Chapter 2

“Be quiet! Suck on this, you noisy little…”

The giant woman appeared to be a maid. She stuffed something into my mouth and began shaking out a blanket next to me. Dust flew everywhere.

Achoo!

I sneezed.

Wait, if I was a baby, why would she be treating me this way? Babies are precious, right? Especially baby magicians. Surely, no family would hire a maid who treated an infant this poorly!

“I can’t believe it’s already my turn at babysitting again,” the maid grumbled.

Is she speaking in the imperial tongue? I tilted my head as I sucked on whatever object was in my mouth.

In Sylopia, most people communicated in the ancient tongue, not the imperial tongue. But even within the imperial language, there were variations. Each country had its own unique accent, and there was a pronounced difference between the dialects of the empire and the surrounding nations.

Finally, I managed to wiggle my arms. I struggled to flip onto my stomach and focused all my strength into my limbs to sit up. My head was heavy and kept bobbing forward.

Diligently, I sucked on what I now recognized as a pacifier. I grabbed onto the bars of the crib I was in, feeling as though I was locked in a jail cell. Even though I was trapped in a prison, I could see outside.

Huh, so I really am a baby. I couldn’t shake off the feeling of confusion.

My whole life…! I had worked so hard to achieve a good life, only to end up like this. How could this happen? I lost everything I had and gained only a weak little body in exchange.

Anger and resentment welled up inside me. Denying reality, I shook my head and my arms in frustration and pulled at my short hair. I buried my face deep in the surrounding blankets.

After a while, I raised my head and slowly glanced around. Why is this room so bare? The only things in the room were the crib I was stuck in and an old, seemingly unused bed. There were no decorations, no flowers, no people. The only presence I could see was the maid shaking off the blanket nearby.

“Oh my, what’s this? Did you flip yourself over? I guess you’re not so pathetic… You are still part of the bloodline, I suppose.”

I guess I was born into some kind of complicated family situation. But that certainly shouldn’t affect a baby like me, right? Maybe this wasn’t reincarnation, but something else. What year was it, anyway?

Am I in the empire? I wondered. I just had to be. There were many places where the imperial language was spoken, but the first place that came to mind when I heard the maid’s distinct accent was the Hayren Empire. It seemed like I was born into a humble family in Hayren.

Maybe my soul possessed the body of a baby. I couldn’t say for sure. The important thing right now was that I was alive and that I hadn’t lost my memories. Still, I was trapped in a crib, and it didn’t seem the adults were looking after me properly.

I was a bit dizzy until a moment ago, but now I could think a little more clearly. I sucked on the pacifier with all my might as my head continued to spin.

My arms were irritatingly weak. Even crawling around on all fours was quite a challenge. After tottering around on my legs for a while, I finally gave in and ended up plopping face-down onto my stomach.

At this rate, I won’t be able to walk anywhere. Where the hell was I, anyway? I had to gather some information, at the very least.

I’m sure they can’t keep me locked in here forever. A life stuck in this cramped little crib… How awful!

“Gah, goo!” I sucked on the pacifier and waved at the maid.

You, over there! Let me out. What on earth was the maid doing? What a nincompoop. No matter how much I cried and whined, nothing happened. Is she wearing earplugs or something? I felt a sudden surge of irritation.

“Aboo-boo!” As I yelled and thrashed around, I suddenly noticed an empty flower vase perched on the windowsill. I wondered if I could still use magic. Curious to find out, I flopped onto my back. With my eyes shut, I clenched my fists and tensed my legs. I trembled all over.

Hnngh… Aargh!

This position along with the weird grunting makes for an awfully shameful display, but let’s just pretend not to notice. Grunting and snorting, I did my best to manipulate the feeble amount of magic within my body.

Crash!

“Oh my!” The maid’s scream bounced off the walls as the vase shattered.

My eyes widened. I felt sweat drip down my face, but I couldn’t care less. The important thing was that I could still use magic.

What a relief! At least my magic hadn’t completely disappeared. Maybe I couldn’t feel it because babies had underdeveloped senses, but I knew it would get better over time.

First thing’s first. Let’s figure out where I am and get out of here. After gathering information and making preparations, I was sure I could escape somehow and get back to Sylopia to deal with the ones who betrayed me.

“Jeez, what made that vase fall?” The maid grumbled and sighed as she exited the room, leaving me behind.

I pulled myself up on all fours again. I wondered exactly how old I was. Judging by how stiff my muscles were, it seemed I hadn’t moved around much in a while.

Based on my development, I must be about ten months old. I had vaguely learned about human anatomy and children’s growth from a book I read once, but I couldn’t recall everything exactly.

Why do my limbs feel so weak, though? Revenge might be a little far off. I couldn’t go straight for Melane in a body like this. I’d have to deal with that traitor when I got older.

A sigh escaped my mouth—an uncharacteristically weary reaction for a baby. They wouldn’t keep me stuck in this crib forever, right? For now, I had to just focus on getting out. Closing my eyes, I desperately tried to lift my body. After a minute of grunting, my body began to float.

It’s working! I opened my eyes abruptly and held my breath. Out of the crib and onto the floor!

But if I were to relax even a tiny bit or stop using my magic, I felt as though I would plummet to the marble floor and land smack on my face. Eyes focused, I moved carefully. Almost there…

Thankfully, there was no crashing onto the floor. I landed and hurriedly scooted forward, still holding the pacifier in my mouth. I needed to quickly get out of the room and figure out where the heck I was.

My knees hurt. This room was completely unfit for a baby. Where were the rugs to cover the cold and hard marble? I scoffed internally as I approached the door.

“How did you get out? What’s wrong with you?” the maid said as she walked in.

“Boo…”

Ah, I forgot I had a time limit. Of course, I would end up caught by the maid again.

Looking puzzled, she lifted me up. The mirror near the door came into view and I caught sight of my reflection. Are my eyes… silver?

With wide eyes, I observed a baby with a pacifier in her mouth being held by a maid. My fine hair was navy blue and my eyes were silver.

Silver eyes? And the Hayren Empire? As these two thoughts overlapped, a particular noble family came to mind. An unsettling feeling began to gnaw at me.

“Ugh, how did you manage to escape? Did you roll out?”

Was there really any point in asking a baby a question it couldn’t respond to? She must have a screw loose. I cast a pathetic glance at the woman, but she simply sighed and flipped me in every direction, checking that I was unbruised.

Looks like I’m quite the special baby after all. If I had a maid to watch me, and she was showing some concern that I might be injured, there had to be a reason, right?

Silver eyes were uncommon. Even in all my travels, I had rarely encountered someone with silver eyes. I hope I’m wrong about this… I shook my head vigorously, trying to deny it.

The maid gave me a strange look and hurriedly covered me with a blanket. “Go to sleep now,” she said as she took away my pacifier.

“Aboo!” No! Give it back! I tried to reach out, but my arms wouldn’t move.

I blinked in disbelief. I was just thinking about something a second ago. Hayren… Something about the Hayren Empire… What was it?

Unconsciously, my mouth gaped open in a big yawn. My eyelids felt heavy.

I saw the maid place the pacifier near the windowsill. Pacifier… The truly ridiculous thing was that I could only think about asking for it back.