CH 17

Chapter 17 – I want to choose for myself

Translator: Yonnee

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After our short trip to the capital, I returned to my daily life. Stretching out like a cat, I usually woke up in the quaint hour right before daybreak.

I had been reborn as a completely new person, but my habits remained ingrained in my memories, and it seemed like they wouldn’t disappear easily.

Ever since I came to possess this body, I had been training steadily. I still had the memories of my days as a member of the special forces—so clear, that it’s like those memories had been imprinted onto my brain—and so training wasn’t difficult for me.

All I did was to repeat what I had always done before.

The assistant instructor who was in charge of our training at that time repeatedly pushed us to our extremes.

We were instructed that, on the occasion that a comrade of ours were to die, we must use his or her deceased body as a shield or as a diversion so that we could escape. So on and so forth.

I was taught how to survive, and yet it was under the premise of death.

This kind of training repeated every single day, pushing me to the brink of the afterlife itself.

Before I reincarnated, the special forces had dispatched me to a place where Espers did not go. And of course, Espers did not visit the most underdeveloped places.

Even if the state of those places were like that, there were still people living there.

The government created a performative special unit for show to deploy to that place, and that very unit was where I was assigned. My unit was usually dispatched to those places to try and rescue survivors.

It could be said that it was a unit where only strong-willed people would be seen.

However, no matter how many strong-willed individuals were gathered in that one unit, those people had ordinary constitutions. If you’re not an Esper, it’s never going to be easy to deal with monsters.

Every time we were dispatched, only less than half of my colleagues would return.

I survived for a decade in that unit, but even as I lived, I could feel death looming closer and closer over my head as I got older. I suffered from extreme anxiety.

So I desperately coped through training my body. That was the only way I’d be able to survive.

Perhaps a god in heaven felt sorry for me. I became fortunate enough to manifest as a Guide, even if it was at a late age, and I was assigned to a Guide unit that’s considered as the best one in all of Korea.

And on the very day I was tested for my letter grade, I happened to take a matching test with my husband as well, then got the match rate that we had.

I wasn’t very knowledgeable about it, but it’s only obvious that getting a 99% match rate shouldn’t have been easy.

Everything all happened in a flash, as if it was fate pulling the strings ever so quickly.

At that time, Seo-yoon looked at me with eyes that carried a mix of frustration and envy.

Perhaps because I saw Ciel and Seo-yoon together like that, but my thoughts were jumbled together as I trained my body.

I hung on the bedpost of my bed’s canopy and exercised to train my arms and legs.

Then, as I landed on the floor, I made several repetitions of the hand-to-hand combat forms that I learned in the special forces.

Soon enough, my thoughts were slowly untangled.

Training was one of the best methods I had to get rid of my worries and distractions. In no time, the memories of my past were erased without a trace.

Over and over, I repeated the training that had been deeply ingrained in my mind, and this went on until the sun’s rays finally broke out from the horizon.

In the future, there might come a time when I would have to protect my family, instead of them just protecting me.

This thought was my main motivation.

After this, I took a bath alone and then went back to bed.

By that time, the sun had already completely risen to the sky, making the surroundings bright. I took a short nap before Mary came up to my room.

“Good morning, Milady.”

After Mary greeted me, I rose from the bed and washed up, changed my clothes, and went down to the dining hall, just as I usually did.

As always, I had a hearty breakfast with my family in a merry atmosphere.

“My daughter, shall we go out together to buy your coming-of-age present?”

“Yes please, I would love to.”

“Now that you’ve become an adult, will you be joining the garrison?”

“Yes, I’m going to join soon, Father.”

Hearing my answer, Dad’s expression became distorted. No, rather, his face crumpled completely.

“’Father’?! I’m still not ready to hear you call me that!”

“…Then, I’ll continue to call you Dad.”

“…You can just talk to me as comfortably as you have before.”

“I shouldn’t.”

With my hands on my waist, I shook my head resolutely.

Seeing my unyielding attitude, Dad dropped his shoulders and looked at me with a depressed expression.

Even as he shrank into himself with his shoulders drooping like that, Dad was a bear-like man with a huge physique.

He shouldn’t look cute at all, but maybe it’s because we’re blood-related that I still think he’s cute anyway?

I sneakily linked arms with Dad. Then the corners of his eyes, which had fallen down earlier, slowly curved delightedly.

As Dad now felt better, I went out with him to town and visited the smithy.

Old man Benjamin welcomed us to his shop. He’s been making weapons here at the Closch territory for a long time now.

“You’ve come, Milord? And oh, Young Miss, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other.”

Benjamin was in the twilight of his years, but he hadn’t yet stepped down from his post. His arms and wrists were as strong and sturdy as any young man’s.

“Yes, we’re here for a bow.”

Dad carried himself with a completely different atmosphere outside home. When it’s only us, he’d act adorably to Mom with that bear-like body of his, and he never hesitated to say words full of affection or act in a loving manner towards me, his daughter.

However, once he stepped outside the house, he was foremost this estate’s lord and the captain of the garrison.

“A bow, sir? Is it for the troops?”

“No, it’s for my daughter.”

“The Young Miss?”