Just like in my previous life, in this world, it was traditional to throw parties and send presents on someone’s birthday. Since my family were high-ranking nobles, even the children were given magnificent birthday celebrations.
Up until now, my birthdays had consisted mainly of gatherings of our closest relatives, and even then, it had only been the adults. I would start hosting bigger parties like my brothers’ once I turned four this year. At three, I’d still been too young to be expected to entertain guests for hours on end; at that age it was still a coin toss whether a kid would even be able to play with other kids for very long.
But perhaps because life expectancy was much shorter here, we seemed to grow up much faster—when I turned four, I already looked like I was in the middle of elementary school. Alan was only six, and yet he was almost as tall as Chris. Chris was nine and looked like he was just entering middle school. Of course, I needed to keep in mind that Asians tended to look younger in general.
The empire’s educational institutions all stood on the outskirts of the capital. Children would begin their elementary education once they turned ten, and then they would proceed to higher education when they were fifteen. More-affluent commoner families were able to send their children to school, but usually only until the age of fifteen—the majority then went on to help their parents with their work and learn the tools of the trade.
For nobles, the battle for a marriage partner commenced once you turned fifteen. Until then, parents were forbidden from choosing partners for us. I was sure arrangements were being made behind the scenes, but there seemed to be a lot of couples who were together because they’d genuinely ended up falling in love. Personally, I felt it was a good system—there was really no way to know what a child’s future prospects would be before their late teens anyway.
A lot of people would search for a partner while completing their higher education, and it was practically expected for a noble lady to get married upon graduation. Most got engaged when they were fifteen.
Who will I end up getting married to? I hope I’ll get to have a real romance.
Four days before my fourth birthday party, I was seated in front of the dressing table my father had gifted me.
Who gives a four-year-old a dressing table as a birthday present? Don’t get me wrong, the mirror that had come with it was a good quality one. It was big, with no noticeable clouding. But, you see, this big round mirror was all decorated around the outside with a bunch of small lights, and the dresser had drawers for jewelry and makeup. What child of my age needed something like that?!
Now, to be clear, I made sure to say thank you and that I was very happy with the gift. But he could’ve given me this in ten years rather than now.
At the very least, thanks to me having this now, I was able to see my face properly for the first time. I’d gotten glimpses of my face before now—there were mirrors in the corridors, and some of the walls in the manor were paneled with mirrors as well. But it would look really weird for someone of my age to just stand and stare at mirrors in the corridor, right? At most, I’d taken little glances from afar and seen that I was blonde and maybe looked a little like my mother.
When people said I was cute, I didn’t think much of it because, really, what else were you supposed to say to a young noble lady? Now that I was seeing my face for real, though, I understood exactly how cute I was. Honestly, given how my parents and my brothers look, there was no way I wasn’t adorable.
My hair was a platinum blonde closer to the color of my father’s. It stopped around my chest, and whenever the light caught it, it sparkled like I had a halo. My brow was shaped nicely, like my mother’s, and my nose was on the smaller side. Because my eyes were big like a little kitten’s, and the corners of them were turned down a little, I gave off a cute, friendly aura. My irises were purple, and my eyelashes were so well-defined it looked like someone had taken five matchsticks and stuck them to my lids—I practically looked like a doll.
While my mother looked beautiful in a refined, out-of-your-league way, I was the cute young lady people wanted to protect—as far as appearances went, that was.
A wild child who triggers your protective instincts? A young girl with large eyes like a kitten’s...hiding the personality of a woman in her late twenties, who sometimes threw up because she ran out of mana... Yeah, this appearance is a total scam.
Hold on a minute. The reason Rex was being so serious about looking after me was because he wanted to become a respected valet as soon as possible, wasn’t it? It wasn’t because he wanted to entertain a beautiful young lady, right? I could trust him, right? And the reason that I had two bodyguards following me around all the time was just to remove me if I acted out, wasn’t it? It wasn’t because I was at risk of being kidnapped because of how cute I looked...right?
Oh yeah, there was a new valet who’d arrived recently, a guy named Brad who was turning twenty-two this year. The look in his eyes was so sharp that there was no way he was a regular civilian.
Did they increase my security because I’ll be interacting with more people now?
Back when I was Japanese, I’d been so average that I hadn’t stood out at all. Since our company had required us to wear a uniform, anything that was uniquely me had been buried, resulting in no one even remembering my name. The sudden change from total nobody to adorable noble lady hadn’t had enough time to sink in. Not that I needed to focus on it too much—it wasn’t as if I would be looking in the mirror at any time other than the morning.