opened her mouth wide and trembled all over.
“M-Maya! What… What are you saying to your mother?!”
Such a loud voice.
Maya picked her ear lazily, as if to clean out the noise, and replied.
“Mother? Just because you give birth doesn’t make you a parent. You have to act like one.”
Elize clutched the back of her neck, staring at Maya who was standing stiff and proud.
“You’ve really lost your mind—”
And with that, she collapsed.
But Maya saw it clearly. Just before falling, Elize had subtly adjusted her body.
“She still has enough awareness to protect herself, huh?”
If she could protect her head, she was clearly fine.
“Perfect.”
Maya decided to use the situation to her advantage.
“Why are you just standing there? Take her to her room.”
Maya instructed the maid calmly.
“Pardon?”
“Um…”
“Mother collapsed, didn’t she? We can’t leave her lying on this cold floor.”
Though Maya was technically the one who caused the collapse, she acted confidently.
“Now.”
The commanding charisma Maya exuded was something the staff had never felt from her before.
“Y-Yes, understood.”
In the end, the maid took Elize back to her room.
Maya clenched her fist.
“I need to reduce the number of servants and attendants, too.”
This crumbling family couldn’t afford to hire this many people. It was all because of Elize’s vanity and extravagant lifestyle.
Well, Maya had no real attachment to this family anyway.
“Let’s eat first and think later.”
At least until this dream ended, she’d stay true to her own thoughts.
And right now, Maya was hungry.
“Bring me food. Make it hot.”
Without Elize, the dining room was pleasant.
“Good thing I said what I did.”
Thanks to that, Maya had a satisfying meal alone in peace.
“But… when is this dream going to end?”
The dream was lasting surprisingly long. The food tasted too real.
Still, the meal was good.
Nothing beats delicious food!
The idea that this might not be a dream came when she saw that trash—her brother—walk into the room.
“Maya, are you crazy?! What nonsense did you say to Mother?!”
The only sibling who ever leeched off her (too disgusting to even call a brother) came the next day.
It was obvious Elize had cried to McGuire after returning from the gambling den.
The reason he didn’t show up yesterday must’ve been because he’d stayed up all night gambling and lost everything.
Maya could picture it without even seeing.
She scoffed and replied.
“What, you trash that comes home empty-handed every day?”
The more she let out what she’d bottled up, the more exhilarated she felt.
“This is what it means to be alive!”
Maya felt truly alive!
Though her body might be dying, metaphorically speaking.
“Why didn’t I live like this sooner?”
Now that she’d said what she wanted to, she didn’t understand why she ever kept quiet.
It had been so simple.
“Life really can change this easily.”
Change felt hard, but in truth, it was easy.
“You done talking?!”
Even as McGuire huffed and puffed, he wasn’t scary in the slightest.
Maya smiled and nodded.
“Yup.”
McGuire trembled and clenched his fists.
“I went easy on you because you’re my sister—!”
Unable to contain his rage, McGuire lunged at her with a punch.
Maya easily dodged it. Even before her awakening, McGuire had never been a match for her.
“Is that all?”
It wasn’t meant to be sarcasm—she genuinely wanted to know. But ironically, that only hurt his pride more.
“You little—!”
His face turned bright red.
“So familiar.”
He’d never once admitted that his little sister was stronger than him.
His pride as a man, or whatever it was.
“Maya, you stole McGuire’s place.”
Her wounded brother, always coddled by Elize and their father Otto.
They were the ghosts that had driven the already declining Pendragon family into ruin.
“If your pride’s hurt, sorry. I only asked because you’re too slow to get hit.”
Maya calmly explained the reason behind her question.
There was a time when she would’ve taken a punch out of guilt, but no more.
“Shut up!”
McGuire snapped and threw a few more punches.
Of course, they all missed.
After dozens of swings, he finally reached his physical limit and began to wheeze.
Maya looked at his pathetic stamina in disbelief.
“…Are you even eating properly? You’re dangerously out of shape.”
She asked, genuinely curious, and McGuire hung his head.
“…Damn it, don’t expect any dinner tonight!”
He slammed the door shut, his face red with embarrassment.
Maya frowned. No dinner?
“But food…”
To Maya, who valued meals more than anything, this was a crisis.
“Whatever, it’s just a dream anyway.”
Her coma had been going on a while, but maybe she was nearing death.
If so, perhaps this opportunity to speak her mind before dying was the last mercy granted by the gods.
That night, Maya clutched her empty stomach and fell asleep.
Only to wake up at dawn to the loud growling of her stomach.
“I’m starving.”
Her belly clock rang loudly, and her senses kicked into overdrive like a starving hyena.
Everything was too vivid—her surroundings were saturated with color, and the smells were overwhelming.
It was time to accept the truth.
“…This isn’t a dream.”
No dream lasts this long.
Her subconscious couldn’t possibly recreate all this so accurately.
She wasn’t smart enough to remember even the names and faces of maids she didn’t know.
There was only one conclusion.
“This isn’t a dream.”
This wasn’t the afterlife or a coma—it was reality.
“I’ve returned to the past, before my awakening.”
A mercy from the gods?
She’d been given a chance to live again after a life full of regrets.
And without even having awakened, she’d already blurted out harsh words to her family.
“…Is that going to be a problem?”
Though she felt relieved, worry crept in.
Elize and McGuire had already been desperate to kick her out at this point in time.
Her uncharacteristic behavior and words would only give them more reason.
“I need to stay in this house until I awaken.”
Maya hated this family, but she still needed to remain here.
“I have to awaken.”
Becoming a Swordmaster—that was her identity.
Though she had made poor choices afterward, the awakening itself was never something she regretted.
The White Dragon Sword was everything to her.
To become a Swordmaster, she had to push past her limits in battles against monsters—not humans.
Only in those life-or-death moments would her beastlike instincts awaken, and with them, the Pendragon bloodline.
But here, in the capital city, monsters were nearly nonexistent.
Before that event which led to her awakening, there had only been a handful of monsters.
And even those were usually dealt with by the royal family or northern regions.
“What should I do?”
Her awakening was a future that must not change.
If she were kicked out, she might lose the chance entirely.
Things were already starting to go off track.
