The Rise of the Exiled Villainess

Chapter 2: The Cursed Lands of Arcana (Umbra)

The world that I’m currently at is called Erunia. My family and I are in the largest continent, and I’m the heir of one of the most prestigious clans in the history of the empire. The cursed Lands of Arcana or Lands of Umbra is situated on the south part of the horizontal tonkatsu-shaped continent and is the hotspot for mana stones and creatures that are essential for alchemy and other magic related crafts.

 There are five seasons here and each season adds a unique feature to the surroundings and the creatures that dwell inside the territory. For example, depending on the season, the creatures may change the color of their coat, thus, also changing the quality of the material and etc. This is actually one of the obvious reasons why our existence is important for the empire since we are one of the main contributors in the Mage Tower.

Apart from the empire, there are three separate dukedoms (the capital has a duke apparently) that govern various places in the continent that are relying greatly on our services and products. Considering the vast and rich lands of Umbra, there are several wastelands that still remain untouched due to the beasts that dwell within it. Lucky for these folks, my tribe specializes in the art of magic and runes, making our tribe very distinguishable even in the field of combat as mercenaries.

Now y’all might be thinking, what would I be doing in this situation? Well… I just turned six years old and I’m busy trying to read various books related to this world in order to properly construct the mental map that I had when I was playing the official game and reading the book. I was criticized by my nanny at first because she thought I would rip the pages and drool on the books for fun. Hohoho, how fast did her expectations shifted when I recited a passage that even an eight-year-old cannot memorize. 

I’m still trying to tone down my real abilities and mental age of course. Going full isekai maturity will cause me a lot of problems and I might change a large chunk of this world’s story if I abused what I know.

As we speak, I’m on the balcony, eating some snacks while looking at the blue skies and the velvet trees on the horizon. There are multiple stacks of books beside me all about geography and basic stuff concerning commerce. I could say that my eyes are still normal because I haven’t awakened my abilities yet.

The moment I reach seven years old, I’ll have a terrible headache followed by abnormalities with my mana flow. I’ll need to read some books to control the situation, otherwise, it would be an extremely painful event that may cost my life if I’m ignorant. Father underwent the same stage but since he started practicing magic when he was four, it somewhat alleviated the side effects. It is believed that the next heir would suffer less from the awakening process, but the book of course would beg to differ. It’s because Ekaterina has a high affinity for using curses, one of the greatest traits the Lands of Umbra claims to have because of the Mythical beast that blessed them a long time ago.

All of my family members have various shades of blue when it comes to the color of their eyes. The only separation between the heir and a normal member of the Bathory household is the prismatic shine of the pupils. Plus, only the eldest can inherit the eyes which makes it annoying since in the book, amidst having siblings Ekaterina didn’t want to be the heir in the first place. The only way to transfer the inheritance is through surgery, and usually, it’s a form of sacrifice that can permanently blind the original holder of the eyes. 

I’m chewing cookies yet I feel like crying due to stress and overthinking. I don’t think it would be practical to vent it out by reading BL books since it’s too eye-catching and my nanny might scold me for even taking a glance at the cover.

*Currently like a rabbit nibbling something*

“Milaaaaaadyyy! Miiilaaaaaady!?”  I swear to god… my Nanny’s voice is abysmally loud to the point that even a wildebeest will go deaf if it hears her face to face. Her name is Katalina Heimdall and she’s been around ever since I opened my eyes into this world. It turns out, she is actually one of my mother’s closest friends in the magic tower before she presented herself to be my official nanny.

She came to the balcony like a storm while I was staring at her acting all cutie pie in order to dodge her evil plans of dragging me to etiquette class. Or so I thought…

“You don’t have to rush. Did papa tell you to fetch me?” I asked in an innocent voice. You all might judge me for this but this is the only way that I could survive her dragging me around…

“No, no, Milady. Madame told me to prepare you for going out! It appears that the market has new things that might catch your interest.”

Oh, I almost forgot. The tribal market here is situated just beyond the velvet woods. The place is actually a dense swamp with various tree houses interconnected to one another. Carriages and other means of transportation can only be parked on the empty portion of the swamp. That too has been modified to accommodate locals and other passengers. From inns, bars and other restaurants, the entire swamp itself is economically stable.

“Me wanna go, me wanna go!”

From there, I was carried like a bag of flour on her shoulders as me and my nanny dashed out of the balcony of the library, and into my room like Hussain bolt on steroids. She stripped me off of my clothes and used water magic to clean my face from the cookie crumbs. After dressing me up with some outdoor clothing, she carried me by the same odd manner as we arrived at the lawn outside, where my mother is currently waiting.

The entire crew including the carriage driver began to dote on me as my mother started caressing my face like a living doll. This may sound good on paper but believe me, it’s annoying since I don’t like getting my cheeks pinched and kissed in public. I can’t even move that much because of their tight hugs.

Me and my mother quickly went inside the carriage. I ended up being a shriveled veggie before I could even reach our destination. I never knew being this cute has its downsides. This type of scene is already way beyond the contents of the game so it’s hard not to be bothered by such.    

The route towards the swamp has been paved using concrete and fine stone. It wasn’t too long before we arrived there and noticed the surreal and mystical atmosphere of the environment. As we ventured deeper into the woods, fireflies began to roam around, acting as a second light to our path. I don’t know but it looks like fairies live in this place. I could feel the inner fan girl in me waiting to be unleashed once I get off this carriage!

“Are we there yet momma?” I gotta act like an impatient child.

Mother replied, “Just a little bit more sweetie. Once you see a lot of treehouses that’s the swamp already.”

My mother is a famous magic researcher from the magic tower. Her name is Luzvi Minda Dela Torre, and she is the daughter of a count in Maltheo before she decided to live here in the Lands of Umbra. I don’t know the details of how she and my dad met but ever since I came into this world, she’s been head over heels for my dad. Right now, she is very happy with being a mother of three and is consistently trying to help our people when it comes to handling our livestock and granaries. On another note, she treats me like a stuffed toy/doll sometimes because I seem to have inherited the shape of my father’s eyes compared to my other siblings.

Twenty minutes have passed, and damn I’ve never seen such a captivating treehouse in my entire life! Keep yourself together Ekaterina, don’t be deceived by ANYTHING SHINY! As soon as the carriage doors were opened, I busted my ass out of the seat and ran straight into the open grass, looking at the beautiful construction of the place.  

(To Be Continued)