Chapter 2
2
The woman who took me to the bathroom smiled and carefully took off my cumbersome and uncomfortable clothes.
"Please call me Leah, baby."
"Yes."
"From now on, we're going to have fun playing in warm water. Are you excited?"
"Yes."
"Oh, you're so good."
"Yes."
Leah patted my back as if I were cute and filled the tub with water.
Soon after, the maids came in, and I began my bath in earnest.
It was very comfortable because they washed me without me having to do anything but sit in the warm water.
It was a little hard to resist touching the fluffy bubbles.
'I have to behave.'
Annoying kids get hated.
I knew from my experience as Lady Valois that a child who doesn't get attention from their parents needs the help of employees to survive.
The maids' movements were very quick and skillful. So, enduring the hair washing time wasn't that difficult.
'Duke Dubled is a bad guy, but I guess he's not trash like Duke Valois.'
He didn't hit me, and he even provided employees.
Duke Dubled's favorability, which had hit rock bottom, rose a little.
After the bath, Leah dressed me in cozy clothes.
The clothes that the Empress Dowager's maid had put on me were just fancy, scratchy, and too big, which made them very uncomfortable, but these clothes were very comfortable.
While Leah was buttoning up my clothes, the maids started chatting.
"Do you think the master will really adopt her?"
"He's not one to listen to the Empress Dowager's orders as they are."
"But she's the Child of Destiny."
"That's the thing..."
The maid glanced at the door and whispered.
"There are many opinions that the oracle was misinterpreted. The amount of Divine Power inherent in the baby's body is far too small."
That was also why Duke Valois abused me so casually.
Many people didn't think of me as the Child of Destiny.
'Actually, I was a fake.'
Even as I thought that, the maid's chatter continued.
"Besides, Dubled and the Papal State have such a bad relationship. In my opinion, adoption is difficult-"
"Stop."
Leah interrupted the maids' conversation in a stern tone.
"This is not a story to be told in front of the baby."
Leah warned the maids with a glare and handed me a mug.
"Here, drink this."
Her voice was kind, which made me feel a little relieved.
It would be hard to live if I were ignored by the employees like I was in my Valois Young Lady days, but fortunately, Leah, a senior employee, was a kind person to the child.
If the employees were to harass me, Leah might help.
'Leah seems like a nice person. She even gives me something to eat.'
I wondered what they ate in Dubled, so I looked into the cup, and my eyes widened.
'Oh my god, this is chocolate.'
Chocolate was an outrageously expensive luxury item.
Of course, in my previous life as a member of a beggar gang, I had never even seen such high-end food as chocolate.
In the Amitie ducal family in my first life, which was frugal according to the master's character, luxury goods were kept at a distance.
Valua, who abused me, would never give me something like this.
I only got to taste it a little when I went to the castle to meet the Empress Dowager or when I visited the Temple.
When I tasted the chocolate, I shuddered with overwhelming emotion.
The sweetness that spread throughout my mouth. The texture that touched my tongue was as soft as a rug, and a bitter scent rushed into my nose.
'Ah, I can regress today...'
Leah watched me drink the chocolate like I was swallowing it whole, as if I were cute, and then kindly wiped the chocolate smeared around my mouth.
"Shall we go to the master now?"
I was a little sad that I couldn't scrape the chocolate at the bottom of the mug with a spoon, but I obediently followed Leah.
'I have to behave, behave.'
Compared to my previous life, this place was heaven, and I loved this heaven.
He doesn't even care about me.
He even provides employees, and that employee is a kind person who wouldn't lay a hand on a child.
And he gives me a whole cup of chocolate.
Isn't this the perfect condition for me to live in until I leave before the exile!
'But I don't think the Duke will easily adopt me.'
He is rumored to be a heartless and cold-blooded person. And it didn't seem like the rumors were wrong.
'But I can't just sit back and do nothing.'
I didn't want to be beaten to death again by Duke Valois for the rest of my life.
I also refuse to starve to death in a beggar gang.
'I have to make Duke Dubled like me so that he will want to adopt me.'
Leah took me to the Duke's office, where I was burning with determination.
I saw the Duke talking to two men who appeared to be clerks.
I let go of Leah's hand and ran to the Duke and clung to his leg.
Leah covered her mouth in surprise, and the flustered clerk tried to pull me away from him.
But I clung to him like I was holding onto a lifeline and wouldn't let go.
The Duke's eyebrows twitched.
"What are you doing?"
I desperately jumped up and down in front of the Duke, raised my hand, and said.
"Ana juseyo. (Hold me.)"
I could read displeasure and embarrassment in his narrowed eyes at the same time. I instinctively cowered.
'But I don't want to die miserably again.'
I don't want to regress.
I'll eat only a little.
I'll never have the presumptuous thought of wanting to be loved again.
'So please-'
Just as he grabbed the collar of my clothes near my neck and lifted me up, muttering, "Don't make me crazy..."
I grabbed his neck and rubbed my face against his cheek.
"Gongzhanmi, joha. (Duke, I like you.)"
The Duke froze in that position.
The country with the most vast territory in the world, the Wigzentra Empire.
The power relations of Wigzentra to date can be largely divided as follows.
<National Religion Neriad>.
<The Imperial Family of the Empire>.
<The 5 Ducal Families>.
The three formed an equilateral triangle, checking or cooperating with each other to achieve the prosperity of the empire.
This triangle undergoes a major change when I turn 15.
Pushing out the <5 Ducal Families>, only one family, the <Dubled Ducal Family>, took the last seat.
The territoriality of such Dubled boasted a truly great dignity.
The number of towers that were difficult for a young body to count.
The smooth stone floor without a single scratch and the hexagonal Pillars densely packed with delicate patterns.
A luxurious chandelier showing off its presence from the ceiling.
Treasures that were densely packed in each of the display cases that lined the walls.
Endless forests that surrounded the east, west, and north of the main castle and countless towers, and so on.
The Duke Dubled, the owner of this enormous castle, was not easy to deal with.
Despite my desperate attempts at acting cute, he didn't adopt me. The good news was that it wasn't a complete failure.
'Even though he didn't adopt me, he gave me a room to stay in for a while!'
The Duke ordered that the child, who had been traveling in a carriage for a long time, be allowed to rest.
'But that's something.'
If I had been kicked out right away, I might have gone back to Valua.
I covered my mouth with my small cream puff-like fists and giggled.
I really liked the room that Duke Dubled gave me.
Not only was there a fluffy bed with a cozy and warm blanket, but there were also many toys and playmates, so there was no time to be bored.
And it's been ten days since I stayed in this castle. I was diligently paying the room rate.
"What did 'Hat Uncle' say again?"
"Oriharkeun et goeon-e isseo. (Orichalcum is in the old highlands.)"
"Orichalcum!"
I blurted out the contents I had heard from the priests of the Order.
I sat on the Duke's lap and looked at Dubled's vassals, who were excited.
"It's truly amazing. How can she be so smart?"
"That's why she's the Child of Destiny."
"Of course."
The vassals laughed.
My conscience pricked me, so I quietly averted my gaze.
'Actually, I'm a fake Child of Destiny.'
It wasn't like I could use the memories of my previous regression at will.
A baby's body is impulsive because the brain hasn't developed, and I couldn't help but act like a child.
It was difficult to have 'adult thoughts' with an immature brain.
If I had deep adult thoughts in this body, I would either fall asleep for days or be incredibly hungry.
It seemed to be in the same context as being tired when you're nervous or hungry when you use your brain a lot.
The worse thing was that it could also be applied in reverse.
When I was hungry or sleepy, I became completely like a baby.
It was probably God's blessing that I could use my brain to this extent normally.
'I don't need a blessing, I just wish you'd stop making me regress.'
I was lost in thought with my lips pouting.
One of the vassals tried to touch my head because I was cute, so I was startled and clung to the Duke's neck.
'Oh, surprise.'
I was surprised because someone I didn't know was trying to touch me!
"The baby is very shy."
When the elderly vassal said with a hearty laugh, the vassal who had tried to touch me lowered his hand as if he was embarrassed.
"It's amazing that she's shy but sticks to His Excellency."
"Other children are overwhelmed by the force and burst into tears."
"She only tells us about the altar and the imperial family when she's sitting on His Excellency's lap, doesn't she?"
It wasn't like I was deliberately only talking on the Duke's lap.
The reason I was telling stories about the imperial family and the Temple was only for the room rate.
The reason I only talked on the Duke's lap was because I was very shy around adult men due to Duke Valois' abuse.
'If you think about it that way, it's strange. Why don't I get shy around Duke Dubled?'
I guess it's the will to live so that I don't die unhappily again.
First of all, I have to get close to the Duke so that he will let me stay here for a long time.
"Sit down."
The Duke said.
I answered, "Yes," and sat back on his lap.
--
