Chapter 01
One Day, My Body Was Stolen
I was a duke’s daughter. My full name was Libera Deli Allenhart. I was the cherished eldest daughter of the empire’s only ducal family.
The Allenhart ducal house possessed enormous wealth thanks to the mines located on their private lands. Their status was extremely high within the empire. All of this was more than enough reason for the people of House Allenhart to become arrogant.
The people of House Allenhart were always haughty and had a strong tendency to look down on those beneath them. I was no exception. I was the kind of noble who frowned at the mere sight of commoners.
Both nobles and commoners spoke ill of our family. And the looks directed at me, a young girl, were filled with nothing but contempt.
Still, I didn’t care much. I had a father and two older brothers who cherished me dearly. As long as I had my family, I thought it didn’t matter if everyone else hated me.
The more people pointed fingers at me, the more confident and arrogant I became. That was how I was back then. To protect myself, I dismissed all the criticism directed at me as nothing more than jealousy from people who had nothing.
Because of that, the bad rumors about me only increased with each passing day. After the nobles realized that I didn’t immediately run to my father or brothers to report everything, I could openly hear insults whenever I attended balls.
“Arrogant Lady Libera.”
Whenever I heard that, I would sneer.
Just like they said, I was arrogant. But I was someone who had every right to be.
An arrogant and beautiful duke’s daughter.
Lady Allenhart, so noble she could be called the very model of aristocracy.
Now, all of that is just a story from the past.
“These days’ kids are hopeless. When I was your age, I even used to pick nobles’ pockets.”
“How would you even pick a noble’s pocket? If you get caught, it’s over for you!”
Eugene shouted in disbelief at what I said.
I spat out the lollipop I had been sucking on and replied as if there were no problem at all.
“Then just don’t get caught.”
“Wow, I’ve never seen someone born such a natural delinquent like you….”
Eugene muttered in admiration. I glared at him as if I wanted to kill him.
“Libera, Eugene! Stop playing around and come eat lunch!”
The director’s voice rang out from beyond the door. Eugene fled into the building as if running for his life.
I glared at his retreating back and checked the money pouch. The pouch Eugene handed me, claiming he’d pickpocketed someone like I told him to, contained only two copper coins.
I never expected kind-hearted Eugene to actually pickpocket anyone. I had told him to do it on purpose, knowing he couldn’t, just to tease him. Obviously, he must have lied about pickpocketing and instead taken money from his own allowance to give me.
Seriously, what a sucker. Clicking my tongue, I lay back on the pile of straw I’d been sitting on.
The sky was clear and blue. Perhaps because it had gotten quiet, I could hear the murmuring voices of people from beyond the alley.
“They say Lady Libera went to the commoners’ district this time to do charity work. How can her heart be so kind? She’s practically an angel!”
It was yet another story about Lady Libera that I’d heard countless times before. In this village near the ducal estate, there were especially many rumors about her, and most of them were praise.
The arrogant Lady Libera no longer existed. The Lady Libera who used to be criticized nonstop just a few years ago was now being called an angel, praised by both nobles and commoners alike.
“Tch.”
I clicked my tongue with a displeased expression. The weather was nice, so I was thinking of taking a nap, but hearing that ruined my mood and woke me right up.
“She’s having fun with someone else’s body.”
After muttering that, I closed my eyes.
It had already been eight years since I lost everything.
Sixteen-year-old me was now living in an orphanage.
Sometimes, when I’m alone like this, the memory of that day comes back to me. Eight years ago—the day I lost my body.
“Libera, shh. What we’re doing today is absolutely a secret.”
My second older brother, Chester, often snuck out of the mansion without our father knowing.
Energetic by nature, Chester found being stuck in the mansion studying unbearably boring, and whenever he felt suffocated, he would secretly go out to the nearby village.
For Chester, whose magical abilities were so outstanding he was called a genius, slipping out of the mansion without the servants noticing was extremely easy.
Chester always took me along whenever he went out. I loved going on outings with him, so I followed him excitedly every time. What happened that day also occurred when we went to play in a commoners’ village together, just the two of us.
Both Chester and I disliked commoners, but we often visited the commoners’ village as a form of rebellion.
We never did anything special there. We just walked around, watched some street performances, bought food, and ate. Then when we got bored, we used teleportation to return to the mansion. It was just a small, harmless escape.
While we were looking around, Chester suddenly stopped. I stopped too and looked up at him, puzzled.
“Libera, want to eat that? We had it before, remember? It was good.”
What Chester pointed at was a stall selling snacks made from corn and cheese. Normally, it was something we were never allowed to eat because it was unhealthy.
Since I wouldn’t get another chance like this, I nodded vigorously. Chester smiled at me as if I were cute.
“Then wait here for a bit. There are a lot of people, so I’ll go alone and come right back.”
With that, Chester went into the shop. He usually never let go of my hand when we were out, but in crowded places, he insisted on acting alone.
I didn’t like crowded places either, so I obediently waited like he told me to. There were so many customers lined up that Chester didn’t come out for a long time.
“He could’ve just paid extra and gotten it faster.”
If it were me, I would’ve cut in line without hesitation. I grumbled at Chester’s unnecessarily honest behavior.
Out of boredom, I kicked around a stone on the ground. The stone I kicked hard rolled into the alley.
Naturally, my gaze followed it, and I tilted my head when I noticed something.
At the end of the alley, there was a blue light.
The moment I saw that light, I felt drawn into the alley as if possessed. Even now, I don’t know why I wasn’t scared. All I could think about was finding out what that light was.
The alley wasn’t very deep. When I realized what the light was, I frowned.
Inside the alley, a girl was holding a lantern that emitted a blue glow.
“Ah….”
The girl looked flustered when she noticed me.
She had light brown hair and blue eyes similar in color to the light leaking from the lantern. She wasn’t particularly striking, but she could be called a modestly cute girl.
“Did you… come alone?”
The girl asked carefully. I frowned at the sudden question.
“So what if I did?”
“Well, um….”
The girl kept trailing off, unable to finish her sentence. She looked extremely nervous.
When I turned around to leave in annoyance, the girl hurriedly grabbed my wrist.
“W-Wait a moment!”
I frowned in displeasure at being grabbed. I coldly shook her hand off and crossed my arms.
It was the very attitude of the arrogant duke’s daughter everyone despised.
“What do you want?”
“Could you… please do me one favor?”
I felt dumbfounded. Did she even know who I was, to speak to me like that?
I was about to ignore her and go back to Chester, but her expression was desperate. I tilted my head as if telling her to go on.
“Could you… touch this lantern just once?”
It was a surprisingly trivial request.
I thought she was going to beg me for money or something. I shrugged.
It wasn’t difficult, and I was bored anyway. Thinking I’d do a rare good deed, I reached out toward the lantern.
At that moment, my vision went black.
It was a strange sensation. It felt like my body was floating, yet at the same time, my body was lying on the ground. My mind was hazy and unfocused.
The texture I felt at my fingertips was rough, so it seemed I was lying on dirt. I didn’t even know when I had collapsed.
“Libera!”
I heard Chester’s voice from far away. I barely managed to open my heavy eyelids.
Through my blurry vision, I saw someone squatting right in front of me. I rolled my eyes to check the person’s face.
“…?”
The person in front of me was me. Long silver hair and blue eyes. Though partially hidden by a hood, it was clearly my face—the one I always saw in the mirror.
Someone wearing my face was looking down at me with a dark expression.
“Y-You….”
I opened my mouth to speak, but the voice that came out wasn’t mine. I couldn’t understand what was happening at all.
“Libera! Why are you here?”
Just then, Chester’s voice came from inside the alley. It seemed he had come looking for me.
Since I was still collapsed, I couldn’t clearly see Chester’s face. He strode up and grabbed the wrist of the woman who had my face.
“Let’s get out of here. Places like this are dangerous.”
“Ah, um….”
The woman hesitated, speaking in my voice. As Chester dragged her away, I could barely make out their faces as they got farther.
The woman looked back and forth between me and Chester with a restless expression, then suddenly stopped.
“Um, that person over there… I think she’s hurt.”
Only then did Chester finally look at me. He must have known I was there all along, but he had deliberately pretended not to see me.
When Chester’s eyes met mine, he frowned. His expression looked annoyed.
“What is that filthy thing?”
It was the first time I had ever heard such a cold voice from Chester.
My heart dropped. Only then did I realize that something was terribly wrong.
I wanted to say something, but no sound came out. My body had no strength either, and I lay limply on the ground.
“Libera, there’s no need to care about a mere commoner. Plenty of commoners die rolling around in the streets like that. It’s none of our concern.”
“…Die?”
“Most of them do. So don’t even talk to them. It’ll just ruin your mood.”
At the word “die,” the woman’s face turned pale. Even as Chester dragged her away, she kept staring at me with a guilt-filled expression.
She bit her lip, then silently mouthed words to me without making a sound.
“I’m sorry.”
Even now, I still think it was an absurd thing to say.
