“My lady, you’ve left so much food again?”

Lia looked at Ibnel after noticing the plate with more than half of the food remaining. She couldn’t help but worry since Ibnel had barely been eating since that day.

“I just don’t have much of an appetite.”

“It’s because you’ve been in your room all day.”

Although several days had passed since Ibnel awoke in this body, she hadn’t taken a single step out of this room. She felt there was no need to learn anything since her fate was already decided.

Stirring things up and revealing that she had changed would only cause more trouble.

“But the weather is so nice today. Why don’t you take a walk in the garden? Please?”

Finally giving in to Lia’s sparkling gaze, Ibnel rose from the bed that had become her fixed spot.

“Alright.”

“Take your time. I’ll prepare some snacks while you’re out.”

As that bright smile overlapped with her sister Aran’s, Ibnel’s eyes wavered slightly. Like when she first saw her, Lia occasionally reminded her of her sister. It wasn’t the first time she had momentarily mistaken her.

‘Come to think of it, Lia is the only person I’ve seen so far.’

Although she hadn’t fully grasped this world yet, given her apparently high status, it seemed unnatural that there weren’t more people attending to her.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’

Before she knew it, Ibnel had stepped outside the building and walked aimlessly, letting her feet guide her. As Lia had said, the fresh air cleared her stuffy mood a little.

Just then, she heard the sound of several people conversing in the distance.

“I hear Lady Ibnel has been cooped up in her room all day lately? Not eating well either.”

“It’s understandable. She’s going to a place where every envoy sent has returned dead.”

Instinctively, Ibnel hid behind a nearby tree upon hearing the conversation about herself. Peeking out slightly, she saw several people gathered wearing the same outfit as Lia.

That meant they were maids she hadn’t seen until now.

“Who would have imagined? That the divine blessing bestowed upon Aodin would disappear.”

“Indeed. And now magical beasts have started appearing. I’m scared something terrible might happen.”

‘Divine blessing.’

Ibnel naturally recalled the story Aran had told her before. It was the most important background of this novel, and the reason why this body was going to Karies.

‘Should I be thankful that I remember this?’

The two empires that first emerged on the primordial continent.

Aodin in the south, with its mild climate throughout the four seasons and vast plains, and Karies in the north, with its expansive mountain ranges and abundant resources.

The two empires, similar yet different, developed rapidly and expanded their territories. But that peace didn’t last long.

At some point, strange life forms called magical beasts began to appear in various parts of both empires through unknown spaces. They were so strong that they could only be described as monsters, leaving people helpless against them.

Just when they were growing weary of the seemingly endless war against the magical beasts, a miracle occurred in both empires.

It was the power and ability to counter the magical beasts.

In the northern Karies, a special power to defeat magical beasts emerged, while in the southern Aodin, a special ability to see through the core, which was the only weakness of magical beasts, appeared.

Of course, it wasn’t given to everyone. In the imperial family and selected noble families, this power and ability manifested in one person per generation.

This later came to be called the divine blessing.

The two empires combined this power and ability to defeat the magical beasts, and before long, the situation was completely reversed. Everyone rejoiced at the fact that there was nothing to fear anymore.

‘But that peace didn’t last long either.’

Cracks began to form between the two empires when magical beasts started to appear concentrated in the Karies Empire.

On the other hand, the appearance of magical beasts in Aodin noticeably decreased, and about 40 years ago, they disappeared completely.

It was perhaps natural for the scales that had been balanced to tip to one side.

The damage caused by magical beasts was concentrated in Karies, and Aodin, which had nothing to lose, began to demand compensation for their help.

And as time passed, that compensation became increasingly unreasonable.

Demanding tributes as a show of sincerity was just the beginning. They demanded mining and maritime rights of enormous value, and even forced exclusive trade that was only disadvantageous to Karies.

It was undeniable that Aodin’s help was necessary because even for the same type of magical beast, the location of the core was different, and to completely cut off a magical beast’s lifeline, that core hidden somewhere in its body had to be accurately attacked.

So Karies had no choice but to comply with these excessive demands without complaint.

Sometimes, they even swallowed their pride and bowed their heads to ask for help, but Aodin often turned a blind eye, making various excuses.

They deceived Karies by saying they would help after getting everything they wanted, then thoroughly ignored Karies in its predicament, laughing at them.

‘They’re truly despicable.’

Even from Ibnel’s perspective, Aodin’s actions were utterly shameless.

How could they so shamelessly pretend not to know and ignore the fact that they had clearly received help when they needed it?

Of course, they could demand some compensation, but this had gone far beyond the line. To take everything they could get and then stab them in the back.

Knowing full well what damage it would cause to Karies.

But that relationship was soon reversed.

Twenty years after the magical beasts had completely disappeared, in other words, about 20 years ago from now, the ability called the divine blessing in Aodin began to weaken and then disappear.

In the end, by the present time, those with the ability had completely died out.

And as if they had been waiting for that moment, magical beasts began to appear again in Aodin.

They hurriedly asked Karies for help, but were met with complete indifference. Perhaps this was a natural consequence.

From Karies’ standpoint, there was no reason to help at all.

Unable to stand by and watch Aodin’s atrocities, Karies had begun fighting the magical beasts with their power alone. Research on magical beasts began in earnest, and efforts were made to cultivate talented individuals.

As a result, although not as much as when Aodin was helping, they managed to regain some stability with their own strength.

And as if by divine intervention, just as Aodin’s ability was weakening, the power bestowed upon Karies grew stronger.

The current Emperor of the Karies Empire was said to have the strongest power among all the emperors in history.

Meanwhile, as damage from magical beasts occurred even in the capital, Aodin found itself in a dire situation.

They sent gifts and envoys to try to change Karies Empire’s mind, but each time, what returned was a cold rejection along with the head of the envoy who had lost his life.

‘Do they really think they’ll help? Are they naive or just stupid?’

As Ibnel was mocking Aodin’s foolishness, one of the maids who had been conversing spoke up in a sneering tone.

“Anyway, I hope this issue gets resolved even if that woman dies. Unlike Lady Serina, she’s nothing but a stain on the Istella ducal family, an illegitimate child. I heard some commoner woman suddenly appeared with a child, took money, and left, abandoning them?”

Ibnel showed some interest at the word ‘illegitimate child’. This was information she was hearing for the first time.

“Honestly, we call her ‘lady’ here, but she doesn’t receive any proper treatment. She can’t even go near the main building, the madam is desperate to get rid of her, and on top of that, she can’t even set foot in social circles. She’s no different from us, right?”

Turning her head towards the opposite side of the annex where she was currently staying, an incomparably large mansion stood tall.

“Well, that’s why they unanimously decided to send Lady Ibnel at the nobles’ meeting held at the imperial palace. She’s completely useless. If it were me, I’d throw away my status as a tribute and run away. I really don’t understand why Lia stays by that woman’s side, what’s so good about her?”

Only after they had moved away and were completely out of sight did Ibnel come out from between the trees. This resolved several questions.

Why she had only seen Lia until now, why she was the one being sent to Karies, and why the people called her family hadn’t shown their faces.

‘They weren’t family to begin with.’

Thinking this, the despair that the person called Ibnel must have felt seemed immeasurably profound. Perhaps she had even already sensed her own death.

“Being alone is the same as me.”

There was a hint of sympathy in her eyes. Somehow, their circumstances seemed similar.

In fact, the words of mockery from the maids didn’t affect her at all. In her previous life, she was used to hearing various things as much as she received attention.

“Anyway, I’m not Ibnel either.”

Ibnel muttered in an indifferent voice as she started walking again. But unlike before, she didn’t even glance at the surrounding scenery.

As if the world reflected in her eyes was colorless.

‘Should I go back now?’

Right now, she just wanted to lie down on the bed and take a nap.

So she was about to turn back towards the annex when a faint but familiar sound carried by the air stopped her in her tracks.

‘This sound is definitely…’

The sound that followed made Ibnel start walking in the opposite direction as if possessed. It soon turned into a run, and before she knew it, she was just running as her body led her.

* * *

‘If I didn’t hear wrong.’

Arriving at an unknown destination, Ibnel raised her head with rough breathing as a familiar smell hit her nose.

She uttered only one word, as if unable to believe the sight before her eyes.

“Shooting…”

What appeared to be knights guarding the ducal residence were standing at a distance from targets. If Ibnel’s eyes weren’t mistaken, what they were holding were definitely guns.

‘So there are guns here too.’

She instinctively checked the guns the knights were holding first. With sharp eyes completely contrary to her listless appearance since awakening as Ibnel.

“Revolvers, huh.”

At a glance, their shape didn’t seem much different from what she knew in her previous life. However, there was something that made her frown.

‘Everything from how they hold the gun to their posture is completely wrong.’

No wonder they couldn’t even hit near the center of the target.

Just as Ibnel was unconsciously about to step into the training ground, all her movements suddenly stopped.

‘What are you going to do if you go there?’

At the same time, her hands started trembling slightly. She tried to stop it by grabbing with her other hand, but the trembling wouldn’t easily subside.

‘Sis!’

At Aran’s voice, she tightly closed her eyes and ended up fleeing from that place.

Only when she could no longer hear the sound of gunshots did she stop walking.

“You’ve really gone crazy, Ryu Arang…”

What overcame Ibnel was anger towards herself.

Why did she try to step in again when she had lost the most precious thing because of shooting?

‘It’s better to leave as soon as possible.’

As Ibnel was about to go back the way she came, she heard a voice calling her from behind.

“Oh my, who do we have here? It’s been a while, sister.”

Surprised by the word ‘sister’, she turned around to see a woman who looked younger than her standing there.

Although her hair color was different, seeing the same red eyes, she seemed to be this body’s sister.

‘Then is this person Serina that the maids mentioned earlier?’

While Ibnel was lost in thought, Serina had already approached close by and was looking her up and down unpleasantly with her arms crossed.