4. To Antiquity

Ayan was falling. To be precise, she has been falling for an hour and still hasn't reached the ground. Is this the feeling when Alice fell in the rabbit hole?

Ayan: This isn't scientific.

She has to arrive at some point in time. Just where did the little fairy boy take her to?

When she was about to grow mold from waiting, images and texts like a picture book appeared as she continued to descend.

There is an incredibly progressive kingdom with imposing architectural design. The lofty towers, statuses and its cobblestone paved roads. The spacious gardens and magnificent mansions. Ayan felt like watching a period drama with top-grade visual effects.

So awesome, but not all that glitters is gold.

The kingdom she came from is named Lattice under the new rule of King Oz II. Here there are people called Diviners, people gifted by the gods to aid the kingdom against the inhabitants of the Dark Continent. The most illustrious existences enjoying the highest priority other than the monarch.

Magic exists, and there are also people who are skilled in the arts of magic called Warlocks. But unlike described in the novels where they ostentatiously go on adventures and compete with each other, the Warlocks in this world are only a small percent and highly sought after as experts.

Large families would pay a fortune to employ one in their households.

In the Lattice Kingdom, the monarch is extravagant and debauched. On the surface all is well, but the truth is that the new reign is still plagued with many problems such as the receding gold in the treasury and threats of natural disasters. These problems are closely felt by serfs and citizens in the faraway country, seldom by the aristocrat in the capital who enjoys first-hand pampering from their king.

How could a monarch such as King Oz hold on to his position? It was by relying on the power of the Diviner.

After cleaning up the loyal subordinates of the previous ruler, he is now busy polishing his image to the more than seventy million people of the kingdom by throwing lavish banquets and organizing sports such as jousting and hunting to maintain the illusion of stability to his neighbouring countries.

Under the previous king, there were two powerful people who serve as his aide. One in political affairs and one in the military. Contrary to the popular belief, these two factions share quite an amicable relationship and they have a common enemy: corruption.

When the revolt against the last monarch succeeded the army was sent back to defend the borders while the prime minister was dismissed for retirement. Some of the corrupt lords have been removed from the chamber only to be replaced by equally dishonest ones.

But that's not Ayan's focus though but the life story of one lady. Ayan read through the texts with growing curiosity.

Miss Elford is the favoured daughter of an earl. She was so spoiled and reckless that none of the other ladies her age would want to be associated with her. Some say she was proud, others simply dismiss her as a bad example to females in general. In short, nobody liked her despite being the daughter of an earl.

One time she chased the son of the Grand Commander when she saw him march with his father during the ceremonial parade. She hounded and pestered him until she got the engagement she wanted.

Unfortunately, when she saw yet another handsome man, she chased and pestered him the same. But she was disappointed this time because her father no longer tolerated her whims. Lady Elford could only bite her handkerchief and watch the handsome man get acquainted with a poor baron's daughter.

Ayan shuddered. She had a bad premonition; she had read quite a few novels to know exactly where this story is going…

She was right; the handsome man and the baron's daughter eventually fell in love under Lady Elford's jealous eyes. She did every clever trick she could think of to capture the man’s attention all to no avail. In the end, all her craziness was broadcasted around the capital smearing her noble reputation.

The lovers married happily while she received the news of her fiance's accident in the frontier. Lady Elford strongly refused to continue with the engagement now that the Grand Commander's son was lame. She begged her father and even starved herself, but it was too late.

Her earl father was bent on teaching her a lesson. The next day she was packed and married into the Grand Commander's house against her will.

Wait, wait, wait, just wait! How come she feels this story sounded like a fraud? She can feel it in her gut!

A noble-born lady acting like an escaped mental patient chasing some man who doesn’t like her. Even the harlots in the brothel wouldn’t do such a stupid thing. And the most ridiculous thing of all is that a daughter of a lower-ranked nobleman marrying someone with that kind of title. Did the author mess up the hierarchy?

Just as Ayan wanted to delve in deeper her head stung all of a sudden. It was so painful as if a hundred devils were hammering her poor skull.

"Aw! Damn it hurts so much!" She roared, bouncing up like a spring.

"Mother…. Wooohuhuh… don't leave us."

Ayan who was too engrossed in her pain, only realized something was not right when she saw two children looking at her.

"Y-You, you…" she repeated while pointing a shaky finger.

"Mommy?”

Me, your mommy?

“A-Are you well? Did you… forget about us?" the redhead one cried, his tears rushing like a faucet.

"Mother." The dark-haired one hesitated. His eyes had no tears but there was still anxiety in them.

Mommy. Mother.

It looks like the magic in this world is too strong. She gave birth to such huge babies.

This is not scientific at all!

Ayan fumbled around, inching away from them, but then she suddenly realized something. Her dream. She quickly collected her scattered bearings to avoid further embarrassment.

“Fairy, you come out here. You owe me!” but the other side remained silent.

The boys looked at her with increasing worry. After a span of more than sixty seconds, Ayan’s head cleared.

So this is them? The ones she had been dreaming of. Slowly, she calmed down and took a good look. Right, she crossed and seems to have gloriously become a mother of two.

“I, I’m sorry. I was a little uncomfortable.”

Two boys who look exactly the same, one has fiery red hair while the other has a black hair. Their eyes are the colour of deep sea fringed by dense curly eyelashes. Little pink lips and tall noses. Sadly, the poor babies look thin. They would be even more adorable once they grew chubby.

Two pairs of bewildered eyes are still glued on her. Ayan got up from the ground and fixed her dishevelled self.

Oh my god, what did she see?

They were not anywhere else but in a cave. Not in a nobleman's boudoir, not even in a shabby hut, but a cave!

Then why was she shown those tall and majestic buildings if she's going to be thrown in the wild in the first place? The setting is wrong.

Ayan counted from one to ten then again. Breath in then breathe out to prevent a horrified scream from breaking out.

"W-Where are we?"

The black-haired baby answered, "Mother, you forgot. We fled from the Lattice Kingdom when the disaster broke out."

"Daddy said that it was dangerous to stay so please don't go back," the redhead said, his tears still falling like raindrops.

Ayan was confused. So they are no longer in Lattice, but somewhere in the wild because they fled? The story’s setting happened in Lattice, could it be that her body has nothing to do with the one she read?

She’s a mother of two while the characters in there were in their teens. Perhaps the script she picked was wrong.

By the way, where is the father of these two boys? As soon as questions popped in her head, an image would appear to supplement it.

She vaguely recalled a memory of the four running away and now they are only three.

Darn that fairy boy confusing her. She’s clearly playing an abandoned woman’s role here.

Her face suddenly darkened. That man, it looks like there are only her and these two boys now.

If that man ran away leaving them alone then… she sighed heavily. Well, it's unfortunate but there was nothing unusual out of it because when disaster comes, blood relationships are forfeit. Guess the world has more scum men than she thought.

She looked at two with sympathy. Then at herself.

She wore heavy clothing with a tight corset and panniers wider than a laundry basket. There are painful things poking at her chest too. What is this? When she pulled it out she was horrified to see a needle, then a few more. Hurriedly, she pulled them off, causing the front of her corset, the embroidered stomacher, to fall.

The world is already going crazy, what is the deal with these bloody clothes!? She's still in the mood to dress fancy. Unbelievable.

The upper bodice of her lavish gown came loose revealing all her smooth shoulders and the valley between her twin mountains. Ayan is in a dilemma, on top of being confused she has a wardrobe malfunction.

Then someone appeared in front of the cave.

"Carmine, Raven, come here," the tall man in coarse clothing called.

The two stopped gawking at their strange mother and ran to the tall man outside.

"H-Hey…" she still wanted to know more information from the two.

Ayan felt a pair of cold eagle eyes looking at her as if drilling holes into her face. She was at a loss.

Err sir, did I kick your dog or something? Then she remembered that she seems to know this person, but she didn't want to indulge the thought because that would be too terrifying.

Her eyes went from his frowning face down to the ivory cane clenched tightly in his right hand. His posture seems to be awkward, however, that did not diminish the intensity of his aura one bit.

Ayan only awoke from her stupor when the twins called out "Daddy" and "Father" at the same time.

"You're awake. This time stop making trouble," he spat out coldly.

Well, it seems she had a wrong assumption. They hadn't been abandoned at all.

After he spoke, she was left in the cave alone. Ayan looked down on herself and saw the half hanging clothes as if she had been robbed by ten beggars.

"Come out, come out," she chanted as she paced while awkwardly clutching her clothes.

But the fairy spirit did not answer her call. Ayan closed her eyes to enter the fairy ring and was taken aback by the scene. The space, except the house was cocooned by thick mist. She ran inside and looked at herself at the floor to ceiling mirror.

Iconic red hair and pretty like a seductress.

There was a wink of evil temptation in that pair of silvery eyes.

The heck, there was an upgrade? It's the same face, but with different hair and eye colour. Another thing was that she is now meatier. Yes, meaty. Thrice the size of her old self! Ayan stifled her scream by biting her fist then she slumped on the ottoman in shock.

This kind of upgrade, please take it back!

To make matters worse, her identity right now is no doubt that spoiled daughter of the earl, Lady Ayan Elford… no it must be Rozenberg now.

The timeline skipped five years after Lady Elford’s fall.

That man a while ago is her husband for five years, Clayton Rozenberg. The lame son of the Grand Commander she pestered and discarded.

No wonder he looked like he wanted to swallow her alive. Ayan rubs her forehead, feeling the beginning of a disaster.

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