Chapter 2

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The title of the novel I had been reincarnated into was The Baby Saintess Who Came from the Future. It was usually shortened to The Future Saintess.

It was my favorite work, one that I had read more than five times in my previous life.

But just because I loved it didn’t mean I wanted to be reincarnated into it…!

Just because you like horror stories doesn’t mean you want to become a ghost, right?

Anyway.

The reason I had first started reading the novel was because its premise was quite refreshing.

The Future Saintess wasn’t a regression story, an transmigration story, or even a reincarnation story.

It was, unbelievably, a time-leap story.

The plot was a little complicated, but to summarize it:

Melody, after awakening as a saintess, is abused and exploited by the people of the temple despite her young age.

Then, after obtaining the power to leap through time, she decides to escape to a point seven years in the past—before she was even born.

And so she arrives in the year 636.

Melody is adopted by a certain woman and begins living a happy life, but…

If it ended there, it wouldn’t be a childcare novel.

Her adoptive mother suddenly dies, leaving Melody once again in danger of being taken by the temple.

Then, as if by a miracle, she is rescued by a Dragon Duke and becomes his adopted daughter.

From there onward, it becomes a typical doting-parent childcare story.

The cold Duke gradually turns into a complete daughter-obsessed fool, while his nephews become hopelessly devoted to their little sister.

For some reason, I don’t remember the ending exactly.

But as was usually the case with stories like this, it must have been a happy ending.

Haa.

I let out a sigh.

Well, sure. The fact that our Melody’s life would have a happy ending wasn’t a bad thing…

But honestly, that was completely separate from my own predicament.

Because I was the mother who died early in the story!

Please, just let Mom live, too.

I know it’s a childcare novel and all.

But I’m a person too! A person!

If I could, I wanted to grab the author by the collar and demand an explanation, but that was obviously impossible now.

“Haa… What a miserable fate.”

It was always like this.

Just when things seemed like they were finally going to get better, something like this happened.

In my previous life, I had been a kindergarten teacher.

Maybe because it was the career I had dreamed of my entire life, it had been a perfect fit for me.

It was physically exhausting at times, but whenever I saw the children smiling and calling me “Teacheeeer~”, all my fatigue would melt away.

So I had thought I wanted to spend my entire life surrounded by children…

Who would have thought I’d die less than a year after getting my job?

And even now, after finally being reincarnated, I was destined to die again in a few months.

Ugh.

I suddenly lifted my head, which had been hanging low, and spotted Melody carefully tiptoeing away.

This little rascal.

Mommy is having an existential crisis right now.

Was she seriously trying to pretend that nothing had happened?

“You there, little girl sneaking away. Freeze.”

“Yaaawn. Uu?”

Melody pretended to yawn sleepily, but it was painfully obvious that she was acting.

I called out to her in a deliberately stern voice.

“Come here, Melody. You have something to tell Mommy.”

Ugh.

Realizing that pretending otherwise was pointless, the child timidly approached me.

“Mommyyy. Heehee.”

Perhaps she planned to get out of trouble by acting cute this time. She puffed up her chubby cheeks and gave me an adorably mischievous smile.

What a cunning little child.

Did she really think I would let her off just because she did that?

Of course I would.

Ugh, she’s so cute.

Her bashful smile was so adorable that I gently pinched her doughy cheek for a moment.

“Hehe…”

Now that the tension had eased, Melody started acting cute again.

She really knows me too well.

But I couldn’t let myself get swept along like usual.

When I grabbed Melody’s hand so she couldn’t run away, her eyes darted around.

“I’m not going to scold you.”

“U.”

“I really mean it. I won’t scold you.”

Besides, I had no intention of asking for the details.

I already knew the whole story from the original novel.

More importantly, Melody is a deeply traumatized child.

I knew perfectly well that the abuse she had suffered at the temple had even caused her to develop aphasia.

I didn’t want to stir up those painful memories.

But the child still fidgeted nervously with her fingers.

“…Melody, you know that people with divine power have to go to the temple, right?”

“Uu?”

Thump.

Melody’s face crumpled as if the sky had fallen. She pointed at herself with a finger, as though asking whether I was going to send her there, too.

“No. That’s not happening. I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

“Uu?”

Really?

“Have you ever seen me lie to you?”

She shook her head.

Apparently, she had been terribly worried. She frantically shook her head and repeatedly rubbed her chest in relief.

Goodness.

How had such a timid little thing managed to keep such a huge secret hidden all this time?

Now that I knew the people at the temple were villains, there was absolutely no way I would ever send Melody there.

But that didn’t mean we could simply continue living exactly as we were.

If we stay like this, I’ll be murdered in a few months.

Just like in the original novel, Melody hides her true identity from Viola.

She believes that if she does so, the two of them can live happily together for the rest of their lives.

But that was nothing more than an innocent wish from a young child.

One day, the temple discovers the existence of the saintess and brutally murders her guardian, Viola, in order to take the child away.

If I want to survive, I have to change the original story.

But how?

Come to think of it, there was a sacred artifact that could block divine power.

A necklace-shaped sacred artifact that had disappeared twenty-three years ago.

If I could obtain that, everything would be much easier…

Hmm.

There was no way I could get it.

Even the incredible Dragon Duke had failed to obtain it in the original story.

Then there was only one path left.

Kain Ashurn.

The father figure in the original story who takes Melody in as his adopted daughter.

If it was him, he would be able to protect Melody from the temple.

And, of course, protect my life as well!

Honestly, I was a little afraid to seek out someone who had such a frightening reputation.

No.

I was very afraid.

But I had to do it.

For Melody’s sake, if nothing else!

Now that I had made up my mind, there was no time to hesitate.

“Melody, let’s get ready to go.”

“U?”

“We have a long journey ahead of us. I’ll explain everything along the way.”

Melody looked bewildered, but perhaps she had already expected something like this. She obediently followed my instructions.

“All right, first, brush-brush.”

“Uu. Bleh.”

“Now, both arms up!”

“Uu.”

Oof.

Melody’s head popped out through the top of her clothes.

I had dressed her warmly, so we were really ready to go now!

I confidently kicked open the door and declared,

“Let’s go, Melody!”

“Uu!”

Grrrrrrr.

Huh?

The rumbling of her stomach was louder than her response.

When I looked down, Melody scratched her cheek.

Hehehe…

The child looked away bashfully.

But hadn’t she said she was full earlier?

Had she already digested her food?

Her previously round little belly had already gone flat.

I closed the wide-open door again.

Let’s hurry and go meet your daddy.

But first, let’s get you something to eat!

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And that brings us to the present.

“Woooow!”

Melody excitedly bounced up and down, only to stagger when her legs apparently gave out.

“Eek.”

“I knew you were going to wear yourself out when you started fooling around. Tired?”

She nodded repeatedly.

Well, I suppose we did travel a long way.

We had spent a full three days riding in a carriage.

After arriving in a certain city, we headed toward a street lined with houses.

Fortunately, I knew someone nearby, so we had arranged to stay with them for a few days.

“Get some rest, Melody.”

“Uuung, Mommy?”

“I’m going to look around the area for a bit.”

I left Melody, who had already fallen sound asleep, and stepped outside.

The sun was beginning to set.

Once I left the residential area, I saw rows of shops stretching along the street, with pedestrians hurrying back and forth between them.

It was an unmistakably different sight from the peaceful countryside of Heyron Village.

Only now did it really sink in where I had come.

“So I really did come to Wintervald.”

The central city of the Ashurn Duchy—and one of the main settings of the original novel.

Phew.

I took a deep breath, feeling strangely nervous.

I had left the village full of determination, but going straight to meet Kain was actually impossible.

The Duke’s estate is an extremely secluded place, after all.

There was no way they would let someone like me—a woman who wasn’t even a noble—simply walk in and meet him.

I’d be lucky if they didn’t drag me away for trespassing.

So for the time being, I planned to stay here and gather information.

I did have a last resort, but I needed some time before I could actually make use of it.

As I walked, thinking about what to do, something caught my eye.

A colorful assortment of toys.

Oh. Exactly the sort of thing children like! Melody would love that.

Maybe I should come back tomorrow and look around with Melody.

I was examining the shop window more closely when—

Gasp.

The reflection in the glass showed the figure of a man drenched in a dark red liquid.

I instinctively turned around, and my mouth fell open.

No way.

Is that really blood?

I knew this was different from a rural village, but this was on a completely different level.

A man covered in blood was casually walking down the street.

What was more, the people around him merely avoided him discreetly, as though they didn’t want to get dragged into some troublesome situation.

Is this the coldness of city life?

Still, I am an apothecary, after all.

I couldn’t pretend I hadn’t seen him.

I hurried over.

“Excuse me! Are you all right?”

“……”

But the man simply ignored me and continued walking.

“Excuse me, wait a moment!”

Why is an injured person walking so fast?

“You look like you’re hurt…!”

Panting as I finally caught up with him, I asked again.

The man replied calmly, as though I were merely an inconvenience.

“It’s not my blood.”

“Oh… I see…”

Then whose blood is it?

At least I supposed I should be relieved that he wasn’t the one bleeding.

I was too flustered to say anything when the man, his robe pulled low over his head, casually looked down at me.

“……!”

The moment our eyes met, I instinctively stopped breathing.

A sharp, perfectly sculpted nose emerged from beneath the black robe.

His face was only partially visible, but even so, the man was unrealistically handsome.