chapter 1
1 – Grand Duchess of the North
When I opened my eyes, what I saw was the face of a stranger.
It was a face that made you think it was the face of a beautiful wife you only see on TV.
“… Taa!”
… How are you?
Who are you sure? I thought I was going to say, but all I could get out of my mouth was a bizarre childish babble.
Looking at me like that, the woman just held out her hand to me with a bright smile.
It’s strange.
Come to think of it, for some reason the woman in front of me feels big.
“Does my baby recognize her mother?”
… Baby? Mom?
Reason I stared blankly at the woman who only talked about things she didn’t know, and then I vaguely realized that her body was lifted up by her and held in her arms.
I don’t know why, but you’ve become a baby.
Of course, the woman in front of me could have been a monster-like giant, but my body, which didn’t move at will, was telling me otherwise.
… For some reason, I seemed to have become a baby.
#
“Hmm.”
I let out a yawn in the garden under the warm sunlight and looked at the sky blankly with my mouth shut.
27 Years old.
Originally, it was my age when I was in Korea. I went to the army as soon as I turned 20, and it’s already been 5 years at the factory I went straight into.
Around the time when I thought I finally had a stable income and a job after getting used to machines and electricity that I hadn’t even touched, and living with oil stains.
I was brought here.
My guess is that the cause of death is probably death from overwork. For years now, I haven’t had a single day off in a month.
But judging from the fact that he had no memories of when he died, he seemed to have died peacefully in his sleep.
Anyway, it’s already been 5 years since I came here. At the age of 6, I was looking up at the sky with a bored expression.
In a way, I was attracted… Isn’t that an accurate expression?
Unlike previous lives, it is peaceful and boring.
This world was a fantasy world. Yes, the fantasy world that often appears in those novels and anime.
Even I, who didn’t have time to read novels or anime, knew that I had been reincarnated in another world.
Fortresses are often the subject of dramas and movies.
Moreover, during the five years I spent in a different world, I couldn’t help but know. At that time, I was grateful to be born as a baby for the first time.
If it wasn’t for that, it’s obvious that I would have looked funny in front of others.
Anyway, my family was aristocrats, the upper class even in such a fantasy world. Of course, he was a baron who was the lowest among the lowest, and in fact he was only an aristocrat in name.
There are also small territories to rule, and common people earn the money they need to earn.
Besides, as the second son of such an aristocratic family, I was able to live peacefully like this now, since the succession was a thing of the past unless there was a major incident.
Just being loved by everyone as the youngest member of the family.
“Cain?”
After spending time leisurely, I turned my head to hear her mother’s caring voice behind her.
Mother.
In my previous life, I grew up not being loved by my parents, so the name mother was still unfamiliar to me.
Even though it received unreasonable love, it was still a bit of an awkward name.
“Yes, Mom.”
She answered quietly, hiding those thoughts.
Dark blue hair and blue eyes. Even at a glance, she is a beauty full of ethos. She was Clementine Valencia, the mistress of a Valencian baron.
In particular, her mother, who showed off her large chest and narrow waist, was a great beauty at a glance.
She was such a graceful and kind person that she didn’t know how she was by her father, who was as tough as a bear.
Her mother came to me with her old-fashioned steps. Then she bent her knees and lowered her body, placing her hand on my head as I sat aimlessly in the garden.
“What if I just sit on the floor like this?”
“… Are you okay. The floor is warm.”
“That’s not what I meant. It means that the servants who wash your clothes, Cain, will have a hard time.”
Her mother is also said that she originally belonged to a fallen aristocrat.
Maybe that’s why, or maybe it’s because her innate personality is so kind, she was especially kind to the servants of her family.
Of course, he treats everyone kindly without discrimination.
I stood up at her mother’s words and patted her buttocks with my hand.
“I’m sorry. I was short-tempered.”
She bows her head slightly, hands her an apology, and looks at her mother. My mother was looking at me with a smile of trouble.
Old young man, I guess.
But I am also a real old man. In the first place, my mother’s age and my original age are the same?
No, if you add the things I bought here, there are a lot of me. Of course, expecting a childlike reaction from me is an unreasonable demand.
“But why did you look for me?”
Responding to my mother’s smile with an awkward smile, I hurriedly turned around.
Because I didn’t want to make excuses for the unavoidable part.
My mother looked at me blankly and smiled, then raised her body and said,
“God, look at my mind. Is there anything Cain can help with?”
“… Anything she can help with?”
Now she has something to ask the 6-year-old for help.
After thinking for a while, I nodded my head. I thought it was no big deal if it was something I could ask a 6-year-old to do.
And it didn’t take long to realize that I was wrong.
….
“Nice to meet you, Cain. I heard a lot.”
The moment I see a woman in front of me with a smile as benevolent as her mother’s, and a little girl like a doll standing next to her.
I found this quite annoying.
“Nice to meet you, Cain Valencia.”
I bent my back slightly and answered the woman’s greeting, rolling her eyes to scan the surroundings.
The air in the house is cool.
The house, where the atmosphere is always relaxed somewhere, is sharpened as if someone has tightened their breath.
Probably means that the few knights and soldiers in the family are paying that much attention.
“I will prepare tea for you.”
Even the servants in the house move moderately as if they would not tolerate a single mistake.
Her voice is hard, and her behavior is unnatural.
It was the same for my mother standing next to me. Her expression is the same as usual, but every time she opens her mouth, she rolls her eyes here and there as if someone notices her.
Every time I open my mouth, I shudder and tremble and shed my eyes looking at me with concern.
In this house, the only things that gave off a natural atmosphere were the woman in front of me and that girl.
Raising my head, my gaze briefly looked at the girl who looked like a doll, and then went back.
I don’t know if you can call it a natural atmosphere.
Anyway, the only thing that was relaxed was over there. Born to notice, I was able to vaguely know the identity of this situation in no time.
‘My family is a high-ranking aristocrat that we can’t even dream of.’
Countess… do you want to be
Realistically, the duke’s family is too high, and if it’s high enough to come home, it’s probably only the count’s.
No, did you set the count too high?
“… As you’ve heard, he’s a smart kid.”
I came to my senses at the woman’s words.
And then I realized that I was too preoccupied with my surroundings, when the other person wasn’t interested in me, but when he was paying attention, I should have paid attention.
After frowning for a moment, I straightened my expression and gave a small bow to apologize.
“——Certainly not like a 6-year-old.”
“Yes, yes, Mrs. Anna.”
I placed my gaze on her doll-like white child, avoiding Anna’s staring at me with her chin resting on her chin.
Well-groomed and glossy black hair like a woman of nobility, a transparent and shining white face, red eyes and cherry lips with a sharp nose.
Her dazzling child’s face was completely devoid of emotion, as if it were a real doll.
It really looked like a doll.
I had no choice but to express it that way with my lack of vocabulary. The child turned his eyes to me as if he felt my gaze.
The moment I met those red eyes, for some reason I got goose bumps all over my body, but I tried to smile.
For a moment, the girl met her eyes with mine, then took her eyes off me and lowered her gaze.
And the mother and the mother of the child, who watched all of them, started to get interested with their eyes shining.
“… Cain? This is Illencia University… Hmm, it’s called Elencia.”
The mother opened her mouth and introduced me to her child. It seems that something was cut in the middle, but I opened my mouth without paying much attention.
“Nice to meet you, Elencia.”
“Illencia? This child is called Cain. Be friendly.”
“…… Yes.”
I couldn’t help but open her eyes as Illencia opened her mouth. It was because Illencia had a really good voice.
Illensia’s mother put a smile on her lips as if satisfied with her small reply.
The mother also laughed satisfactorily, but she seemed nervous that she might do something wrong.
I had no thoughts, and Illencia had no emotions.
This was her first meeting with me.