“Hey, kid wake up our stop is here.”

Pinching my cheeks awake, I have awoken from the sudden pain in my cheeks made by no other than the elf woman that is with me.

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!—I’m wide awake now okay so stop!”

In an instant, all of my drowsiness has dissipated as she continued pinching my cheeks until I stood up and showed her that I’m actually awake.

“Good, since we have to move on foot now.”

As she said that with a smile on her face she exited the carriage we have rode in for the past few hours, and during that span of time inside the carriage I fell asleep after crying my eyes out for a bit.

Could have really shown a little bit of decency and respect, to be honest after all I’m basically a child that has been plucked out of her home without any prior knowledge about it, a bit of respect for that fact would be much appreciated in this scenario.

—God I would have started complaining about her attitude with me if it weren't for the fact that I’m honestly just tired right now, everything happened a bit too fast that I just want to rest for today and think about it all tomorrow.

Holding my swollen cheek I followed the Elf woman out of the carriage with an evident frown on my face.

Exiting the carriage my face was quickly met with a cold breeze of the night and the damp scent of the surrounding woods.

‘I guess it rained when I was sleeping. Quite a good thing since it will make our tracks harder to follow.’

Breathing in my lungs I inhaled all of the air I can before exhaling deeply.

Let’s do this.

I’ll be fine.

They’ll be fine.

Everything is going to be fine.

Holding my hand close to my chest I started walking to the driver's seat where the Elf woman went off.

We didn’t really get a great first impression from one another like I’d hoped we’d do but I’ll just have to find a way to get along with her.

After all, I’m going to live with her for a long while whether I like it or not.

Letting out a sigh I reached the front of the carriage to see the Elf woman holding what seems to be a bright red coat, red similar to crimson blood and the blood moon but the most notable detail about the said coat is an embroidery placed at the middle of it’s back, an embroidery of a black circle with arrows extending outward in all directions.

It’s the first thing that my eyes have noticed in all honesty, after all, not just that the coat sticks out due to its bright red color but the black embroidery laid atop of it didn’t help out as well.

You’re basically would be sticking out like a sore thumb wearing that just about anywhere.

But nonetheless, it still looks….great.

The coat color might be inefficient in trying to stay hidden from something it still nonetheless looks good.

Though what I’m probably just saying is more biased toward my favorite color instead of an actual judgment so I guess my opinion is invalid by default.

Tapping my chin skeptically as I continued to stare at the piece of clothing as if it is some sort of lost relic a sudden snickered broke my focus.

Breaking my trance I blinked my eyes a few times before realizing that I’d been staring at the cloak for a long while that the Elf woman has already finished what she was doing in the driver seat and is now holding the coat in front of me.

“Well...if you want the coat you could have said something, you know.” Saying that she had over the coat into my hand before wrapping a gray cloak to herself.

“No—! I-it’s not that….just..”

Caught off guard by the sudden interaction I tried giving back to coat to her with a look of reluctance.

I can’t really stop myself from feeling that way, after all, I like the coat but at the same time, I hate it as well.

The color Red, I hate it just as much as I love it.

It feels comfy but at the same time it brings back too many painful and vexing memories from my past—the past I planned to leave behind to continue moving forward.

But I can’t right now.

I’m too tired for anything right now.

I just want to rest and not to be stressed by something such as a mere piece of clothing.

“I…don’t want it. Is there anything else that I could wear?” I said clearly this time though still a bit hesitant.

“You sure? It’s quite comfy you know.”

“Yes, just give me anything else, will you?”

“Well if you say so.”

Hearing my request the Elf woman took the red coat out of my hand and shoved it into one of her bags giving me a black cloak this time to wear.

“Thanks,” I muttered as I wrapped the clothe around myself.

Though quite a bit big for me it is still nevertheless usable in my opinion.

“So where are we heading off?”

As I tidied myself up I finally decided to ask the woman for our destination considering she said that we will be walking from this point so a little bit of information about our journey would be much appreciated.

“Deep in the woods, I have a cabin here we could use for the time being.”

Time being?

So that means this isn’t our destination yet but just a camping spot.

Now, I wonder where are we going actually.

I didn’t really ask where we will be going since I’m too caught up with my own thoughts to be logical at the moment but still I should have stayed awake and kept track of things instead of wailing myself to sleep.

I didn’t really see what happened to our coachman as well or how did we get past some of the checkpoints so I really don’t have any solid clue as to where we are right now.

Guess I’ll have no choice but to ask that Elf once we reached her cabin.

Finishing in packing up our remaining stuff she handed me a small bag before walking through to the forest without even turning back and seeing nothing else to do I followed her soon after.

Walking through the dense forest I couldn’t help but use my Nature’s Eye more frequently than usual in order to avoid anything sneaking up on me in instant, after all, I finally realized that my Nature’s Eye is not omnipotent and individuals could sneak pass through it if skilled enough.

Such as this woman...

“Hey, little missy it’s better if you turn off that ability, it’s dangerous to use that without precautions.”

Continuing our walk through the woods the elf in front of me that is once again invisible within my Nature’s Eye spoke with full knowledge of my ability.

Still unnerve that she knows that I can use this ability I decided to fire back in an effort to know more about the scope of what she knows.

“I’m aware of its effect so rest assured, I know how to use this.”

Hearing my reply a soft chuckle escaped her mouth as she turned her head back to me.

“So…? Are you going to tell who taught you to do that, little girl?~”

Hearing her intonation in the last part a sudden chill ran down at the back of my spine as if it was suddenly doused with cold water from the inside.

She didn’t really say anything in particular or anything specific for that matter but merely just asked who taught me, yet something within her words and eyes tells a completely different story.

It is as if she knows something yet isn’t sure that’s why she’s asking to confirm her inkling.

So this question is something similar to a deciding factor for our relationship moving forward, if I were to lie or even try to talk my way out of this I’m fairly certain that she will unlikely to trust my words next time.

So this time lying would just worsen certain things, I’ll have to be truthful if I want to have her trust and word.

Dammit, I have to tell her yet still keep things under the radar.

I can probably do this but whether she would believe it is a different and a much harder matter.

“I…”

“Hmmm?”

“I…taught myself.”

Admitting that to her felt like a weight both came off and added to my shoulder as silence took over immediately, followed by a complete halt from the elf in front.

“Self-taught you say?” She queried as she turned to face me with a look of indifference.

“Yeah…I’ve read it from the books in my father’s library.”

“Hmmm….I guess that explains why it seems half-baked.”

I felt my blood boils for the first time today as I could clearly see her smug smile painted across her face as she said that offhand insult.

‘How rude,’ I thought while I glared at her with dagger-like eyes.

It’s one thing to mess with me for curiosity's sake but poking on one's effort is definitely a line I would kill if someone dare to cross.

She is definitely trying to mess with me, I know that so I should calm myself.

That’s right calm yourself, Eris. You don’t want to say something unnecessary again, right?

Then, keep your calm.

Closing my eyes I breathed my frustration out and upon opening my eyes again my mind is back to being clear.

“Hey, I’m still here to hear what you are saying, you know,” I said with a level-headed tone that seem to have caught her off guard for some reason.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to downplay your efforts but merely gauging your ability, yes?”

Chuckling after saying those words I couldn’t help but audibly groaned my frustration out as I might have found myself with another weirdo after leaving a few back in the mansion.

She backtracked with her words while still managing to maintain a smug face and tone.

She definitely did that on purpose and just resorted to such an ‘excuse’ to avoid pissing me off even more.

What an annoying woman she is.

And just like that, we continued on moving through the woods with occasional stops due to this Elf using her utmost ability to find ways to mess with me.

She isn’t really trying to hide her curiosity towards me at this point and continues to ask offhand questions to get me to spill the beans of what I know.

Knowing the possible consequences of my words I tried my best to not divulge as much information as possible to avoid anything I said being held back against me.

While I do remember that Mom had already confirmed that this woman is trustworthy I’m still a bit on edge around her due to her knowledge of my ability and probably something more.

I rather not risk anything so best to watch my words very carefully from now on.

After a while of nothing but walking in complete silence, we soon reached a small clearing with what appears to be a large dimly lit treehouse in the middle of it.

“Is that…” I asked as my eyes gawked at the building in front, the woman just nodded with a smile before walking towards it still holding me by the hand.

“An...actual treehouse,” I muttered as I followed the elf towards the wooden structure with complete sparkles within both my eyes.

I’ve read it in so many fabled books already, A house made from the hollowed corpse of what used to be a great tree that has stood steadily for decades, a treehouse.

I’ve always dreamt of having one for the longest of time but due to my busy job from my past life and a busy household on this new one I really didn’t get a chance to have one or even see an actual one for that matter.

Reaching the circular front door of the treehouse I’m barely stopping myself from forming a childish grin as my whole body felt it could soar the sky at any moment.

“It’s not really that much compared to your mansion back at Mostro but still hope you’ll like it.”

Opening the door a sweet scent of cedar quickly entered my nostril, an enchanting allure filled my eyes as I entered it without any regard for the owner of the house.

The inside of the treehouse is quite simple with a large wooden table in the middle and with what seems to be a kitchen at the far left corner and a small living room at the left side.

There is also a circular staircase that went up to what probably is the second floor of the house that contains the bedroom.

“No it’s fine, I like it,” I said without any hint of embarrassment as I began pacing around the first floor of the house, checking everything that the house has to offer with complete amazement in my eyes.

“Oh, really? Then that makes it easier since we’ll be staying here for a while.”

“Heh… I see.”

Though I was replying to her words at the moment, my mind on the other is quite the opposite, completely not even listening to even a letter from her mouth.

“Hey, are you even listening?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah….— So where are the bathroom and the bed?”

“Ugh—you are clearly not listening…..”

Crossing her arms from my complete and obvious uncaring for her words she let out a tired sigh before pointing her finger to the ceiling.

“It’s upstairs on the left while your bedroom is the last one on the right, still quite dusty so best you clean it up before using.”

Hearing her answer I replied with a smile before skippingly following her directions to my room.

Reaching the upstairs room I was met with what seems to be a long straight hallway with doors facing each other from side to side.

And once again my face twitched as I try to hide my grin and totally failed, which can you really blame for doing so?

I mean all of this was something I’ve always dreamt of having in my life so I really can’t help myself from just the sight of all of this stuff.

Such as the walls and doors being all perfectly and beautifully carved from different kinds of wood to create this allure that it’s not just all the same and that it’s all different once you look at it more clearly.

A great example of this is the floor being made out of 2 kinds of wood alternating from a dark rosewood to a lighter spruce wood in an elegant manner, though in this world I think they are called Chesty for Rosewood and Price for Spruce.

As just from the flooring alone, you can already tell that the person who built this has a reason for actually building this here, it is as if it’s not merely made as a stop-in cabin but more so as an actual place to hangout so it actually struck another chord of an oddity within me as the cabin felt like it hasn’t even used that much yet despite being so well made.

So as much as I have praised the beauty of this place, I will not deny the fact that dust has congregated around the house with cobwebs at some of the corners of the rooms especially here upstairs.

Walking past the first two-door I opened the last room at the farthest of the hall at the right, upon opening the door that should lead to a room I was greeted by an empty quiet room with that all familiar unique smell of dust.

Inside the room was a bed laid at the side and a closet at the far corner and nothing else.

The dust in this room seems to be gathering up as well but nonetheless, it’s better than anything else that I’ve probably would have gotten, and knowing my luck I’m going to consider this as plenty enough for me.

Entering the room I lay down my small bag that is filled with a few sets of clothes on the side of my bed.

I really don’t want to put my clothes into the closet since it’s probably dusty as well so it’s best to have them by my side instead for efficiency's sake.

Removing my cloak and throwing it aside on the bed, I decided to begin cleaning the room before anything else.

Opening the dusty closet on the corner I have found a broom along with a dustpan.

Knowing no one will clean the room for me in this house I quickly grabbed both tools and began sweeping my dusty room.

After what felt like an hour of sweeping every nook and cranny of my room I fell down on my bed now cleaned and dusted off.

Cleaning a room is actually harder than I last remember it is—though it’s probably just because my body is of a child so I get tired real quick but still I managed to clean the whole room so I guess I’m still a lot stronger than what a normal child should be.

Wiping the remaining sweat on my brow I suddenly stood up from my bed as a sudden knock resounded from the door of my room.

Looking down on the crevice below the door I could see a shadow cast by the lamp on the other side.

Knowing my Nature’s Eye is probably useless in seeing the person behind the door I didn’t bother casting it and just decided to answer back.

“What is it?”

“Well I cooked something for dinner, so get down and eat.”

Dinner.

Oh yeah, I haven’t eaten anything for the whole day.

I’m honestly starving and tired so it’s great that she decided to cook something for both of us….especially considering I don’t know…how to cook, but quite a surprise that she can actually cook something as she doesn’t seem to strike me as someone who would bother herself with cooking.

“Ah...thanks, I’ll be right there just going to clean myself up for a bit.”

“Oh, okay then.”

Hearing my answer her shadow behind the door left followed by her footsteps.

She honestly seems really friendly sometimes but most of the time she’s a little gremlin in the form of an elf!

And here I am thinking that elves, in this world, would be a formal and noble race of people yet this woman alone is breaking everything I know about them.

I feel like my view of the elves is going to change quite drastically from the long time that I will be spending with her, and I do not know if that change would be for the better or worse and honestly I really don’t want to know.

Letting out a sigh I started preparing a few of my stuff for taking a bath so I can join that elf down for dinner.

“Sheesh, quite the looker you are, You definitely got their genes.”

Walking down the staircase wearing my usual white nightgown, I furrowed my eyebrows from the sudden compliment from the elf lying comfortably by the wooden sofa with almost nothing to cover herself other than her blue robe drinking what seems to be a whole wine bottle.

It’s the middle of the night and you have a child with you that you are tasked to protect but instead of doing your job sober, you decided to get drunk?

Just in the world is going on inside this woman’s head right now.

Is this woman really trustworthy or even remotely capable of doing her job?

For I’m actually worried for both of our safety if she has a more annoying quirk in store that she has not revealed yet.

I really wish my gut feeling is wrong this time around but I’m quite certain she has more in store.

God, what did Mom even see in her that she came to the conclusion that this woman is trustworthy.

“I appreciate the compliment but I would appreciate it more if you could shut your mouth.”

“Oh, come on no need to get embarrassed~”

Ignoring her words I made my way to the table where the food is laid and set. A medium slice of meat is laid atop the wooden plate still steaming hot.

It appears that she has already eaten during the time that I’m cleaning myself up as evident with the used plates at the sink and the meat having multiple cuts on the side of it.

Seeing I’m the only one left to take a feast I decided to eat at the plate where the meat was laid in the first place to avoid additional dishes to clean up.

Taking a fork to my left and knife to my right I began eating quietly while the elf on my right just watches me do so quietly.

“Really acting the part of a noble's daughter, huh.” She said with flushed cheeks as she started downing the wine bottle again.

Insolent and Vulgar, that is now my solidified impression around her with no redeeming quality as of sight yet.

It’s like she has read every demeanor and attitude the elven race should have in a book and decided that she’ll break all of them.

Good grief she’s even a noble elf for god sake, Are all the Elves like this, or was she just the odd one out in her race?

Either way, she’s definitely annoyingly carefree during this whole debacle, whether it’s out of arrogance or just indifference is something I’m not sure about just yet.

Biting down on the tender meat I slowly chewed down on my food quietly as I ignore the elf on the side trying once again to get a reaction out of me.

“Hey, are you ignoring me?”

Ignoring her entire existence completely I finished my meal in silence as I managed to shut off my brain from even taking the effort to think of her during the duration of my meal.

Wiping my mouth with a handkerchief I finally decided to give the elf I have ignored a glance and see that she is still awake now on her second bottle of wine and on the way to the third with not even a trace of being drunk other than her red cheeks.

Damn, what a high alcohol tolerance, not really the worse there is considering I’ve seen a ‘certain someone’ down a keg of booze but still, 3 bottles in a span of an hour are really something you wouldn’t call an ‘okay’ amount.

Letting out a sigh I decided to finally talk to her about her deal this whole day and our plans moving forward from this point on since I’m really still in the dark for the most part.

“Oh? finally decided to talk to me?” Noticing my presence now in front of her she turned her head in my direction with a smile.

“Spare me the small talks, what is it you want to actually say all this time? You’ve been pestering me all this time that it's not even funny anymore.”

“Oh, come now~ Small talks such as this builds stronger relationships, you know.”

“If insulting and picking on me is your way of building a healthy working relationship with others then you must have such a twisted view of the world.”

“You don’t really have to go that far~, But I suppose you are right that I do see the world a bit differently.”

Slowly standing up from the wooden sofa she pointed her finger at me with an ever-present smile across her face.

“Aren’t you the same as well, Miss Reincarnated?” Dropping that accusation a knot in my stomach formed as her smile didn’t fade and more so grew even wider than ever as if she’s amused by the situation I am in.

“I don’t—.”

“—Let’s stop the lies shall we? I know you’re a reincarnated person, you don’t really need to hide it from me.”

Cutting me off mid-sentence my body flinched hearing what had come out of her mouth very clearly.

She knows my origins, my origin of being reincarnated to be exact.

Did my mother tell her that she thinks I am a reincarnate? Or did she figure it out all on her own?

Or maybe, just maybe she’s just bluffing me with no actual evidence and just basing everything on a simple indication.

I’m really not sure, there is too much I do not know about her while she knows too much about me.

I’ve already lost the moment she and I met.

So as much as I want to start panicking at the heat of the moment doing so would just worsen my already shit situation so best to get information out of her rather than going down and gaining nothing in return.

“What brought up for such accusation....?”

Retaining my face of indifference I crossed my arms while raising a brow as I waited for her reasonings if there is.

And seeing my assertiveness the woman just chuckled lightly as if she found this whole scenario a whole comedy for her to see.

“It’s kinda obvious considering you know how to use the Eye of Nature despite still being at the age of 5 just from reading it from books ignoring the fact that apart from us elves no one has ever used it. add another fact that you don’t act like a child in the slightest,”

“And finally your mana core is already developed to a certain degree which would mean you been using and training your magical ability for quite some time now but Sara has never mentioned anything about you being able to use magic so that just means you’ve been hiding it from everyone, is it not?”

“But why would you hide those facts about you? I mean wouldn’t the natural reaction of a child you claim you are be telling your parent about what you have discovered about yourself?”

Putting aside the now-empty wine bottle the elf stood up from her comfortable position and approached me with that smile still across her face, a smile that continuously sends chills down my spine as everything in my body just wants to run away from her.

Uncanny, is that word that I can only use to describe her right now, from the way she explains her reasoning, to her empty voice that bounces off the walls of the room piercing both my eardrums, and to her smile that feels offputting just from a simple glance.

As I stood there motionlessly staring at her while she crouched down to my eye level, she casually brought her lips closer past my cheeks and into my left ear.

And with a soft yet icy tone of voice, she continues, “Which means there is a reason why you didn’t tell anyone about such things, but what could that reason be? Fear that they might ostracize you?, Confusion as even you yourself don’t understand your situation?, or Pure Dread due to people like you having a natural enemy in this world?”

”—Like Those lunatics from that damned church to be exact.”

Stressing that last part of her whole explanation she retracted back her face away from me and returned back to her initial position and that is on the sofa, and with that haughty tone of hers she said, “Am I that scary for you to be on the floor, Miss Lorelain?~”

Breaking from my whole stupor during her whole explanation I felt a rock drop in my stomach as I finally noticed that I am now laying on the ground with my body seemingly backing away from her as if she’s a dangerous animal——and I am fairly certain she is.

Feeling sweats at the back of my nape my whole body shuddered as confusion and disbelief slowly turns into a horror for the fact that the person in front of me right now knows everything about me, knows what I have feared that someone will know and bring misfortune to my new family.

Now fully aware of the severity of the predicament I have found myself in I opened my mouth to let out something—or anything out of my throat, just anything at that moment that could de-escalate the situation—and the only word that popped out of my mind at that moment was, “Just—who.…are you?”

Hearing my question of confusion the elf gave a soft smile and like the sound of an evening bell ringing in the middle of the night, she uttered a name I have least expected to come from her.

“Current holder of the title [The Luminary Of The Harp], Sestra Fonia, though I prefer if you will call me [Tonic] instead.”