CH 1

Creak.

The sound of the wooden door opening roused the girl from her sleep.

As she lifted her eyelids, her clear green eyes were revealed, and on top of the bed, her light-brown hair was disheveled carelessly. Looking at the reddish-brown wooden ceiling, she was left speechless and dumbfounded.

“How could it be…”

She could see a small and chubby hand in her vision as she raised her arms toward the ceiling and spread her palms wide.

At first glance, it seemed like the hands of a four-year-old.

“It must be a dweam.”

The plump body was paired with an inarticulate tongue. As she got out of bed and started waddling around the place, it seemed that she was inside a well-kept two-story cabin.

“Where am I?”

There was evidence of people living here, so it didn’t appear to be an abandoned cabin. Wasn’t it the creak of the door that roused her as well?

“Izeline!”

When the girl heard the shout from outside the door, her green eyes widened.

‘…Did someone call me? Am I Izeline?’

Despite her confusion, she climbed up the bed again and peeked out of the second-floor window. Outside, she could see a nine-year-old child smiling and waving his hand joyfully.

“Izeline!”

“Yes!”

She responded immediately, assuming that this body’s name was Izeline. Even though she didn’t know how she ended up in this situation, human’s ability to adapt to situations was quite remarkable.

The stranger who shouted was coming closer.

“Did Aunt Monica go to Armanty’s mansion?”

“Um, yes. Perhaps…?”

She replied, breaking out in cold sweat.

‘Armanty?’

As soon as she heard the name, she tried to deny it even though that familiar name instantly crossed her mind. It was because it was such a vivid dream, and she could be reading too much into it.

“Hurry and come down!”

“Yes. I’ll be there in a moment.”

First, let’s get moving. Izeline made her way down the wooden stairs to the first floor.

Creak.

As she pushed the old and weak wooden door, she was greeted by a distinctive sound in her ears.

“Should we play tag in the woods today?”

When the boy grinned mischievously and asked, Izeline stared at him and nodded.

“Yes.”

It was a dream, after all, so following a stranger shouldn’t be a problem, right? Moreover, it seemed like the two of them knew each other.

…Was this what they called a lucid dream? She could wake up whenever she wanted to?

Izeline was following the boy from behind, her mind racing with thoughts of her own. At that time, the boy slowed down and peeked at her behind him, she started to adjust her steps in response to that.

“You walk quite well for a four-year-old.”

As expected, she was four years old.

When she nodded and grinned, he grabbed his heart and let out a strange sound.

“Ugh, what an adorable child.”

‘Ah, this body must be adorable.’

When the boy looked at her, she could see hearts in his eyes as though she was adorable.

“Should we have soup and bread first before going into the woods? The corn soup made by my mother is superb.”

“Yes. I’m stawving, let’s eat first.”

“As expected, let’s do that. I’m sure the other kids are already eating. Let’s go.”

“Yes. The skin of my belly will meet my back.*”

[ T/N: Meaning her stomach is empty. ]

“Hahaha. How did you know such an expression? How adorable.”

He pinched Izeline’s plump cheeks slightly. When he finished, his eyes were bent as if he was dying of cuteness before he started walking ahead. The children were buzzing about when they arrived in front of a house.

“Camry! Bring some bread from outside!”

As soon as they entered the yard, she could hear the boy’s mother, Julie, shouting. Izeline was relieved to finally know the name of the person who she walked with.

“Izeline, there you are. Eat a lot, okay?”

“Yes.”

She politely took the soup Julie was giving with both hands. Camry reappeared out of nowhere with some bread, which he placed in a bowl.

“Let’s eat together.”

“Yes.”

Izeline walked and settled in a secluded corner. The dream was so vivid that her stomach was rumbling. She dipped her bread into the soup, stuffed it into her mouth like a squirrel, and began chewing.

The next moment, she glanced at her surroundings.

‘It seemed to be a village.’

It was a lush and wide place with green fields and orchards, so if this was the background of the novel she read…

‘The Armanty mansion that was mentioned…’

There was only one novel with such a background.

This village called ‘Souvri’ had a mansion where the novel’s villain, Robert, recuperated when he was young. The luxurious mansion they could see on the hill in the distance would probably be the Duke of Armanty’s…

Did this happen because she was too into the novel she was reading?

She thought it was an illusion. A bright light suddenly appeared around her while she was immersed in reading, and she didn’t know whether she sucked the book or vice-versa. After that, she opened her eyes in this unfamiliar place.

There was a part of her that still believed she was just dreaming… but what if it was not a dream?

While eating the soup and bread, Izeline was completely absorbed in her thoughts. Just then, “The tag begins!” Someone suddenly got up and announced it. The children rushed out of the room as Izeline panicked.

“Wh-what?!”

“The tagger will be the last one to come out!”

What? They should’ve told her that before…!

Izeline ran with all her might. However, she seemed to be the smallest out of the children, so she was slow.

“They’re plotting against me!”

Camry glanced at her as he slowed down but soon disappeared as he entered the woods. Why did he slow down for a moment? He should’ve just continued running!

“Huft, huft.”

Izeline breathed heavily and put her hands on her knees.

‘You’re all dead! I’ll find you all!’

As she looked up at the dense woods, while it was a pretty big woods for children, it was a small one for adults. The appropriately sized wood made it a good playground for children.

Izeline clenched her fist and walked in. The wide and flat leaves were hanging on the thin trees.

Pitter-patter.

As she was walking through the woods in search of the children, out of nowhere, someone suddenly shouted above her.

“Izeline! I’m here!”

“Bleblebe─!”

The guys who were dangling from the branches like monkeys didn’t seem to be nervous. The reason was that they knew the small Izeline couldn’t catch them.

“You’re annoying!”

They liked it better when she was upset. She was about to climb up but then remembered her body’s capability, so she decided against it. It seemed that she’d have go after the children who weren’t good at climbing trees, but…

‘Ugh!‘

She was so annoyed! Even after a long time since the tag began, she couldn’t catch anyone.

Because of her tiny body, she was breathless and couldn’t run fast because of the trunks in the ground. When she caught a glimpse of someone’s shadow, they bolted away with a rustling sound in an instant. She didn’t think she could catch even one person.

She’d hit the first person’s head that she caught! Izeline smirked to herself, thinking of how she would express her rage.

“Oh? I found you!”

Izeline saw a black hair sticking out from behind a thick tree and started running. She’d be in trouble if they ran away again.

“Tag!”

Bump!

The next moment, she put her small fist on top of their head.

“Sniff…”

“Oh my…”

Seeing the boy, who didn’t flee and was crouching quietly, began to weep, Izeline was shocked.

“So-sowwy. Does it hurt a lot?”

She thought she didn’t hit him too hard… Well, it could only be equal to a slap on the wrist for adults but not for children her age. Besides, he cried so sadly that she felt like a criminal. Izeline squatted down and tilted her head to look into the child’s face.

“Awe you okay?”

At the same time, she gently stroked the part she hit with her plump hand.

“I’m sowwy. That was a joke.”

“…What are you doing?”

“Me? I’m the tagger.”

She smiled after seeing the boy’s red eyes and added, “Now you’we the tagger.”

“….”

There was no response from the boy. He only wiped his wet eyes with his plump hand and frowned.

“You do it, go ahead.”

Instead, he silently trudged out of the woods. Izeline was speechless. He didn’t want to do it? Still, if he got caught, he had to do it… or was he upset because she hit him?

‘My, my. Such an obnoxious guy!’

When she pledged not to play with him again, she suddenly thought that she had no recollection of seeing him at Camry’s house just now.

‘…His face is unfamiliar.’

Well, there were so many kids whose faces she hadn’t gotten used to yet. Izeline shrugged off that thought. She was just going to run around and play tag!

“You’we all dead!”

It didn’t take long for her eyes to light up again, and she began scouring the woods.