I opened my eyes again in this world, lying on this giant, comfortable bed in this luxurious room. Another day in this strange world; I still couldn't get used to this large room or this new life filled with luxury.
I slowly got out of bed, holding my head due to the headache of memories that haunts me every time I wake up. I went to the bathroom to wash up in this large bathroom, which feels bigger than the room I used to live in during my previous life. As I lay in this wide tub, I looked at the large mirror that reflected my entire image: long, silky black hair and shiny red eyes like red agate.
Yes, this is me now, Louisa, the good, foolish, introverted girl with a weak personality. It's been a week since I was reincarnated in this world in the body of the kind character and protagonist of this story, Louisa Cardinal.
In my previous life, I was called Elena. I worked in a dangerous and exhausting field, yet it was enjoyable for me. I was part of a dangerous organization for killing and theft, doing all the things that one would never think of, but considering my personality, I think that job suited me very well.
But something unexpected happened while I was on a mission. The mission was to kill the daughter of a significant official and wealthy person. I had gotten close to this girl for a long time, almost two and a half years, until we became close friends.
That day, I had the perfect opportunity. I had already decided to finish the job and kill her. She had been chattering about a novel she had read, and I asked her to invite me to her house so we could read it together. She was excited about that and didn't hesitate to invite me. When I arrived at her house, the guards were indeed tight, as expected for the daughter of an official.
Still, killing her and escaping wasn't hard for me. In the end, I managed to complete the mission easily. I killed her in cold blood, without feeling anything. After all, she wasn't that nice of a girl; she was arrogant and made her relationships based on personal interests, plus she was naive and foolish.
As I prepared to escape, my eyes fell on a book. I approached and picked it up; it was the novel that girl had talked to me about. I didn't know the title, as I had either forgotten it or never paid attention to it in the first place. I sat on the bed to examine it a little, but things got out of hand. I realized I had finished the entire novel. It wasn't an enjoyable read, but something had drawn me to continue reading until the end. I had delayed reading something so silly. In the end, I made a successful escape without anyone noticing.
As I walked back home, it was already too late. There was someone tracking me from afar with a sniper rifle; it was hard to notice until I received a bullet in the middle of my forehead. After that, of course, I died, and now I'm in this damned novel.
I got out of the bathtub and returned to my room. At that moment, I encountered my maid, Dorothy. She was an eighteen-year-old girl with brown hair and black eyes. Her facial expressions were usually cheerful and happy. For Louisa, she was like an older sister. Louisa was sixteen, and she spoke to Louisa informally, often lacking respect.
But now that was no longer the case; I was no longer the shy, kind Louisa. I had punished her multiple times for her lack of respect, to the point where she became afraid to talk to me for a long time. She started to become more respectful and spoke formally without any mistakes.
Dorothy helped me get dressed and comb my hair, and she prepared breakfast for me. Thinking about this, my previous life was chaotic and disorganized. The missions I undertook were random, without specific timing. I didn't sleep and wake up like normal people.
But now, I live a normal life and have a personal maid. With all this luxury of money, fancy furniture, jewel-studded clothes, and dishes prepared by the kingdom's top chefs, I discovered something important: that the life of the rich is truly boring. I walk in a closed loop, a daily routine that is very dull, with no enjoyment in it. But yesterday, I finally found something interesting, perhaps it would slightly change this boring routine.
As I put the last bite of food in my mouth and placed my fork on the table, I instructed Dorothy to bring me a book from the bookshelf on my left. I had found an amazing book yesterday; it contained all kinds of information about this world, in addition to strange magical spells. This world is entirely different from mine. Humans in this world rely on magic for combat, even though the number of magic users is very few.
Returning to the story of the novel, it sometimes focuses on matters related to magic, combat, and strange, mysterious things I couldn't comprehend while reading the novel. There are many other things I need to avoid in the future.
"Dorothy, I also want you to fulfill an important request for me. Take this letter and deliver it to Mr. Percy."
She bowed her head as she took the letter and said, "Yes, Miss, I will deliver it quickly."
Dorothy left the room and walked slowly down the hallway, stopping at a door at the end of the corridor leading to the servant's wing. She opened the door; inside the room was a desk made of brown wood, with luxurious-looking chairs in front of it. At the desk sat an old man with completely white hair, showing signs of hair loss on either side of his forehead, and a thick white beard covering his chin. Dorothy stood in front of the desk, bowed her head, and said: "Excuse me, Mr. Percy, may I tell you something important? There is something concerning about Miss Louisa."
"You are the maid of Miss Louisa?" he said in a rough, tired voice.
"Please, go ahead and speak. What is so concerning that brought you to my office?"
"Sir, Miss Louisa's behavior in the past week has been strange, and her treatment of me has completely changed as if she were another person. Everyone knows how kind and gentle she is and how well she treats us, but recently she has been acting cold towards everyone and punishing me for every mistake I make. She punished me for speaking to her informally, even though I used to talk to her normally. I have even started to fear making mistakes in front of her. She seems frightening when she gets angry."
"Well, I understand everything. I will try to look into this matter. Perhaps there is something bothering her that is putting her under great pressure, causing her to act very cautiously."
Dorothy took out a white card and said: "Sir, there is another thing that made me come to your office. It is a letter from Miss Louisa; she told me to deliver it to you." Dorothy passed the letter to Mr. Percy. He opened the letter and began to read it. Afterward, his expression changed to a slight shock, and then he folded the letter and placed it on the desk.
"Sir, is there something wrong with what was written in the letter?" she asked gently.
"It states that she wants a gun."
"But sir, what is a gun?" she asked with a curious face.
"A gun is a metallic weapon that has been made recently; I don't know much about it, but it's a bit expensive."
"But sir, why does Miss Louisa want you to buy a weapon for her?"
"I really don't know. Perhaps this is related to what you said about her changing behavior. Is there really something bothering her? I don't know right now; I will deliver this letter to Count Cardinal to speak to her directly, and then we'll see her response later."
There are many things related to magic in this book. It is truly useful for me and helps me greatly in remembering some events from the novel. It seems the events of the novel have not started yet, according to what I remember. Perhaps they will begin when Louisa reaches maturity. In any case, I haven't relied on the novel very much because I will change all the events completely, since I am the protagonist of this novel. Also, it is impossible for me to behave like Louisa until the end, and I still haven't thought about what my goal in this life is.
Knock, knock, knock...
It seems that Dorothy has returned. Did she deliver the letter as I told her? Will things go smoothly? "Please come in, Dorothy."
She opened the door quietly and entered the room. "Miss, I delivered the letter to Mr. Percy, and he said he would talk to my father about this matter."
After hearing what Dorothy said, I felt a bit annoyed. What is so important that it requires bothering my father about? It's just a gun. I don't think it's worth that. "Dorothy, I don't think it's necessary to bother my father about it. It's just a gun, and I believe Mr. Percy can easily buy it himself."
"Miss, it is not like you to request anything from the Count. This was strange for Mr. Percy, and it is the first request you are making for a weapon. This has increased the oddity, and it is not appropriate for a young lady of your status to carry a weapon we know nothing about. Perhaps you could have requested another weapon like a sword or a bow; that would have been better."
I closed the book forcefully. Her words irritated me a little. "Dorothy, you are very talkative. Can't you shorten your speech to one or two words? Prepare tea and some sweets for me; I will go out to the garden to get some fresh air. This place feels suffocating."
I arranged my dress, which was a black gown with some red stripes in the form of ribbons, and I put on my black hat as I prepared to go out.
I left my room carrying the magic book with me. I walked down the hallway heading toward the palace garden. When I reached the garden, I stood to admire the gentle breeze filled with the fragrance of fragrant roses and the cool, soft wind that gently moved my hair. Our garden is vast, and looking at the flowers in it makes me feel relaxed. So I come to this place often since I was reincarnated. It's strange for a girl like me, who was used to killing and being stained with blood, to feel such a beautiful feeling just from looking at flowers.
I walked until I reached the place where I usually sit, which consists of a white wooden table and some beautiful white wooden chairs. I sat down and waited for Dorothy to arrive. I opened my book. Where did I last stop? I don't remember. Well, I will read from the part that talks about magic and spells. Magic in this world is very complex and difficult for humans to use, which makes only a few humans capable of using it. The mechanism of magic is based on the law: "Magic represents the entire body."
This means that human bodies were created from magic. The magical energy in our bodies is dormant, and for someone who wants to use magic, they must fulfill several important conditions.
There are also many other details on this matter, but I never felt that I had read anything like this in the original story of the novel.
As I flipped through the pages, suddenly I found one of the pages in the middle of the book. It was blank, white, with not a single letter on it.
I flipped to another page and found something stranger. There was a ring with a strange red gemstone on it. I held the ring and looked at it closely. There was strange writing on it.
Then I caught a glimpse of my father and Mr. Percy coming towards me. I put the ring inside the book and closed it forcefully, placing it on the table in front of me. "Why did my father come himself to talk to me? Is this about that silly gun? Is it really worth it?"
"It seems that this meeting is not ordinary and is also annoying. I guess I have to start acting again."
My father in this world is Count Arsen Cardinal. He was previously the commander of the kingdom's army and one of the most important magic users in this entire world. As I mentioned before, magic users are very few, and my father is one of the best. He also has a very large influence and many followers. He is considered the most important figure in the kingdom, even more so than the king himself, so many people are lurking around trying to bring him down in any way, including the king of this kingdom and other noble figures.
This is the present time. But in the past, when he was young, no one dared to stand up to him or do anything wrong against him, because he could simply wipe the kingdom and everyone in it off the face of the earth with his power. But now he has grown older and it's become difficult for him to stand on the battlefield.
Speaking of more details about his life, when he was in his twenties, he married a noblewoman, but he didn't stay with her for long and didn't have any children with her. Later, he divorced her when he was thirty, and after several years, he married a common woman who gave birth to Louisa and my mother in this life, but she died when Louisa was four years old.
My mother's death greatly affected his health and psychological state. Now, at the age of fifty, he appears outwardly strong and free of flaws, but if you look deeper into him, he is a completely broken and shattered person. The only thing left for him in this life is me, his only daughter, Louisa. He works day and night to provide for all her needs, and his only wish is to see his daughter happy in her life.
This wish was fulfilled according to the novel, since Louisa is indeed the heroine of this silly story. But many things will change because I am Louisa now.
My father and Mr. Percy approached me closely, and I stood up to greet them. My father is tall, with black hair that has a lot of gray. His face has some wrinkles, and he has a light beard and sharp red eyes, wearing a white shirt, black pants, and a black coat on his back. Standing next to him is Mr. Percy, who is dressed in a black suit with a small tie.
He greeted me with a friendly smile and said in a gentle, caring voice: "There's no need for all this formality, my daughter; I think I've told you that more than once."
I sat on my chair while he sat on a chair opposite me at the white table. He looked at me with a smile and said: "It seems you are full of energy and vitality since morning. It's not like you to go out to the garden at this time before. I had gone to your room, and then your maid told me that you went to the garden."
I replied with surprise, "Daddy, but why did you come to visit me at such an early hour?"
His expression suddenly changed and became more serious, and he said in a tone of firmness: "You know that very well."
He reached out his hand and grabbed my wrist, saying: "Louisa, I will ask you some questions, and I want you to answer honestly. Don't even think about lying to me."
I answered him by nodding my head in agreement.
"Louisa, is there someone bothering you? Is there something you are hiding from me? Please answer convincingly; I have a feeling that you are lying to me."
"Really, I am not lying at all. I requested this gun because I heard it's easy to use, and it's small enough for me to carry anywhere, and it will be a good means of defense in case of any danger to me."
"What do you mean by any danger?"
'This man is taking this matter too seriously.'
"I meant that this world is not a safe place, and it would be good for me to have a means of defense to carry with me at all times, and the gun is the perfect weapon for that."
He released my wrist and sighed, saying: "Louisa, I trust that you are not lying at all, but as your father and someone concerned about your safety, I should have questioned you in this way."
"I know that; there's no need for all this worry. I will be fine with you around me always."
His expression changed again, but this time to a deep sadness, and he said: "I really doubt that. I was already at the height of my power when your mother passed away."
"Anyway, Mr. Percy will handle the purchase of the gun, and he will also provide you with a trainer to teach you how to use it."
"I will leave now; I have many things to do. Enjoy your time, my little girl."
My father stood up from the chair and turned to head back to the palace with Mr. Percy. I sighed lightly and rested my head on the table. 'I didn't really expect this reaction; is this man really that concerned about his daughter?'
I was filled with happiness and a strange feeling that cannot be described.
"Having someone who cares for you this much is truly a wonderful feeling."