Chapter 1: I Woke Up!

...Ungh!

The first thing jumping into my eyes when I woke up was a dark, deserted room. While vacantly looking around me, I realized that I've been sleeping and dreaming for a long time.

Was it one of those dreams you have when still half-asleep? ...Wait, a dream? Was it actually one? A dream of dreaming how I woke up here and now.

My memories from having lived as a different person in another world don't cover everything from my birth to my death, but it's got to be a dream, right?

I feel like something happened right before I woke up, but...hmm, I can't remember. Instead I'm remembering a reality I don't really want to remember.

――I'm being hated by the people living here, in this world.

The me of this world is called [Indra Springcoat]. I was born into a fairly rich family, but at the same time it's an environment not allowing me to capitalize on that affluence whatsoever.

The fact of a five-years-old girl (me) waking up in her bed all by herself in a dark room speaks a tale for itself, I'd say.

Of my parents...I don't really want to call them parents...of the man and woman, who seem to be my biological creators, the woman has already died. She hated me to such an extent that it made me wonder why she gave birth to me in the first place. While alive she kept showering me with insults, and died always waiting for the man who seems to be my biological father.

In other words, the man didn't give a damn about the woman. But why did he have a child with her if he didn't care about her anyway? I mean I wouldn't have been born if they didn't have sex with each other, would I? Maybe he lost out to his sexual desires?

The man had another lover, and for most of the time he stayed at her place, but when my biological mother died, so did his lover, or so I heard. Thus he came back to this mansion. With the child he made with his lover in tow.

His lover's daughter is roughly my age. But, who cares. That part doesn't matter anyway.

The man loathes and abuses me while dotting on his lover's daughter. My biological mother's dislike also included hatred, but that man seems to genuinely hate me.

His lover's daughter doesn't appear to hate me, but neither does she sympathize with my situation. Accepting the love and care she's receiving as nature's law, she seeks the same from me. She's a girl who's way too thick-headed for her own good, always going at her own pace. She doesn't seem to understand the concept behind thoughtfulness either.

The man is a noble, and of course the same applied to the woman who gave birth to me. The lover and her daughter seem to be commoners, and so they've never learned manners. That's why the man's lover could never enter the mansion up until her death, but her daughter is a noble's child, allowing her to come here.

And yet she keeps getting embarrassed because she doesn't know proper etiquette. And because I'm the one getting blamed for her lack of manners, I don't want to have anything to do with her.

Wouldn't it just be fine for her to learn manners if she doesn't want to lose face? In my case, the woman who seems to be my biological mother drove manners into me (physically), obviously to vent her resentment, so I've mastered it!

Although the problem would resolve itself if she learned it in a similar way, that man doesn't even try to teach her manners, though I don't know whether it's because he finds it too troublesome or some kind of abuse play by pretending to dote on her.

No, maybe it's an abuse of sorts against me? Is he not teaching her manners so that he can blame me for her lacking manners?

...Probably the me, who lived here until seeing that dream of another world, has been relentlessly cornered until she fell ill. And then she saw that dream, and I woke up.

She gave up.

My dream self didn't experience that much love from her parents either, but despite that, her situation was much better than mine. Yep, it was not as bad, but my dream self still thought, "I'm going to become independent and live by myself as quickly as possible!"

The current me has decided the same. I'm going to quickly leave those annoying people around me in the lurch, become independent, and live by myself!

Going by the fact that I've been born into nobility, I've got barely any choice in selecting a marriage partner. Thus, if I stay here, I'll most likely get married off to some guy as a convenient pawn for that man.

But!

Go to hell!

I'm going to cast away my noble self. I mean it's not like I'm living the life of a rich girl right now anyway.

...But in this world it looks like my life as a plain child and woman is going to take place at the bottom of society. Thus I'll train myself to become strong and sturdy. I'll earn my money by turning my body into my capital. After all, I do possess the knowledge of another world.

I don't know how much use that knowledge is going to be in this world, but the otherworld me had studied swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat. She seems to have been quite the hotblooded person.

Also, magic arts exist in this world!

So it seems!

Uwweeeehh!

Fantasy!

Even if I ask that man, he'll probably not allow me to study anything. I'll have to obtain everything through self-study, but whatever. I'll study, build up my stamina, and freely use my otherworld knowledge to improve my body and mind.

It's not like I'm planning to take the world or anything. For the otherworld me it'll be all fine as long as she can live normally. Moreover, I don't want to be anywhere near sources of stress. If I remember correctly, work-related stress was the main cause for my otherworld self to damage her health and fall ill...

I get up from my bed.

...It's quite a hard bed, isn't it?

A mattress has been placed on a wooden stand, and a sheet has been spanned on top of it.

...At least a futon would be really nice... Well, if you can get a cheat for something like that, I'd love to have it.

But, I'm still only five years old. Right now I must strengthen my foundation!

I stand up and look around me.

Yep, no one's here.

Originally I had a personal maid, but after that man came back, he took everything from me. And after giving all of it to his lover's daughter, he attached a single, newcomer maid to me.

Given that she's a new maid, she would originally receive training by starting from miscellaneous chores, and after assessing her aptitude when she had accumulated a certain level of experience, she'd have been assigned to the mistress of the house or her children for the rest of her time here, but all of these steps were skipped and she was chosen to stay at my side.

Of course, it's way beyond her ability. Not to even mention aptitude, she hasn't even gone through proper training.

But, her being unable to perform her duties isn't seen as that man's responsibility, who assigned the new maid, but as mine. It's being turned into wonderful material for abuse by claiming that it's my instructions and teachings that are at fault here.

No longer! I won't have that!

The me from that time has already died. The current me is a combination of a five-years-old body and an adult mind who possesses knowledge from another world!

...Though, to be honest, I don't remember my age in the other world. I really wonder, how long have I been alive over there?