Episode 1
“This crappy world can just go to ruin!”
But the one who always ended up ruined was me.
“Young Lady, how are you feeling today?”
It was Tina, my nanny and maid from the Sidus family. She pulled the heavy curtains wide open and spoke to me warmly.
The sunlight poured in, hitting me right in the face. I forced a weak smile.
Hmm… how am I feeling today?
“I haven’t eaten anything, but I still feel like throwing up my whole body aches and my chest feels like it’s burning.”
“…”
“So, the same as usual.”
Tina bit her lip, looking like she was about to cry. I guess she regretted asking.
Maybe I was too honest.
It was probably too late to take it back, but I decided to at least comfort her.
“I’m fine, Tina.”
“Normal people don’t call that ‘fine,’ Young Lady.”
Tina wiped her eyes with her finger, then excused herself, saying she’d bring some wash water.
I let out a long sigh and buried my face in the pillow.
When I was reborn, I thought life would be sweet.
“I don’t know how it ended up like this.”
The sun was shining so brightly, yet my life was dull and grey.
I sighed again, turning my back to the sunlight.
I was the only daughter the Count of Sidus adored more than life itself.
And at the same time a terminally ill young lady who could die at any moment.
That was Miena Sidus.
In one sentence: I had been reborn.
Not transmigrated reborn. Which meant my past life had ended for real.
Yes… I had died.
From an unknown illness, even modern medicine couldn’t figure it out.
“This doesn’t make sense! The child is in pain, and you’re saying she’s fine?!”
Blood tests, CT scans, nothing worked. The results were always “normal,” so there was nothing to report to medical journals.
“This child needs divine healing.”
Some people claimed it was a divine illness. Nonsense I had never even experienced a single tiny supernatural event.
Others told my mother it was because our ancestors lacked virtue. Also nonsense — my father’s family were descendants of independence fighters.
And then there was the strangest nonsense I’d ever heard:
“Your body can’t handle power. If this keeps up, you’ll explode!”
Someone told me that once, when I was still healthy enough to take walks. I couldn’t remember who, but the oddness of the words stuck with me.
Well… my life did explode.
I wasted away without knowing why, and on the year I turned twenty, I took my last breath.
When I opened my eyes again… I was in a completely different world.
“My beloved child, I’d pluck the stars from the sky for you.”
I couldn’t see clearly as a newborn, but that warm voice stayed in my memory.
I didn’t know if this was a novel’s world or another dimension, but one thing was clear I was born into wealth and status.
A perfect life!
I didn’t know why I remembered my past life, but I was now Miena Sidus.
So I decided to forget the past and enjoy my new, amazing life.
That was what I thought back then.
But this world was just as unfair and awful as my last one.
At age five, my illness returned as if it had been waiting for me.
The symptoms were exactly what I told Tina this morning: nausea, body aches, and that burning pain that started in my heart and spread through my veins to my fingertips.
I couldn’t eat properly, which meant I lacked nutrients, which made my body weaker. The pain grew worse with time until…
“Lady Miena probably won’t survive this winter.”
A death sentence.
But thanks to my parents spending the family fortune on me, I survived not just that winter, but seven more.
“Still… I think this is the real limit.”
They had brought in the empire’s best doctors, rare medicinal ingredients, precious artifacts, and even scarce healing mages.
But money doesn’t grow on trees; our family’s wealth was nearly gone.
Even our mines were running dry.
It was a total crisis.
“If they just gave up, it’d be easier.”
They could adopt an heir and stop worrying. It would be cheaper, too.
I was still thinking about that when I heard someone gasp behind me.
I realized too late that I had said it out loud… and Tina, holding a bowl of wash water, had heard.
“Back already?”
“Please don’t say things like that, Young Lady.”
“Sorry, Tina.”
It was my fault. Anyone would feel discouraged hearing such words.
“No one in this house has given up on you. And we never will.”
Her tear-filled eyes reflected my frail appearance: pale gray hair, dull blue eyes, sunken cheeks, bloodless lips.
Anyone could tell I was someone who could die any day.
“So please, don’t give up either.”
Still… My parents, Tina, and everyone who stayed in this mansion told me to hold on.
Honestly, I thought their hope was a losing investment…
“Alright, thank you.”
I smiled faintly.
“I’ll get up for lunch. Until then, don’t wake me.”
“Young Lady…”
She probably thought I was feeling worse again.
I wasn’t. I was still much stronger than I looked.
And some peace was exactly what I wanted.
“Perfect.”
Tina closed the curtains, blocking out the sunlight. The room was dim, just right for sleeping.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The pain dulled and my consciousness drifted away.
It would look to anyone like I was simply falling asleep — and they’d be right.
But unlike most people…
[Good. Perfect.]
When the scenery suddenly changed, I stretched my perfectly healthy body.
Around me was a dark void, lined with glowing doors of different colors.
My dream world.
[Let’s begin.]
I stepped through the nearest familiar door, and endless towering bookshelves appeared, topped by a planetarium of stars.
This was my dream library filled with books I had read, books I had found in other people’s dreams, and records of what I had seen and heard.
[Let’s check the news first.]
Snap!
With a flick of my fingers, a newspaper slid out from one corner. It was last week’s monthly edition.
When I was little and wanted to know about the outside world, my father had subscribed for me.
“Miena, don’t worry about the family business. Tell me anything you want to do or read.”
Even when money became tight, he refused to cancel it.
Here in my dreams, my memory worked perfectly — I could recall every detail of anything I had skimmed in real life.
[I wish it worked like this in reality.]
I pushed away stray thoughts and read under the starry sky.
<“Queen of the Night” Selene found unconscious at home.>
Selene — the famous soprano. Judging from her chaotic dreams, she was probably addicted to drugs. Not my business. Pass.
<Man in his 30s obsessed with magic dies after grinding and eating mana stones.>
His body couldn’t handle that. Why would anyone eat something so valuable? Pass.
<“Dragons exist” — Mage returns after 50 years missing. Truth or hoax?>
Forget the dragon — the real shock is that a rare mage came back alive after 50 years. Still… pass.
[Ah, here we go.]
Finally, something useful to me:
<Somnium to ally with Linex? Trade agreement negotiations are underway.>
Somnium was my empire. Linex was a theocracy across the sea.
If it’s in the news, it means the deal is already almost decided.
[Good.]
I folded the paper. Newspapers only tell you what has already happened. They’re good for knowing the big picture — not for digging into secrets or predicting the future.
Now it was time to get information another way.
[Time to go dream-hunting.]
