Chapter 1

I don’t have a schedule for this series. Wait, actually I don’t really have a schedule for any series lol. But I want to release all 6 chapters of the Spring Palace. Just to keep people interested in this series, you know? Well, enjoy the chapter!

Oh and there’s a correction in the last chapter. Lucanrant is not a barony but a dukedom.

Edit: another correction in the last chapter! Edward is 20 years old, not 12! Sorry for the big mistake!

TL: clover

ED: clover

On the north of Ichthyes1 continent where we lived, there was a country called Lucanrant.

It was a tough country in winter, it was also called Lucanrant the Ice and Snow Country.

I knew about the tragedy that happened in Lucanrant from the memory of my previous life.

One of the people in the Dukedom of Lucanrant had gone mad and killed all of his family members.

—It was rumored that he wasn’t mad, but he was a werewolf, and somehow that whispered rumor seemed very plausible.

Actually, there was one person who survived this ‘Werewolf Massacre Incident.’

That person was the heroine of this game, Chloe Lucanrant.

After this incident, Chloe was hidden by a wealthy merchant’s family, and used the pseudonym Chloe Croakina.

She would enter the Leandez Magic Academy in the autumn when she was 14-years-old, seven years after the Incident, and would be involved again in a bizarre incident.

Pretty sure there were seven capture targets. And each hero had an individual scenario.

If you cleared the initial scenario, it was the type of a game where scenarios were released one after the other.

I was still in the middle of playing this game and had only cleared up two scenarios.

I had just started the third scenario in the commuter train in my last day.

Yeah, I had not completed the game.

I was stabbed three days after the release date!

Hahaha, it’s painful, isn’t it!

Apart from that.

First of all, I had to summarize the memory of my past life and my current life.

Let’s spread out the large parchment of a map and let us confirm the geography of this world.

This continent was roughly composed of four regions.

Lucanrant in the north, Harvan in the east, Aurelia in the west, and Ignitia in the south.

These were all old country names, and royalty of those old countries dominated these areas.

The northern Lucanrant was an extremely old country where its people had to migrate north just to make their own country, and they produced many brutal swordsmen who were strong and healthy.

The eastern Harvan was the second oldest country made by an ethnic group that visited this continent, it was located deep in the forest, and they produced versatile mages.

The southern Ignitia was a country of dragon knights who could ride on dragons.

At that time when they came to the southern region, the one who dominated the southern of Ichthyes was a country called Cascadia.

Ignitia destroyed Cascadia by the mighty strength of the dragon knights and conquered the southern part of this continent.

They were proud conquerors.

The western Aurelia was the alchemists’ country made by the 〈Visitor’s Clan〉 who was the last to come to this continent.

It was still impossible to turn lead into gold, but since we found enormous gold veins, it was the wealthiest region.

The current Duke of Aurelia was my father.

My mother died before I was three years old. Since then, my father was still single without remarrying.

My memory about mother was very few.

I could only remember her gentle singing voice and the touch of a gentle fingertip touching my cheek.

Was it because I was an unfeeling child or because it was hard to establish memory before three years old?

“Erica-sama~~, where are you~~?”

I heard the voice of the maid who was searching for me.

I was caught up in the sentimentality about my mother, but now not so much.

An event that would probably trigger my death flag could start anytime soon.

Now I wanted detailed information about the Aurelia in the west and Harvan in the east.

I would like to reinforce the knowledge I had lived as Erica Aurelia.

Especially, because—

“Oh, found you. Don’t trouble your maid too much, Erica.”

I was found by my brother.

By the way, this was my older brother’s study room.

It was not impossible for him to find me here.

“Onii-sama, I wasn’t hiding or running away. Before triggering my death flags, I have to collect information and be prepared!”

“Death flag……?”

Oops, my mouth slipped.

“Ah, no, never mind.”

“Hm, then, let’s go. Everyone is waiting for you.”

I didn’t think that I would meet that person the next day after I remembered the memory of my previous life.

I was just barely surpassed the save line.

I would have committed an irreparable mistake if I was late another day in remembering my past life.

Today was the day when the eastern Harvan family visited the western Aurelia family.

Among them, he was the capture target of the starting scenario of 『Liber Monstrum』– he was Klaus Harvan.

The Klaus who I knew, that was, the Klaus who was one of the game’s capture targets had such characters.

At the age of sixteen, he was a versatile mage.

A dignified sharp face.

A cruel character.

He was a boy with dark eyes filled with regrets that couldn’t be wiped out and a human being who looked resigned all the time.

Although he was supposed to have blue eyes and black hair in the setting, in the CG his eyes were drawn with a color as close to black as possible.

Why did he become such a person?

That was because he thought Ann Harvan, his sister, was killed due to his fault.

But, the one who actually killed Ann Harvan, was me.

To be precise, it was me who brought Ann to a place where the danger of death was hanging in plain sight.

It was the young villainous lady Erica Aurelia, who was the cause of Klaus’ sister’s death.

(This part will become the cause of my death six years later)

Every owl that were used to deliver a letter was killed, the land where the magic academy resided become a solitary island.

And then, with her whole body turned into gold, the dead body of Erica Aurelia was discovered.

This was the beginning of the first scenario, ‘The Golden Madness Murder Case.’

If I had to spoil it, so Ann went into the ancient ruins of Aurelia and was possessed by an evil spirit.

The evil spirit of the ancient ruins was a legendary alchemist.

He, who was the only one that succeeded in creating the Philosopher’s stone, had been killed by his compatriots who were trying to get the secret of its creation.

An evil spirit possessed by revenge, nostalgia, love, and hate caused a continuous death by ‘the Curse of Midas2’ at the academy.

Ann, who had been assimilated with the evil spirit for six years, aimed first at me who had killed her and killed me.

Yes, I could understand that feeling so much.

So.

Today I met that pair of brother and sister, Klaus and Ann!

I didn’t feel bad, but I didn’t know what would happen and I was afraid of dying!

What if when I met Klaus and Ann, I woke up as a villain?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Like the original Erica, I might become a villainous lady that pushed a person into a trap – I couldn’t stop trembling when I thought about everything that could go wrong.

“Erica, are you okay? Are you cold, you seem to be trembling……”

My gentle older brother carefully put his hand on my forehead.

Thank you very much, Onii-sama.

He treasured his younger sister who had awaken the memory of her past life without change.

“I’m okay, Onii-sama. I will be seeing some of Harvan’s people for the first time, so I am a bit nervous.”

“You can rest assured, Erica. Eastern people are gentle and kind. Oh yeah, the son of Duke Harvan is older than you by two years, while his daughter is a year younger than you.”

“Yes, I have heard from Otou-sama. Klaus-sama and Ann-sama, right?”

“It will be good if you can become friends.”

“Yes.”

I had calmed down when I was talking to my older brother.

I would do my best.

It was yesterday that I awaken the memory of my previous life, so the countermeasure hadn’t been prepared properly.

Still, it wasn’t good to be crushed by tension from the beginning.

“Aah, that’s right. I will give this to you. Because a spell for courage was put on the stone, even the shy Erica surely can be friendly to your new friends.”

As he said that, my older brother hung a necklace with a stone which had a hint of blue light around my neck.

(This is, a star crystal……)

The star crystal was a mineral which was Aurelia’s special product.

It had another name which was 〈star of the navigator〉

It was a crystal of a special mineral that emits light as its surroundings got darker in response to weak magical powers.

When you used a piece of star crystal in the size of the tip of a fingernail into a glass tube and used it as a lamp, it kept the same brightness as a candle.

In this 〈Spring Palace〉 such star crystal lamps had been installed everywhere.

However, I had never seen crystals that were large in size and weren’t put into a container like this necklace.

“Onii-sama, this is–”

“This is a secret from father, okay? This is the result of my friend from the magic academy’s research into the Ruins of Visitor. I wonder if it’s a good gift for Erica. I had the stone cut and tailored it to a necklace. Star crystals of this size, it shouldn’t exist anywhere in this world except in that ruins.”

“Eeh……!?”

Ruins of Visitor.

The moment I heard those words, I stiffened.

“Onii-sama, thank you very much. But Otou-sama said that the ruins are dangerous……?”

“That’s why, keep this a secret from father.”

〈Ruins of Visitor〉 was a place where Ann would lose her life and it was the place where the evil spirit was sleeping.

The reason why Klaus and Ann sneaked into the Ruins of Visitor at the game『Liber Monstrum』was the star crystals.

To Ann who wanted this beautiful jewel, the young lady Erica told Ann about the location of the entrance to the dangerous ruins.

Erica’s line in the game played in my head with her character’s voice.

(This is an important stone from Onii-sama! If you want it, you can find it yourself!)

This was–! This was my true death flag!!

I almost threw the necklace away from the window just now, but I couldn’t do it to the present from my older brother and his friend.

If possible, I would like to avoid wearing it too noticeably when meeting with the Harvan family.

I spoke with my older brother carefully and smartly so that no suspicious behaviors appeared.

“Onii-sama, I’m very happy, but……it’s too obvious. Otou-sama will be there with us after all.”

“Hmm, as expected that’s not good.”

“Then, how about hiding it under my dress?”

“I see, that’s alright.”

I will steadily strike down the death flags.

1 Ichthyes (イクテュエス): means Pisces in Greek. The more you know lol.

2 Midas: it was a story about a king who was so greedy and wished that everything he touched turn into gold. Meaning, the Curse of Midas is where people died by turning into a gold statue.