MPBAGS Chapter 3

The name of the body I reincarnated into is Evangeline Rohanson.

Yeah. As expected, I don't know who this is.

It's already been two days since I was reincarnated. On the first day, I was tormented by the priest and doctor, and on the second day I focused on gathering information about Evangeline and this world.

Based on my speculation, this is a villainess reincarnation story.

The servants bow their heads whenever they see me and tremble when I talk to them. I even saw someone faint after seeing me during a walk. A young maid begged me to spare her life, then had her mouth covered and was dragged away.

How wicked must the original owner have been for the child to act like that? She should have lived more kindly.

Moreover, Evangeline had red eyes.

In romance fantasy worldviews, only people with rather nasty tendencies can have red eyes. They're generally considered an ominous color, so they get abused and shunned until the male protagonist in the original novel throws out some meaningless comfort like 'I think they're pretty,' and then they fall for him at the level of love at first sight.

And Evangeline is the only daughter of Count Rohanson. Her mother died young and the family consists of just father and daughter. The relationship between father and daughter doesn't seem very good since it's been over two days since I was reincarnated and I haven't seen his face.

Even though his daughter died and came back to life, he hasn't come to see her. Villainess fathers are either trash or extremely doting - they're split between extremes, and unfortunately this was the former.

That's all I know.

She has no fiancé, and since romance fantasy novels usually have the crown prince as the male lead, I checked that first, but this world's crown prince is already middle-aged with two children. There's no northern grand duke, no saintess or saint either.

Actually, this is just what I've picked up from asking the maid.

I wondered if there might be a diary and searched the room, but there was nothing. Even if I'd found one, I couldn't have read it anyway.

I've become illiterate.

Not being able to read - is there such a careless reincarnation? Does it make sense that I can speak fine but don't know letters? Since I don't know how to read, I couldn't even go to the library for information gathering.

So I ended up having to study a second foreign language, which I'd never done even before reincarnation.

When I told the maid I couldn't read letters, she was so flustered. I never expected to see pupils shake here. Still, since I had the good excuse of memory loss, she said she'd buy me an alphabet book.

The book will come tomorrow, so today is house exploration day!

'Let's ransack everything!'

The diary I couldn't find yesterday might turn up. I've already searched Evangeline's room, so let's search other rooms.

This is the bathroom, this is the bath, this is the reception room, and ah! Here it is!

The door was stiff and hard to open, but it looked like a storage room. There were objects covered with cloth and miscellaneous items in wooden boxes rather than paper ones. Wow... how would they move this when moving houses?

The things covered with cloth were all paintings. Looking around, there were paints too, so Evangeline must have had a painting hobby.

There was also a bookshelf, so it seemed like an art studio combined with a study. No wonder there were curtains drawn.

Setting aside the paintings, I examined the books. I can't read letters, but a diary would be personally written so the handwriting would be different, right?

Then I caught a big fish! The cover being black was a bit strange, but this was definitely handwritten. There were even traces of ink smudging and bleeding. Looking at the numbers written on top, it was definitely it.

While roughly flipping through the pages, something strange fell out. Some kind of note? I picked up the paper.

'Summoning circle?'

A circle with geometric patterns. This is definitely a summoning circle! A summoning circle came out of the diary!

Seeing this, the place I reincarnated into seems to be from a somewhat old novel. These days they don't often make contracts with non-human beings.

I didn't hesitate. I need to draw the summoning circle. Whether a spirit or dragon comes out, I need to draw it first.

A villainess needs at least some ability to protect herself.

Conveniently, there were paints. There was no blank canvas and no suitable paper, so I decided to draw it on the floor. Originally, these things are all drawn on the floor anyway.

In case paint might drip while drawing, I decided to use the red paint since there was the most of it. The brushes were all hardened and wouldn't bend, so I just dipped my finger in the paint.

First I drew a big circle, then triangles and stars... There are lots of letters too. I was drawing diligently when my hand got pricked by the wooden floor. Fortunately no splinter got stuck, but I was bleeding.

Since it hurt annoyingly for no reason, I drew the rest with the hardened brush. Even though it was inconvenient, it was manageable. I should have done this from the start. When your head is bad, your body suffers.

'It's complete!'

It was a bit crooked and strange, but I drew it all!

I expected something to pop out or some change to happen immediately like in novels, but nothing happened. I guess I need to recite the incantation after drawing the picture?

There is an incantation written below the fancy summoning circle on the paper... But what can I do when I can't read it!

Since it would be a waste after drawing it, I should try babbling something random.

"Spirit King? Spirits? Dragons? Excuse me...?"

Nothing happened.

"Um... I want to make a contract with something, could anyone who wants to come out?"

It was no use desperately clinging. I guess I really need to recite the incantation. I should learn letters first and try again.

What kind of world is this where you can't even summon if you're illiterate?