4 To my first ball

[....]

"What? I can't hear you," I said.

His voice is distorted. The light covered his face. But he slowly walked in front. "No matter where you go, who you are, I will definitely find you,".

As I was reaching to the light, darkness slowly enveloped me. No, I don't want to wake up. Please let me die. Let me rest. I am tired.

I jolted from my sleep.

'That dream again….'

Ever since I am reincarnated in this life, I've been having that dream. I glanced at myself in the mirror. I looked dishevelled because I just woke up, but this face is really beautiful. And these features, silver hair and violet eyes, are truly the trademark of the Aspera bloodline. The years that Carina been in a coma did not make her thin at all. Her skin is glowing as if she's not sick.

But ever since I woke up as Carina two months ago, I've been having the same dream. And surprisingly, the previous owner of this body, the real Carina...most of her memories were gone. Only the important things like her family and some servants were intact.

It's a little different. Is it because it's the 101th time I was reincarnated? However, since I've been reincarnated a lot of times, I've observed for sure that there is less variable than I thought. The people I've been reincarnated into always resemble me in terms of personality, so I was never suspected to be 'different'. But I just realized I got away with it because their previous memories helped me the most.

Now that I don't have them, I can only rely on my own personality. I need to bet on the fact that maybe Carina behaves the same way as I am.

I channel my energy into my hands and a ball of light is formed. As expected, my surprisingly huge mana is somehow transferred, a mana that matched my glory days as the mage who defeated the demon king 600 years ago. And I possessed the rarest element, Light, the opposite element of my current family, the Asperas.

I recalled that the previous Carina had an average amount of mana. That's why she focused more on books, aiming to be a good strategist for the military focused Aspera family. Which means this fact will need to be a huge secret.

While the body is different, the soul is still the same. That is how I have the same amount of mana and element every time I got reincarnated. It was transferred. The first time I experienced holding a powerful mana was back when I don't know anything about mana.

A knock disturbed my thoughts. "My lady, it's me," Emmy said. I told her to enter, and she entered the room with a basin of water. From her smiling, I can already guess how excited she is. Dipping my hands in the basin, I washed my face.

"I'll leave it to you today," I smiled.

Emmy giggled. "Of course! I've been waiting for the day to get you ready for a ball!,".

Yes, today I am going to my first ball as Carina.

It was a ball commemorating the founding of the Great empire, held at the royal castle.

I almost puked at the thought of going to another ball. I've been to it a million times in my past lives, but a change needs to be done. Even if it's still a little late, I will have my debut.

The hardest thing to do is to convince my brother. Of course, he's not convinced at first. A lady who is not even educated in etiquette let alone dancing would bring shame to the family if she goes to the ball.

I also had to convince Gale, Caspian's aid. But it's easy to convince him as I only needed to prove that my etiquette and dancing is adequate.

But I knew Caspian is not worried about that, but my safety. So I made a condition that Caspian will be my first escort. As a devoted brother, he agreed.

After bathing with scented oils and wearing the dress my brother commissioned for, I finally sat down in front of my dressing table. The maids were excited, choosing which ornaments to decorate my hair with. Emmy happily combed my hair as she looked at me in the mirror.

"My lady, I've been waiting for this,"

I smiled. "You always said the same thing,".

"But it's true. My lady, you've always been a studious and curious child, so you went to that auction, remember?,"

No…surprisingly I don't. I usually retain the memories of the previous body owner.

But I seem to forget.

"They auctioned for the rare blue rose gem that said to give you power,".

I widened my eyes in shock.

Blue rose gem. In other words, the Linea gem. It's a gem coveted by so many that it started war between many countries and amidst the fight among humans, the demon king also interfered because he wished to covet huge power. It existed exactly 600 years ago back when I was a mage in my past life. I was tasked to protect it, especially from the church who was greedy, but after my death, I entrusted it to my disciple.

Did he fail to protect it?

"Where's the gem now?!," I asked in a panic state.

Emmy gave me a wry smile. "My lady just remembered right? The gem cracked after you touched it," Emmy shuddered, recalling the past.

"After that, my lady fainted….for 5 years. The young master blamed the organizer of the auction and burn down the whole place. We were convinced that someone put poison on the gem that caused you to faint after you touch it,".

"The gem?"

"Young master brought it home to be investigated, but as it arrived the gem turns into dust. A prominent alchemist investigated the dust, but he said it was just mere soot," Emmy said. Then, she put down the comb. "Well that's not important right now. I am just glad you've woken up, my lady,".

I decided to forget about it. It could be fake because the Linea gem never cracks let alone turn into dust. It's not important at the moment. But damn it, if my disciple is alive, I would punch him for not doing his duty properly. But 600 years have passed. He must've been happy resting in his grave.