"LADY LEONARDO! YOU-YOU'RE AWAKE!" shouted the maid.
The name caught the Princess's attention.
"(Leonardo? Is that the name of this household? Can't say I've heard of them before.)"
The maid hurried to her master's side.
"How are you feeling, my lady? Are you better now?"
The maid patted her master all over to make sure everything was well. She put on a frown as she inspected the Princess.
"What's with this weird energy on you I'm feeling, my lady? Did you or someone cast a healing spell on your body?"
The Princess raised her eyebrows upon the maid's observation.
"(Impressive! The fact that she could notice my Angel's Touch casting proves that she has a knack for magic.)"
Once the maid was right in front of her, the Princess could get a good look of the attendant: A young crimson-haired girl about the same age as her with a pure and fair face but firm limbs and calloused hands as the result of her labor.
"I'm sorry, but what's your name again?" asked the Princess.
"Ah! Forgive me! This is the first time we talked but I was just so excited to see you've recovered, so I was just--"
The maid stopped midway, suddenly realized she was not answering the question given to her. The servant girl quickly recomposed herself.
"It's Giselle, my lady. Giselle Rayne."
The Princess nodded to the maid, "Nice to meet you, Giselle. Then may I ask you what's my name?"
Giselle was surprised when the Princess asked her that, "Pardon, my lady?"
"Don't worry, I'm not being sarcastic. My sudden recovery from my illness has made me lose my memory. Everything that happened prior to this moment has disappeared from my mind, unfortunately."
"...I see. You've lost your memory..."
Giselle then grabbed the Princess's hand.
"Well, why don't I escort you back to the bed and I'll tell you everything over a cup of tea, my lady?"
"Very well."
Giselle brought the Princess back to the bed and served her tea just like she proposed. The maid proceeded to tell the Princess the basic information about her new identity.
"So my name is Evelyn Leonardo." said the Princess. "I'm the only child of Baroness Hannah Leonardo and Baron Bryce Leonardo. A noble family situated in the town of Guardia in the Euphrates Province, the southeastern region of Mortalia Empire, a country located in the western region of the Bara Continent."
"That is correct, my lady." replied Giselle.
"(Mortalia. That means I'm back to my homeland.)" thought the Princess. "(And my new name, 'Evelyn Leonardo.' God said that I have to live as her from now on. Then so be it. From this moment forward, my name is Evelyn Leonardo!)"
Evelyn looked to the maid with a curious face.
"Earlier you said this is the first time we talked. But it's clear that you've been attending me for a while. So how come we never conversed before?"
"My lady, the Lich's Curse on your body is so severe that you could barely gain consciousness. Let alone speak and hold a conversation." explained Giselle. "You were always asleep on your bed while suffering from pain."
"(That is indeed the typical symptoms for the Lich's Curse. So I was right that it was a lich that gave this curse.)" thought Evelyn.
She looked to Giselle again, "You said 'curse.' So you were aware that there was a curse in me?"
"Yes, my lady. Everyone in the household knew."
Evelyn nodded, "And how long have I been under the curse?"
"I was told that you were cursed when you were 8. And now that you've turned 16 this year, then it's been 8 years."
"8 YEARS? I've been in that state for 8 years and nobody was able to lift this curse?!" said Evelyn in shock.
Giselle became afraid after seeing Evelyn's reaction that she instinctively kneeled in front of the noble.
"Forgive me, my lady! But your parents, the honorable Mistress and Sire Leonardo, have been trying to find a healer. But nobody that they found was able to completely lift the curse. Anybody that could were outside the Empire or weren't willing to travel here, sometimes both!"
Evelyn frowned at Giselle's explanation.
"(That's odd. Back in my previous life, lifting a lich's curse was a basic knowledge for a healer because of how rampant the curse was. Why is it so hard to find one capable healer in the Empire?)"
Evelyn gasped and quickly grabbed Giselle's hand. Her gaze on the maid suddenly turned serious.
"Giselle... What year is this? Who is currently reigning the Mortalia Empire?"
The maid was confused with why would Evelyn suddenly asked her that when they were talking about Evelyn's curse.
"My lady, this is the seventh day of the seventh month of the year 970 of the Great Bara Calendar. It is the third year of Emperor David IV's reign."
Evelyn's eyes widened at Giselle's answer, for a very good reason.
"(7th day of the 7th month of the year 970? That's the date I was born as Princess Mariana!)" thought Evelyn. "(God brought me back to the day my previous self was born!)"
After grasping her situation, Evelyn then understood the predicament of her 'new' parents in terms of finding a capable healer.
"(If this is year 970, then it's understandable it's hard for the Leonardo family to find a healer that could lift my curse in Mortalia Empire.)"
She looked outside the window, toward the great expanse of Mortalia.
"(The numbers of lichs roaming in the Empire at this point in time isn't as many as when they would be 10 years from now. So there hasn't been any need yet for all healers to know how to lift this type of curse.)"
Evelyn reexamined the Angel's Touch spell she casted on herself.
"(And the people in the Empire who could heal me right now are too important of a figure to visit a mere baron household and heal a small girl.)"
Evelyn looked to the maid once again.
"Giselle, thank you for answering my questions. Now I would like to speak to my parents. Are they present? Could you summon them here?"
The maid nodded excitingly.
"OH, OF COURSE, MY LADY! THEY'RE PRESENT! MY APOLOGIES! I SHOULD'VE BROUGHT THEM TO YOU THE MOMENT I SAW YOU RECOVERED. I'LL BRING THEM OVER RIGHT AWAY!"
Giselle ran out the bedroom, leaving Evelyn alone.
The information she got from conversing with the maid had got Evelyn thinking.
"(God said this second opportunity would give me an equal ground against Satan.)"
Evelyn stared at her frail and weakening body.
"(But then He decided to return my soul inside the body of a dying cursed noble girl on the day of my previous self's birth.)"
Evelyn looked toward the window and witnessed the sun rising on the horizon.
"(I wonder His reasons behind this design.)"