My Childhood Friends Are Trying To Kill Me

It was a dream.

Lelia was walking somewhere.

“……”

The walk was rather tiring. Having realised that it was a dream, she looked down at herself.

What she saw was much thinner and filthier arms compared to real life. It wasn’t just her arms, her legs were also filthy and injured.

Her body felt so weak that it was hard to move, even though she was walking at a snail’s pace.

[Wh-where am I going?]

Though she knew it was a dream, she couldn’t move her body with her own free will.

The night was dark, with a few clouds dotting the black fabric.

Lelia’s tired feet were trodding through the dark forest. 

Her destination was the forest pond, which was quite far from the tower where she stayed.

It was a small pond, but you couldn’t really judge how deep it was. Lelia’s feet were rooted in front of the pond.

[What am I trying to do?]

A sinking feeling started in her gut, and she felt an unknown anxiety dawn on her. The atmosphere around her was gloomy, and that didn’t make things any better.

Lelia’s body, staring blankly at the dark sky, inched closer to the pond and looked at herself.

When the moon hidden behind the clouds came out, the face reflected in the pond glowed.

[…..!]

Lelia’s eyes reflected in the pond were as empty as her body felt. Like a human without a soul.

Lelia’s breath hitched; she looked completely different from her current self.

And then–

Lelia stretched out one of her legs over the pond.

[Wait, no way…]

A moment of hesitation lingered, before-

Lelia threw herself into the pond.

[No… Help me!]

The body floating on top of the water seemed to have no more will to breathe.

Water seeped through her mouth and nose continuously.

Slowly, her breaths halted, and only the sound of gurgles from the water rose to the surface.

The pond was deep and dark.

Her body gladly took in all the darkness, submerging in the water.

                                                                                  * * *

“…Haa!”

Lelia woke from her dream with a gasp, breathless.

“Hu…Huuu…”

Sweat dripped off her brows like rain. Blinking rapidly, she looked around.

“It was a dream… a dream… What a relief… Ha…”

Gazing outside the window, she saw that the moon had set and dawn was breaking out.

Lelia had collapsed on the cabin floor last night, and was still lying there.

“…….”

Trying to calm her rough breathing, she remembered the dream she just had.

[…What was that? Why would the original scene appear in my dream?]

She couldn’t understand why the scene had been acted out so realistically in it.

Goosebumps were spread over her whole body.

[In the original story, I didn’t die by tripping into the pond and drowning…]

She had killed herself.

Why the hell did she do that?

Around this time, Lelia had died in the original.

Right after the doll incident.

She had apologized profusely for stealing Juliana’s doll, and then seen Emperor Perseus, who had treated Juliana like a gem.

Unlike her, who had memories of her past life, the original novel’s Lelia was just a seven-year-old child.

Furthermore, her body development is slow, so she is smaller than other people her age.

It might have been too big of a shock for a child to handle. But who would have thought that she would have taken her own life?

Lelia shut her eyes while clenching her fists tightly, her entire body was trembling. Tears dripped down her cheeks in misery and pity.

Having reincarnated into Lelia’s body, she had often seen her in an objective perspective.

But she was still Lelia. From the moment she was born in this world, Lelia’s body and her life had coincided. She couldn’t treat it like this was someone else’s life.

“…..”

In the original novel, Emperor Perseus finds out belatedly that Lelia was his daughter. The same was true of the twin brothers.

[It was Juliana who comforted them when they were burdened with guilt.]

But they didn’t deserve to be comforted. They were the ones who drove Lelia to death.

Lelia sank her teeth into her lower lip.

She will not die easily in this life, be it for the sake of the original Lelia or for herself.

[I’ll survive, no matter what.]

Lelia, who had been shaking while tears ran down her face, grit her teeth and soon came to her senses. This wasn’t the time to cry.

[Oh, what about the pocket watch from yesterday?]

Only then did she think of last night’s incident.

Lelia spun on her heels and headed back.

The pocket watch was lying on the floor, just like yesterday.

[…did my wish really come true?]

Lelia hesitated for a moment.

The spell used by Lydios was simple.

If Lelia revealed to someone of her own will that she had faked her identity as Crown Prince Leo, she would die. But Lelia had to tell her friends about it.

As her wish is to break the spell, in order to confirm that it has been fulfilled, she must reveal that she was Lelia Auraria… and not Prince Leo.

And if she dies?

Then, it didn’t work.

Lelia clasped the pocket watch, berating herself for having not thought about it before. 

And then-

Tring Tring.

“……?”

Tring Tring.

A familiar sound resonated. But it would be strange for her to experience it here.

Lelia’s head whipped back. The place where the sound came from was Elizabeth’s dressing table.

She approached the table cautiously.

Tring Tring.

“….”

The sound was still coming from there. When she opened the drawer, she saw a shiny necklace.

A pretty necklace with a tiny, delicate blue pendant.

“…What is this?”

Lelia carefully lifted the necklace. The moment she touched the jewel-

“Argh!”

An unidentified large screen appeared in the air.

Lelia was so surprised that she ended up muffling her scream.

The screen in front of her was unfamiliar, yet not at the same time.

“This… this is ridiculous…”

The identity of the screen in front of her was the game screen of “Alchemy Lottery,” which could not be seen here.

Before she died, she had made a wish to be reincarnated there.

On the screen, a familiar alchemy tool was painted and speech bubbles floated near it.

A phrase with a familiar language came up on the screen as well. 

[System: 100% Optimization Completed!]

[We’ve finally finished optimizing, Master!]

[New recipes have been added according to your environment (*•̀ᴗ•́*)∆, so please check it out!°˖◝(⁰▿⁰)◜˖°]

“……”

Lelia stared blankly at the screen. She was so surprised that she couldn’t blink.

She recalled the day before she died. The day’s events were vividly depicted in her head.

[T/N: This book never fails to amaze me T_T WOW!]