Evangeline had already made plans about how she would get back inside the mansion. She had tied a rope to her room's window and threw the other end over as it fell outside the boundary wall. She couldn't get out of the mansion with that rope, but she could use it to climb into her room.
This way, she would return after her escape, and no one would know she ever left the mansion to begin with. Everyone would think she had been spending that time alone in her room.
She had been planning this for about a year to make sure things went exactly as she had hoped.
Around that time, she started asking her mother if she could spend some time alone in her room. At first, her mother denied her, but then she started allowing it after a few times. At first, people came to check up on her from time to time.
But Evangeline made sure to make a scene every time someone disrupted her alone time and entered her room. This way, everyone learned not to enter Evangeline's room when she asked to spend time alone.
By now, there was barely any chance anyone would enter her room to check up on her unless she didn't come out for an abnormally long time.
'Aren't I a genius? Even Sthenios himself would bow before my intellect, hehe.' She giggled. 'Now then, time to begin my adventure.'
The morning sun was shining brightly as the city buzzed with life. People walked around the city streets. Some stood near stalls and shops, purchasing things.
'Ah! So cool!'
Evangeline even spotted a group of people walking around in light armor that shone brightly in the sunlight. A burly man in the middle carried a giant axe on his back while the others either carried a sword or a bow and a quiver.
And since everyone's quivers were empty with only one or two arrows, they must have been returning after finishing a task requiring them to spend all those arrows.
'Are they adventurers? Or mercenaries? Wait, does this world even have those?'
They were certainly not soldiers. Evangeline had seen plenty of soldiers since her own family owned a small private army. Their clothes were nothing alike.
As the men in armor disappeared into the crowd, she began looking around excitedly.
But that was when someone dashed past her, creating a small gust of wind that caused her hair to flutter lightly.
Her eyes didn't completely catch that person's figure, but she noticed a single detail about them, a detail that made her to run after them without thinking.
"Wait!"
Their back looked small, very small–barely around her own height.
Evangeline followed them, shifting from one narrow alley to another, jumping over carts and cargo. They were unusually swift on their feet. Even with her body, which was strengthened because of the metamorphosis caused by reaching Phase One, Evangeline could barely keep up.
Just when she was reaching her limit and beginning to feel exhausted, that person suddenly tripped over the uneven road.
'Oh, no! That'll hurt really badly.'
If one tripped and fell while running at this speed, they would be heavily injured.
There was still some distance between them. Evangeline knew she wouldn't reach that person in time. Still, she gave her all as she reached out her hand.
Instinctively, bluish energy gathered at her feet. She hadn't learned how to use it, but in that split second, she knew what she needed to do. She released the energy in a single burst, launching herself forward.
Her hand grabbed that person's collar just as their body was about to touch the ground, pulling them to their feet.
"Are you okay?"
She hurriedly asked. Perhaps they had twisted their ankle, or maybe they were hurt in some other way.
They turned around, and she could finally take a look at their appearance.
It was a young boy who looked about ten years old. Covered in dirt and filth from head to toe, it was hard to make out his features or even the color of his hair. His clothes were torn in almost every place, and she could even spot several dried-up wounds partially visible through those torn parts.
All that, coupled with his skinny appearance and sunken cheeks, gave him the picture-perfect image of a beggar.
But the most noticeable part about him–the reason she ran after him–was his eyes. They had sunk deep with two glaring dark circles under them. His gaze itself was somewhat unfocused as his eyes gazed in her direction.
"You don't look too good."
Evangeline knew the meaning behind the boy's condition. After all, she had seen those exact same symptoms… in the mirror once.
In her previous life, there were a few times when she wished to simply die. The suffering back then was simply that unbearable. She felt excruciating pain all over her body, as if thousands of ants were tearing it apart from the inside. Every breath she took felt like it tore her lungs apart.
She could barely sleep as she suffered through it day and night. Her mind remained hazy most of the time, as though in a state between sleeping and awake.
And during those times, her eyes always became like that, sunken, unfocused, deep dark circles under them.
'Is he… experiencing something similar?'
That thought made her heart ache. Her expression fell as her mood soured. Somehow, she no longer felt as excited about her adventure.
After hesitating slightly, she reached for his hand with a resolute expression.
"You should come with me."
"Ah!"
The boy backed away as soon as he noticed her hand reaching toward him. Though his eyes were still somewhat unfocused, his stance became guarded.
Suddenly, something jumped down from a building and landed between them. It was a black creature resembling a cat, but it had two tails and three pairs of glowing green eyes, giving it a strange appearance.
'...A monster?'
The creature bared its teeth at her as it let out a low-pitched growl. It was as if the creature was warning her to stay away, as if it was trying to protect the boy.
As the atmosphere suddenly turned tense, Evangeline could only stand there, dumbfounded. She was only trying to help the boy, so why did it turn out this way?
She once again became painfully aware of her lack of social skills. She knew that she had made some sort of mistake, but she couldn't figure out what that mistake actually was.
Did she look suspicious? She didn't think so. After all, who would find a cute little girl like her suspicious? Then did the boy think she was trying to harm him?
'Hmm… that could be the case, although unlikely, since I probably look the more harmless one between us.'
But if so, then she simply needed to show him that she meant no harm.
Evangeline crouched down and slowly reached out her hand toward the creature. At first, it backed away and growled even more intensely. But as she waited patiently with a smile, the creature hesitantly approached her hand.
'Yes, it's working!'
Finally, she was able to touch the cat-like creature. After gently patting its head and softly rubbing its neck, the creature finally let down its guard. Seeing this as an opportunity, she spoke gently.
"I mean no harm—I'm only trying to help him." She pointed at the boy. "Will you help me? Please?"
She didn't know whether the creature understood her or not, but it stopped trying to block her path. She once again reached out her hand toward him–this time, a bit slowly–but the boy only became more guarded.
Just when Evangeline began to doubt whether her method might be wrong, the black creature approached the boy and began rubbing its fur against his leg.
Slowly, a bit of clarity returned to the boy's lost gaze, and his guard lowered. Seeing this, Evangeline internally cheered but didn't try to reach for his hand.
Instead, she stretched her lips into the kindest smile she could muster and spoke softly.
"I am here to help you. Will you come with me?"