"Ahhh! Gasp! What in the world... where am I? Huh, wait... what happened to my voice? And who is this woman in the mirror...?!"
What in the world just happened to me? I remembered I was stabbed in the heart for protecting Elara... it's obvious that I'll die after that. But now I seem to be in someone's body. Did I get reincarnated? Is this what they call being reborn? But why am I in this woman's body instead of a man's?!
"Huh? A diary... no, a book?" Is this diary belongs to this woman? 'End of Everything'—this looks suspicious. Why would she title it like that...?
Upon rummaging through the table, I found something. A paper with a picture of this woman being a wanted criminal. I was surprised and everything. As soon as I saw that paper, I lost my mind for seconds unable to comprehend of my situation.
"Alethea Midford... the Tyrant Witch of the Whisperbane Forest... Did I really become her?"
Alethea Midford was one of the mages in another kingdom. She was excellent in all aspects, always at the top of her class, and excelled all around the academy. Almost all the students in the academy envied her; some admired her, and others hated her.
One of her classmates hated her so much, and that classmate was somehow involved with demons. One day, that classmate was plotting something; she befriended Alethea all of a sudden, and when she asked Alethea to meet her back at the academy, Alethea accepted.
Alethea arrived first but strangely, the girl wasn't there yet. Alethea waited for ten minutes before the girl arrived, and Alethea noticed something felt off about her. Before Alethea could make a move, she had already been restricted, and something like a drug had been injected into her.
Her sanity slowly faded, and her mana started to turn into a demon's mana. With that, she lost control of her power, killing over thousands of innocent people in the kingdom before she regained control of herself. It was too late; she fled after the massive destruction she left in the kingdom, and now she's a wanted criminal, called the Tyrant Witch. There's another rumor that she fled in the Whisperbane Forest but it's not proven yet even after a several inspection in the forest, the knights of the Kingdom of Millena still couldn't find her whereabouts.
"That's what the rumors said, sighs, even so, why do I need to be her of all people around...?"
I've been given a second chance to live; what right do I have to refuse such an opportunity? Although it's a bit of a mess with my past identity alignment... there's no helping it but to become a woman in my second life, sighs...
To prevent myself from getting caught, I might change my appearance. Currently, my hair is short and yellow, and my eyes are red...
Ten minutes later...
I exhausted myself just to gain nothing from it.
"huff... huff. What the heck... why can't I change my appearance?!"
That's strange; come to think of it, Alethea never changed her appearance even if she was capable of doing it. The only thing that had changed about her was her hair's length—she used to have long hair, but currently, it's shortened... It can only mean that she couldn't change her appearance because of something that might be limiting her mana, and since I'm in her body, it's just the same situation.
More importantly... I can only sense a faint mana in her body, just like when I was in my original body as Alex; the rest is unknown to me...
Sighs, if I can't change my appearance, that means I'll be hiding here forever...?!
What do I do now? I can't stay here forever... I'll die from boredom here!
"If you want to change your appearance that badly, then follow me."
The voice startled me; it came out of nowhere.
"W-who are you? And where are you?"
"Knowing me is not important. Follow the trail I'm about to show you until the end; it'll take you to that place."
This situation is somewhat suspicious to me. I wanted to change my appearance, but it's strange that this unknown entity suddenly revealed itself.
"I won't ask you what you are. I definitely can't see you or feel you; I assumed you're a sort of entity. But why are you helping me? It's natural for me to doubt you. You helped me now, but not Alethea before...why?"
"Because I was your guide, not Alethea's."
"What do you mean by that...?"
I was skeptical of what the entity said and what it meant by that.
"Oii, are you still there?" It suddenly became quiet; the entity seemed not to be here anymore, but the trail was still showing me the way to that place the entity mentioned. What could it be?
Ten minutes later... I walked for ten minutes just to arrive at this cave. Does the thing I want really exist here?
"Hey! Let's get out of here already! It's too dangerous if we stay any longer!"
Huh...? A voice coming from inside—don't tell me it's those knights from the Kingdom?
"I got the crystal! Let's go now!"
Crystal?
"Hey, boss! There's a girl spying on us!"
Oh shit... I thought no one was here outside. That damn entity, does it know that this would happen?!
I need to run—
"Where do you think you're going, brat?"
I couldn't move... What's happening?
"Hmmm... you look very familiar. Where did I see your face?"
No, I can't let them know that I'm Alethea, or else they'll send me to the Kingdom. I'm not Alethea, but I hold her body now, so it doesn't change the fact that I'm still Alethea to their eyes.
"W-wait! I'm not here to spy on you guys. Aha...ha... I just got lost and ended up here."
I must get out of this situation even if I bluntly lie!
"Hmm, I see... Since you made that mistake on your own, you're willing to pay the price of your mistake, aren't you?"
"Nods" I don't know what is he up to? As long as my identity won't get exposed, I'll pay the price...
"Then, from now on, you're my slave! Haha!"
What...?!