A few minutes later, after hastily wrapping up the scene in my room, I supported Marina's unconscious body as we made our way through the corridors of the chateau.

  "Help!" My voice echoed through the halls, intently sharp with desperation.

  But as I cried out, I noticed Marina beginning to regain consciousness, her groans signaling her slow return to awareness. I seized the opportunity to call out for help myself, my voice layered with urgency and confusion.

  "What happened? What's going on?" Marina's words were fragmented, her expression a mix of pain and disorientation.

  Before I could provide an explanation to the inquiring Marina, footsteps approached that soon was revelaed to be guards, drawn by the commotion.

  "Young lady Faye?!"

  "We felt the commotion. What happened?"

  At least seven men. Armed to the teeth, they all, hectic, demanded to know what had occurred.

  "I've been attacked," I exclaimed, my tone matching Marina's distress. "Someone entered my room and attacked Marina… most likely mistaking her for me. I fought back, and thankfully, Rivald intervened. He's holding the assailant in his room while I escaped with Marina."

  Understanding flashed in the guards' eyes as they processed my words. Without hesitation, I issued a command.

  "Go help Rivald! He needs assistance," I urged.

  While most guards immediately rushed to assist the man who had unwittingly become a casualty of my plan, two attempted to assist me with Marina, insisting that I needed to be brought to safety, I refused adamantly to let go of her.

  "I appreciate your concern, but Rivald needs your help now," I stated firmly, my voice leaving no room for argument. "Go assist him and capture or kill that assailant."

  Coming to an understanding, the guards nodded, falling for the fake urgency of the situation. As they hurried off to carry out my orders, I turned back to Marina, continuing to support her weight as we moved through the corridors.

  "My lady, please let go of me. Go to safety!" Marina pleaded, her voice laced with fear.

  "No," I replied simply, my fake determination unyielding.

  But Marina persisted. Finally, I posed a question that left her speechless.

  "Do you want to be left behind?"

  Marina didn't answer, her silence speaking for herself. With a resolute nod, I affirmed, "I don’t want to leave you behind either."

  Continuing on, we passed more guards, and I issued the same instructions to each, urging them to aid Rivald and apprehend our "attacker".

  As we reached a section of the castle where servants and guards had gathered near a door leading to belonging to one of my sisters, it was the room where we earlier had our late night talk. From the look of it, even with me gone it wasn't yet disbanded. Amidst the servants, I recognized Ane among them, my former personal servant.

  Rushing over she asked, "My Lady you’re injured?!"

  "No, I’m not. She is. This is her blood," I explained leaving Marina to the care of a servant who rushed over to take care of her.

  "Lady Faye, we heard a loud commotion, what happened?"

  "It was me. Someone attacked me, and I defended myself," I explained, showcasing the black blue-gemmed staff I held tightly. "They were strong. My guard held the assailant off when we ran for safety."

  Displaying worry on my face, I asked, "Where are my sisters?"

  Rushing to the room to open the door, "they’re in the room," one of the guards chimed in, after asserting with relief their safety.

  Nodding in acknowledgment, I relayed my next instruction with a sense of urgency. " Get my sisters out of this room. It's not safe here. I was attacked inside my own."

  With a determined nod, I suggested our next destination. "Let's head to the dungeon."

  As my sisters emerged from their room, their faces etched with concern, one of them, likely the eldest, spoke up, "Faye, what happened?"

  Taking a deep breath, I quickly summarized the situation. "The castle is under attack. We don't know how many of them are here. Our room isn't safe. I've been attacked on my own. Let's head to the dungeon. It's the safest place in this castle."

  At this point, I contemplated sending the remaining guards to secure my room, but the thought of it possibly arousing suspicion deterred me. Instead, I chose to keep them close, their presence potentially crucial in the unfolding chaos.

  Amidst the chaos and unrest, none of them, especially my sisters, who had never faced anything like this before, dared to contest my suggestion. It wasn’t a bad one, after all. The dungeon was a safe place, with only one entrance and one exit. While the former was comforting, the latter was a concern. But at that moment, all they could likely focus on was the promise of safety, a mistake, in my opinion.

  "Let’s go!"

  Urging them on, we soon began to move.

  From the moment I began plotting my escape years ago, I envisioned a single strategy based on the setting I was in. For me, so long as I were beneath level 40, or at the very least level 35, the only opportunity of escape would arise when both "Father" and "Justaff" were absent, Father occasionally leaving the Chateau and Justaff hunting monsters necessary for my level-ups. These absences rarely coincided, but when they did, I considered escaping. However, recalling how my being low level fared me in my past lives, I decided to wait until I had reached the highest possible level before attempting to flee.

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  The essence of the plan I usually come with was to ensure that my departure did not appear to be an escape. Should Father and Justaff realize I had fled, they would undoubtedly promptly pursue me and find me. Therefore, my strategy was to stage my disappearance as an abduction. Given the family's contentious history and goals, one could easily name at least ten powerful enemies who might wish for its downfall, any of whom could be convincingly blamed for my abduction.

  As for the method of orchestrating my abduction, I considered two main approaches. The first was more drastic: eliminate all potential witnesses in the chateau, effectively making it appear as if the castle had been sacked. This method would hide my escape in plain sight, akin to hiding a tree in a forest. However, appealing as this straightforward approach was, my current level was insufficient for such a bold move, especially with how, upon closing on the day of his departure for the imperial capital, Father had increased the number of guards in the chateau.

  So instead, I opted for the second method, which required a more stealthy but broad daylight approach. This involved more effort but aimed to achieve a similar outcome. By wreaking chaos that I’d blame on a mysterious assaillant and disappearing under chaotic circumstances, the castle’s denizens would believe I had been abducted. Upon their return, instead of searching for me, Father would waste his efforts hunting for a nonexistent perpetrator, a wild goose chase leading nowhere. Ideally the best outcome, the one I was dreaming for, was that upon hearing of my "abduction," he accused a noble family of it, and entered into a dispute with that family that eventually led to this family's ultimate downfall, but even I knew I was asking too much of the Goddess with this one.

  As we neared the turn that led to the corridor toward the dungeon, someone in the group shouted, "We're close!" Urgency tinged their voices, with one of my sister's servants pleading, "Please hurry, my lady."

  Purposefully, I had decelerated my pace to lag slightly behind the rest. Grasping my staff, I readied myself as the others paid no heed to my actions.

  Just as we were about to make the turn toward the dungeon, I unleashed my skill [Ice Magic] in a seamless motion. It took only a second. I turned and raised a wall of ice, sealing the corridor behind us. The sudden barrier elicited screams of panic; even the guards flinched, their hands reaching for their swords as they shouted, "What’s happening? Are we under attack?"

  I locked eyes with Ane, the only one who had seen what I had done. Facing the confused guards and my terrified companions, I feigned a grave tone, my voice pitched to stir concern.

  "It's just a hunch—I don’t know why but I felt like we were about to be attacked. It was I who suggested going to the dungeon, but what if someone is following us?"

  Before anyone could challenge my actions, I raised my staff again, manifesting a magic circle. "I'll add another layer to my ice wall. No one will make it past this. You all go ahead," I instructed firmly. The order spurred the servants and my sister to press forward without hesitation.

  The guards and Ane seemed reluctant, but as I pressed, "While I think that someone might follow us to the Dungeon, someone also already is in the dungeon, so I need you two to take the lead for the group, make sure the path is secure." They still seemed hesitant, but eventually, they complied, leaving only Ane with me.

  Facing her, I spoke bluntly, "If someone really has followed us, you’d be a huge bother with my spells and ice magic around." After a moment's hesitation, she finally nodded, "I'll wait for you in the dungeon, my lady."

  I responded with a simple nod.

  Even after being dismissed from her role as my personal servant, Ane, who had practically raised me from infancy, hadn’t changed much.

  Once I could no longer hear her footsteps, I ceased my pretense. Approaching the ice wall I had summoned, I manipulated it to create a passage just wide enough for me to slip through. On the other side, I took a deep breath and reversed direction, heading back the way we had come.

  With no prying eyes left to witness, it was time to proceed with the true "escape" part of my plan. Moving stealthily through the chaos I had orchestrated, I, running like I never ever did in this incarnation, made my way out of the chateau with a large smile on my face. I headed for the stable, intent on taking a horse. Although traveling on foot might be the safer option to avoid suspicion, it was too slow. I needed to put as much distance as possible between myself and this place, and for that, a horse was necessary.

  Rushing toward the stable, concealed in the dark by the looming shadow of the chateau, shadows that I couldn’t be but be grateful for.

  My skill [Eagle Eye], having recently leveled up, now granted me enhanced vision even in the darkness. This new threshold of my ability made navigating the dimly lit grounds to the stable straightforward.

  As I approached the stable, however, I noticed a figure standing at the entrance, a torch in one hand and a hay fork in the other. I had heard that someone was sleeping and mostly living in the stable, but with the commotion I had caused, I had hoped he would be drawn toward the chateau out of curiosity or concern.

  Instead, here he was, evidently prepared to defend his fief with his life.

  Clutching my staff, I thought to myself, "Fine. This is going to be another incident to pin on the nonexistent assailants of mine."

  ***

  Riding through the night, the sturdy black horse's hooves pounded against the earth, stirring up dust as we came to a halt on a small elevation, a distance away from the castle. As the realization sank in that I had managed to escape without being discovered or pursued, I turned around to gaze back at the chateau, which loomed in the faraway distance.

  Reaching up and pulling back the hood of the cloak I had requisitioned from the stable guardian, I activated my skill [Eagle Eye], granting me heightened vision. Scanning the landscape, I located the section where my room was located, and saw it engulfed in flames.

  "I could have been a great pyromancer, but the system has chosen otherwise," I mused, a delighted smile spreading across my face at the sight. "After 14 years…finally."

  There is a familiar pattern I've set for myself in all my incarnations. The first part involves, much like a cuckoo to a host nest, taking advantage of the family I spawn into to survive the most challenging part of each reincarnation, childhood. The second part, occurring between the ages of 12 to 22, involves weaning off the family I've spawned into, separating myself from the fake persona I've developed from childhood.

  Through trials and failures, I've established that the earlier the separation, the better, but also that, ironically, the later, the safer. With ten years in between to make the choice, the decision is often arbitrary. However, as a rule of thumb, one should rely on the date of the next earliest Path of Convergence event. It is to attend that event that I am to leave behind the persona I’ve developed thus far. This event was scheduled in less than a year's time, just around the time I’d turn 15. So, unless I was relying on the hope of another better opportunity for escape happening in between or wanted to wait for the next Path of Convergence to make my escape, the opportunity had to be taken now, which I did. I took it, and I made it.

  With a sense of liberation coursing through my veins, I pulled the hood of my cloak over my head, obscuring my features from any prying eyes. Reigning over the requisitioned horse, I leaned forward to rearrange the way I carried my staff, murmuring reassurances to the steed beneath me.

  "There's still a long road ahead of us, my new friend," I whispered, patting its mane reassuringly.

  As my words reached its ears, the horse whinnied softly, shifting beneath me in readiness. With a determined nod, I urged it forward with a gentle press of my heels, urging, "Hya!"

  With a burst of energy, we darted off into the night, heading in the direction of the first moon, our path illuminated by its gentle glow.