Chapter 3
As Maya arrived at the dining room, she found Elise.
“Oh my, Maya. What are you doing without even greeting me? You should have stayed in your room and waited for your meal properly.”
Her mother, Elise, widened her eyes and scolded her.
Maya looked at her calmly.
If it had been her past self, she would have bowed her head and obeyed Elise, desperately trying to earn her affection.
But not anymore.
There are people you shouldn’t expect anything from.
Maya clearly remembered Elise’s past behavior.
She was garbage who didn’t even need to go to the bathroom to shit—just a piece of trash in human form.
“Maya, if you listen well to your mother, you’ll be a pretty daughter. Don’t you want to be loved?”
She said those things with her mouth.
Elise always knew Maya’s weak points and poked at them mercilessly.
It was all empty hope.
She was a mother who looked down on her daughter and adored her son—a disgusting excuse for a parent.
Still, Maya had once respected her as her mother.
Because she believed that was what a human should do.
But after becoming Knight Commander, and nearly dying because Elise tried to sell her off again to pay gambling debts…
She finally woke up.
Elise never changed—she tried to sell Maya again for gambling debts and ended up dying in failure.
Any remaining attachment had already been burned away in the previous life.
She was just someone who would use me anyway.
After everything, Maya could no longer see her as family.
Love, affection, family—those were illusions that didn’t exist.
So this is my last chance at a life full of regret?
There had been days when she blamed herself for never speaking back, never resisting Elise.
I used to have things I wanted to say to her.
Maya smirked.
Forget it. Who cares.
Wasn’t this a dream anyway?
She wouldn’t be controlled by affection or love anymore.
Throwing away one’s life for illusions was foolish.
“So you want to be called ‘mother’ even though you’ll sell me off later?”
Maya said sharply with a mocking smile.
Ah, that feels great.
Her chest felt wide open, like a suffocating weight had disappeared.
Maybe it was because she hadn’t spoken her true feelings in so long.
Elise was stunned.
Her mouth hung open as she trembled.
“M-Maya… what did you just say? To your mother?!”
Such a loud voice.
Maya picked at her ear as if cleaning it and replied.
“Mother? Just because you gave birth doesn’t make you a parent. A parent has to act like one.”
Elise grabbed the back of her neck, staring at Maya’s stiff posture.
“You… you’ve truly gone mad…”
Then she suddenly collapsed backward.
But Maya saw it—the subtle, careful movement as she protected her head.
She’s still conscious enough to protect herself.
If she could protect her head, she was fine.
Good.
Maya decided to use the situation to her advantage.
“Aren’t you going to take her away?”
Maya calmly instructed the maid.
“Pardon?”
“Uh…”
“She fainted. Hurry and take her to her room. We can’t leave her on the cold floor.”
It was ironic coming from the person who caused it, but Maya was unbothered.
“Hurry.”
Her tone carried a commanding presence the servants had never felt before.
“Y-yes… understood.”
In the end, the maid carried Elise away.
Maya clenched her fist.
We need to reduce the number of servants too.
This collapsing household couldn’t afford this many workers. It was all Elise’s vanity.
Honestly, Maya didn’t care if the house fell apart.
I’ll think about it after I eat.
For now, until this dream ended, she decided to follow her own desires.
And right now—she was hungry.
“Bring food. Warm food.”
The dining room, now empty without Elise, felt peaceful.
Good thing I spoke my mind.
Thanks to that, Maya enjoyed a comfortable meal alone.
But when does this dream end?
It felt too long. The taste of the food was also unnaturally real.
Still, the meal was satisfying.
Food was the best.
It was when she saw garbage moving in front of her.
“Maya, are you insane? What nonsense did you say to Mother?!”
Her only sibling—the one she didn’t even want to call her brother—appeared the next day.
MacGuire, who constantly drained the Pendragon household, had clearly been whining to Elise after returning from the gambling house.
He only came the next day because he had spent the night gambling and lost everything.
The picture was obvious.
Maya scoffed.
“What are you talking about? A trash who loses money every day.”
Every time she spoke what she had kept inside, she felt exhilarated.
This is what it means to live!
She felt alive.
Well, her body was probably dying, but still.
Why didn’t I live like this sooner?
Now that she was saying everything she wanted, she couldn’t understand why she had lived so quietly before.
It was that simple.
Life can change so easily.
Change was both difficult and easy.
“You done talking?”
MacGuire’s rage was not frightening at all.
Maya smiled and nodded.
“Yep.”
He trembled with anger.
“You little— I treated you like my sister—”
He rushed forward and threw a punch.
Maya easily dodged it. Even before awakening, he was no match for her.
“That all you’ve got?”
His physical ability was truly pathetic.
She wasn’t mocking him—she genuinely wondered.
That only made him angrier.
“This brat!”
His face turned red.
This is familiar.
He had never once admitted she was stronger than him.
His pride as a man.
“Maya stole your place, MacGuire.”
Their mother Elise and their father Otto had always protected the wounded son.
They were the very reason House Pendragon had fallen into ruin.
“Sorry if I hurt your pride. I just asked because you’re too slow to even take a hit.”
Maya explained calmly.
She was no longer the girl who would quietly accept beatings out of guilt.
“Shut up!”
MacGuire rushed at her again, throwing punch after punch.
All of them missed.
After dozens of failed swings, he ran out of breath.
His stamina was embarrassingly low.
“…Are you eating properly? You’re seriously out of shape.”
Maya asked innocently.
MacGuire lowered his head in shame.
“…Tch, don’t expect dinner tonight!”
He stormed out, slamming the door.
Maya frowned.
No dinner?
Food is important.
For Maya, this was a serious matter.
But then again…
It’s just a dream anyway.
Her coma-like state had lasted long enough. Maybe she was dying.
Maybe this was her final mercy—letting her say everything before death.
That night, she went to sleep hungry.
And woke up at dawn to a loud growling stomach.
Hungry.
Her senses were sharper than ever, like a starving beast searching for food.
Everything felt too real.
Colors too vivid. Smells too strong.
Reality was no longer something she could deny.
…This isn’t a dream.
No dream lasted this long.
Her subconscious couldn’t recreate everything so perfectly.
It even remembered people like MacGuire, Elise, and random servants.
There was only one conclusion.
This is reality.
Not hell. Not a coma.
I’ve returned to the past—before my awakening.
Was it divine mercy?
She had been given a second chance at a life full of regret.
And she had already insulted her family before awakening.
“…Is this going to be a problem?”
Her satisfaction faded into concern.
This was the period when Elise and MacGuire were desperate to expel her.
Her strange behavior had just given them a reason.
I need to stay here until I awaken.
She hated this house—but she had a reason to remain.
I must awaken.
Her Swordmaster awakening.
Her sword was her identity.
Even if her choices after awakening were wrong, she never regretted the awakening itself.
The White Dragon sword was everything to her.
To become a true Swordmaster beyond human limits, she had fought life-or-death battles with monsters.
But in the capital where she currently lived, monsters were almost nonexistent.
Until the event that triggered her awakening, there were barely any.
Most were handled by the Imperial Family or the North.
What should I do?
Her future was supposed to stay unchanged.
If she got kicked out now, she might never awaken at all.
Everything was already starting to go wrong.
