They Hated Me in My First Life, But Now I Have the Love System

Chapter 543: Who Am I?

She knows.

....How?

The old memory hit him full in the chest: the cliffs, the wooden sword, a boy’s clenched fist, a promise whispered between two children.

It was too close... and all wrong.

She seemed to remember it, this exact memory, his mind said, plain and simple. Not a fluke. Not a dream. He felt the old memory’s shape press against his chest: the cliffs, the wooden sword, a small fist clenched, a promise whispered between two children. It felt close and wrong at once.

Nnenna stood in the ring amid the noise. People cheered and cried and pointed, but she seemed cut off from all of it. Her eyes were fixed on Stephanie, but she wasn’t really looking. The applause sounded distant, like a tape left playing in another room.

A hush settled in her head. The memory had opened something raw, a small living room of moments she had never expected to visit.

Not everything returned. Only pieces: wind on cliffs, a boy with messy hair, a wooden sword on his back; a tiny girl’s voice saying, They said I’m small; they said I’ll never be strong. Arthur crouched, teaching, whispering, It’s about surprise. Timing. Trust. A hand poked a small nose. A small laugh. A promise.

And under those bright fragments came a question she hadn’t planned to ask.

Who am I?

The question felt dizzying. She remembered being sure of herself, she always had a name, a place, the line of events that led here.

been living. It slipped past the

doubt tasted like acid in her mouth. She had always been certain that the person she was now matched the person she remembered

a seam

the possibility that the orphan girl who was raised in the Lionara royal family, the orphan girl who suffered so much from a little age of six, the orphan girl who died and came back stronger,

off the stage with slow, exhausted steps. Her muscles felt like they belonged to

her back, and kept going until the bright lights gave way to the quieter hallways

after her. A dozen hands reached. Someone called for medical staff. Streams choked with speculation:

They started down toward the exit, then paused and looked at one another. Different worries hung in both their faces, not shouted, not formed in full, only a hard, wordless

to Arthur’s past? Carl’s eyes

Is there something

gaze lowered without a single

spoke it. Their worries sat heavy between

on Nnenna, and his heart pounded in

he was thinking of, but now... now, everything felt wrong. He had to get answers. He couldn’t wait any longer. He had

controlled urgency. Every movement was calculated, swift, like a storm silently gathering strength. His thoughts churned, each one sharper than the last, cutting through the noise in his mind. Nnenna. The name echoed in his head

second guessing. He needed answers, she had to be the one to give them

him truly be the same person? The one he had known, the one he had trusted, the one

had to know if his childhood friend still existed underneath this unfamiliar face.