"Miss… please, just hold on a little longer."
A trembling voice echoed somewhere close.
"Oh dear God," another voice pleaded, breaking apart. "Please… show us your grace."
Who…?
My thoughts surfaced slowly, like something drowning and being dragged back to air.
Am I alive?
I couldn't see anything. I couldn't move. My body felt wrong—small, heavy, unresponsive.
Where am I? What is happening to me…?
Light burst into existence.
Pain followed.
It wasn't the pain I remembered. Not sharp, not tearing—but overwhelming, flooding through a body that didn't feel like mine.
Why… does everything hurt…?
A sound escaped my mouth.
"Wahh… wahh…"
The moment the cry echoed, the world froze.
"Oh my god…" someone gasped.
"Lady—! We have a baby boy!"
A man's voice followed immediately, sharp and urgent.
"Quickly. Cast a purification spell on the child."
His tone hardened. "It seems the mother has been diverting the poison into her own body—using mana to protect the baby. But at this rate…"
He hesitated.
"The patient may not survive."
Poison?
Mother…?
Another voice—panicked, disbelieving.
"How could there be poison in the lady's body? This is the gods' grace… the child is safe."
Footsteps moved away.
Someone lifted me.
Warmth left me.
As I was carried from the room, my consciousness faded again—along with the last presence I would never get to see.
Three years passed.
It took me all that time to accept a single truth.
I had been reborn.
The idea sounded absurd, even to myself. Yet no matter how many times I denied it, reality remained unchanged.
I was no longer Kim Isakawa.
I had been born into the House of Luminon.
I had never seen my father.
I had never seen my siblings.
The only people I knew were the maids, and the woman who cared for me—my nanny.
Whenever I asked about my mother, she would smile gently and change the subject.
Later, I learned the truth.
She had died due to poisoning.
This world was called Athelgard.
When I heard the name, my heart nearly stopped.
It was the same world from the light novel Nori had given me.
That realization shook me more than the rebirth itself.
Stranger still—I could understand and speak this world's language naturally.
As if I had always known it.
Is it because of that voice… before my rebirth?
For my "safety," I was not allowed to leave the room.
I could only see the outside world through a large window.
From what I could tell, the place I lived in was vast—too vast.
A mansion befitting wealth and status.
A noble house.
I was told that when I turned five, I would be allowed to leave this room.
To meet my siblings.
To learn about the world.
Until then, I waited.
And sometimes—late at night—I whispered words I wasn't sure anyone could hear.
Noona… are you alright?
Were you also brought here?
Don't worry.
Just wait a little longer.
I will save you soon.