Chapter 3 - Ete

The chirping of the birds and the heat of the sun awoken Geraldine from sleep. Her body is aching as if she's been tossed multiple times before landing on hard flooring.

"Ah!" She grasps for air while flinging her arms upward to stop something that prevented her from breathing.

After a couple of seconds, she finally calms down and her breathing became normal. Multiple beads of sweat formed on her forehead as she sits up on her fluffy bed.

The first thing she saw is her legs covered with her pink satin nightgown. Geraldine wiggled her toes and brought up her hands into her line of vision to see soft and delicate small hands.

Tears of joy flow on her pinkish cheeks, she can't believe that her prayers have been answered.

*I'm alive and breathing and living in my original body!*

"I'm alive... I'm human," Her voice cracks but it didn't stop her from saying her first words after 1000 years of being a spear.

She hurriedly crawls from the bed towards the full body mirror at the side but when she takes her first step, she instantly falls to her knees as she wasn't able to hold her weight for a while.

"Ouch!" She rubs her knees and stays in the same position for a couple of minutes. When she felt her energy coming back, she tried to stand up and this time she can fully straighten her knees but it's still wobbling but it didn't stop her from reaching to the mirror even if it takes physical effort.

Skin as pale as snow, eyes as red as blood. These are Geraldine's main features aside from her pointy nose and pinkish cheeks and lips but what catches the eyes most is her hair, curly waves layered hair in vanilla color. An extremely rare type of hair color as most people in the Empire consist of dark colors, such as black, brown, dark blue, dark red, etc.

"I thought it was just a dream but here I am in my original body..." She couldn't help but feel extremely happy but that moment stops when a surge of feeling came in.

*Revenge*

This is what Geraldine wants in the first place when she prays to become human again. To go back to the world she yearns for but she was not the same naive girl from before, she's now a woman who lived for more than 1000 years inside the body of a girl.

Geraldine touches her reflection in the mirror, she was young and small. A symbol of being helpless with no power to fight against those who are strong and older than her.

"I'm back... I've come back."

Geraldine, a woman who had lost everything, a person who lived most of her life being a spear and help the Empire to prosperity. Being the greatest and the richest Empire all over the land, nobody felt guilty that her life is ruined because of the selfish and proud Emperors who treated her like trash.

"No one.... should be proud to be an Imperial citizen!"

"I will destroy this Empire..."

"I will destroy it all!"

After pouring out her hate, she calmed herself down and decided to start her day. She never bothered to call the servants to help her out as they are as vile as her family, treating her like nothing but act as they cared for her.

Geraldine planned to venture outside and started to work towards her goal but first, she needed to know what year she went back this time.

Wearing a soft ruffled yellow dress embroidered with small white lilies and a white ribbon on the top, she opened the door and the smell of summer hit her nose. The warm weather makes everything lively, the flowers dance in the soft breeze as they bath in sunlight.

Geraldine missed the feeling of being outside in warm weather as she's used to the cold temperature when she was a spear. Before when she was still a naive girl, she always hated the summer season and the reason is that her mother died during that season. So, she never goes out during summer but it changes today.

Walking in the corridors, she can't help but smile. Geraldine still couldn't believe she was back in the past.

"Is that Lady Geraldine!?" Shock voices of the servants could be heard but Geraldine paid no attention and went towards them with a serious face.

"What year is it today?" She asked in a calm tone.

"Lady, it's 324th Imperial Year," Both maids bowed their heads towards Geraldine. They were shocked to see their Lady came out during summer but what they find most surprising is the heavy intimidating atmosphere surrounding Geraldine that they can't simply ignore. She was more like a woman than a child of her age which is completely different from her usual self.

Geraldine nod her head a little and was about to walk away.

"My lady, the Duke will be arriving soon," The maid notified her as they thought Geraldine would go back to her room to avoid the Duke.

Geraldine looked at the maid's face and tilted her head to the side, "I won't go back to my room," after she said those words, she turned and went the other way towards the garden.

*I've come back exactly 1000 years into the past. The year 324, when I was 14 years old.*

In those past 1000 years of her being a spear, she learned great knowledge from the Emperors and even some secrets that they wanted to keep away from the public. One of those secrets is about the Black element, a taboo element that the Royal government wanted to avoid and hide at all cost, not because it's bad to use or something but it's too powerful and if it wields correctly it could be used against them so easily.

*A worthy element.*

Geraldine had taken interest in the black element when she first knows about it. She finds it very astonishing and could be used as a mighty weapon against the Empire.

Arriving at the garden, she went to the greenhouse where a rare type of plants are displayed, and at the very end are bookshelves that contain books about plants and insects knowledge.