It had all started about half a day ago.
“Oh, goodness! So this is where my little angel’s been hiding!”
As I was walking through the mansion’s corridors, I could hear someone hurrying over (if you could call it that) to me in the distance—a good-looking middle-aged man with a dandy beard.
“My, father. A fine day to you,” I said with a grin, pinching up the hems of my skirt in a curtsy and greeting my father.
My private tutor had taught me how to act and speak in a manner befitting a duke’s daughter, though there was still room for improvement. Thanks to my mental age being over fifteen, however, I was a quick learner.
“Oof!” Father let out a weird breath and looked up at the ceiling.
My father’s name was Ferdid Regalia. He was the duke and head of House Regalia and a marshal for the Aldian Kingdom.
“Father?” I cocked my head at his strange reaction, a small invisible question mark floating over my head.
“Aaach!” father squealed again, clutching his chest.
Why does this happen every time we see each other?
“Ahem...” The butler serving behind father whispered discreetly, “Sir, the conversation won’t move along like this.”
Father smiled, as if to tell the butler he knew, and carried on, “Mary, please follow me. There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
“Someone you’d...like me to meet?”
Like I said earlier, I never asked my parents for much, so they never really insisted on getting me to accept any gifts. However, it seemed father had something in mind today. He picked me up and carried me off in his arms.
Father, why did you tell me to follow you and then pick me up? Let me walk on my own two feet.
And so, despite my silent complaints, I sat on father’s muscular arms as he carried me over to our mansion’s beautiful interior garden. He took me to a spot set with a gorgeous desk and surrounded by chairs that offered a complete view of the area.
There was someone waiting for us there: a lady, seated on one of the chairs and enjoying a cup of tea. Father walked up to her and put me down before her.
“Mother!” I ran over to her as soon as I was freed from father’s grip.
“My, Mary, you’re such a spoiled little thing.” My mother, Aries Regalia, greeted me with a kind smile as I wrapped my arms around her knees. She was neither surprised by nor upset about my behavior.
The wind blew gently by, toying with mother’s silver locks. I was momentarily taken aback by her beauty. As I looked at mother with my large, round, golden eyes, she gently played with my own white locks.
In terms of looks, I got my mother’s hair (though my hair color was more white than silver) and my father’s golden eyes. My white skin looked pallid and sickly at first glance... At least, it did from my perspective.
The three of us carried on speaking to each other about nothing much in particular, just like any family would. As someone who used to only be able to communicate with my parents through the curtain of a sterilized room, however, feeling my mother’s warmth was something I never tired of.
“Ahem... By the way, Aries?” Father cleared his throat. “I was hoping we could introduce her to Mary today.”
“I’ll call her over, then.”
Father’s words put an end to my blissful moment with mother. I stepped away from her and looked up at him while she spoke to the head maid, who was waiting behind her. Mother said something that made the maid step out of the room for a moment.
Puzzled, I stood next to father, but before long, the head maid returned with a small girl in a maid uniform.
Whoa! It’s a little maid. Her hair and eyes are black. It really takes me back...
She wore a frilly black-and-white maid uniform. The head maid spurred her to step forward, and she gingerly obliged, stuck out her arms, and bowed politely at a perfect angle.
“I-It’s nice to meet you, Lady Mary! M-M-My name is Tutte!”
Look at how flustered she is! She’s a cutie! ♪
“Starting from today, she’ll be your personal maid,” father appended, perhaps sensing that Tutte’s explanation was insufficient. “She’ll be taking personal care of you at all times.”
“My...personal maid?”
Wow, that’s, like...something a rich lady would have. Well, I guess I really am a noble’s daughter, but...
I looked at the maid again. She seemed to be older than me, but not by much. Mentally speaking, I was probably older than her, though...
I approached her, my golden eyes glittering with curiosity, and she straightened out her posture anxiously, looking back at me.
“I’m Mary! It’s nice to meet you, Tutte!”
I spoke to her not with a noble’s style of speech, but casually, like I would to a friend. I was excited because this was possibly my first time ever speaking to someone my age.
“Th-Thank you, my lady!” Tutte bowed tensely over and over.
I immediately took the chance to explore the garden with her.
“Father, mother, I will be exploring the garden with Tutte. If you’ll excuse us!”
I regarded her as a friend at once, but neither my parents nor the other maids said anything, so I pulled Tutte along behind me as I left the room.
“M-My lady, you shouldn’t run like that! What if you get hurt?!”
No, if anything, the way you run looks much less steady than the way I do!
I slowed down to walking speed and turned my face to glance at her.
“How old are you, Tutte?” I asked.
“Ah, erm, right.” Looking a bit flustered by my sudden question, Tutte took a breath before answering. “I’ll be turning eight this year.”
If she’s eight, that means she’s five years older than me. Still, she has such a baby face.
Under my curious, golden gaze, Tutte’s adorable black eyes darted around awkwardly, and a slight pink blush crept over her tanned features.
She’s so adorable! ♪
After dealing with calm adults all the time, I really enjoyed her childlike reaction. Knowing she would be by my side wherever I went served to sweep away all the loneliness I’d felt in my past life.
“Hee hee hee! You better keep up, Tutte! ♪”
“M-My ladyyyy! Wait for meeee!”
I ran off again. Hearing her pitiful pleas behind me gave me the impression we were playing tag, which was fun. After running for a while, I happened upon a shed and slipped inside—now we were effectively playing hide-and-seek. Things I couldn’t do in my past life were now trivial tasks that I was both able and allowed to do; the thrill of it spurred me on to do childish, nonsensical things.
“My lady, where are you? It’s dangerous here!”
I silenced my breathing as Tutte entered the shed. I lay in wait, biding my time for the chance to pop out and startle her. I was on cloud nine. I was so excited, in fact, that I neglected to notice the poorly stacked, unsteady pile of wooden boxes piled up next to my hiding place.
“Boo!” I raised my voice and popped out to startle Tutte as she approached, bumping into one of the boxes with a thud in the process. I bolted by without incident, but then I heard the sound of wood snapping.
“Watch out, my lady!”
“Huh?”
Time ground to a halt as I watched Tutte’s pale face move, and I slowly turned to follow her field of vision. An avalanche of crates, each large enough for me to easily fit into, was rushing toward me. If those were to hit me directly, they’d surely crush and squish me!
Oh no! I have to stop them!
While I was prudent enough to recognize the gravity of the situation, for whatever reason, I was compelled to try to stop them from collapsing instead of doing the reasonable thing and getting out of the way.
I squeezed my eyes shut, my body tensing up as I braced for impact. Something bumped into me, and then...
Whooosh!
What I heard next was a loud breaking sound, like the weighted wooden crates just hit a large wall and shattered. I cracked open my eyes to confirm what had happened, only to be greeted by the sight of all the crates lying shattered and open on the floor. All I’d been doing the whole time was just standing there.
Huh...
What?
Taken aback by what had just happened, I looked around, trying to grasp the situation. The moment the wooden crates had touched my hand, they were crushed like they had just been rammed against a wall. The contents of the boxes had spilled out and rained down on me. What had felt like soft objects being crushed as they hit me turned out to be solid metallic tools that had been bent out of shape after bouncing off me.
What?! What just happened?
I stared at this unbelievable sight with stunned amazement. Nothing hurts... All those things hit me and broke against my body, but I don’t feel any pain whatsoever. What should have been solid, hard objects were like cotton brushing against me. I realized the contents of the boxes were scattered in front of me and that none of them had gotten behind me, like I really was a wall standing in the boxes’ path.
The final box lost all its momentum and fell down slowly, landing lightly against my palm. Without thinking about it, I firmly lifted up the box.
With one hand.