Chapter 1
It was the number of times I've lived in the last thousand years.
There was nothing I haven't done before in my life.
I've been a wizard, I've been a swordmaster.
I have experienced life as musicians, artists, blacksmiths, and doctors.
I've lived as a millionaire with mountains of money. I've been hungry because I didn't have enough food to eat.
I was once a king who ruled over the life or death of others with just one finger, and lived a humble life of old manners.
There were times when I was revered as a saint who saved countless lives, and a time when I was accused of being a witch and burned at the stake.
"I'm tired of it all."
That was the first thing I said when I started my 54th life. My last 53 lives have all been unusual.
Was this life going to be the same?
Everything about this was really bothering me.
'I'm going to live this life as a sloth- I'm going to rest comfortably.'
I set my goal for my 54th life: to live like a sloth! It's time to rest, I didn't even want to lift a finger.
But as I decided my life goal, the door of my room burst open and a lady with a n.o.ble impression came in.
"Are you awake now? You're the same as your mother, so weak and useless."
As soon as I've awakened in my new life, what kind of situation is this?
It was a shrill voice full of hostility.
I blinked for a moment.
Now that I've just come to my senses, I have no memory of the original owner. I quickly skimmed through the memory of my body, just as I did in my past lives.
"Oh my G.o.d. Princess Rubia of Luxen?"
This body is more important than I thought.
I sighed. A princess from the beginning. It was not a good idea for me to dream of being a sloth. 'It's a family at each other's throats.[1] Not a real family; everyone is an enemy.'
I actually feel pretty sorry for the body's original owner, Princess Rubia.
She died after suffering from a fever. Afterwards, my soul came into the empty void of that body.
From the family's point of view, your daughter just barely woke up after suffering from a high fever, but that's the kind of s.h.i.+t you're saying. My face creased into a frown.
It seems she saw the unpleasant expression on my face. Huh, Rubia's stepmother looks furious.
"Now what's with that look on your face? Frankly, this happened because of your low bloodline. Such vulgarity."
I sighed loudly with fatigue.
Of course, it was a natural reaction for my stepmother to echo back my sighs.
"A sigh? Are you about to compare me to my mother again? It's not that big of a deal, I know I'm in the wrong. Just relax, okay?" [2]
After that, she nagged me for a long time. G.o.d, it's a joke. It's just a joke.
What a temper.
I listened quietly and then opened my mouth when she finally finished speaking.
"Are you finally done with what you want to say? Then be quiet."
Oh my G.o.d. I forgot I didn't know the way the original Rubia spoke.
"...What?"
My stepmother looked as if she had just been bashed in the head with a hammer due to my unconventional way of speaking.
"You, you... what kind of way are you speaking to me!"
"I'm sorry."
I apologized gently. She's an evil stepmother, but it's wrong of me to say so without reserve.
"I've just awoken and come to my senses, I think I'm still delirious. So, if you're done with what you're saying, I hope you'll leave. If there's still more to say, then... Um... Actually, please just leave anyway. I'm tired."
My stepmother's mouth burst open when she heard what I said. Surprise and embarra.s.sment filled her face. Yeah, you never thought you'd hear this from Rubia.
She would be shocked too. That is, the original Rubia.
This girl was not always able to talk back to others properly, let alone answer at all.
‘It's a ha.s.sle to keep up with the rhythm.'
In my usual proceedings, I would have mimicked my original body's personality in a proper way. That's how you get used to things and settle in.
But life after doing that is so turbulent, was it even worth it? I was very tired.
"You, you! Don't you dare talk to me in that manner!"
My stepmother was quivering with rage. I lift my
And the second my eyes and hers meet, my stepmother snapped her mouth shut.
"....."
I could feel her bewilderment at my eyes, which were completely different from before. No, to be exact, what she would have felt would not be embarra.s.sment.
It would be a sense of pressure.
I felt my stepmother staring into my eyes. Less than a day has pa.s.sed since the beginning of my new life. The effects of my past life were still influencing me beyond my control.
And my eyes, which have been left with no trace of the original Rubia, were not something that my stepmother, who grew up so sheltered, could handle.
'If you'd met me in person in my previous life, I wouldn't have raised my head to look at you at all.'
I'd actually been born on the same continent, the body of another man whose soul had just left.
The setting of my last life was in the middle of the continent, which was chaotic and turbulent.
I'm sure my stepmother has heard of the name of my previous life, although I lived a long way away from the Western Grand Duke of Luxen. My name was very famous because I lived a life full of terrible ups and downs.
Perhaps there are few people who have not heard of my previous name at all.
"You've been in here for too long. You're bothering me now."
My stepmother was shaking as she turned and left.
"You, you! I will punish you for what happened today, so be prepared!"
Finally left alone, I leaned against the bed.
'Did I rile you up too much? Do I bother you?'
I thought about it for a moment, but I shook my head. Well, it'll all work out somehow. Rubia, I'm apparently called.
I looked in the mirror.
Is she about eighteen? A beautiful girl sat in the mirror with a sullen look.
‘She's really pretty,' I uttered in admiration, despite the fact that everything was bothering me.
Brilliant silver hair, gem-like red eyes, smooth skin like white jade. The overall impression was clear and good. The feeling emitting from the body was gentle and graceful; it was a princess-like appearance from a fairy-tale.
However, an incongruous, pessimistic expression was visible on the graceful face.
'The kind of face that is enjoyable to look at in the mirror.'
Although the word "exquisite" came to mind, my impression of my appearance stopped at that. Now that I've decided to live a sloth's life, it doesn't really matter if I look pretty or ugly. Rather, it was negative to be so beautiful because there were many problems that could arise from beauty.
But anyways, how can I live the life of a sloth? Being born as a princess of the Great Luxen Empire, you would usually be able to spend the rest of your life in luxury, but that wasn't the case for me.
Not only her stepmother, but also her biological father, Gong w.a.n.g, hated Princess Rubia. Why would you hate your daughter? I really don't know. I hated them all anyway. Anyway, it was to be expected in this cut-throat family.
'What should I do? Well, money could help me live lazily.'
There were many ways to make money.
If I really wanted to, I could achieve great wealth even when starting from nothing.
But it all takes a lot of effort. Unless I knew the winning lottery numbers, there was no way I could achieve wealth without effort.
The rent income to afford my own housing would be the most convenient, but I don't have any money right now. Should I get married at least by catching a rich man?
I laughed half-heartedly.
Twenty-seven or twenty-eighth? I lived such a life.
The wife of a rich woman. However, it was not very happy and had a bad ending. I had a lot of things to worry about because of the wealth.
‘Or maybe, a concubine who gets picked up by an ambitious man? Is that alright?'
I flopped down on the bed and rubbed at my eyes.
‘Ugh, I don't know. I'll think about it later. For now, just a little sleep would be good.'
Sleep came upon me.
I rarely slept more than four hours a day in my last life. He couldn't sleep well, due to the anxiety of potential a.s.sa.s.sinations. Therefore, this time I set three principles: sleep early, wake up late, and take regular naps. Of course, if I feel sleepy in between those times, I'll definitely sleep then too.
‘Isn't this what life is all about? It's a good thing, so let's be happy in this life and just sleep first.'
But my first nap attempt for a happy life failed from the very beginning.
It's because my door opened with a bang.
"Rubia!"
A sharp voice, my stepmother.
This time she came with a handsome young man. He had brilliant silver hair and blue eyes.
He opened his mouth with a stern voice.
"Rubia, is your mother's statement true?"
I wake up properly then. Sven. That handsome young man was Sven Jazak, the heir to the Great Luxen Empire. It was also Rubia's older half-brother.
As you can see from the fact that his stepmother brought him as back-up, it showed he didn't like Rubia either.
'No, to be exact, he was indifferent to me. So even though she'd put all the blame on Rubia, he didn't even think to dispute it or check the facts.'
In a sense, he's worse.
The timid Rubia was falsely accused and she could not even argue back properly.
If Sven had just looked into it more, Rubia would have obviously been the innocent party.
My good feelings towards him have been reduced by more than half.
"Reply. Is it correct that you did something rude to your mother?"
A frosty, heavy voice. Of course, this level of intimidation only felt cute to me.
"That's right."
Sven had an eye on me because my tone of voice was quite different from normal.
Either way, I was sick of this.
"Well, how would you react if the first thing said to your daughter, who has just barely pa.s.sed the threshold of death, is that she truly is as useless as her mother, as well as sarcasm."
My stepmother's face turned white at the unexpected blow. My stepmother had always pretended to be a good person to everyone except for Rubia.
Then Sven frowned.
"You're talking too much. Even if your mother said something like that, she wouldn't have done it with bad intentions."
"Oh, that's right. I'm just worried about you!"
Worry? If that's her version of worrying, I'd rather not experience it a second time. [3]
---
[2] No idea who said this sentence or what it meant, so I just changed it completely.
[3] Original: 'If you worry twice, I can't put you in a rag doll to kill you.' My brain hurt interpreting that so I just changed it.
*This is machine translated so it's not entirely accurate.*