My Past Life is Riddled With Many Sins - Chapter 21

“It doesn’t seem like we’re the only ones prone to misjudgments.”

The professors, who had been silently listening, were left perplexed by the Dean’s enigmatic comment.

The recently appointed Dean was all good, but he sometimes spoke in riddles. Whether it was because of his exceptional talent and being the youngest Dean in academy history, thus a reflection of his unique mental world or just his peculiar personality?

While the professors exchanged glances, Dean Bliss, a man who was the iron-blooded Margrave in a previous life, watched Regina with delight.

Raised to become a monarch, he was subjected to the harshest of education from a young age. He lived thinking it was natural so his sense of ‘normalcy’ was entirely different from others. So in his eyes… how was this test?

* * *

“I’m back.”

“Oh, Regina. Must have been tough. How did it go?”

“Just okay. I’ll change, wash my hands, then help out.”

She didn’t use all her skills to not perform exceptionally nor poorly, so ‘just okay’ was the only way she could describe it.

Despite overhearing complaints about the exam’s difficulty on her way out, Regina didn’t care. For the unprepared, even the simplest test can be challenging.

It’s no wonder, even during Yekarna’s time, the Imperial Academy’s examination halls were known as ‘halls of lamentation’.

As Regina leisurely headed to her room, the innkeeper couple watched her with puzzlement.

“Did she do well on the exam?”

“She’s not looking too down, so maybe?”

“But she doesn’t seem particularly happy either.”

“If she had messed up, she’d have come back crying. Remember the noble young master last year? Came back drenched in tears and snot.”

“That’s true. He cried so much, the inn almost got flooded with tears. So, shall we have a celebration dinner tonight?”

“Let’s have a celebration after finding out if she passed. What if the results came and she didn’t pass? Just prepare something delicious. You make the sausage, I’ll make the soup. Alright?”

As the couple made plans together, Regina came down, now changed.

“Madam, what can I help with? Cleaning? Kitchen work?”

“Oh? You just got back from the exam, you must be tired. Why not rest a bit?”

“That’s right, we’re not too busy right now.”

“Is that so? Then…”

Regina, about to sit, spotted Garnet. She was carrying the bundle of dolls and approaching her way. The ‘Empress and His Men’ doll play like last time was absolutely off the table. Regina naturally stood up.

“No, I’ll wash my hands and then help out.”

After a night of work, she dined with the innkeeper’s family. The meal despite being modest yet noticeably given more care than usual.

“Such good people.”

Regina fell asleep comfortably.

The next afternoon, as she casually strolled towards the Academy, the stark contrast between the joy of the successful candidates and the despair of those who didn’t make it was blatantly evident.

After checking the list of successful examinees and the interview notice pinned on the bulletin board, Regina rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

“An interview, huh.”

It was an experience she had never encountered in either her past or present life. Of course, the superiors did evaluate their subordinates in a way, but not in the format of an interview.

Should she be polite? But how polite? Should she be as submissive as possible? Or maintain her dignity while still being respectful?

After pondering for a while, Regina grew tired of overthinking and decided to let it go.

“Well, it’ll work out somehow.”

It’s not like she had to traverse mountains and rivers to rescue a prince kidnapped by a dragon. It’s just a conversation while sitting comfortably.

‘Surely no mad wizard is going to summon a meteor in the interview room, right?’

She might have preferred a meteor shower from the sky. At least then, she’d be spared the embarrassment by meeting an instantaneous end.

“Dean? According to the application, Miss Regina Heather is twenty years old.”

Regina wished she could convey the nightmarish reality unfolding before her to her past, carefree self. This is the future we’re heading towards, without dreams and hope. She wanted to show how the absurd lie she blurted out in a moment of annoyance could return as a colossal disaster.

“Then I must have read it wrong.”

Skyler’s reincarnation added smoothly with a sly smile.

“Well, it’s not often you see a fifteen-year-old of her size. But then again, I recently encountered a fifteen-year-old child of a similar stature. Life sure is full of unexpected events, isn’t it?”

The other interviewers who were clueless about the situation looked perplexed, as if thinking, ‘What’s this guy rambling about instead of conducting the interview?’ But for Regina, the person itself, the embarrassment was burning her whole body.

It was indeed her fault. It was a mess she had created, but wasn’t this turn of events a bit too harsh of a karmic retribution?

Out of all the people in the world, how could it be that Skyler’s reincarnation happened to be the dean of the Imperial Academy? At this point, it felt like some unseen force was deliberately setting her up, teasing, ‘Let’s see how well you roll with this one.’

‘Is this the universe’s way of making me pay for my past life’s sins in this one? Some sort of post-paid payment plan?’

If there truly was a God, and such a thing as divine power existed, it seemed that this entity would have no fondness for Yekarna anyway.

After all, Yekarna had audaciously laid hands on a potential future Pope. There was considerable public outcry at the time. The princess had defiled God’s choice, they said.

Was this God’s revenge for what happened to Friedrich back then? Had all these trials been arranged in this life? If so, Regina couldn’t help but feel it was exceedingly unfair.

Though Regina might be Yekarna’s reincarnation, Yekarna’s life felt like nothing more than a story from a book to her. Yes, she understood the concept of past lives, but it didn’t feel real to her.

Yekarna’s indulgences weren’t Regina’s, but she was still expected to bear the burden of Yekarna’s karma. It seemed unfair. The responsibility should have been taken up by Yekarna in her lifetime.

‘Oh God, though I am Yekarna’s reincarnation, I am not Yekarna. It might sound like a lame excuse, like claiming ‘I did drink but I didn’t drive,’ but it’s the truth. If you hold any resentment towards Yekarna, please don’t take it out on me. Okay?’