Chapter 2

The very fact that the first move was to poison the entire family brought tears to my eyes, but I couldn't afford to cry.

When I looked down at the finely shredded poisonous leaves, taking great care not to touch them, my mind was filled with nothing but pure will, and there was no room for any emotion.

I unhesitantly submerged the poisonous leaves into the soup in the pot. I couldn't tell what kind of face I had as I watched it; my mind felt as if it were completely blacked out. The leather gloves that didn't fit my hands were extremely awkward, and it seemed as if they were mocking my foolishness.

I knew that this poisonous herb could easily cause death. I had known it from the beginning. I could vividly recall the image of a young girl who nearly died after accidentally ingesting a small piece of it. The sight of her writhing in pain, growing weaker, and the deep fear I felt because of it had etched the existence of this poisonous herb into my mind.

──I never imagined that I would use it to kill people one day. It was ironic, and I let out a weak, aimless laugh, not knowing who it was directed at.

Tonight's dinner table would be laden with exotic delicacies that my despicable mother had bought from some unscrupulous merchant. And, in a cruel twist of fate, these were supposed to be the feast to celebrate my birthday. My family would die from the poison in the food that was meant to celebrate my birth. It was a third-rate tragedy, poorly crafted.

The various rare ingredients, which were almost unseen in this country, would serve as a perfect distraction, making it seem like food poisoning or a murder orchestrated by the merchant who sold the ingredients. In any case, there was no possibility that suspicion would fall on me.

The notorious Calthia Viscount family, known for their cruelty, died on that day, leaving behind only their two-year-old youngest daughter, Eliza. A well-known unscrupulous merchant was executed for the crime of poisoning the viscount.

This was the background of how I, Eliza Calthia, inherited the viscount title.

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The poisonous herb I knew well was highly toxic but not immediately lethal. I had thought that some might survive. In the end, it turned out to be a baseless worry, and my family died with surprising ease.

Some suffocated to death from respiratory failure, others from choking on their vomit, and still others died from head injuries after losing consciousness. Despite being the perpetrator, the gruesome scenes of my family's deaths often flashed back to me, leaving me with a deep trauma.

I, who was supposed to be an infant with no understanding of the world, was somehow pitied by the overly kind nobles. My mother, who was greedy for money, had pushed various accusations, and my father, who enjoyed seeing people's faces twisted in pain and blood, had dealt with them. The collateral family had already been wiped out. I, the only survivor, was not held responsible for the family's crimes and inherited all the Calthia family's assets.

Of course, given my age, the Calthia family should have been dissolved. However, the conservative nobles of this country did not want to create a power vacuum that could lead to unnecessary conflict.

Honestly, it would have been better if the family had been dissolved. Or perhaps, I thought, I might have been punished.

But, of course, as a two-year-old, I could not be suspected of the family's murder. I had no way of managing the viscount's territory. As planned, a guardian was sent from the capital to act as the lord.

I simply wished for a better person than my father to come. If someone like my father came to this land, I would not know why I had killed my family. As long as the country itself was not corrupt, anything would do.

My earnest wish was apparently heard. The elderly noble who came from the capital groaned deeply upon seeing the economic situation of my family and the state of the territory. Seeing him immediately start organizing the documents with a voracious energy, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The territory was in a state that could be described as hell. There were stacks of debt notes, absurdly high tax rates, and numerous laws that ignored national laws. The people were exhausted by the cruel and oppressive rule. I had the ability to kill my family in such a despicable way, but I had neither the strength nor the wisdom to improve this situation.

Therefore, regardless of how old the guardian was, I needed him to restore the territory by the time I reached adulthood or quasi-adulthood. I thought of actions that even a child could take and brought all the problems I knew about the territory to the guardian. I presented the evidence of hidden crimes, the existence of those who had been driven away by my father, and the horrific wealth my father had left in rooms only the Calthia family knew about. I dragged out all the traces of the family's heinous and cruel acts. I moved tirelessly, even though my young body was struggling to keep up, to ensure that the elderly guardian would work hard for the territory.

To prove to myself that killing my family was not just for self-preservation.

──This is also related to why I was able to carry out this assassination.

I remember my memories from when I was one year old. It's unusual, but I had a sense of self-awareness from that time.

My mind is imprinted with the memories of another person. A world that doesn't exist here, with landscapes, cities, and people's lives that are different from this one. The memories of an ordinary woman who lived and died there. Just memories. There are no emotions or thoughts leading to actions, and her personality, which I can only infer as a third party, is hard to say is directly connected to my current self. It feels like watching a video of someone else's memories. But perhaps this is what a past life is like.

And, unbelievably, the woman's memories contained information about Eliza Calthia's future. In a game she was playing just before she died, a mere entertainment... the story of the game.

I didn't know this from the moment I was born. I realized it when I heard a lullaby about my country from a maid.

The great kingdom of Arcsia, which dominates the northwest of the continent. This is the country where I was born, in the Calthia viscount territory. From the lullaby and my daily life, I thought the lifestyle was similar to that of old Europe. It was just an image, as my past life's me was not particularly knowledgeable about cultural history and had little interest in foreign countries. However, I was certain that I had no memory of a country called Arcsia appearing in world history.

Even if I thought it was a different world, the name of the country alone would not have made me connect it to a game I had played in my past life.

What made me connect the dots was myself. More precisely, my name and the characteristics of my family. Eliza Calthia. Without the context of the kingdom of Arcsia, it was just a foreign name. But, unfortunately, my name matched one of the characters in the game.

When I first recognized my name, I thought it was a bad name. After all, the Eliza Calthia from the game in my past life was a character so despicable that she was even called a villain. The youngest daughter of the Calthia family, who committed so many crimes that the entire family was condemned by the country. Born as a noble, she never questioned why she was allowed to stand above the common people and treated them as if they were trash, trampling on them without a second thought. She was depicted as a person created by power.

At first, it was just a coincidence of names. But when the characteristics of my family matched and the name of the country in the game matched my own, I had to accept it. That is, this place is the stage of that game, the kingdom of Arcsia.

The next thing that came to mind was the future, or rather, the scenario. In the story, where a heroine from a neighboring country searches for a marriage partner among the nobles' children in the Arcsia royal academy, the viscount's daughter Eliza Calthia appears as a villain to spice up the story. No matter which ending the story takes, she and her family are executed as a group. After all, no matter what actions Eliza takes in the academy, the crimes committed by her and her family in their territory remain unchanged. The timing of their execution is the only difference.

I borrowed the game from my sister in my past life and played it to pass the time. Whether this is reincarnation or not, I now think it turned out well to have inherited the memories. I didn't intend to say that this was an absolute future. But, considering the current situation, I understood that my execution would eventually become a reality.

It wasn't the only reason, but it was the starting point. To eliminate the death flag as soon as possible. In the end, I – killed my family.

...In the end, even though it wasn't public, I committed a more serious crime than the one Eliza in the game did. After all, it was the assassination of a viscount family. I don't know the criminal law of this country, but in the criminal law of some European country in the Middle Ages, the crime of patricide was punished by being torn apart by horses. Given that I used poison, there's a possibility I might be judged as a witch and burned at the stake.

I don't want to end up with such a terrifying execution. The truth of the family's poisoning must be taken to the grave.

It's a hopeless birth in a hopeless situation, but – fortunately, the guardian, Duke Teresia, was not only highly capable but also a person with a sense of ethics.